October 29

I looked over the last blog...written a month ago. As you can suspect, the church members have put October aside and are discussing Thanksgiving and Christmas and even into the new year.

In our last blog I made mention that our benevolence ministry was two days away from visiting the Oncological Hospital in San Juan. The trip was very productive. Eight from our benevolence ministry and four guests including a pastor of 1,600 children from the Dominican Republic made the trip to bless the children and parents of those little ones. Pastor Quesada from the D.R. and another ministry from Puerto Rico provided the program/teaching. Our church provided gifts for the children and their parents on three floors of the hospital. The congregation is a generous group of people.

A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed an annual fall event in the church, Splash Day. About half of the church stayed after the service to munch on hotdogs and watch the kids play in the inflatable water slides.

It is with delight that I can announce the baptism of a woman who had been attending our church for the past three years. She had been actively involved but for personal reasons had not been baptized.

On a different note, one of our faithful members passed away unexpectedly. It was a sad moment for the entire congregation. It was beautiful to see the church rally around the family in their time of deep sorrow.

Yesterday we said our goodbyes to one of our families who had been active in our church for years. Because of work issues they had to move to the San Juan area. Their absence will be felt.

In spite of these losses, the attendance has been steady. New people are coming to fill the void. I am always amazed how the Lord works to lead people our way.

I am starting to carefully plan for 2013. With His blessing I know it will be another great year.

Until next time....blessings.