Elias and Ambrose will be on tour with the Singing Saints choir of St. Paul Lutheran High School. They will be headed east in late February and early March. The choir will perform in Washington, Missouri Maryville, Tennessee Loudon, Tennesse Asheville, North Carolina Henrico, Virginia Ashburn, Virginia Silver Spring, Maryland Fort Wayne, Indiana Columbia, Missouri The boys love to have friends and supporters in the audience, if you can make one of the concerts, make sure to get a picture with the boys! For more information, check out the Singing Saints Facebook page.
Uruguay featured on NPR’s “Planet Money”
Thanks to my friend Steve Cavendish for pointing out this story about how Uruguay relies heavily on wind power. Especially interesting to me was the point about the “peak hours” and how people plan their lives around not using heavy appliances during those hours. I know we try to avoid using the dryer, for example, and I do most of the appliance cooking during the day or weekends to keep our bills low. Uruguay’s power grid runs on 98% green energy. Here’s how it got there : Planet Money : NPR
Responding to a devastating flood in a Lutheran heartland in Brazil
I just got back Monday from a few days in Brazil and Bolivia, fulfilling some of my duties as Area Facilitator. Helping with disaster relief In Brazil, I was helping Rev. Dr. Ross Johnson, director of LCMS Disaster Relief. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, our partner church, invited him to do an assessment of the damage caused by historic floods in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Unlike many disasters in Latin America, where Lutherans are sparse, this flooding took place in a heavily Lutheran area and affected many Lutheran families and churches. Our sister church, known by its Portuguese initials IELB, has done an initial assessment and found more than 200 Lutheran families affected by the flooding. Dozens lost property to flood waters. Several have completely lost homes. Thankfully, no members of the IELB died in the flooding, but many are homeless as they seek to rebuild almost a month after the flood occurred. Heavy rains continued most of the time we were there, complicating the ongoing cleanup. Dr. Johnson and I were accompanied by one of the vice-presidents of the IELB, Rev. Airton Schroeder. We visited four congregations in the area that had people affected by the floods, including two in which flood waters entered. In the other two churches, the building was spared, and they are operating as a center of clothing and food distribution. We took time to meet with pastors, church leaders, and members of the affected communities. An elder in the congregation in Roca Sales had to be lifted off of his roof by a helicopter as the waters rose quickly. Rev. Schroeder led a devotion with each group …
Welcome to the new sharpmission.org
sharpmission.org is the new online home for news about Rev James and Angela Sharp’s ministry in Uruguay. Here you’ll be able to keep up with what God is doing in Uruguay and beyond.