missionaryMAC

How beautiful upon the mountains     are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,     who publishes salvation,     who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The Jamaica mission (officially) has a new pastor: Rev. Arthur Benevenuti, a Brazilian Alliance missionary, was installed last Sunday as undershepherd of St. Andrew Lutheran Church, and yours truly got to be there for the occasion. Fellow missionaries Tirzah and Jonah came, too, representing human care and regional leadership, respectively. Jonah preached on the "beautiful feet" passage from Isaiah 52, citing that Arthur's feet are beautiful because of where they will go: the pulpit to preach the pure Gospel, the font to welcome new believers into the family of faith through water and the Word, and the altar to rightly administer Christ's true body and blood to his flock.  Before we ever got to Sunday, though, our feet went lots of OTHER places. Arriving in-country W

Most Dominicans leave the city during Holy Week, bound for a) the beach; b) the mountains; or c) the campo to see family. Schools are closed, and the seminary followed suit. It was an optional week off for the rest of us, but I worked full days M-W clearing out my inbox and checking off wrap-up tasks after two straight teams with mere days in between.  Then we get to Thursday, the start of the Triduum , a Latin term for the three preparatory days before a religious feast (in the case of Easter: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday).  I was ready to DO something, so I rounded up a couple friends for a dam adventure.  I'd been to the  presa  before but was missing a key experience I had an inkling would be good for future short-term teams, FOROs, and other visitors: taking a boat across the lake for lunch at one of the restaurants on the opposite shore. I consulted with a friend of mine who grew up visiting the area often for the scoop on parking, what we should expect to

Divine Savior Lutheran Church in Hartford, WI, was the DR's first COVID casualty. I distinctly remember when we were all still so naïve as to think a trip in March 2020 could still happen; the airline industry, the CDC, the LCMS, and a few others soon spoke.  Three years later, the core of the team plus a few add-ons was ready to try again. I was going to welcome them on a Saturday evening with empanadas and had a lovely Sunday planned: Divine Service, a garden outing, exploring the connection between mercy + church planting, and some friendly volleyball. Psych! A delayed flight led to a missed connection led to...them getting here exactly 24 hours behind schedule. What's one more day when you've waited so long, though? They'd make up for it with a "bonus" day (at JFK...) on the tail end, but they had a great time while they were HERE! No team escapes a welcome photo by the heart sculpture; Santiago IS  la Ciudad C orazón.  I made them get up early for a Mond