The Hot, Hot Heat

I thought it would be good to offer a little update on life and work for us here on SSI. Before we came down, we were warned that July and August were quite hot, and while I expected the heat to be a little worse, the warnings were on target. When I leave the house in the morning, it is usually a cool 85 degrees outside, but within a couple of hours, the temperatures have peaked in the mid-90s. People keep reminding us that this is our island version of winter - the time when you rarely venture outside and most activities happen indoors. I'll gladly put up with the heat now for a very temperate winter.

The problem has been that the family has been cooped up in our house an awful lot. I get to "escape" to the church, but since we know so few people down here, Jess and the kids have been weathering the heat in our cozy home. There is relief in sight, however. Annika starts preschool right after Labor Day, and the weather will begin improving in a couple of weeks. Still, we could use your prayers and well-wishes to make it through the dog days of summer. I think we'd all really like to begin enjoying all the outdoor activities the island has to offer soon.

Things are beginning to pick up at the church. I moved into the new office building yesterday, and I'll really enjoy getting to start fresh in my new digs. I get a lot of beautiful sunlight through the windows, and I can see the playground from the office in case Annika ever comes by to hang out. I'm beginning to find my place in the church little by little. Being a generalist associate pastor is a lot of fun because I do all the things a solo pastor would do - preach, teach, lead studies, meetings, hospital visitation, etc. - but since my role is so broad, it's going to take some time to find exactly the best places to make myself available to the church. Still, I'm planning on beginning a new Sunday School class for the younger adults in our community, and we're at the earliest stages of seeing how we can contemporize our worshiping life. It's been fun so far, but I think the best part of it has been that I can work with a fun, capable team of people who share my love for the church. I would hate to do this work alone. I'm very happy to be serving in this church.

That's all for now. Enjoy the pictures when we put them up. I'll try to get up the gumption to make some phone calls one of these nights to friends and family, since we finally seem to be settling in.