August 27

Hi everyone. Tonight is the calm before the storm...literally. Clouds are moving fast and swirling in an unusual rotation. Birds and pets are hyper as well; all warnings of the impending storm. Erika comes in tonight and will continue through mid-day tomorrow; exiting right over Aguadilla...(us). We are ready however. The sustained winds of fifty mph do not concern us too much but the rain accumulation from three to twelve inches will cause problems for sure. On a brighter note, the island is currently experiencing severe drought conditions so this will reverse the lakes' critically low levels.

On to other matters: Since we last wrote, our attendance has been very nice...over one-hundred each Sunday but one. Services have been upbeat, adult Sunday School classes have been excellent, with attendance building somewhat.

We also had the joy of baptizing a young girl two Sundays ago. I was privileged to baptize her dad several years ago. What a joy to see another generation responding to the Spirit's leading.

In our last blog we mentioned two events were on the calendar. Those events have come and gone. The first was a concert presented by a female duet. They were large women with matching powerful and beautiful voices. They are quite popular across the island and the attendance, although not as good as we had hope for, was still pretty good for a Friday night. Preachers can never be happy I suppose.

Then, last Friday night and Saturday morning, we hosted a marriage seminar presented by two Christian psychologists who are well respected on the island. The institute of marriage is being devastated here in PR. The psychologists said the divorce rate in PR is at 80%! In our church there are many couples with issues which they seem to be unable/unwilling to resolve. It is very disconcerting. Preachers everywhere project the same concerns about their church members. Oh how people need to give their hearts completely to the Lord!

Also, as one of our benevolence ministry projects, our church collected clothing for the Salvation Army. The people responded in a very generous way, certainly beyond what I had expected.

Do not forget to pray for the church as well as for us.  God bless you.

Johnathan and Mary