Thursday, October 28
The Presbytery of San Juan
Pastor Arelis Cardona (second from left), teacher and elder Desiré Sánchez (right rear), and other Head Start leaders stand with children enjoying their new backpacks.
The Presbytery of San Juan supports many educational ministries, and among them the Head Start program stands out. Its nineteen centers, which serve some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, prepare some four hundred children for school. Monteflores Presbyterian Church in the working-class section of Santurce recently received a gift of thirty backpacks filled with school supplies for children in its Head Start Center. These were among the more than ninety gived under the initiative of Dr. Jack Westfall of Denver, Colorado. The son and brother of Presbyterian ministers, Dr. Westfall led a group of physicians who were holding a convention in San Juan to engage in this rewarding project.
The Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico is an interdenominational theological institution of great renown in Latin America. The Rev. Dr. Sergio Ojeda is president, and the Rev. Dr. José Irizarry is academic dean. Two presbytery members — the Revs. Arelis Cardona and Carmen I. Pérez—serve as chaplains at Inter-American University, one of the largest private universities and a Presbyterian-related institution. The Villa Carolina and Puerto Nuevo congregations have their own grade schools, and the Bayamón congregation sponsors musical workshops.
The Presbytery of San Juan comprises 14 congregations in and around San Juan, Puerto Rico, with 1,674 members.
Let us join in prayer for:
Rev. Cruz Alberto Negron-Torres, member, GAMC
Presbytery Staff
The Rev. Nelson Ortiz, moderator
Aurelio García, stated clerk
Carmen Auarez, secretary
PC(USA) Agencies' Staff
Mark Shoemaker, FDN
Cecelia Siebert, PILP
The Rev. Peter Sime, BOP
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we pray that you bless the educational ministries of the Presbytery of San Juan. Grant that they be properly supported by the efforts of your children and that they continue to be a blessing to Puerto Rico, to its children, and to many more people around the continent. May these ministries reflect your love and wholeheartedly proclaim the gospel of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Daily Lectionary
Ps. 116, 147:12–20 and Ps. 26, 130
Nah. 1:15—2:12
Rev. 12:7–17; Luke 11:53—12:12
