Rejoice in the Lord Always!

This past Saturday and Sunday were especially blessed. On Saturday, July 9th, Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine conducted her second adult baptism (the first being for Sarina Grant on May 1st). The baptism on July 9th was for U.S. Marine Jacob “Jake” Pereira. We now pray that Jake would not only grow in his baptismal grace, but would also be protected during his service to our country. The next day — the Lord’s Day — Sunday, July 10th welcomed our special guest Rev. James Cerdenola who is the president of the Lutheran Church in the Philippines (LCP). LCP is in full fellowship with our synod the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (LCMS). President Cerdenola proclaimed the Word of Christ and brought with him eight other guests as our little mission worshipped a total of 58 on Sunday! President Cerdenola went on to lead our adult Bible Study and shared with us that LCP has 96 congregations, but only 27 ordained pastors in the field with some of those pastors serving up to six (6) congregations! There are currently 6 students in the seminary with two full-time instructors. It is difficult to enlist more future pastors to come to the seminary as it costs $1,200/year for seminary. Let us continue to pray for LCP and let us continue to support our mission offerings to LCP here at Saint Paul’s. We thank the Lord for all that He is doing in our midst. I would like to thank the congregation for your love and support while I tended to spending quality time with my dad Robert Espinosa in his final days and then time dedicated to his funeral services on July 7th and 8th. In Christ Jesus we do not grieve as those who have no hope and I thank Christ for granting my dad faith in the Savior Christ. Pastor Espinosa

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