These past seven weeks the church has been up and down in its attendance, ranging from one-hundred and four to sixty-seven. Apart from considerable sickness, the cause is "summer". You know; vacations, a weekend get-away, families down from the States, and the lure of special events all across the island. No preacher likes it but as someone said, "It is what it is." Summer will soon be over.Giving it a broader look, as never before, this has been a very dynamic year; a year of church enrollment changes. Five families have moved away due to the island's economic crisis and yet others are coming in to fill their places. We are slowly plugging those new people into the church. Meaningful relationships take time to develop.
Some of the events at church have included a Sunday to recognize our graduates. Two weeks later was Fathers' Day; celebrated in style with gifts and a church dinner. The next weekend the church filled a bus for an outing to a new art museum in San Juan with a side trip to historic Old San Juan. Other events included; four marriages, a death in the church, two workshops on composting and home gardening, and a benevolence ministry trip to the Children's Oncology Hospital to gift each child toys and personal effects. Also, guitar classes began last Sunday for a few of our children in an attempt to bring up future church musicians. The appearance of the building is important so a new coat of paint was put on. We also added a new sound booth in the auditorium.
Looking ahead just a little, the first of August our church is hosting a Saturday day camp. That same day we are also hosting a CPR class for the community. Also, mission trips by Santos Torres and another couple from the church, (both to the Dominican Republic) are set for the end of July and late August. These trips' objectives will be to preach/teach, take clothing, school supplies, and food for the people in need there. Finally, another outing is also planned July 30. Two buses have been reserved to visit a famous Taino Indian site in the mountains.
The church continues to make major outlays to help people in need. Last month we gave money to the upcoming missions trip, paid for a church member's funeral, collected food for a needy family, gave money to a family that, due to sickness, had minimal income, and also helped a struggling church pay its preacher. Although the church does not regularly support foreign missions it does spend a considerable portion of its budget beyond its walls, to meet huge and constant needs here in PR.
In May I finished up a four month series of sermons on I John (I suppose many were ready for me to lay it to rest). Since then, three church members and I have been preaching a series of messages on how to tackle matters that surface in Christians' lives such as; loss of zeal, anger, anxiety, bitterness, and procrastination. This series will continue till the end of August.
On to personal matters, Mary was in NYC for a week to take a seminar on grant writing offered by New York University. I flew up at the end of the week to take a week of vacation to visit the city and explore the Adirondacks in upstate New York. We about froze to death, but had a good time!
I guess that catches it all. Next time I will not be so wordy... I promise. Blessings.
Johnathan and Mary
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