Puerto Rico may not be the colony some expect, but that's OK.

When visiting pastors and missionary teams come and visit us, they are often surprised at the modern urbanization that they see.

On the drive from the airport to our house, we pass numerous fast food restaurants such as Burger Kings, McDonalds, and Wendys. Our visitors smile and remark about how ubiquitous these places have become.

But when we pass a Sams club, the Costco, Walmart or Bed Bath and Beyond, then they look confused.

"I thought that they grew bananas and pineapples and stuff down here."

That they do.

But when you have 3.5 million people that are US citizens crammed into an island that measures 35 x 113 miles, agriculture gets crowded out and the typical US urban landscape takes its place.

When we came here 22 years ago, things were more like what people expect to find on a Caribbean island. But we have seen people who were raised in homes without refrigerators now carry around huge cell phones and share their favorite Youtube videos with each other after church.

As missionaries, we certainly have the opportunity to contact a lot of people easily. And we do.

We do miss some of the old ways, but since the local Costco started carrying Dark Chocolate Almond Bark with Sea Salt, we, and especially my wife Tina, don't miss those old days quite so
much.