missionaryMAC

It's been a celebratory last week in Santiago: we installed TWO new missionary pastors. Both were already ordained, but at regular Divine Services on Wednesday and Sunday (yesterday), respectively, they were officially placed into their roles as shepherds of particular congregations. For both, this step signals the beginning of a transition from on-field orientation to day-to-day ministry.  1. Rev. Roberto Weber, Iglesia Luterana el Buen Pastor, Palmar Arriba I brought MK Ryan (age 10) with me since his dad was part of the service and had to be there early. He picked out a seat in the 2nd row so we could see everything up close. The service was lovely - featuring choirs of a) seminarians and b) ladies from the church - but SO hot. Roberto was directly in front of me and sweating bullets; twice I passed him Kleenex from the travel pack in my purse. Something tells me the new pastor might revisit a long since tabled conversation about A/C. In the spirit of true immersion, Rev. David

Even if they (the title verbs) happen nine years apart.  I drove Rev. David Mommens, LAC's first intensive Spanish for pastors candidate, to the seminary today, to experience a day of student life but more so to preach at chapel (in Spanish after just over a week here, so the program obviously works - ha!). Milling around before the start of the service, I "met" the newest residential seminary student, Francisco, who arrived in the Dominican from Chile on Saturday with his wife and three kids.  Seated, L to R: Francisco, Jesús (Venezuela), and Fernando (Cuba).   "Met" should have been "greeted," because as he shook my hand, Francisco enthusiastically told me we'd met in Constitución (Chile, when I led a Lutheran Hour Ministries mission trip there in 2015).  ***Inserts foot in mouth and scours Chile trip photos*** Could it be? My captions testified to the fact that one of the individuals we saw baptized and confirmed was  named Francisco (2nd fro

Halfway through our time together, the MOST team & I shifted clinic locations, and thus hotels to save hours in traffic.  Dana and I realized a) whoever decorated the Hodelpa Caribe Colonial shops at IKEA; but also b) it's adorable!  Bus devotions AGAIN on the way to our first "culture day" stop. MOST's MO is to save teams' last day in-country for a cultural excursion, but as has worked well in the past during similar trips, I opted to use sightseeing as a midweek transition. I'd toured the Cortés Hnos. chocolate factory museum before, but never the factory  factory. 100% would do again. Lunch was delicious as always but cemented the fact that the "Choco Lounge" is going to become an order ahead kind of place.  From there, we swung by the Columbus Lighthouse, which I'd warned the team wasn't what they were imagining. I've been there many times, so I found a breezy spot to catch up on some messages while they wandered the exhibits. T

I loved my most recent team's faithfulness to starting and ending each day in the Word and as you'll see in this post and the next, couldn't stop taking pictures of different team members leading the meditations they'd prepared. The title phrase, an ever so brief prayer, comes from a hymn we sang one morning during devotions on the bus to somewhere; it hit differently given our task for the week: visiting two sites in Santo Domingo, DR, to test vision; distribute glasses free of charge, and most importantly, preach the Good News.  It seems like we, 12 individuals representing six states, one Canadian province, and 10 distinct home congregations, fought Satan at every turn. He clearly did not want us doing what we did, so when heat, travelers' diarrhea (most of the team but not me) and power outages threatened, the only thing to do was keep our gazes firmly fixed on the reason we were there.  My associate-in-training Dana was by my side all week. The best way for her

September FORO planning...felt like a well-oiled machine.  I was ticking off boxes one-by-one: reports from each ministry area; hotel reservations; airport transfers; travel tips for US guests; a new-to-everyone-but-me Friday excursion (vetted by a team of high schoolers in June)... (Spoiler alert: it's a dance lesson.) The peanut gallery started with 2 of us...and grew steadily.  The kids, on the other hand, were into it.  Merengue en pareja.  ...lunch reservations afterward; translators, snacks, and lunch for Saturday's meeting. The works.  Short-term volunteers and their strategic impact were highlighted in multiple presentations.  The kicker came when a death in the Krey family meant a sudden trip to the US for Regional Director Ted, but if I've learned anything in six years, it's that problems are opportunities for innovation. We talked shop in the Krey backyard over pizza Saturday night.  As has become somewhat of a tradition, [Northern Hemisphere] fall FOROs in