FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK

Joseph in Egypt

This Sunday we will celebrate a family service. Our children prepared during their classes a few pictures taken from the story of Joseph.
Joseph was the favorite son of the patriarch Jacob; his brother’s jealousy lead them to hating him. They wanted to get rid of him. Some even wanted to kill him; but the eldest stopped this attempt. Instead, Joseph was thrown into an empty well. The moment a caravan of travellers appeared on the horizon, Joseph was sold without hesitation into slavery.

So began a long story with a lot of injustice and violence.
Through the centuries the story of immigrants goes on; it’s the story of people who are rejected. God has a special heart for those people; we read in the New Testament that we as a Church are to serve and embrace the sojourner.
God transformed what was intended as evil or destruction by some into a matter of salvation for others. God often leads us in ways we do not understand in the beginning. If we let us guide by God’s commandments, eventually we come to understand the destination we were intended to reach.
Friends and members, we invite you to come this Sunday to church. Our children and adults will tell the story and we´ll see photos from international artists and from some “young artists of our BUC”. Our service will therefore be in Spanish and in English.
Lots of fun and a warm invitation

Reverend. Roland

THIS SUNDAY AT BALBOA UNION CHURCH

Worship Service at 10 a.m. – ALL ARE WELCOME!

SPEAKER: Reverend Roland Schnell

 Other News 

You are all warmly invited to join us this Sunday for our family service, celebrating the closing of the Sunday school year.  We will be thanking our volunteers for their efforts in 2015 for the Sunday school program and organising the holiday program until September.

Missions

AAAM Program

This past Tuesday saw our Missions Committee launch the extended AAAM Program (Asistencia Alimenticia para Adultos Mayores – Food Assistance for the Elderly), in which we increased our food baskets to 20 different families in need in the community.

 The majority of our recipients are referred to us by local social workers through groups in Ancon (Junta Comunal), San Felipe, Chorrillo and also those identified by our pastor emeritus Luis Veagra.  Tuesday afternoon we invited our recipients to an afternoon tea, together with a short message from our Pastor Roland Schnell.  We are pleased to be able to share photos of this event with you.

We are focusing our work in missions into the community that is closest to us, so that we can provide pastoral support to these families, and not simply economic support.

We invite all members, friends and visitors of the church to join us on the 3rd Saturday of each month, 10 a.m., for the delivery of these food baskets and to get to know the families that are receiving our support.

We should mention that this program would not be successful without the support of the National “Banco de Alimentos”, where food from distributors and supermarkets is sold and stored for the community, and provided at a discounted rate to the church for this program.  This has extended our ability to provide food and assistance to these families.

We would also like to give a special thanks to Leslie and to Luis who helped organise the food baskets and the afternoon tea for all of our visitors and participants.

Ecumenical Council Hospice

The Missions program is currently studying the Hospice which is run by the Ecumenical Council (attached to Hospital Santo Thomas), to see how we can better assist the sick and needy that are here for “out-patient” treatment or have families members in hospital and are unable to find accomodation to stay while they attend their family members.

“Good Deeds” Program

We are currently also looking at the possibility of assisting with the “Good Deeds” program in Casco Viejo, which is a special program for children and young people in Casco Viejo, where they are given tokens in exchange for good deeds that they do in the community (such as sweeping the streets, gardening in the parks, etc.).  These tokens are then exchangeable at the “Good Deeds stall”, which is a small “shop” in Casco Viejo where they Exchange their tokens for donated ítems – old bicycles, toys, videos, games and even food ítems.  We are currently helping with baby ítems (primarily formula and milk) as this was the most requested item required, and we contiue to support this store as part of the extension of our presence into the community.  We are also considering how we can better team with the volunteers in Casco Viejo, to provide educational programs and training for the mothers as well as the children.

Interested in Volunteering?

Please contact Betsy misiones@balboaunionchurch.org for more information regarding how you can become involved in our programs!