A wonderful week…

…LCMS Missions invited Cindi and I down to Punta Cana this past week for the Latin American Missionaries and Mission Partners retreat. We had a wonderful time, met lots of great folks, and got to catch up with Pr. Sharp and Angie (Pr. Sharp gave the coolest hat ever: an Urugayan Gaucho hat!), Pr. Ned and Mary Moerbe (my fellow presenter), and to pick the brain of Pr. James Neuendorf and so many others! We had a rip-roaring good time feasting on the Word of God together: the main course was First and Second Thessalonians. It was so neat being surrounded by the variety of languages all around us: English, Spanish, Porteguese and even German (and we met Pr. Paul who also does Zulu and Afrikans!). Folks were from Dominican Republic, Belize, Uruguay, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Argentina and a whole bunch more. The worship from the new Spanish hymnal was truly awesome. This is inculturation done right. Purely Lutheran, but in a genuinely Latin idiom, particularly for the liturgy (I think much of that the work of Dr. Pritzler). The new Spanish hymnal, I’m told, features MORE Luther hymns than even Lutheran Service Book. We were super blessed by the back and forths during the week, but above all by the Divine Service and the joy of the consecration of two new deaconesses. Thanks again to Pr. Krey and Pr. Naumann for the invitation and the wonderful experience, and to Deaconesses Tirzah and Jamielynn for all their help (and great leadership). Here is a video and some photos from the week: