missionaryMAC

At the risk of this getting lost in the frenzy of Friday's fender bender and its aftermath, my rear wasn't the only thing that got ended over the weekend. Friday was the 5th and final day of the Campamento in Palmar, but all week, we had been encouraging the kids to come to church on Sunday, together with their parents, for what I'll call a closing celebration. In actuality, I hope we were celebrating an opening, or many openings - of hearts to the Holy Spirit, so that the great faith exemplified in each day's hero might be created and nurtured in each child who came and his or her household. Thursday's craft turned into a path to the cross as each child laid his or her footprints next in line during closing.  Each day had a different Bible memory verse. I was amazed at the kids' recall abilities as we reviewed all of the previous ones each day and as they recited all 5 on Sunday (video below!).  We also practiced the song Justificados pues por fe...

VBS ended on Friday. And I got rear ended.  Forging my way through stop and go rush hour traffic on a busy road about 5 min. from my house, I felt a thud and heard shattering. 100% OK but flustered, I managed to pull over and roll my window down, only to see the agitated motorcyclist who had hit me gesturing at a teeny cut on the inside of his lip. The only thing I knew was that I needed people on my side. Mentally crossing off everyone on home service and vacation, I finally reached Business Manager Blake, who had arrived back in Santiago earlier that day. He was on his way within minutes. Meanwhile, witnesses had started gathering. I knew  the accident wasn't my fault, and they agreed. Despite the motorcyclist's insistence that I had slammed on my brakes, he realized he was outnumbered and took off. I got out of the car only when Blake arrived. With nothing left to do at the scene, he followed me back to the office to inspect the damage. The point of impact was dead...

It had been several years since the last one, but the deaconesses in Palmar wanted to do VBS. So, with summer's usual skeleton crew of missionaries and a wishy-washy group of women and teens from the church, missionary deaconess Caitlin Ramirez is leading the charge and doggone it, we're doing VBS this week! The theme is "Jesus, our Hero." Each day, we're learning about a different biblical figure that was heroic not on account of grandiose exploits, but rather because of his or her unwavering faith. So far, we've covered David, Hannah, and the three men in the fiery furnace.  Don't mind me, I'm just on the floor back there making some posters. Also, yes, mojitos DO help when furiously prepping until 11 pm on Sunday night.  Snack helpers, including missionary kid Rebekah (left).  Each day begins with a large group opening in the church.  God > Goliath Our rock star director leading a song about the telephone we use to...

The Kingston Ministry Centre is far from complete, but last week's progress is too dramatic not to share! Instead of BEFORE & AFTER, I'm calling these BEFORE & IN BETWEEN. Compared to my first time seeing the building in September 2018, the place is hardly recognizable! Exterior with new pitched roof that doesn't leak.  One of the short-term team bunk rooms.  Short-term team kitchen.  Short-term team bathroom.  Sanctuary...and various angles thereof.  Living/dining space of 2nd pastor's apartment. Until next time, blessings!

The Kingston Ministry Centre renovation, like any project of its magnitude, has been riddled with ups and downs. That rang especially true as last week's short-term team from Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Wichita Falls, TX, plowed through 2 major tasks Tuesday through Saturday: knocking DOWN a wall in the sanctuary to create a single, open worship space; and putting UP a drop ceiling in the living/dining area of the future 2nd pastor's apartment. Living room ceiling demo set the tone for the week. I thought it might take them a day or so, but it was basically done by our late morning Deaf Can Coffee outing. And that's even with a few people starting to chip away at the sanctuary wall! I can't even express to you how many times we swept the floor. Local evangelist Claudious was a huge help! Enjoying the A/C and Deaf Can's selection of COLD menu items while hearing the inspiring story of the student run enterprise.  Which method of calculat...