Tico Tuesday, May 9th

Welcome to the office of the Executive Pastoral Team (EPE) at church! My desk is the second one in, before the filing cabinet. Sorry it's not the greatest shot. I just wanted you to get an idea of where I have started spending a lot of my time. My desk hasn't been here for long, and the filing cabinet is a quite new addition too. It's so nice to have a space designated just for work! That means I am working a lot less from home now. Unfortunately, the internet cuts out sometimes, which is quite inconvenient, but, that's kind of how life is. I love the view and all the natural lighting we have, though the brightness does make it hard to see our computer screens. It's completely worth it though.

We are blessed to have such a beautiful location for our church. We are blessed to have office space and a church building (and on the same property!)...not something we had a year ago! But we are coming up on the one year anniversary of moving on to our property. It's hard to believe that was almost a whole year ago now! How easy it can be to get used to something like that! I drive by the school where we used to meet every time I go to church now, and much of the time, I totally forget that I used to have to turn in there to go to church! But I'll never forget the first time I went to up to our new church building. The transition from the school up to our building happened while I was in Cuba, so I came back, all impacted from that trip, and it was all I could do to hold back the tears as I drove past the school and went up to our building. It wasn't just "the property" anymore. It was, and remains, the home of Vida Abundante Heredia. We live in a place where we are free to meet and worship Jesus. That isn't the case in Cuba, nor in many other countries. I won't say there's no persecution here (because there is, though not always direct), but I am grateful for the freedoms we do have and the ways we have been able to serve our community better by having our own building. It's incredible how easy it can be to take things for granted, isn't it?
Let's give thanks this week for some of the things we often take for granted! I am thankful for each and every one of you who takes the time to read this!
Love,
Carrie