(Photo by Erik Tryggestad, Christian Chronicle)
Oh, that’s right. I have a blog. Sorry, but sometimes life gets in the way of blogging. I used to have a “post or die” mentality, making sure that I had something out five times a week. Now I accept the fact that the world somehow goes on turning, even when I can’t put anything up here.
I was at the Pepperdine Lectures last week, representing Herald of Truth. Before that, I got to speak at the Long Beach Church of Christ; it had been ten years since I’d visited that wonderful congregation. 30 years ago (wow!), I spent two summers out there. I also went on two Spring Break campaigns there, and they helped support us while we were in Argentina.
I visited the Inland Valley Church of Christ in Ontario, California, on that Sunday evening. My friend Carlos Gonzales is the worship leader there. They have a strong bilingual church, with Tom Allen, a Bolivian native, as their preacher.
Before going to the lectures, I had joked that I was going there as Juan Monroy’s handler. Turned out to be more true than I realized. Juan spoke twice, had a book signing and received an award from the university. I spent most of my time with him, driving him back and forth from the campus and making sure that he had what he needed. Ammiel Perez from Cuba was also there and needed similar attention. I’ve had brothers serve me in the same way when I’ve traveled to other countries, so it was a pleasure to get to minister to these men.
Saw a few people, but mainly in passing. To all those I missed, or barely spoke to, I offer an apology. I would have loved to have had more time to visit, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.
I’m grateful for workshops and conferences that allow us to gather and be fed. After hearing one of the main lectures, Juan said to me: “This has been so good for me. I’m all the time teaching others… once in a while, I need to be fed as well.” Amen to that.
I spent this past weekend in San Salvador, El Salvador, on a trip for 
On Friday we visited two radio stations, a print shop and the local Bible society. We worked on getting final prices so that we can give the project a definite structure. Friday evening, we met with a small group at Julio’s congregation. He encouraged them to “ask us questions about anything.” The first question concerned what Peter writes about Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison… and the questions didn’t get much easier from there.
Saturday evening, we went with Adrian Larin to his congregation, where they were having a meeting of married couples. I got to share some thoughts on marriage with that group.
Sunday night wasn’t a work night, so we went to the small store of one of the sisters from Julio’s church and got to eat pupusas, a famous dish that is very popular in El Salvador. The woman let us know that her food was very safe, that many famous people had eaten her pupusas, including Pope John Paul II. I pointed out that that was no real comfort, since John Paul II is deceased! She got a good laugh out of that one.