Hello once again from Puerto Rico. We hope the summer is going well for you. Lets catch you up to date with a brief review from May 1 to July 5.Early in May, as is the case everywhere, we celebrated Mother’s Day. A well designed program was developed to honor all the mothers present. Mary said we had one-hundred and two in attendance.
Later on that month our church recognized eleven of our graduates, from kinder to graduate level. After a guest speaker delivered the charge, a gift was given to each graduate; then cake for all in the basement.
Also during the month our benevolence/missions committees continued to do fund raisers to cover the operating expenses related to those ministries. Generally our church is very supportive of the efforts of these programs. Just yesterday a special offering was taken to fund these outreaches and the response was generous. These two ministries have teamed up to support the church’s upcoming mission’s trip the end of July. Benevolence has been collecting crayons, pencils, coloring books and school supplies to take to the Dominican Republic July 23. As a compliment to that effort, the mission’s team has been collecting used eye glasses to be given away at an eye clinic while in the Dominican Republic. We have been able to collect over one-thousand pairs! We praise the Lord and are grateful to the churches that were able to partner with us on this project.
The first of June, Mary and I were in NW Illinois speaking to two churches in the Quad-City area. We were well received and felt most welcome among those dear Christians. As soon as we got back, the 17th of June, we rushed to insure all was ready for Father’s Day. It was somewhat of a challenge since Mary and I both picked up a bug while in the USA, but all the plans came together, and the fathers were well “taken care of” that day.
June 28th, a guest speaker, Dr. Orlando Brinn and his wife Mara, blessed us with a marriage seminar during the Sunday school hour. Not only did they teach but also blessed us with their voices and a message. Our attendance was ninety-two.
Yesterday was a day of goodbyes. One of our families is moving to the States. The economy continues to force people to uproot their family and relocate in the USA. In the last three years over thirty-five members of our church have had to move. That is one-third of the church! Nevertheless, our attendance has remained stable as new people come in and identify themselves with us. Yesterday’s attendance was in the mid-eighties with some families out due to sickness, others with travels and even a death in one of our families. After church we had a church picnic. To culminate the day I was privileged to baptize a young teenager. It was quite a day. Well, I am out of space. Until next time, may God continue to bless you.
Johnathan and Mary Reece
Cross-cultural ministers to Puerto Rico
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