missionaryMAC

Toward the end of home service, I had lunch with a coworker. Based on what she knows of how I tend to roll and my rundown of what lay ahead, she told me, "You do a lot of things I wouldn't recommend!"  I know she was talking about flying straight from St. Louis to Montevideo, Uruguay , to host a short-term team (no regrets), but I suspect baking ~15 dozen sugar cookies - with cookie cutters I'd never used before - within a week of getting home would be up there, too.  I'd be home for all of nine days before flying back  to St. Louis for my sister's wedding, during which time Concordia the Reformer Seminary's annual theological symposium took place. Home service + Uruguay meant I couldn't take on my normal logistics lead role, but I gladly jumped in for a few airport runs and some pinch hit problem solving. I'd also been looking for an occasion to use some...unique...cookie cutters I got in Germany... in 2021 !...and may have offered my services wit

What took me and 13 of my favorite Bulldogs to the Southern Cone , you ask? A week of witnessing at a Lutheran school whose students are, in large part, anything but - that's what.  Colegio San Pablo might be the nation's only Lutheran school, but the 1,200 preschoolers through 12th graders mirror Uruguay's atheistic tendencies in that only a sliver are Christian. Many believe in nothing or don't know what they believe. Some are enrolled in a bilingual track where they learn ESL, English as a Second Language, from an early age, but all are unknowingly studying FSL, Faith as a Second Language.  God assembled the CUNE team, period. The 10 students' courses of study naturally divided them into teams that concentrated on certain grade ranges. English lessons in the elementary and middle grades consisted of team members showing pictures of and talking about their families, pets, houses, favorite foods, hobbies, and the like. Christian Education lessons varied:  The pres

It's 100% going to take 2 posts to convey all there is to convey about an entire country I've never been to before, never mind a full week with 10 education and DCE students and three professors from Concordia University Nebraska (CUNE). Let me just say Uruguay is WAY down there - south of the entire African continent and about one degree of latitude shy of the furthest south I've ever been. There were no good options for getting there. Zero. The least of the evils had a 6:19 am departure, two layovers, and a middle of the night arrival.  There are two LCMS missionary families in Uruguay: the Schieferdeckers , whom I regrettably wouldn't see since they live five hours from Montevideo, and the Sharps . James picked me up and got me settled in their guest room. I guess you could say I got almost a full night's sleep...albeit starting at about 2:30 am...before a 10:30 am church service. Lunch at the Sharps' favorite restaurant was a highlight, then it was time to