By Ross Prater
Early on Saturday morning, Feb. 22, a group of Wilshire members boarded a flight for San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was a domestic flight as Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens — same post office, same money — with their own language, culture, foods and ways.
Our assignment was to assist our host, First Baptist Church of Rio Piedras. Established as Puerto Rico’s first Baptist church in 1899, the church has a huge building, a smallish congregation and a generous heart as it continues to help those still recovering from 2017’s Hurricane Maria. This is Wilshire’s third trip in response to their invitation to come and work on behalf of the beautiful and loving people of their island. Several on our team had been on one or both of the previous trips.
As with most adventures, we brought with us a range of emotions, gifts, hopes and goals. An important member of teams past, Mike Diffee, passed away suddenly weeks before the trip, and several members shared stories of his warmth and love for missions. We all were hopeful and excited about what and who was before us in the coming week.
We settled into our dorm rooms, which were air conditioned and comfortable. The meals prepared for us were tasty and hearty and served with love. Meal times included bits and pieces of sharing, humor and planning. Morning devotions by team members kept us grounded and inspired.
Sunday morning found us in our host’s large sanctuary with praise music, hymns and prayers. The interim pastor, Gilda Oriandi, preached a moving sermon on love, picturing God as our pursuer and romancing us into a rich caring relationship with the Divine. Sunday afternoon found us celebrating the natural beauty of the island at El Yunque National Forest. A beautiful visitor center, a lovely waterfall and a historic tower provided us a chance to continue learning names and stories of one another. As we finished out the day, we were gradually developing new friendships, renewing old ones and developing into a team.
After being introduced to our assignment Monday morning, we were a bit overwhelmed. It was a significant task clearly requiring several days. We jumped in. Some operated power washing equipment, and the rest grabbed brushes, rollers, scrapers, wire brushes, paint ladders and charged forth. Our team member from Maryland, Nick McQuillan, rode a lift a couple of stories high, cleaning and monitoring the wind. Dorrell Brown, all the way from Jamaica, cleaned up before us and after us with good humor and steadiness. We worked hard all day, laughed a lot, looked after one another and found meaning in making the church more beautiful. We scraped, painted and cleaned for three days, and the work was done. It looked beautiful. The church members were happy. We were very glad to have completed the task.
In the evenings we went for ice cream, kept up with the news and family, told stories and played dominoes and other games. Our untiring host and local leader Zulma Zabala found the perfect places for us to visit and celebrate friendships and serve the Lord. One evening we watched the sunset at the beach, enjoyed the waves, walked on the beach and shared more and more of ourselves with each other. Another evening we had refreshments at a local brewery. I had a Diet Coke. I didn’t recognize the drinks the others were having.
On our last day, we painted almost the entire house of a church member, Jeannette. She was moving in soon and it was very rewarding to see her happiness. After one final morning in old San Juan and a bit of clean up and packing, we were off to the airport.
They were helped. We were changed. We served them. We served Wilshire. We served the Lord. Amen.