Growing Closer to the Lord and His People
by Thomas Woody
This summer, my family of nine flew over the Caribbean Sea the way to Puerto Rico. It wasn’t for a cool summer vacation, or merely because we enjoy travelling as a family. The real reason was somewhat simple—for God’s glory.
It all started last year when my older brother, Parker, read on the OPC website about a need for help a church in Puerto Rico. At first, our family considered taking two trips. Half of the family would go in the summer, and the others would visit later in the year to follow up and visit the church. After a long period of prayer and consideration we finally felt, by the beginning of 2024, that it was in God's will for us all to go together. Our primary reason for going would be to help the [OP] Church, Iglesia Presbiteriana Sola Escritura, hold a VBS for the children in their church and community.
We prayed a lot for the Lord to provide the funding for our upcoming trip and He did! A month before the trip some of our friends needed a place to say while their home was being renovated, so they rented our camper. Between what we had saved up as a family and what our friends gave us in return for using our camper, our whole family was able to go on the trip!
That was not the last time the Lord answered our prayers and provided for us on this trip. While we were in Puerto Rico, I took time every few days to write in my journal about some of our experiences and other ways God graciously watched over us.
On Friday June 21, my father, three sisters, four brothers and I got up at 6:00 a.m., packed up our van to set out for the airport, but the van wouldn’t start. After quickly rearranging ourselves and our luggage between our family’s prius and my older brother’s car, we headed to the Atlanta airport.
On the way we took a brief break at the rest stop after noticing the car’s temperature warning light was on. After praying about it, we turned the car back on, the light flickered, and then went off, allowing us to continue on.
In God's good providence we made it to the airport. We thanked the Lord once again when we realized that the van wouldn’t have fit under the 6’6” clearance to get into the parking garage. A difficult situation that, by God’s providence, turned sweet!
As we flew over the Caribbean, 37,000 feet above the sea, I considered Psalm 19. By the time we landed, it was about 9 p.m.
On Saturday we rested from our previous day’s busy travels. We enjoyed the pool at our hosts’ home, made a trip to Walmart, and briefly visited a beach. Having never been to Puerto Rico, it was wonderful to see a new part of God’s creation.
The scenery there was beautiful: hills and mountains covered with rainforests, and the occasional field. We also saw vast, flat, marshy plains full of brush, bushes, thorny plants and small scrawny trees. The ocean was calm, with small waves, sandbars and coral reefs.
On Sunday we went to Sola Scriptura OPC and worshiped there. Even though the service was in Spanish, “I understood a little bit” (in Spanish, “entiendo un poquito”). God’s word is so much more than the language that it is spoken in. After the service we all had lunch and fellowship for a few hours, and I made new friends and learned new things.
On Monday we began the first day of the church’s VBS, starting out with Pastor Bradney Lopez welcoming and introducing the kids and having two of the young adults perform a skit. The children seemed to enjoy it, though I don’t yet know enough Spanish to comprehend what they were saying. Next, one of my brothers and I served at the recreation station, which was a joy. For each game we played with the kids, there was a moral lesson that accompanied it. The kids received the lesson well. Afterward, we had a Bible lesson, snack, more games, lunch and fellowship.
Each day, we prayed for the spreading of God’s word, the growing, strengthening and equipping of the church, and the mission work.
In my spare time I went to Rev. Lopez’s Bible class where we talked about obedience (in English and Spanish). Later, I enjoyed explaining, watching and teaching a moral lesson on the relay race game. After taco salad lunch and fellowshipping I was able to enjoy an afternoon siesta before the Lopez’s came to visit to swim and play volleyball.
It was a joy to serve Sola Scriptura and minister together during the VBS and a great privilege to get to know the families there, especially Pastor Bradney and his family. I had a great experience there and I learned a lot, met many wonderful people, and grew closer to the Lord and his people. God truly blessed our time there.