Trinity Lutheran Church

Our Pelican staff is waiting for us as we travel to Puerto Rico. It's been a year since we've been back and we can't wait to be here and see what God is going to do throughout this week.

We finally made it back to Puerto Rico and we are excited to get the week started. We are going to get settled in before dinner and our orientation.

We have started our day with group discussions of situations where we would share our faith and how we would do it. God is preparing us for the week ahead as we close with the question “How can God use me”?

We are participating in the church service that is also the closing service for the VBS. It is a joy to see their joy. Truly we must be like kids to enter the kingdom of heaven.

After a wonderful service with the children and the lunch prepared by the church, we took the time to sit down with the pastor and church leaders to set up the final details of the week. We pray that God will allow us to fulfill His plan this week.

We are going around the community of the Methodist Church of Los Angeles in Puerto Rico. We are inviting members of the community to join us in this week's elderly VBS.

While part of our team is doing a prayer walk and inviting the elderly to the VBS at Los Angeles, we are here at San Juan Park inviting the kids for a 3-day VBS from 2:00 to 5:00 pm from Monday to Wednesday. As soon as we pull in kids ran towards us. So we are now playing soccer with them and basketball.

After dinner, we are now taking time to prepare for the week. Part of our team will be doing VBS for the elderly at Los Angeles and another group in the afternoon will be at San Juan Park with the kids. We are now discussing each site and assigning teams.

We are ready to receive the church members to do our first elderly VBS. We are sure the Lord will use us to bless this generation.

We are here at Blessed Care to help this place. They have been operating for a year, blessing our elderly generation. Our job this week is to paint and make sure it looks great for their inspection at the end of the month. We want to make sure that they get everything they need so they can continue serving with dignity.

After the bible school where we learned the importance of wisdom and how to pass it to the next generation we are now making card and friendship bracelets for the VBS kids in the afternoon. It is such a joy to be able to interact with the older generation. The Holy Spirit does not need a translator.

After hanging out with the elderly and a good lunch we have now started to paint the church. We are thankful to be able to serve and help this wonderful church community.

We are in San Juan Park doing a VBS for the kids in the community. All the kids are exited to play and and be with us this week.

As we are in VBS we have some kids doing crafts!

We are also taking kids to learn the story of the walls of Jericho.

We also have a station for games where the kids can play.

After a long day of work we had the chance to go eat some ice cream at Georgetti’s. Nothing refreshes the soul like good ice cream.

Today we are talking about the importance of how God’s wisdom gives us the courage to share our life experiences with the next generation. There are 3 generations sharing the word of God and life experiences.

We are continuing our work at the elderly center. We are making good progress and everything is starting to look good.

After pastor Daniel helped us think about the how the difficulties in life help us learn and grow, we did a craft about the cross and what it represents.

Our finished product not only reminds us about the sacrifice God made for us but also the importance of patience and hard work to accomplish our goals.

We are back here at Blessed Care Center and before we continue with our project we are first taking time to give our day to God and praise him.

We are at a good pace and everything is looking nice and clean. We are excited to finish the inside so we can start painting the outside.

After lunch, we are back here at San Juan Park for the kids VBS. We are playing hot potato right now and having a lot of fun.

We are learning with the kids through the ministry of puppets that Jesus is the light of the world.

After a great morning with the elderly we are spending our afternoon finishing the painting in the church. It’s great to be able to repay all that He has done for us.

After the lesson about Moses, we are making cards for a group of elderly from Minnesota that sent cards to the kids. We are now decorating it and sharing a message about how God loves them.

We are now taking time to make snacks for the kids. We got hot dogs!

Tonight we are sharing how we have seen God this week. We have seem him in the community, in the children, in the elderly and is everything that God has done for us.

It's our third day of work at the elderly center. We are starting cleanup and painting on the outside area of the building.

This morning we are talking about how we gain wisdom and now we are sharing a moment with the elderly by doing some watercoloring. We are learning that at any age we all something to share.

While here at blessed a care painting the center l, we are also taking the time to put up a mosquito net for the open hang out area of the elderly center.

Today we are learning about Daniel and how he had faith no matter the consequences. Now to celebrate we are having fun the kids showing him that in Christ we find joy.

Other than working at the elderly center, we are taking time to also talk to the residents and get to know them and tell stories. We are meeting a wonderful woman who was born in Canada and she's telling us her story.

The elderly center is treating us so well that I like its name, we are feeling blessed. They to are preparing for us a wonderful meal but before that they are treating us to to local Puerto Rican fried food called bacalitos, which is fried breaded cod fish.

We are now at the back half of the week, so we are wrapping up projects here at The Methodist Church of Los Angeles. This church has been an amazing host to us and we are so happy to be here painting to make it look clean and nice for us. We are almost done but we still have a little more painting to do.

We are very close to finishing and we are applying the finishing touches now.

We are wrapping up the painting on the fence and the exterior. The workers at the center are very happy with everything we've done for them.

We are enjoying our last day with the ladies in the elderly VBS and we doing some chair yoga. It amazing the way simple exercise can brighten your day. As we learned today God is in the little things. It has been a joy to spent time with these ladies.

We finished painting blessed care center. We are so happy to have been able to help them out.

We are at yokahú tower in the national rain forest of El Yunque. There's a beautiful view and a wonderful breeze up in the mountains.

We are at the beach of Luquillo enjoying the water and the warm sun. Everyone is enjoying their time at the beach after a long week of ministry.

We are at the beach of Luquillo enjoying the water and the warm sun. Everyone is enjoying their time at the beach after a long week of ministry.

As we end our trip, we are here at Old San Juan enjoying the day and walking the streets of the oldest town of Puerto Rico. We are so grateful for the many experiences God has allowed us to have. We hope to come back again.