missionaryMAC

I've been away from the office and therefore quiet for a bit...because my family came to visit! Including me, a dozen of us spent a week at a resort in Punta Cana, coincidentally right next to the one I'm headed to a month from tomorrow for LAC's annual missionary conference.  The beach, pool, and luxurious amenities were everything you're probably envisioning. I taught my 6 yr. old nephew how much fun jumping in the waves can be, read one entire book and parts of two others, and had a freshly made Nutella crepe for breakfast most mornings. With 12 people, there was generally always someone to save you a lounge chair or make dinner reservations with, but the property was also spacious enough that I could have a mimosa in a floatie or walk the beach alone if I wanted. Given a full week with no scheduled obligations of any kind, I justified one off-resort excursion (scroll for photos) and one beachside adventure activity (parasailing - no photos, since after much internal...

Last March, LAC welcomed four Brazilian Alliance missionaries as part of the inaugural cohort of Proyecto Alianza , a partnership with the Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil (IELB). Just over a year later the project shows no signs of slowing down if the Benevenuti family's arrival is any indication. After their requisite few months here, Rev. Arthur, Luciema ("Lu"), Raquel (9), and Giovana ("Gigi") (4) will transition to Jamaica to work alongside the Ite family , lone rangers since 2007!  In the days following the seminary's theological symposium at the end of May, the DR team scrambled to prep for its newest members. With a number of key people unexpectedly out sick, I jumped in to haul household items from the regional office to the Benevenutis' future home and go on a shopping spree to round out what we didn't have on hand.  I was in St. Louis when they landed in the capital on Wednesday, June 2  but got to meet them Saturday. Arthur put out ...

I highly recommend sleeping for 12 hours. Waking just before 10 am the morning after my travel nightmare, I was rested and refreshed for some cousin fun. Fueled my gourmet burgers from Bailey's Range, my sister-in-law Chelsey, nephew Reed, Connecticut cousins Megan and Ryan, and Megan's daughter Bella took on the City Museum . The word "museum" doesn't even do it justice; it's a wildly imaginative indoor/outdoor playground for all ages - maybe not all sizes , but I have to give props to Ryan who, at over 6 ft., kept up with Reed, Bella, and I as we squeezed through four floors of caves, tunnels, and even a giant whale.  There's a rooftop with a pretty incredible view, too.  And a Ferris wheel! You run up the side of the slide to the right of the rope in the far right of the frame and then... Megan, Ryan, and Bella had missed their 11:10 am timed tickets to ride to the top of the Gateway Arch due to their own travel nightmare. We entertained thoughts of tak...

Greetings from COVIDland. I flew here to St. Louis Wednesday for my cousin's wedding Saturday...or tried to, anyhow.  I had a 3:30 pm American Airlines flight from Santiago to Miami on Wednesday afternoon, a few hours during which to eat and knock out some emails before shutting off my work email, and a MIA-STL flight that landed just before midnight. We arrived in the Miami area at the same time as a severe storm system, though, and started circling because MIA shut down for what would become a 2-hour stretch (ALERT: BAD IDEA). Eventually we were diverted to West Palm Beach to refuel. I've never seen that  status on the AA app before! Fifteen other planes had done likewise, and we experienced a "maintenance discrepancy" to boot. After hours on the tarmac, the captain announced we weren't going back to Miami. MIA was open, but there were 25-30 planes waiting for gates. The flight was cancelled.   I spent 45 min. on hold with customer service while waiting to depla...