missionaryMAC

My 2017 Hyundai Cantus has blessed me and myriad others as it's traversed over 60,000 km of the Dominican's highways and byways, using those terms loosely in some instances, since October 2018. Lately, though, it's been a pain in my rear...and taken a few hits to its rear.  One day during the Symposium , my dashboard screen conked out. I just started the car one morning and...nothing. No radio, no connecting my ancient iPod, no backup camera. It was a month or so until I had the bandwidth to have it looked at. My go-to car guy (he does house calls!) determined I had some burned out fuses that meant I needed to replace the screen entirely. Cha-ching. The upside is my new one functions with Apple CarPlay.  One day while still screen-less, I pulled up to the office with a flat tire . I'd gone to the botanical garden that morning with no problem, but it was  flat  flat. I nabbed an unsuspecting seminarian who happened to be leaving at the right moment to help me put on ...

God bless the pilot of flight AA2981 that got me into Gate D50 25 minutes early last Sunday morning, and whomever determined that flight AA2141 should take off from Gate D48. I could have cried with relief when I walked onto that plane and knew I'd be able to greet nine volunteers from St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Lee's Summit, MO eight hours (that turned into a couple more when they, too, were delayed) and lots of caffeine later.  They'd claimed an opportunity that'd had a fairly long servenow life span: Playground Renovation. The playground in question is where the 52 students at Escuela Luterana la Concordia in Palmar Arriba play daily when school's in session, and it was sorely in need of some TLC in the form of wall mural restoration, improved seating, and a new play structure. The team worked in the relative cool of the mornings; I planned educational afternoon activities that facilitated them getting to know the DR missions & missionaries - and the DR ...

I'm tearing myself away from Olympic coverage (currently: equestrian) to catch up on blogging. It's been an eventful couple weeks; I've got at least  three more posts queued up.  Tirzah and I went to a wedding last weekend! Our mutual friend and former missionary Courtney married former short-term individual volunteer, Grant. They never overlapped on the field, but another former missionary family, the Warrens, overlapped with both of them and set them up on Courtney's return to the US in November 2022.  We Ubered to the airport Thursday afternoon, since the wedding was at Courtney's home church in...St. Louis! I packed seriously light with just a backpack.  Introducing Tirzah to the airport lounge high life.  Not funny, United, not funny.  OK, seriously?  Despite my track record , let it be known that I MADE IT TO A WEDDING IN ST. LOUIS IN LESS THAN A DAY! The dashboard clock in my dad's car said 11:40 pm as we pulled out. We maximized our full bonus...