Mt. Bethel Christian Academy

After a long Journey, we are finally back in Puerto Rico with our friends in Loiza. We can't wait to see what God has in store for us this year.

It’s our first day of worship with Pastor Roberto in Loiza. Since it’s the month of love and friendships the message is reflecting on this. How God chooses you for trusting him with mission trips. Also we experience a baby being presented and dedicated to the church with the family. One of our missionaries is sharing a testimony that now on his 2nd trip back to Puerto Rico he’s ready to make the next step to get baptize here.

Our host pastor Roberto is taking time after the service to pour into our students and speak words of love and encouragement and words of wisdom. We love this church so much and it truly feels like family.

After our lunch and some rest time, we are now walking the community of Las Carreras, giving out candy for Valentine's Day, but most importantly prayer for the community and love.

As we were doing our prayer walk, we got to play basketball with a few of the kids out there. We are having so much fun as we pray, minister and share the love of Christ.

We are finishing up our prayer walk, but before we do, we are taking the time to pray for our children.

Today's first day of ministry we are able to go to one of the members'homes to do yard work. She shared with us that she's a teacher retiring this year. Also the history within the church that she was raised in and her role. She sings and also does Sunday Bible school class for the children. We are grateful to be able to help with her yard.

While part of our group is doing yard work, some of us are working at an apartment of a man named Anibal. He is paralyzed from the waist down and needs help cleaning his apartment. It's such a joy to be able to use our hands and feet to help others that may not be able to.

While part of our group is doing yard work and the other is cleaning an apartment, a group of us stayed at the church to help paint the fence and the face of the building, which is our lodging host for the week.

After a delicious lunch we took time to prepare and now we are in the community of Las Carreras. It's our second year here to play with the kids in the community. As soon as we arrived their faces lit up as they remembered us from last year. We are excited to play with them and bring them the love of God.

After a great day of ministry and VBS we had a great dinner and now we are gathering along with the youth to study the word of God. Our team is in charge this year to bring the Bible study and we are taking a deeper look into Jonah chapters 1, 3 and 4.

It's our second full day of ministry, and this morning we are at a church member's house to help with her yard. We've got a weed wacker, we have machetes and we have trash bags. But most importantly we have the Lord with us as we help this woman in the name of the Lord.

It's our second day of ministry and we are working to finish Alicia's house.We are excited to finish our work and bless Alicia.

As we are finishing the house, we wanted to pray for Alicia and bless her.

It's day two of our VBS and we are showing the kits a skit of the story of David and Goliath and how David was able to defeat the giant not by his own power but by the power of God. By the power of his faith in the Lord

As we wrapped up our second day of VBS, one of our students Drew this with chalk on the wall. Wall. A reminder that Jesus loves us all the time.

After an amazing day of ministry and VBS, we are now enjoying a delicious ice cream at Georgetti's famous ice cream that we go every time we come back. Buen provecho!

After our ice cream, we are doing our meeting at the plaza of Rio Piedras. During the meeting we encounter a woman that has a lot of suffering and need and we may stop during the meeting to pray for her. We know that Jesus loved her and we are praying for her.

Today We have the privilege to service mama pelican’s home (Maria). She needed to paint her terrace which included windows, walls and a high angle ceiling. She explained to us that it would take her 3 days to finish the project. It’s a pleasure to be able to help her. She appreciates this God'moment.

Today we got to serve one more house. We are serving a woman named Iris and she recently lost her husband and she was feeling alone and sad. Today we are getting to work on her yard and be the hands of Christ as we support her in this time of need. We are carrying heavy logs and cutting grass and tree branches.

While part of our group is doing yardwork and helping out at Maria's house, we are staying here in the church to paint and make it look nice and presentable.

After finishing the work at Iris house, we took the time to pray for her and show her God's love. She was without words.

It's her last day of VBS and we are teaching the kids how to make shorts and shields to go along the Bible story of David and Goliath and tying it to the armor of God.

During VBS all these days in the community of Las Carreras there was a woman named Maria who has a small restaurant in the community and she made these flour dumplings with cod fish called Llanicletas.

Today is our prayer service Wednesday and our students got the chance to share testimonies. Now we are taking the time to pray for our team and our senior class that are graduating today

This Year is a very special year, as we have three seniors that have been in the strip multiple times. We are recognizing William, Jack, and Grace, for serving with humility, integrity and prayer. Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus throughout this mission trip across many years.

One of the church members has an apartment with a pool area and today she has invited us to enjoy the pool. We are having so much fun getting refreshed.

After a beautiful morning enjoying the pool and then the Zipline, we are now enjoying some fun time at the beach.

After having fun at the beach, we are now in a very powerful moment, as we are celebrating the baptisms of four of our students. Pastor David our Trip Leader alongside Pastor Roberto, our host partner are performing these baptisms for the students. We are so proud of them and we are overwhelmed with joy. To God be the glory.

As we are ending our day, the church got us Pizzas and hamburgers. The Youth of the church came to be with us and worship with us. We are spending our last night with them worshipping the Lord and enjoying his presence.

It's our final day and we are heading to Old San Juan and then the airport.. before we head out, our teachers are encouraging us to not only remember this experience, but to be strong the next season right after the trip and the high of it goes down, we can stay strong in the Lord and continue building up from the trip so that we can take what we have learned here in Puerto Rico and apply it back home.

While airport days can feel like you're in a rush, the church reminded us how important it is to pray. So before we left, they stopped us and now they are praying for us so that we have a safe travel and that when we get back we can continue being the light of Jesus.

As we wrap up our week. There's so many mixed feelings. Feelings of Joy, love, excitement and so much more. We are now here at Old San Juan for souvenir shopping. As we walk the streets of the oldest town, we are grateful to have had this opportunity in this trip. Hasta luego, Puerto Rico!