The Butterfly Effect

Excitement is building as our region prepares to graduate ~80 deaconesses across five countries in May. Our missionary deaconess are working furiously to ensure that the course materials are top-notch and that each of the graduates is prepared for the high calling that awaits her. As such, Deac. Caitlin Ramírez traveled to Guatemala last week to assist with an intensive. Her seminarian husband is in the throes of a demanding vicarage, so I took 3 yr. old Abraham off his hands one afternoon. Note my sarcasm when I tell you it was a real sacrifice to take him to my favorite place in Santiago: the botanical garden!

I run or walk there most mornings but had never been in the Mariposario Greta, the butterfly house. It wasn't there when I first moved here, and it's closed at my usual hour, but given that it's indoors and therefore shady, it was high time to check it out with my buddy. 

I'd been in butterfly houses before; this one was decidedly smaller but impressive nonetheless. 

Aside from a short walking path, there's an alcove in one corner, staffed by garden employees, where visitors can see the process of raising butterflies, from eggs to recently emerged adult butterflies that have yet to take flight. Abraham's question about how that (a caterpillar) turns into a butterfly left me no option but to point him to our Creator God. 

Join me in thanking Him for the miracles He has woven into creation and lifting up everyone involved in the deaconess formation process. 

Until next time, blessings in Christ!