July 11

Wilderness beach: Aguadilla

Hi everyone. Summer is rushing by. Gone is June and today is Tuesday, the 12th of July. After taking Monday off I am ready to go again. Sunday was a long day with opening up the building at 7:30 getting ready for church band practice at 8:00. Following that was an adult Sunday School class and then a worship service at 10:00. I closed up at 12:00 only to be back at 1:15 for a 2:00 PM wedding followed up by a reception at a different location, about a half hour away. I believe we made it home around 8:00 PM. This schedule is the schedule for so many preachers...and yes, missionaries around the world. Language and culture changes, but the duties are similar where ever one goes.

Summer has always been a time of doldrums for the church...at least it seems that way to me. Attendance always nose-dives and is down till the 2nd-3rd weekend in August.  Almost always most of the attendance drop is attributed to summer vacations which take many people off of the island for one-two weeks. Two weeks ago three families missed for that reason. On top of that many in our church family have been sick with Covid including Mary and I. Two weeks ago thirteen missed due to sickness. Fortunately, all came through it with little difficulty. As you know, low attendance takes the wind out of our sails but it is temporary from all that I can ascertain. 

On a more positive note, Fathers' Day went well with a better than average attendance. The dads got a gift, a couple of specials dedicated to them and a dinner shared by all. I preached the sermon.

We had planned to have a Saturday family retreat July 2nd at a farm the island-wide churches bought years ago to convert into a church camp. However, we had to reschedule for later in the year for a couple of unexpected cancellations including the primary speaker. 

Desert Rose in our backyard

Coming up this Friday and Saturday is a half-day VBS. This is the first one we will have held in three years because of the pandemic fiasco.  PR has taken the matter almost to an extreme. In 2020 all public meetings were disallowed for almost three months. Then for the past two and a half years, masks in public places have been required or highly encouraged. In some cases even now some stores (Pharmacies/doctors offices/hospitals) are required by law to use/require a mask. Today I went into a boat dealership that required all who entered to use a mask. Some restaurants do the same (I find it amusing. To eat you take off your mask. Yet when entering and leaving the restaurant, masks must be in place. It seems germs are found at four-six feet but not at three-four feet when one is seated.). More than not are wearing masks when in public. And like everywhere I suppose, even to this day, we have a few who do not come to church because of the pandemic. Perhaps it revealed pre-existing cracks in their faith SIGH. 😐.

        Grandma, Uncle Ben, Aunt Tiffany
        NICOLE, Mom (Tania), Dad (Andy), Grandpa

Closing on a personal note, our granddaughter had her sixteenth birthday celebration last month. I suppose few, if any, have seen a formal "Sweet Sixteen" celebration as done here in PR. It is quite an affair! Last year's "Quiceañero" (15th birthday party) was cancelled due to the pandemic. So the celebration was this year. As you can see, it was a big deal. Here is the photo of our granddaughter and the Reece side of her immediate relatives.  

Well we will catch you again in a month or so. We hope your summer is pleasant.

Blessings, Johnathan and Mary