Puerto Rico Mission: August 14, 2021

Tropical storm's center to pass 15 miles
from where we live.

Good evening. Today was a rainy day; a perfect time to sit at the computer and compose this blog. On the iPad I opened the NOAA radar screen and what greeted me were storm warnings. All of Puerto Rico is painted red and a tropical storm warning shows a storm (40 mph sustained winds) passing over Puerto Rico sometime tomorrow. The eye is presently plotted to pass about 10-15 miles south of our town tomorrow evening. A church member called and said lines are forming at gas stations, people trying to get ready. The winds don’t concern us too much. However, the rain often is the cause of troubles for many people in low lying areas. The next sixty days are carefully monitored. Weather pattern after weather pattern slides off the African coast and makes its way to the Caribbean and often the US.

Friends/church members
Getting a card and sharing
some laughs

We had intended to be back inside the church building by mid-August. Seventy percent of our congregation is vaccinated so we felt the risk was manageable. Then the government relinquished all restrictions including beaches and bars just as the Delta variant took off. Well, as you can imagine, we are back to masks and even having to show a vaccination card if one wants to eat in a restaurant. Essentially what we see and read about in the US is the same here.

The attendance continues to be below what it was before the pandemic started. I must admit I wonder if it will come back after this mess blows over. I suspect pastors and church leaders everywhere are asking the same question. On a more positive note; rarely have we had to cancel a church service these past fourteen months meeting outdoors. However, we MAY have to do that tomorrow if the storm speeds up.

Brothers helping pick up
donated food for fifty families

These past couple of weeks have been weeks of blessings. We have been able to practice the teaching of Christ. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” I got a call last week offering me $5,000.00 in gift cards to be used at a local grocery store. Each card holds a value of $100.00. These cards were to be given to our church members or to people we or they knew were in need. So, Mary and I spent two days, along with Santos Torres, gifting the cards to fifty families. What a blessing. Moving on... I then received another call from a food bank asking me if I would like to receive fifty boxes/bags of groceries to be given to the church members, or as before, to people in need. So this morning four brothers in Christ and I picked up the items and assembled bags of groceries for fifty families. Tomorrow at church we will pass out the groceries to those present and then make rounds during the afternoon to other church families and other families we know.

Financial gift buys a water reserve

The last opportunity we had to bless a person this week was a woman who is quite limited in her financial resources. Furthermore, she has a child that is severely challenged both mentally and physically. The city gave this sister in the Lord a four-hundred gallon water tank but the pump, the pressure tank and all the fittings were lacking. She/we were stuck. Unexpectedly, a friend of almost fifty years called. He told us he had recently lost his wife and was sending a gift in her honor. We were able to purchase what was missing and pay a plumber to do the instillation. She was so grateful and we were too. That gift will met her needs for years to come.

Mary and I had intended to travel off the island to visit the northeastern US and on into part of Canada to enjoy the arrival of fall. “Delta” took away that dream! So, we are staying put. Oh well. "In all things give thanks." School is back in session in PR. So, Mary or I will do our part in picking up our granddaughter after school and being available if she has questions. No complaints. We are blessed to be so close to her, our oldest son and his wife.

I think I am out of the space I allotted myself. Thanks for dropping by to read the blog. God bless you.

Johnathan and Mary