missionaryMAC

I'm supposed to be in Peru right now in between two short-term teams, and the first native Peruvian Lutheran pastor was supposed to have been ordained yesterday. At least, I had an extended trip to Lima, with an unprecedented ordination as its climax, penciled in on my calendar. Evidently God had other plans and I have no doubt that on the love seat in my living room in Santiago is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now, but it's still disappointing.  Instead, I've been channeling my inner grade schooler: playing with puppets, cutting shapes out of construction paper, and having a 100th day party. Also, I can stay out past 8 pm now. Gasp! For the first time since I don't even remember when, there is NO curfew. Not that there's anywhere to go... My missionary friend Kate & I helped another missionary friend, Deac. Caitlin, record a puppet show for an upcoming presentation she's co-leading ("Mission Moments for Kids"). Caitlin's husband...

I didn't need my sunglasses on this morning's run. Nope, a Saharan Dust Plume  made sure of that. We're inside a cloud! The particles that regularly accumulate on basically any horizontal surface is my house originate in the Sahara (how else to you think tropical storms are propelled across the Atlantic?), but this particular "Saharan Air Layer" (SAL) is the densest that's been seen in years in parts of the Caribbean. My PR-based colleagues began sharing photos and memes midday yesterday; I first noticed a tinge in the sky yesterday evening. Today, it's blatantly obvious (thankfully, in my case, only visibly - aka not because of respiratory issues or allergies triggered by the poor air quality!).  Monday, 6:56 pm, Cerro Alto (my balcony).   Tuesday, 7:08 am, botanical garden.  Tuesday, 7:12 am, botanical garden.  Tuesday, 7:13 am, botanical garden.  Tuesday, 1:41 pm, Cerro Alto (Calle Principal, through my front windshield).  I read that the atmo...

The DR was supposed  to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3 yesterday. Instead, here we sit on day 93 having failed to meet whatever would have triggered the transition. The government will reevaluate things early next week. In the meantime, authorities will be cracking down on mask and curfew violations. If we're indeed able to move into Phase 3 next  Tuesday, it will be short-lived so as not to push back the scheduled start of Phase 4, July 1. Phase 4 includes most of the hospitality/tourism sector, and there are presidential elections scheduled for July 5.   The drawbacks of remaining in Phase 2 are minimal, although it does mean that churches can still only hold activities one day/week. Phase 3 will up that to three days/week, thus enabling our church planting pastors, national pastors, deaconesses, and seminary students to resume things like midweek Bible/deaconess/catechism classes and women's/children's/youth activities.  A bright spot since my last post is the ...

I WENT TO CHURCH YESTERDAY (day 82). After a nearly three month hiatus, Iglesia Luterana Cordero de Dios held in-person corporate worship, with Holy Communion. You better believe I was in the "pew" (plastic chair) and at the altar. I even remembered how to get there! Church here did mean, however, that I missed the LIVE Zoom Bible study my home congregation started a few weeks ago. After wrapping up a series on Zephaniah, we moved into an analysis of one Psalm per week. Last week's was Psalm 100, which includes this verse (4): Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! The verse I chose to pray throughout the week by adding it to my meal prayer was verse 5 ("For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."), but I digress. A fellow participant pointed out that "ENTER HIS COURTS WITH PRAISE" is emblazoned above the door to my home church, so I thou...

Happy Saturday (day 81), friends.  Sometimes, my blog posts merit an apology due to photo overload. This one merits the opposite. You've already seen much of what has graced my computer screen during COVID-19, but I can think of at least three virtual engagements within the past week or so that I regret not snapping a photo of: A six-week life workshop for LAC missionaries that wrapped up on the last Friday in May.  Scattergories: I finagled this into a format that works well on Zoom and have played 3x now with family and friends.  ST Coordinators Game "Night": A few hours ago, most of my fellow Volunteer Coordinators and I had a virtual game "night" (with people on multiple continents, an actual game night would be the middle of the night for some!). We played three different Jackbox games: Quiplash, Fibbage, and Drawful.  (I'm sensing a theme here, but I actually learned of another  virtual game ( Sporcle Party ) that I'm excited to try, hopefully s...

Greetings in the name of our crucified, risen, and now ASCENDED Lord. On Thursday, I attended a TRI-lingual Ascension Day service organized by my missionary colleague Rev. Charles St-Onge. Charles lives in Montreal, Quebec, where he pastors a multicultural SELC congregation coincidentally called Ascension when he's not island hopping in the Caribbean. Portions of the liturgy were spoken and sung in French and English, and one of the readings was in Mandarin! Over here in my corner of the Hispanophone world, we're in Phase 1 of reopening. For me personally, this means very little. The missionary team is still working from home. Churches aren't permitted to reopen until if and when we successfully transition into Phase 2. That's scheduled to roll out on Wednesday, June 3, but even then, services and other activities will be permitted on Sundays only. Things like non-essential errands and slowly widening our circles will be navigated with extra grace over the coming weeks ...

Or so goes the chorus to " Quarantine Life " by Matthew West (for the sake of something new and different to listen to, I "attended" a free [virtual] concert sponsored by the Thrivent Member Network - Heartland Region on Friday night).  It's day 62. And while I haven't hated every second of sheltering in place - I've even enjoyed many aspects of it - I'm eagerly awaiting the green light to resume corporate worship, switch back to in-person movie nights, hold a team meeting, walk at my beloved botanical garden, go to Lunes de Jazz, get dinner or paletas or Sweet Frog with friends.  Which is why I was encouraged by last night's presidential address. It IS all alright. We still have a curfew, but instead of 5 pm to 6 am, seven days a week, it's now 7 pm to 5 am Monday through Saturday, and 5 pm to 5 am on Sundays, through June 1. Evening walks have been reinstated!!! I didn't hear much of what was said after that.  I can t...

To a cat. I successfully recreated a Facebook video of someone playing tic-tac-toe with a cat (by placing cat treats in each square), and Freddy beat me without my even realizing it at first! Sheltering in place for 51 days has made us all a little crazy. I'm inclined to blame it on the "same old, same old," but that's simply not true, as LAC's regional chaplain reminded us at Tuesday's weekly all-missionary check-in meeting: God is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). Because I am in Christ, I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). In joyful response, all of creation is exhorted to sing to the Lord a new song (Psalm 96:1). And, somehow, I keep coming up with new  things to blog about. My revised home service plan is still very much up in the air, but one of the congregations I was planning to visit invited me and a few others to present via Zoom on the Church's work in the DR...

Today marked a major corona win!  In light of the changes that COVID-19 has brought to our world, the Short-term Coordinator workgroup put our heads together to come up with virtual service opportunities and voila, the English conversation partner project - pairing stateside volunteers with English language learners via Zoom - was born!  Its progression from idea to brainstorming meeting to recruitment to implementation was an exciting, much needed whirlwind, largely due to an overwhelming response rate. The plea was put out to roughly 300 short-term team alumni, members of cancelled teams, and CUS students, resulting in 82 yeses. EIGHTY-TWO! I know from having worked in marketing that that's an  insane response rate for any kind of email campaign! Puerto Rico is one of the fields piloting the project, along with the Czech Republic and Russia. The PR team took the reins of tonight's orientation, but Courtney & I sat in to observe, listen, and learn in ...

In the story of Noah and the Flood, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mt. Sinai prior to receiving the Ten Commandments. The twelve spies scouted out the land of Canaan for 40 days. Goliath taunted the Israelites for 40 days before David stepped forward to face him. Ezekiel laid on his right side for 40 days to symbolize the 40 years that Judah would be under siege. Jonah warned the Ninevites that the city would be overthrown in 40 days if they refused to repent. Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days. And given that today is day 41, I've made it through 40 days of sheltering in place. I noticed the sign below on a recent walk. It reads: #We'llgetthroughthisvirustogether #Stayhome." We will be through Thursday for sure. I'm cautiously optimistic that the curve is flattening and restrictions will begin to loosen, but the DR's state of emergency was extended through May 25, so I'm prepared for a f...