Despite the difficult circumstances with which we are all being forced to deal, your Vestry continues to do the work needed to keep St. John's | San Juan the place we seek during times such as these. We met Thursday, August 20, to continue work on that mission. 

At that meeting, Deacon Terri Lolcama, Sherry Sulivan and Andre Unicume, all members of our Outreach Committee, approached the Vestry with the idea of displaying a "Love Your Neighbor" banner on church property. The banner, displaying our logo, would be printed in Spanish on one side with English on the other. Similar projects have been successful across the United States, and, as one Vestry member pointed out, now would be a wonderful time to display something of such a positive nature when you consider the disruption and sometimes turbulent period we have experienced.

Terri, Sherry and Andre are pursuing details of the project with hopes of being able to display that banner in the near future. There may even be a possibility of selling individual yard signs for parishioners to purchase and display. We look forward to hearing more about this project from our hard working Outreach Committee. By the way, put me down for one, no make that two signs!

50th Anniversaries are really significant events. Vestry member Mary Bruce celebrated 50 years as a parishioner at St. John's | San Juan. What an accomplishment! Thank you for all you have done for our church family during that time! Mary had technical difficulties joining us visually, but was able to attend via telephone. We all sent applause, cheers and virtual hugs to her!

We also celebrated the attendance of Columba Fernandez, who attends our 6:00 p.m. service on Sunday. We were certainly excited to welcome her and look forward to more opportunities to strengthen our ties with members of our San Juan community. Thanks for taking the time to join us, Columba! 

For those interested in serving as a Lector, please contact Rev. Michael at michael@stjohnsoly.org and Evie at evie@stjohnsoly.org. Mary Law would appreciate being CC'ed should you volunteer to read. You can CC her at mary@stjohnsoly.org.

If you are interested in learning more about our most current financial status from Treasurer Bob LeRoy, please click here. 

While speaking of money, I would personally ask you to remember El Hogar, Outreach Committee work, and other projects close to your heart during this time. Valued services continue to be needed, meals need to be prepared and served and bills must be paid. Be sure to indicate where you want your money to go by writing the name of the service on the memo line of your check or in the approapriate space if you choose to give online. Please remember to let Rev. Michael or Evie know of your celebrations by email.

Lou MacMillan's Renovation Committee report may be accessed by clicking here. I know we're all anxious to return to in-person services and are looking forward to replacing that roof! It's still exciting to think about that, and maybe even more so now.

Over the past few weeks, we are all aware that our live streaming efforts that had been going so well have been hampered with technical difficulties. Primarily, those issues seem to revolve around sound.

Lin and I have found that printing off the Order of Service and Rev. Michael's sermons before the beginning of the service helpful. We may miss some words, but it's the spirit of the service that is our focus. Remember, people are working so hard to make all this happen!

While we have overcome problems with delays or pauses with the streaming, those have been replaced with audio issues. Please know church leadership is as equally frustrated as you, and is working with our dedicated Audio-Visual team to resolve the problems. Tim Tayne and Troy Atwell have graciously agreed to tackle this awesome responsibility. I'm sure you join me in thanking them for their efforts! 

Moving to the actual live event has proven to be a steep learning curve, with a far more involved system. Placing and adjusting microphones appear to be causing some of the problems, from what I understand. This is simply not a "Turn it on and go." situation. 

Romans 12:12 tells us "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."    

Lin and I will be traveling around parts of Washington this September in our motorhome for a bit. I'll be speaking with you again in October.

Until then, stay safe and well!

Mark Hampton

Sr. Warden