Church, and flowers, and food, oh my!

Day 2 in Puerto Rico went well, though we have yet to begin our work. We attended a church this morning that resembled an American mega church (except that everything was in Spanish) and to the botanical gardens this afternoon. We discovered a wonderful little bakery near our retreat center and ate a wonderful Puerto Rican meal for dinner.

I've asked the youth if they were interested in blogging some, and Ally was my first taker. 

Disclaimer: just as there are four Gospels and four perspectives of the life of Jesus, there are different perspectives of travel. What I called a smooth flight in yesterday's post, Ally calls "terrible." Who knew?!  

Here's what Ally has to say:

"After we got back from the exhausting and terrible flight, we faced more dread! The car rental place took 45 minutes and we sat there the whole time with nothing to do. After searching our way through the maze of streets, we managed to find a restaurant and enjoyed the wonderful meal with a hilarious movie. Back at the retreat, we were served a delicious meal, and a good nights sleep. We woke up to a beautiful Sunday morning with lots of sunshine! When the group got to the church they made sure to greet us with hugs and kisses. Although we couldn't understand the words, we could tell by their emotions the words had God and love in them. Later in the day we visited the botanical garden! It was a lovely experience filled with lots of plants, culture, and iguanas! That brings us to now!"

And here are some pics from the day...

Church:

The botanical gardens are on the land of an old sugar mill. This is part of the mill:

Our large group (from Charlotte, Chicago, Ohio, and LA):

Botanical Gardens:

Yummy food:

Ainsley and Avery sharing "God-sightings":

I almost forgot!

While we were in Old San Juan this afternoon, a man noticed our pink t-shirts with "St. Mark's Lutheran Youth" written on the front left corner and yelled, "Lutherans!? I'm Lutheran too!" It turns out he works for Lutheran Social Services here in Puerto Rico. They have a retirement home not far from where we are staying. The body of Christ is present in all continents, countries, and islands. We are linked together in ways we could never have expected.

Landed!

We are in Peurto Rico! After an early morning and a smooth flight, we landed safely to sunny skies and high humidity in the beautiful city of San Juan. 

In the airport in Charlotte:

Having just arrived in San Juan:

Our fearless leaders, the sister team of Amy and Natalie, met us at the airport and helped us retrieve our rental cars. Amy and Natalie are from Colorado, but grew up in Mexico where their parents were missionaries. They are both college students and are the ONLY TWO people running this program in Puerto Rico! Brave women.

We were the first group to arrive so we had some extra time. We braved the Puerto Rican roadways and headed into Old San Juan for a late lunch at Moreno's Spot. "Moreno" is Spanish for "black," and refers to the skin color of the owner. Our waiter, however, explained that it is not a racial term, only descriptive.

Here are some shots from Old San Juan:

One guy on the street had a pet iguana and let us pet him (her?):

After lunch, we made our way to the retreat center in Cayey. It is, in my opinion, the best set-up we've had for a mission trip in a long time: actual beds (no sleeping on the floor), showers on site (no 10-minute drive away), and plenty of "hang out space." The real kicker, and perhaps the most significant source of culture shock so far is that you don't flush your toilet paper in PR; you throw it in the trash (flushing it causes all sorts of problems). So far, I have yet to hear any complaints from our youth, but we'll each serve on bathroom duty (aka empty-out-the-bathroom-trash-cans) at least once this week.

Here's our home for the week:

Nothing fancy, and no a/c, but a place to rest our heads, which, after a 5AM start to the day is starting to sound pretty good.

Check back in tomorrow for more...

Packing our Bags!

On Saturday June 21, 17 youth and four adults from St. Mark's will be heading to the airport in the wee hours of the morning.  We'll fly from Charlotte to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we'll engage in a week of service with the people who live there.  Our "home base" for the week will be at a retreat center in the town of Cayey, an approximate 50-minute drive south of San Juan.

Puerto Rico is a mountainous island in the Caribbean Sea.  It was settled by the Spanish in the 1500s and became a territory of the United States in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War. Today, fifty-six percent of Puerto Rican children live in poverty and the overall poverty rate is greater than any other US state.  Many people from Puerto Rico seek better opportunities in the continental United States, leaving behind those who are uneducated or elderly. 

Our partner organization, Lifetree Adventures (www.lifetreeadventures.com), will be facilitating our work while we are there.  Though we have yet to learn of our specific tasks, we expect to be working with people who are elderly, of low-income, or who have disabilities by repairing homes, providing yard work, or working with children.

Those of us traveling to Puerto Rico are thankful for all who have supported us, both with prayer and their monetary gifts.  We ask that you hold us in prayer during our week of service.  We hope and pray that God is able to use our gifts, that we are open to learning from our sisters and brothers in Puerto Rico, and that we return with hearts burning for justice, peace, and love.