FOROs All Around the Region

Fall has brought a busy season of FOROs around Latin America. A FORO (Spanish for “Forum”) is a gathering during which local church leaders meet with partners to discuss and plan future work to further the Gospel. During the last couple months, John presented FORO budgets for work in the Dominican Republic, Belize, and (pictured above) Puerto Rico.

New Seminary Students

A new academic year is underway at Seminario Concordia El Reformador here in Santiago. We are excited to welcome new students from Guatemala, Mexico, and Cuba. In addition to helping manage the financial and administrative work at the seminary, John helps the new students with visas and housing so they can come here and learn to preach, teach, and share the message of God’s salvation.

Special Reformation Service

The five church plants in the Dominican Republic came together to celebrate Reformation Day in the capital city, Santo Domingo. One of the highlights of the service was the consecration of several new deaconesses who recently graduated from the seminary. Two of those deaconesses will serve at the church we normally worship at!

Hurricane Season

The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Belize, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Guatemala, and Honduras all got hit over three storms this fall. All the missionaries are OK. When Hurricane Fiona went over us in September, we had lots of leaks, but not much wind and no damage.

The team in Puerto Rico has two mission centers that were ready to go when Hurricane Fiona hit them. (Pictured above is the one in the city of Mayagüez.) They provided meals, charging stations, prayer, and a safe place to relax for locals whose homes were damaged by the storm.

Visit from Grandma

John’s mom, Linda, came to visit us in October for some special grandma time with Sophie, just for fun! We somehow managed to forget to take a picture WITH her, so here’s a picture FROM her that she took of us!

New Article from Erica: “When We Forget How God Determines Our Worth”

Erica was honored to publish an article with Concordia Publishing House about God measuring us by His grace, not our achievements. Read the article here.