May 13, 2024

Good afternoon from Puerto Rico. This time a month ago Mary and I were on a plane heading to AR and IL to begin a month-long furlough. I left PR with the sun beating down and arrived in Chicago to be received by a snowfall the following day. Now that we are back, the days are hot, and a heat advisory is plastered across my telephone weather application. Nevertheless, it is good to be back in PR.

 

Reviewing a little, most of April and early May was spent visiting churches in Arkansas, Southern Illinois, and Indiana. In a sense, we went home; Mary to Arkansas and I to Southern Illinois. Our years up to college were spent in those two places. It is interesting that even though we have been in PR for 52-54 years (that is hard to imagine…) there is still a connect with the places of our childhood. It is as if we were driving through memory lane…a lane full of so much good. We got to visit friends from our childhood, visit the gravesites of our parents, and of course spoke to churches that we have known since we were born (Mary) or since our early childhood (Johnathan). Furthermore, these churches have financially backed us for 48-54 years! That is amazing! What faithfulness and kindness these dear people have shown us for so many years! We will always be grateful. Our thanks to the church in Mena, AR, as well as the churches in Anna, Johnston City and West Frankfort, IL. We also visited Cincinnati Christian Church in Bloomfield, Indiana. They too have supported us for many, many years and have always bent over backwards to make us feel welcome. It was a delight to spend Sunday morning with them.

I told Mary this would be the last time we would visit these churches. Openly, I admit it left somewhat of a melancholy note in our hearts. Saying “Adios” and not “Hasta luego” to friends and churches caused us to slow our steps and lower our heads. We do thank God for the ties we have had with all these churches as well as the others we visited in October 2023.  There are still a couple of churches we intend to visit in the fall. As I write this an old hymn written in 1772 comes to mind. It was a hymn that churches everywhere sang to finish a Sunday morning service. Do you remember it? The first stanza begins: “Blessed be the tie that binds, our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds, it like to that above.” 

 

May 7, we came back to Aguadilla ready to serve and we got back in the saddle this past Sunday. The 12th was Mother's Day, a big event across the island, only rivaled by Christmas and Three Kings Day. Everywhere people pull out the stops to recognize and pay homage to the mothers. In our church we had a gift for every mother. Our guest singer did a beautiful job singing and giving inspirational thoughts. Everyone was invited to a great dinner provided by the church. The building was full. One-hundred and eight was the final tally. It made the day even more special. Certainly, a day to say, "Thank you Lord."

 

That wraps it up. We will write again in June…Lord willing.

 

Johnathan and Mary Reece

Cross-cultural ministers to Puerto Rico