Archbold Evangelical Church

Bienvenidos a Puerto Rico! (Welcome to Puerto Rico!)

Woohoo! We were so excited to arrive to beautiful Puerto Rico late last night. When we exited the terminal, we couldn't help but notice that Puerto Rico is a little more hot and humid than back home in Ohio! 

At the airport, we loaded up a van with all of our luggage. Our packing job definitely resembled real-life Tetris. We then piled in a bus and made the 2-hour trek to Iglesia Methodist Obispo Corson in Ponce, the church we will be serving with this week. After taking some time to unpack and get settled in for the evening, we got some much needed sleep.

Please pray for us this morning as we meet our brothers and sisters here at Obispo Corson!

We were so blessed to begin our week by worshipping with the beautiful people of Obispo Corson. Their dedication and enthusiasm to the Lord was so inspiring to us! Although worship looked a lot different than it does back home, we were amazed at how both our group and their church were worshipping the One True God at the same time, despite our language differences. 

We sang two songs as a group (without rehearsing at all!) 

Our God is Mighty to save!

We spent part of the afternoon meeting the people (Elloy and Elba) whose homes we will be working on this week. 

We also met a few of the kids who said they would join us for VBS in the community of Caracoles! We can't wait to see them tomorrow!

After meeting the families and the kids we walked around the three communities and prayed for the people and things we saw. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD!

We celebrated Brad today by singing happy birthday and eating cake! Oh, and we can't forget how the whole congregation sang a birthday song for him at church this morning.

It's not everyday you get invited to a Puerto Rican concert, so when Pastora invited us we had to say yes! 

What a fun time singing and dancing along with Chanel (the singer) and her worship dancers!

Today was an incredible day of ministry! 

It all started with devos and us declaring our need for God to go before us. He is the one who sustains us, strengthens us, and gives us endurance for all that we set to accomplish. We are enjoying reading about the missionary journey of Paul in our devotional time. 

Check out some of the pictures below to see just what we did today: 

Half of the team traveled to the nearby community of Caracoles to entertain the kids and point them to Jesus by sharing a VBS. 

Please pray for a young man the team met who is not a Christian. Pray the Holy Spirit would be able to minister to him through them. 

Immediately upon getting out of the car the team set out to work on painting Elba's house. The house is looking great and could possibly be finished tomorrow. 

Elba said that her house is our house so... slumber party at Elba's?

We worked hard today and made great progress on the bathroom. We dig wholes, mixed and pored cement, built the base, AND cut  whole for the door in the guest room. 

Tuesday was a great day here Inc Ponce! The team continued with their work projects in the morning. In the afternoon we visited Ponce Plaza. In the evening we united with Obispo Corson for a prayer service. 

Elijah and Jereme stayed back from the worksites to help with some work on the roof of the parsonage. It was tough work, but these two worked hard to help then men scrape foam from the roof so it can be resealed. 

Here is a picture of Elijah and Jereme with our good friend Pancho. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the team took some time away from the worksites to experience Puerto Rican culture by visiting a plaza.

Ponce Plaza has rich history of the fire that destroyed half of Ponce in the 1800s. Some of us visited the museum to learn more about the history of the fire. Others took time to buy souvineers for themselves and their loved ones back home. 

We all enjoyed some ice cream from a local ice cream shop. We ate flavors such as: pancha (passion fruit), maní (peanut), fresa (strawberry), coconut, and chocolate. 

Even though we were enjoying a time of recreation, we challenged ourselves to still seek out opportunities to minister. A few of us were able to pray with a couple of people while visiting the Plaza. 

On Tuesday night we were honored to join our brothers and sisters of Obispo Corson for a time of prayer and worship.

We heard our friend Joseluis preach from Ephesians 6. A few of us shared about our experiences from the week. We sang our favorite song, El Capítan. We shared a few songs with the church. Then as a united body, we prayed. 

Thank you Gretchen, Jack, and Eli for sharing about the ministry happening at VBS and the worksites. 

Thank you Gretchen, Jack, and Eli for sharing about the ministry happening at VBS and the worksites. 

We are coming home with a new favorite song. It's called El Capítan by Juan Luis Guerra. The worship team here sang it for offering on Sunday and we have been singing it ever since. 

Luke asked Pastora if we could sing the song at the prayer service and we sang it not once, not twice, but three times! 

The team has been on a treasure hunt this week. We asked the Lord to reveal to us a "treasure" for us to find and pray for people. Some of  our treasures were: a soccer ball, a blue bracelet, a house with orange trim, a man with a mustache, and other missionaries. Today, while driving to her worksite, Brenda discovered her treasure: a man under a flamboyán tree. We were blessed to meet Papo,  buy some delicious fruit, and pray for him. 

How amazing it is that each of our treasures are treasured by God. He values every person as one who He created in His image to bring glory to himself.

Here is a picture of Brenda with her "treasure", Papo!

Wednesday was another fun day of ministry projects: VBS, painting, and building a bathroom. We went even deeper in our relationships today AND made some new ones (ask the bathroom crew about their encounter with the ladies at the preschool.) After our final full day of ministry time we enjoyed a BBQ and a dance party with some of the people we have grown close to over this week. 

Marli and Eli made a new friend named Yoel. Continue to pray for Yoel as seeds of faith were planted this week. MaybGod bring others to water the seeds and may God grow him into a mighty man of faith. 

Some of us played basketball with the teens who were on the court during VBS. 

The entire trip, students found practical ways to serve the people of the local church. Here is Sonson helping Sammy pick up leaves around the Caracoles basketball court. 

Sure the paint looks nice but what is even more beautiful is the relationship formed with Elba over the week. We love her a lot!

At the beginning of the week we were overwhelmed with how much work we had to do for the bathroom project at Eloy's house. We can leave knowing that Edwin and Ernesto are installing the shower, toilet, and sink to complete the shower. What an honor to spend time with Eloy and those he lives with. 

While reflecting on this wonderful week, we took time to write thank-you's to all we worked with. 

We enjoyed some warm water to relax after a long week of work. 

We saw one of the bioluminescent bays of Puerto Rico. We got to swim and snorkel. Praise God for his beautiful creation!

Archbold Evangelical,

Thanks for loving Jesus most. Obispo Corson and Ponce llol forward to see you soon!!