¡Construction Update!

Dearest family, friends, colleagues, and supporters!!

In this season in the church year known as  "Advent",  we usually focus on waiting and preparing for the birth of our Lord as we look to celebrate the baby Jesus lying in the manger. We also await Jesus' second coming, in all fullness, light and glory. We await the One who brings justice, peace, solidarity, unity, love and grace. Maybe at the same time as waiting for our Messiah, we can also look to other "advents" of our lives, for there are many. Our congregation of San Juan Camino de Esperanza, for example, just came through a year of tremendous change and transition as we waited (for six months!) for the coming of, the beginning of our construction project, Phase One, to get underway.


We spent the better part of 2009 with building and architectural plans. Architect, Tom Ososki, and spouse of ELCA (Lutheran Church in America) missionary, Pastora Dana, helped developing plans....

We have three phases to our project. Phase one were the main floor pastors office and meeting room. Both are meeting rooms right now actually!  Phase two is the sanctuary, mezzanine and 2nd floor classrooms. Phase three is the apartment, library, and meeting room....we're a long way to realizing that dream....

But 2010 saw I realize stage one, after all applying, paying for, and meeting codes, etc, for the municipality, work on our former structure began with demolition.
How the church looked before:

After demolition, the space is all ready for building!

Soon the men were hard at work, with Mainor (a San Juan member and master constructor) overseeing the entire project...

Almost all building is done with cement here. And because we are a public facility, building codes dictate
that we must use cinder blocks and heavier rebar, to withstand earthquakes. Churches are, thus, emergency shelters for the community.

And now....after six months of waiting, six months of Advent....the results:

The old outside church wall was replaced with a permanant one!

Our meeting room serves as a small chapel....

This will be the pastor's office one day...

This will be the new entrance...

Our little chapel, holds about 24 adults and 8 children, very intimate, indeed!

We are waiting and hoping once again, to put in our sistern and all of the bathroom fixtures for two bathrooms, boys and girls. These are some of our dreams for 2011 as it approaches.

We are so pleased to have two new classrooms, two bathrooms (not entirely ready though!), and the first partial wall of the sanctuary all in place.Our advent, our time of waiting, preparing anxiously, our time of wondering and watching if any of these plans would ever be realized, all came to fruition in June and construction was completed during my Home Leave in July. We are now using all of the space, everything that was once in storage is now in  one of the rooms, safely in place in the church once again.

We are grateful for the support of the Adolf Gustav foundation in Germany for their donations and support, as well as that of our companion congregations, both named GRACE, in Texas and in British Columbia...as well as all of those who hold us in thought & prayer. OH, and many thanks to whose who purchased crosses from me during Home Leave in Canada...it's all in the building fund for the sistern! Poco a poco (little by little) as we say here....

With gratitude for your support, love, care, and interest in our congregation...may this Advent remind us of other "advents" in our lives, the signs of God around, within, and near us!

Peace & blessings,
Pastora Fran