Our Savior Lutheran Church Mission Team

We have arrived at the airport. After two hours of driving, we finally made it to Aguadilla. We are talking with the pastor and he is sharing his heart and his testimony. It looks like it's going to be an awesome trip. We are staying at a missionary house-- from a contact of the local pastor. 

Today we are having an afternoon service. We are currently helping the pastor set up for it, taking the electric drums and piano and setting it up. In the meantime, some of us are just sharing with the pastor and the congregation and getting to know them more! This church is full of love, and is very refreshing to share with them!

We went on a prayer walk in Augustine Stahl in Aguadilla with our host pastor Lou. It's a community that has a lot of need and it was good to see how God moved through us to reach the hearts of the community. 

After the prayer walk, we are going with pastor Lou to the boardwalk. We are enjoying the view , as well as buying some local snacks. The ocean looks so peaceful.

Just  before we started our evening debrief, Brian got here to visit! He was part of the PPM staff the last time we were on the island! Te amamos, Brian!

We are working at the church on some remodeling projects doing manual labor. Some of us are painting, some are making doors, and some are making necklaces for VBS. 

We are still working at the church, building more barn doors, and setting them up on the rails, as well as painting the ceiling some more. It's a blessing to see this team working together in unity as Jesus commanded us and accomplishing a common purpose in remodeling this church. 

With the blessing of shade and a cool breeze, we came back to the children and they were ready for us!  After hugs, they jumped into the crafts and listened to the Bible stories Nathaniel wrote.  And then it was mostly running and playing.

We all tried to keep up with so many happy faces as they laughed and took us through the ringer.  Josh sat in goal and blocked so many shots on goal, letting only a few go by to peals of laughter.  Josh also spent most of the day getting teased by Miguel.  After Josh said he didn't speak Spanish, Miguel would say "Hola!" and then say "Gotcha" when Josh responded in kind, proving he had at least one Spanish word.

I'll never forget Lisa, the five year-old who is a prima to so many.  Lisa had never thrown a frisbee and I have never seen anyone get as much joy from either catching or throwing a plastic disc.  She spent hours and by the end she was so very good at both.

Tomorrow, we will have the opportunity to go back, but I fear that time will be a touch bittersweet,  Tonight we are tired and we are blessed.

We are distributing food in Augustine Stahl, where we have been for the past few days, after doing some remodeling work at the missionary house we are staying in as well as the church.  We are spending time with the children at VBS, teaching them about the love of God, and playing sports with them. I really am seeing God move. When I played songs about God's love for the children, many of them were moved and began crying tears of joy because they felt the presence of the Holy Spirit touching their lives. In the end, the kids were sad to see us leave; but I pray that they were left with God's love and presence. Overall, we are very fulfilled with the work we did in the community here.

It’s our final day working here as the flight leaves tomorrow. So we are now relaxing at the beach after a long day of work. God’s creation is so beautiful.

Today is the day we are flying back to Mary land. This is a bittersweet moment for us. We are going to miss our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico but we are glad to be going back to help our local community back home. We are very grateful for Pastor Lou.