It's MONDAY morning again! HA!

Well, it's Monday morning and so far no tarantulas (dead-or-alive), and I am NOT sick. YEAH!
I am fully recovered from last week's illness and conjunctivitis.

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Bob and I got our apartment decorated for Christmas on Friday, went to another wedding on Saturday. For any of you who have been here and remember Elias, it was his wedding. Wedding was scheduled for 4pm, and four of us had 'bets' on the actual starting time. Manny won ~ he guessed 4:45 and it was right on the dot! Dominicans are NOT known for punctuality.

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Yesterday was another great time in church. Bob is teaching the English SS and going thru I Corinthians. We had a great discussion on the foolishness of man vs the wisdom of God. So, often we want to complicate the gospel when talking to people. We will NOT convince them with our 'enticing' words, or by arguing science or philosophy. It's the Word of God thru the working of the Holy Spirit that will draw them in.
Good discussion....great study.

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After church we stayed while Hugo put on the TV all the pics he had taken of Manny and Olga's wedding just three weeks ago. Manny and Olga loved it! Esp when Hugo told him he was making them a CD, too.

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Once we got home, we decided it was a pleasant day for the beach. NOT too hot with low humidity. So, we packed a simple lunch of apples, hard boiled eggs, cheese and crackers; packed books, beverages and towels in our totes/backpacks and walked to the beach at the end of our lane. We were able to stay for two hours, and read, relax, swim and walk the shore. Very relaxing~

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A week ago while shopping at La Sirena in Santo Domingo, I finally found molasses. The entire time we've lived here, I have never seen it in the stores. Linda Fourman brings it in her suiticase when I ask. Molasses is a by-product of the sugar cane process, and it goes into the making of rum. So, I was elated to finally find molasses! Yesterday afternoon I made a batch of Ginger Molasses cookies. Moist, chewy and delicious!

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Today is our 5th anniversary of moving here. We flew into Santiago on MFI (Missionary Flights International) in the afternoon, were met by Kiko (SCORE bus driver) and a rented bus with driver, broke into tears when the custom officials told us we would have to come back the next day for them to approve the removal of our 2500 pounds of belongings, (Tears worked, as making a woman cry, esp an American woman, embarasses their macho-ego) and we arrived at SCORE at 9:30 that night!

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In official celebration of this momentous anniversary occasion....our power went out at 9:45 this morning. Since, it's been a little over 2 weeks since we've had a full day power outtage...My guess is that it's going to be off for the entire day. Guess I won't be fixing our chicken in the crockpot after all.

ah...welll...welcome to life in the Dominican Republic!

We won't need electricity to go snorkling off the beach this afternoon though..he-he! (No groups till the day after Christmas, so it's time to relax!)

love you all,
~anna~