Dear Ones,
As the adults who accompanied you on your mission trip to Puerto Rico, we want you to know what an honor and blessing it was for us to be with you. We are grateful to you for making our time together so wonderful!
Thank you for your willingness to be open to new experiences, to work hard, to play well, and to reflect thoughtfully about what you heard and saw. Thank you for showing up fully every day of the trip, and for reaching out to form relationships and build community with each other, with the residents of Sector La Hormiga, with the staff of Hunger, with the youth group from Kent United Church of Christ, Ohio, and with the men of Chesterfield Presbyterian Church, St. Louis.
Thank you, Matthew Benz-Whittington, for all you did to make arrangements for our time in Puerto Rico, and for taking a pause from your parental leave and your time with Bethany and baby Leo to be with us the first few days of the trip. We understand how much you wanted to be in two places at once, and we are grateful for all your efforts to be as present to us as you could.
We know too that all of you join us in being grateful to the whole congregation for their great support and encouragement and for continually showing us what it means to be church committed to extending God’s wide welcome and loving service.
With love and gratitude for all of you,
Jean Abbott, Larry Dansky, Bill Forbes, Matt Gentry, Sophie Lowe, Jessica Ostwald, and Chris Braudaway-Bauman
