Just Keep Swimming

We've reached the time of year where it's the kind of hot that means your thighs stick to the (fabric!) driver's seat of your car if you go anywhere in the afternoon. I haven't been out and about TOO much lately, though, as my focus right now is on planning for September and October events and teams; it's a lot of Excel, Teamwork, and WhatsApp. The first in a nearly two-month-long revolving door of US guests I'm more or less in charge of arrives September 5. 

The solution in both instances: just keep swimming. 

Every day I check one more thing off a to-do list involving schedules, cash requests, hotel reservations, translations, plane tickets, drivers, caterers, interpreters...you get the idea. But, I've also been to two "pool parties" the past couple weeks!

The DR-based mission team observes Dominican holidays, so Tuesday, August 16, el Día de la Restauración (Restoration Day), meant the office was closed. Accordingly, missionary and seminary friends who live in an apartment complex with a pool maxed out their guest allotment and had a group of us over to swim. I'm glad I got in - and out of - the water when I did. We optimistically watched a very dark cloud approach but couldn't escape its wrath. The below photos were taken maybe 5 min. before a downpour.

Many of our number decided they were already wet, so why not go for a swim in the rain (and lightning and thunder...)? I could think of few things more miserable-sounding and was part of the much smaller gazebo crowd until we decided the rain wasn't going to blow over anytime soon and dispersed.

Side note: Notice some unfamiliar faces in the top photo? Rev. Guillermo "Memo" Leyva (4th from left), who graduated from the seminary in 2019, and his new wife Nancy (3rd from left) were in town recently for two weeks of respite and learning what it means to be a couple on mission together. I was loosely involved in helping round out their schedule with some missing meals and rides and got to spend an afternoon sightseeing with them. At Memo's suggestion, we started at one of my fave Santiago destinations: Centro León. 

Later, it was arepa night at Rafa & Jamielynn's. Reina pepiada (filled w/ avocado chicken salad)...the best!

Pool party #2 was a long time in coming. I can't remember when someone first asked me if I knew the Traxels (negatory). Josh and Abby, an LCMS pastor and his wife who are adopting a 4 yr. old girl from the Dominican, had ties to several other missionary families. Back in March, Abby added me as a Facebook friend. The adoption process saw them in Santo Domingo for a time but never while I happened to be there for an airport pickup or residency renewal. A few weeks ago, though, they transitioned to Santiago - to an Airbnb in our neighborhood! With a pool! After orbiting around one another for months, I couldn't not reach out to see when we could meet up; the answer was last Sunday. We swam and ate and I learned their story, which made it clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that God had little Widlina waiting just for them. 

Abby shared that they wanted to have her baptized in what will always be her heart language, so today at Iglesia Luterana Pueblo Nuevo, Widlina Grace became a child of God! I mixed things up from my normal routine to be on hand for the occasion and wound up being the official Traxel family iPhone photographer. 

The Traxels' next steps are Widlina's birth certificate, then Dominican passport, then US visa...all, Lord willing before their September 15 return tickets. Seeing as how Josh's parish in Springfield, IL, is < 2 hours from my parents' house in St. Louis, though, I hope to pay them a visit on my next home service!

Until next time, blessings!