‘Tis the Seasons

Yesterday, while a pot of cinnamon and ginger tea steeped on the stove in the office kitchen, one of the Spanish teachers asked me how I could wear shorts "con este frio"! It's definitely not summer anymore in Santiago. In the past week or so we've progressed through...

Reformation

All five DRLM congregations came together on Sunday, October 27 to commemorate the 507th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. The service took place under a tent on the cancha in Palmar Arriba. I don't know if you can tell in the first photo, but that meant of course it rained. It's the tent! Every. Time. I was seated near a gap where 2 sections came together, so I kept inching closer to Stan :) Everyone enjoyed box lunches and cake...inside...before going their separate ways. 

Photo credit: Jana Inglehart

Halloween

Halloween seems more and more pervasive every year. In 2018, there were maybe a couple bags of bulk candy at PriceSmart (like Costco). A couple years ago, a table of baked goods with black and orange icing at the grocery store that caters most to expats. This year? The display below at the grocery store nearest my neighborhood, and both indoor and outdoor decor at several other less mainstream businesses. I went to a trunk-or-treat (my first!) at Santiago Christian School with the Shavers: Rev. Ross, Kris, Ryan (aka Steve from Minecraft), and Easton (aka Chase from Paw Patrol). It was smaller than I expected (8 cars, 24 kids registered), and I was surprised to see that many of the trunks had an interactive element (i.e. a Christmas-themed one where you had to toss an ornament into a gift bag). The event opened with prayer and ended with a group game that involved MORE candy, as if any of the kids needed it by that point.

All Saints' Day

November 1 meant the start of a monthlong "Scripture scribing" activity put forth by Dana (2nd from left). A few weeks ago, she hosted a ladies' night during which we all used "ephemera" from Visual Faith's GraceFall: A ThanksLiving Journey with Jesus to decorate blank notebooks. One of the pages - currently hanging on my refrigerator - is a list of Scripture verses about grace to meditate on as we go through the motions of writing them down. I procrastinated until well after I should have been in bed on Day 1, but I've kept up so far. 

Election Day (Christmas)

No disrespect to Advent - my favorite hymn is "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" after all - but I fully embrace the Dominican affinity for Christmas. I almost put my decorations up before I went to Belize last month but managed to hold out until Tuesday, when I listened to Christmas music and decked my halls before tuning in to see the latest electoral vote tally. This is the first year I've put lights outside (or anywhere other than the tree, for that matter), which I reserve the right to rip down at any time because I'm already tired of retaping them. 

Until next time, blessings in Christ!