missionaryMAC

Greetings from Belize! It's good to be here (for a FORO followed by a Volunteer Coordinators' Conference), and to be amongst what is now LAC's 2nd largest missionary team. And as Area Facilitator Rev. Herb Burch replied with a phrase he picked up at a pastors' conference over the summer, "it's good to be seen."  The day before my 6 am flight, there was some question as to whether there'd even be a FORO. Hurricane Lisa passed through Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and it showed as we left the airport.  If you saw my Facebook post from yesterday, the answer is no, no there was not power or water at Camp Concordia. We cheered on the multiple electric company crews we passed.  Two days into the recovery effort may not be an ideal time to host a FORO, but in one sense, it's perfect. Mission life isn't always unicorns and rainbows. Sometimes, it's hurricanes (and then rainbows, as seen from the plane).  FORO partners are committed to s...

Four teams later...it's November. The epic conclusion to my marathon months of STT activity was a team of two from Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Chesterfield, MO: old friends (of each other and of the DRLM) Marty & Kristin. We figured out that Kristin's first trip was in 2011, so both she and Marty have perspectives on the trajectory of the Church's work here, memories of former missionaries and mission locations, and longstanding relationships with missionaries and local members that I can only dream of.  I loosely stuck to the " Mercy Outreach Team " they signed up for as I crafted their schedule, but in the end I tried to cater our activities to their unique vocational skills as much as possible: Marty is a semi-retired engineer and hobby woodworker, and Kristin is a retired home health physical therapist.  My list for Marty included some special request sanctuary adornments for Iglesia Luterana Cordero de Dios, a bookcase for each of the five DRLM congre...

Team #4/4 is home safely, so I'm finally getting around to documenting the rest of team #3/4. All ten of us - the team of nine from Peace Lutheran Church in Lemay, MO, plus me - got through it by the grace of God.  My first post took you through Wednesday... Thursday morning, one of our ranks wasn't feeling up to joining the team, so she stayed back with another team member to care for her. I always feel like we're missing a limb when that happens! They missed "Mary & Martha" day at VBS and  tallarines verdes at Rev. Elvis (below, right) and his wife Alba's house for dinner. We also celebrated Elvis's 30th birthday with a  lúcuma cake that successfully survived a ride on the city bus and a roughly 90 min. haul across town at rush hour in our rented shuttle bus (I warned everyone in advance it'd be long!).  Greg didn't shy away from talking theology with Rev. Jeancarlos (Pastor-elect Jeancarlos at the time!) and Rev. Elvis, both of whom speak ...

Team #4/4 missed their afternoon flight and now arrives at 10:42 pm, so voilà: blog time.  Team #3/4 hailed from my hometown of St. Louis, MO, but spent last week in Lima, Peru, leading VBS for the kids at the Castillo Fuerte mercy house in the La Victoria district. We hadn't even made it to our lodging yet before someone asked what high school I went to - #iykyk.  Gold star for preparedness! The congregation, Peace Lutheran in Lemay, has a long history of doing VBS at Hong Kong International School and therefore had it down to a science. The twist in this setting was that they're used to teaching a different group of kids each day in English, not the same kids all week through an interpreter.  Sunday was a blur of worship, a…relaxed…lunch hosted by a member at her rooftop terrace café, shopping, and sunset views, but the spring chill didn’t do my body any favors so I wasn’t enjoying any of it…or documenting it for posterity!  I came out of the bathroom Monday mornin...