missionaryMAC

Every year, Santiago's cultural center, in league with the municipality, a local bank chain, and the ubiquitous beer label, sponsors a neighborhood decorating contest called  Mi Barrio está en Navidad . It's serious business. Neighbors begin collecting recycled materials​ as soon as the previous year's display comes down and constructing the current year's masterpiece was early as August. Following Wednesday's Advent III service, Josh, Ashley, and I meandered through the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers.  We stumbled across 2nd place (RD$150,000, or nearly $2,500 USD if you can't read the sign) first. A life sized Adam and Eve diorama adorned the entrance.  I loved these garlands made from plastic bottles. Baseball AND dominoes: 2 of the Dominican's favorite pastimes.  Someone took the time to separate the circular flip tops (c.f. the donkey's head) from a LOT of cylindrical shampoo bottle lids, which cover the body.  José, one of the proud neighbors be...

When your fiancé has zero responsibilities at his church and you're in the country on the same weekend, you take the opportunity to pop in on the DRLM's newest preaching station: Cienfuegos.  If you said "church planting" to me before I moved to the DR, I'm not sure I could have articulated what it looked like. The answer is what Josh & I witnessed yesterday morning. The first time I remember visiting Cienfuegos, Santiago's largest sector by far, was in May 2022 with a short-term team . We participated in an interactive devotional for local volleyball players, led by then-seminarian Rafael Flores. The caption of one of my photos includes the line "The hope is to begin services of the Word soon."  Two seminarians, a  VBS , a rented space across the street, a designated pastor, visits, music classes, kids'  escuelita , and an  eyeglass clinic later, it's "soon." Each Sunday at "10:30" (read: just before 11), a group tha...

​In the final and most epic installment of November's weekend adventures , eight of us plus a 1 yr. old escaped to the mountains of Constanza for Thanksgiving. It's an agricultural paradise - terraced hillsides, greenhouses, and billboards for seed and pesticides everywhere -  that could have been Switzerland if the mountains in the background were taller and snowcapped...and we didn't hear the occasional moto  whizzing by. This time of year, nighttime lows are in the high 50s. We headed out of the city on Wednesday and made a beeline for the double waterfalls of Aguas Blancas after dropping our gear at our 4-bedroom rental house.  The Cerro Alto contingent (sans honorary member Ashley), L to R: Josh, Abby, me, and Aaron.  Headed back toward town, the "Divino Niño" was only an 18-minute detour.  It's Jesus, but somehow this still reeks of idolatry. Our front yard for the next three nights.  Even the shower in the bedroom I shared with Abby and Ashley ...

​My Dominican bucket list had contained many of the same items for some time, but it turns out fiancés make great adventure buddies! My very accommodating one logged more miles than I want to count every Saturday I was in town during the month of November and helped me tick  four   checkboxes.      November 1: Mirabal Sisters Monument This roadside attractions commemorates the spot where Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa, leaders of an underground faction that opposed the DR's longtime dictator, together with their driver, had an "accident" (read: were run off the road) on the way back from visiting their wrongly imprisoned husbands on November 25, 1960.  November 15: Basilica  Nuestra Señora De La Altagracia / Anza's 1st birthday party Featured on the back of the $50 peso bill, this modern structure honors one of the DR's patron iterations of the virgin Mary. It was built on the site of a homestead where - legend has it - a portrait of her that a...

Each of the SIX times I was in Belize in 2025, I looked forward to...Lebanese food?!  Yup. In an August 2024 WhatsApp message, the Rev. Micah Wildauer, planning a birthday outing for his wife Robin that would include  a pair of volunteers on the ground at the time , touted Cedar Grill's as the "best hummus ever." I was dubious. In dinky Belmopan, Belize? Really? I honestly can't cite an instance of having had better, though. In fact, ever since, I've been on a quest to replicate it.  I was convinced they start with dried, not canned chickpeas. Puh-lease. It also has a distinct smokiness that I thought might come from cumin. I opted for fresh seeds I ground myself, not jarred; Josh gave the idea to toast them in a dry skillet before doing so.  Pro tip: Turn the burner down once your chickpeas begin to boil. I don't have much experience with dried beans of any  kind... Other innovations, courtesy of Googling authentic Lebanese hummus recipes: NO olive oil, and a...

A conference with recurring dates the week before US Thanksgiving is basically always going to fall over my birthday. Such was the case in Madrid last year , and such was the case in the DR this year . Darn, I get to celebrate somewhere different every year with work friends I don't see nearly often enough!  Dana and I had a full day of Mission Education planned; here's a rundown of what my day looked like:  A quick peek at the CMSCR premises and chapel with the students.  A ride on Santiago's new-ish cable car. We drove from the seminary to the main station in two carloads. Dana, who'd arrived first with her group, greeted me with a birthday tiara when I walked up. Lunch at Centro León followed by an [English!] tour of two different exhibits. Can you tell I was really missing my fiancé by the end of the hour?  Intentional interaction with the residents at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Homes group home.  Visits in Palmar. Ashley & I were grouped with Bolivian s...