missionaryMAC

With a new year came a new focus for me and a team of five volunteers from Trinity in Henrico, VA : youth. Contrary to what the gushing words of praise and thanksgiving on my Facebook wall might indicate, though, we had very little to do with organizing an overnight retreat for preteens through twenty-somethings; rather, we came alongside the Rev. Rafael Milagres, a handful of new deaconess grads, and a few key members of the youth group itself.  As soon as most businesses returned to regular operating hours on January 2, we, too, returned to work mode. A morning shopping trip yielded the raw materials for LOTS of prep: posters (Nicole), plastic wrap balls (Andrea and Isaiah, pictured), and marshmallow cereal treats (Jessica).  So that the team could get the lay of the land and do any necessary onsite setup, we made the hourlong drive to Cieneguilla ahead of the Peruvian contingent, on Friday afternoon. With the sun starting to set behind the mountains, it was too cold for the...

The LCMS short-term unit uses team leader last names as a part of the naming convention for each. In my last post , I alluded to the fact that my final airport trip of 2025, three days after Christmas, was to pick up some volunteers from VA: the "Hoag" team (though the team's namesake wound up giving birth the day they arrived and wasn't along for obvious reasons!). They were fantastic, having understood each of their THREE assignments perfectly, based on my specifications. This post walks through the first two; I'll save #3 for a subsequent post.   I arrived in Peru the day before the team, a Saturday. Sunday, aka prep/team arrival day, began with worship and getting to observe a joint Bible study between deaconess graduates and new students.  A slow Monday was just what the doctor ordered after a delayed flight meant we all got to bed around 1:30 am! We still had plenty of time for a children's and women's ministry supply run. Waiting for bus #8 or #33 t...