Community Day

Hello from Miami International Airport!

I should be flying to Chicago as I write this, but my flight was cancelled so I'm sharing some Dominican life with you before I go in search of dinner. I'm on standby for a 9:05 pm flight with one person in front of me, and if I don't make that, I'll crash in Miami for the night on American Airlines' dime and be on my way tomorrow morning. Pray!

In many ways, the rhythm of my daily life in Santiago remains unchanged from how I left it in early August. Community Day, though, was brand new to me upon returning from home service. 

The LAC regional team meets every Thursday at 10 am. The bulk of us are in Santiago, but we also have missionaries that Zoom in from Belize, Canada, Panama (Houston, currently), and Uruguay. Historically, we've met at the regional office in the same neighborhood where the Santiago contingent lives, but as a show of support for the seminary's strategic community-building effort, the start of the 2021-2022 academic year ushered in a new meeting location: the seminary library. It's been an adjustment for sure, but a couple of positives are 1) getting some additional use out of a building that represents a significant investment of time and resources and; 2) spending time in worship and fellowship with our seminary students, faculty, and staff. Here's what this week's Community Day looked like:

Some Thursdays, I have a meeting(s) before the regional team meeting. Finding a private space where I won't be disturbed or disturb anyone can be challenging, but I snagged an open office. Yesterday, my workday started at 8 am, so I left shortly after 7:00. Much later and you're stuck in morning rush hour traffic. Wait 'til between meetings and risk missing...

...chapel. The seminary has chapel every weekday (join them LIVE at 9:15 AST on the seminary's Facebook page!), but attendance skyrockets when missionaries and their families are on hand. Students take turns leading the liturgy and preaching.

After the sharing of the peace, it's meeting time for the regional team and class time for the seminarians. The pace of work travel is picking up, so we were a small but mighty representation of the normal crew. I've walked in late before and not been able to grab a seat at the table!

Part of the team goes right into another meeting at 11:00, but many of us have a free hour or so. I've been camping out in this meeting room and using the time to work on my laptop. There's a buzz of chatter and people coming in and out so it can't be anything that requires intense focus, but I'm not usually lacking in things to knock out in that kind of environment. Around noon, we gather to pray for lunch. The seminary secretary caters a buffet-style spread for those who pay RD$250 (~$5USD) and let her know by Tuesday, or you can bring your lunch; I've been doing the latter. 

Dinnertime! More soon on Chicago and the Beautiful Feet student missions conference...once I actually get there. Until next time, blessings!