From the mission field: Building community in Puerto Rico

Volunteers from Hope Lutheran Church in Wake Forest, N.C., help build an outdoor kitchen at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, in November 2023. (LCMS/Ashley Lehr)

From Nov. 11–18, 2023, a short-term team of volunteers from Hope Lutheran Church in Wake Forest, N.C., traveled to Puerto Rico to assist with a project at Iglesia Luterana Principe de Paz (Prince of Peace Lutheran Church) in Mayaguez. LCMS Missionary to Puerto Rico Ashley Lehr shared this update about their work.

“The team worked hard all week building an outdoor kitchen. … Each evening a different church member made a meal for the team. At the end of the week when the kitchen was finished, we celebrated with a meal, campfire and hymn sing. We sang together from our Spanish hymnals and English hymnals, alternating one verse in Spanish and the next in English. It’s a fun way to sing together.

“One of the team members from North Carolina said that he was blessed by the times to worship together because even though we were speaking in different languages, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the same Body, and this was a new understanding through the experience.

“The next day the men of the church gathered for a Bible study and used the new outdoor kitchen for a meal. The following week we celebrated Thanksgiving together and made the turkey two ways in the outdoor kitchen. What a blessing it is to have this space. Our usual activities outdoors are Friday bonfires and the men’s Bible study time with a barbecue. These are easy opportunities to invite friends to come and enjoy some fellowship. We are planning new ways to invite the community to our church and to use our outdoor space more with the new outdoor kitchen as well.”

Posted March 18, 2024