missionaryMAC

Yay for just-for-fun posts to help pass time at MIA. A couple of nights before I left for Jamaica, I got together with the Davises, a sweet family from church, for "Chopped." On the Food Network show of the same name, chef contestants are given a basket of mystery ingredients in each of three rounds (appetizer, entree, and dessert) and must race against the clock and make strategic use of the pantry to combine them into a dish. The judges "chop" one per round until a champion is crowned; he or she walks away with $10,000. I'm a big fan, so the real-life version was right up my alley.  Val was the mastermind behind the concept, the basket ingredients, the pantry, and the "set." She, Owen, and I each paired up with one of the kids as their sous chef - we could follow instructions and make minimal suggestions, but the concepts had to be theirs.  Abigail (age 7) and I.  Here's our (her!) menu: Round 1: Tomato Basil Quinoa Salad w...

I don't even want to know how many bites I got in the course of this post. I'm at the Ministry Centre in Kingston, Jamaica, where apparently the best time to get pictures to upload to Blogger is once everyone else has gone to bed and you're the only one using the WiFi. Here's a long overdue peek at my longest trip thus far (11 nights), just over midway through.  Pastor Obot picked me up from the airport Thursday afternoon. I had been beyond excited to see the new roof in person after watching it go up in pictures on WhatsApp, and it did not disappoint.   Surprise! I thought Area Facilitator Charles St-Onge & I were going to rip down damaged drop ceilings in the short-term team bunk rooms when he joined me ~ 24 hours later so that the short-term team arriving Monday could replace them, but a carpenter had been hired to get them to this point.  My hardware store shopping list changed a bit, but our rigorous prep schedule did not. I had two rooms s...

It was a joyous day at Cordero de Dios yesterday; seven new members were confirmed! I was floating on air all day for a different reason, though: my mango-bearing  (he gave me 3 more this morning) botanical garden friend came to church with me! I'd been inviting him since before Easter. For weeks he'd say, "I'll call you," and then wouldn't, to the point that it became like the boy who cried "Wolf!" Imagine my surprise, then, when my iPhone screen lit up with "Octavio Peña" at 8:34 yesterday morning! Still dubious, I told him I'd swing by the garden around 10 to pick him up on my way. He called at 9:46 to let me know he was there and waiting! Thanks to all who have been praying for Octavio. Don't stop! My excitement was tempered by the sobering thought that this small victory isn't an end in itself. Only the Sower knows which kind of soil yesterday's seed fell on. Moreover, Satan wants nothing less than to see Octavio...

Last week, Rev. Dallas C.R. Dubke, the latest in a revolving door of interim pastors, deployed to the Cayman Islands for a three-month stint. I can't take credit for his being there, but I can  tell you my end of the story of how he got there. It has God's fingerprints all over it.  Pastor Dubke's mom, Martha (née Huebner), grew up a missionary kid in Venezuela. Martha would later become an LCMS pastor's wife and mother of four, the eldest of which is Pastor Dubke, living in northern CA.  Fast forward to 2014. I'm working at CPH at the time, and as is customary every summer, they planned to bring on a handful of college-aged interns. My trusted colleague, Rev. Dr. Héctor Hoppe, an Argentinian-born pastor, asked if I'd be willing to house one - the youngest Dubke, Katherine. Seeing as how the Latin American Lutheran world was apparently as small in the 60s and 70s as it is now, Héctor knew the Huebner family and had heard through the grapevine that Kather...

I'll spare you another "Houston, we have _________" joke. All these volunteers from Houston make it easy, but last week's team, from Our Savior Lutheran Church, was reminiscent of the WWII tactic that includes team leader Rev. Kelly Krieg's name.  They were lightning-fast workers who came and went just as speedily, arriving last Sunday (at 11:48 pm, so barely), and departing on Saturday (at 2:48 am, so I took them to the airport late Friday night). In the five full days in between, though, they were exposed to as many facets of ministry in the Dominican as possible and made a world of difference with their loving labor.  A Monday morning overview of Iglesia Luterana Pueblo Nuevo before dedicating two days to helping the congregation make the most of its recently dedicated new location .  The team made banners to teach the faith and help fill empty, white walls; built child-sized tables, bookcases, and pamphlet racks; canvassed the neighborhood with...

Good evening from the 2nd floor of the seminary building. The seminary, because the power was out in our neighborhood for 6+ hours today, so I fled here to rescue the main course for Tuesday's all-team potluck from my refrigerator and two crock pots on the counter. The 2nd floor, because in the  process of ramping up the WiFi network strength, it's currently dismal on the 3rd floor. The power came back on ~10 min. after I left, but a short-term team from Our Savior Lutheran Church in Houston, TX, arrives at midnight, so I figure I'll just stay out here with them tonight. More sleep + less driving = win. But I digress. I did some Saturday scouting yesterday. Always on the lookout for places to take teams, FORO partners, etc., I decided to scope out The Mirabal Sisters Home Museum, about an hour outside the city, on the recommendation of Spanish teacher Jacqui. Las Mariposas (The Butterflies), Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa, martyred for their role in the takedown of the...

Ugh. It's raining. Or maybe it just stopped. I  suppose  I did request prayers for it in my  last newsletter , but that doesn't mean I have to like it. We've been getting quite a bit of precipitation recently, usually in the late afternoon. That meant a soggy first-ever graduation ceremony for Concordia the Reformer Seminary on Friday but didn't lessen the magnitude or diminish the celebratory air of Symposium's epic conclusion in anyone's mind. Graduates, vicars-to-be, students, faculty, and staff following the cross in triumphant procession.  The crowd, including representatives from ALL Dominican Lutheran churches, got cozy under the rented tent to stay dry.  Rev. Joel Fritsche officiated and preached.  Rev. David Preus presided over a rite of sending for those returning to their home countries to serve vicarages during the 2019-2020 academic year before graduating next May.  A faculty representative personally addressed eac...