January 6, 2020

Full house

This is the first blog of the year. Today is Three Kings' Day, the second (and traditional) Christmas  Day in Puerto Rico. As the title implies, its tradition is centered more in biblical teaching. For some, this is THE Christmas Day, not the 25th of December. Everything is closed. Children are opening their gifts all over the island.

Three Kings giving gifts to the church children

Yesterday at church we had quite a crowd which maxed out the building's seating capacity even though so many of our church members were off island, sick, or even in the hospital taking care of some of their family. In Puerto Rico the patient rarely remains alone in the hospital. Almost always someone from the family stays in the room. Back to the church... We had a guest singer, a troubadour, with his band. They were amazingly talented. At the end of the service the Three Kings (three men from the church in costume) gave gifts to the children. Afterwards, we enjoyed Three Kings' Day dinner on the church lawn, eating a roasted pig prepared on a spit, which had been cooking since 4:30 A.M.

Pig cooked on the church lawn.
(Click to magnify)

Earthquake damage

On to other things. People all over the island are jittery. We have been experiencing MANY tremors on the southwest side of the island. This morning we awoke to our house trembling. We didn't drag our heels getting out of bed! Believe me! The southwest side of the island had a 5.8 tremor and many aftershocks. There was damage. They are expecting an earthquake of 7.0+. The last one happened one-hundred years ago causing a tsunami in our town and deaths. Historical records show we have had major earthquakes every seventy years.

Enough of that! "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice." Paul wrote these words, in spite of his many troubles. That passage is the church's motto for 2020; and, indeed, we have many reasons to rejoice, beginning with the hope we have in Christ Jesus. We intend to give the Lord our all and hope you will too. Blessings to all who read the blog.

Johnathan and Mary