Taking Over

All last week, I helped with a takeover of the LCMS Instagram account. The Social Media Manager entrusted me and a slate of other missionaries with the username and password for "thelcms" so as to give followers a glimpse at Holy Week around the world(!!!) by posting stories throughout the week. I felt humbled and at the same time very powerful...

For you non-Instagrammers, here's a look back at how Courtney, Jana (LAC's Communications Specialist), and I portrayed Semana Santa in the DR. (If you ARE an Instagrammer and somehow missed all of this, go follow thelcms and watch for more missionary takeovers in the future!)

On Sunday, we shared videos of Palm Sunday processionals at the three Santiago-area congregations. Here's the one I recorded, from Pueblo Nuevo. In Latin America, these processionals don't go from the Narthex to the chancel; they wind through the entire neighborhood. And in the DR, we don't order palm fronds from the local florist; the pastor hacks them down with a machete the night before. 

On Monday, Courtney shared ideas of what to do with said palms...using photos from my house! I'm pretty sure I borrowed this one from my grade school music teacher. I love how it looks - and what it reminds me of - even when it's brown and dried (ignore the masks and random things I need to return to other people...#reallife). The trick is to keep Freddy from chewing on it... 

You can also make palm crosses!

Two different missionary kids made this palm leaf cross and purse for me last year. 

On Tuesday, I posted about a dish synonymous with Lent and Easter here: habichuelas con dulce (sweet cream of beans). It's made with beans, sweetened condensed milk, coconut milk, sweet potatoes, raisins, vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves and always topped with cookies; I used the "Swipe Up" feature to share the recipe. 

Stores sell pre-packaged kits. 

Even our local gourmet popsicle place was in on the action. 

Wednesday was a bit of a struggle, but when it got to be after 8 pm and no one had posted, I shared a sequence of 4 slides - stay with me here. 

Slide 1: As we walk with our Savior to the cross, art can be a powerful tool for meditating on Scripture, Visual Faith Ministry has TONS of great, FREE resources. 

Slide 2: Consider joining some of the LAC missionary women in this 30-day Bible lettering challenge. 

Slide 3: Leading the charge will be missionary wife & mom Lizz Warren. Check her our on her blog, myalabasterflask.com. Reading up on the events widely believed to have happened on Holy Wednesday in Mark 14:3-9 will lend insight into the title she chose!

Slide 4: Speaking of art...its use as a bridge into the church across LAC was highlighted during LCMS International Mission's recent Missions Unpacked event (another Swipe Up!).

On [Maundy] Thursday, I shared this video of a communion hymn we sang at Cordero de Dios...

....together with a photo of the altar, stripped of all reminders of Christ and His gifts.

On [Good] Friday, Jana attended the same service as me, so I deferred to the professional ;)

On Saturday, I met the four Africa-bound Brazilian Alliance missionaries and their families at a lab in Puerto Plata for their PCR COVID tests. Given that I was mere minutes away from the public beach in Costambar, I popped by for a few minutes and took this panoramic video. To me, it highlights how, since holidays = family time (often at the beach!), our task as the Church is to teach the importance of coming together as brothers and sisters in Christ.  

On Sunday, I posted both before and after Easter worship. 

The entire congregation was invited to bring altar flowers, so Kelsey & I made a pit stop. 

We wound up with a random assortment of bouquets that somehow looked lovely together. I snapped this before they got taken down and divvied up. 

And on Monday, I posted about the aforementioned Alliance missionaries getting ready to embark on their looooooong journey to Uganda for on-field orientation and then to begin their ministries of sharing the Good News of the Risen Lord in Congo, South Africa, and Uganda. 

No, I didn't ride the bus to the capital for their flight out of SDQ with them...but Courtney's a champ so she did, and so did Associate Regional Business Manager John!

Until next time, blessings!