Vision Trip to Puerto Rico

So we went to Puerto Rico! Through SEND Network Español and SEND Relief we were able to spend 5 days in Puerto Rico. Our time was mainly filled with meetings and travel, but we got to do a little sight-seeing as well. Here's a breakdown of what we did each day and what we learned about what it will be like to church-plant in PR.

DAY 1

We flew from Atlanta to San Juan with a layover in Orlando. By the time we got to PR, figured out how to get to our rental, and snagged the car, it was time to eat so we headed to Old San Juan. While there we found a coffee shop, a restaurant, and a beautiful view! The Mofongo and Empanadas were delicious. That evening we got to our accommodations and it was at SEND Relief's beautiful ministry center just 15 minutes south of San Juan.

DAY 2

We had the great joy of attending Iglesia Bautista Ciudad de Dios on Sunday morning. After breakfast at Cafe Sí o Sí, we headed to the church service. Although our Spanish is in its beginning stages we were still very encouraged by the preached Word and corporate worship with brothers and sisters in Christ. Pastor Felíx Cabrera brought the word from Exodus 3-4. For lunch we enjoyed meeting Pastor Fernando Santos and his family. They are going to be planting on the west side of the island just south of where we are thinking of planting. After that we met Pastor Xavier Torrado at good ole Starbucks to discus the plan for the next couple days.

Day 3

This was a big travel day. Through talking with the pastors in PR they have all confirmed the need for an English speaking church on the west side of the island, in particular (de manera paricular), Aguadilla. So this day we got to head out that way. After grabbing some breakfast at El Buen Cafe in Hatillo, we checked out a beach, which was beautiful, and then made it to our lunch appt with Pastor Josuè Caceres. His dad planted the church he's now pastoring and it was great being able to talk to a tenured Puerto Rican pastor. He had a lot of helpful insight about the culture of the west side. After that we had the great privilege of visiting Adoptando en PR. The Founder of Adoptando en PR is Javier Vegas and he was able to show us around the facility and share the vision of Adoptando. It was a pretty emotional day for him, his wife and the staff because they were placing a child in a home while we were there. The young baby boy that was being adopted came to them with significant developmental issues and they were able to nurture him back to health. We had a front row seat this day both to the joy and sorrow of orphan care. Next we headed to Aguadilla to grab dinner and meet with Pastor Jose David who pastors a local congregation in Aguadilla. He has some only-English speakers attending his church and he's been providing translation for them. He showed us his church and offered to house us in the future if we needed to spend more time in Aguadilla. The drive back home was late and we were pretty tired.

Day 4

Our last explorative day on the island was spent on the east side. We were taken by Church Planting Catalyst Luis Soto to visit with Pastor Gabe Bailie in Humacao. Gabe pastors Summit Church Puerto Rico and visiting his location of ministry gave us a better understanding of the Americans that live on the island and why they want to live there. There's some significant differences between the east side and the west side, but overall, this part of the trip helped us envision what church planting might look like in many ways. We explored another beach after our time in Humacao and got dinner together.

Day 5

Our last day involved a debrief with Pastor Xavier and a quick last minute visit back to Old San Juan to buy some gifts for the kids before heading back to the continental United States.

I'll post an update on what our kids did during all this time next time along with the next steps ahead for us, but here's some of our takeaways from this Vision Trip.

Overall Takeaways

- The need for an English-speaking church on the west side was confirmed again and again by every pastor we talked to there. It turns out that there really are barely any English-speaking churches on the island. It seems like God is really doing something and it's exciting to consider planting a church in a place where there are no other churches like the one that we would plant. It made me think of Paul's heart in Romans 15 when he was pressing toward Rome because he didn't want to plant on someone else's foundation. There is definitely gospel access on the island but there are no English-speaking churches in large parts of the island and we'd love to see that change not only through one church plant but through a movement of church plants all across Puerto Rico.

- The island was beautiful and the people were amazing! We had such an easy time navigating everything via our phone gps. Every place we went, with the exception of one or two restaurants, had people who spoke both English and Spanish. The ease in which we were able to communicate was a huge blessing and made the idea of moving there a lot less scary!

- One reality about the culture of the island, specifically as it concerns the English speakers there, is that everything is very transient. That will present some challenges for church-planting but it doesn't negate the need for a church on the west side. We are continuing to pray and press into this call God has placed on our lives!

Thank you for your prayers and support. We truly believe God is moving in this endeavor and we are taking each step with an attentiveness to his Word, surrounded by many wise counselors and networks. May He build his kingdom even more so in Puerto Rico!

Until next time!