10pm and it’s time for bed. It’s been a good day. The team went to do a Fiesta this morning and the 4 ladies went with me to do the Women’s Conference at Rose of Sharon Country Club church. Someone asked me how they came up with the name Country Club. It’s actually the name of the community (made up of cement block, tree limbs, plastic, tin houses) that doesn’t look at all like what you would call a Country Club in the states.
The conference was good. We were celebrating being women and having fun after finishing our month long study on Eve. The ladies from the team painted all the ladies’ fingernails. We had a song, 4 testimonies and a game. Then we had a raffle and gave out lots of prizes. We had 65 women all together. It was great! About 20 of them were first time visitors to the church. Most of the Friday Bible study group was there and many of the women from the church joined us. Pastor Marvin was very excited! We got everyone’s names. We are praying that the visitors will come to the Sunday services, Friday Women’s Bible studies and Friday night Women’s Worship Service. I had a good time seeing my friends there. They are a very loving bunch of people.
After the conference ended, Pastor Marvin took us on a tour of the neighborhood. We came across lots of kids going to the church for their one meal of the day. We then met back at the church and waited for the rest of the team to get there to do a Fiesta with the kids while waiting for their lunch. The ROSCC ladies were cooking over the open fires in the outdoor, lean-to kitchen that I got to help in before. They were very gracious to allow us to come and get in their way.
The Fiesta there was fun and the team has some good drama people on it. The kids bring their own bowl/plate and cup. It gets a little hectic trying to figure out who belongs to each set, but the kids know theirs and are very orderly in getting their food. Our team felt that things were a bit disorganized and being North Americans wanted to ‘fix’ the process. I explained that we were in their way and although their process is not like ours, it works for them and we need to be respectful of letting them do their work. It was very humbling for the team to see how people in this community live and eat. I’m very proud of the work that the church does for the community. There are 5 ladies who cook all morning 5 days a week to provide the lunch for these 140 kids. I’m making them each a new apron to show our appreciation.
We left the feeding and came back to the Mission House for lunch. It was grilled chicken (with Claudia’s special marinade), Sherry’s potato salad, mixed steamed veggies and beans. Yummy!!
We had down time for a little while and a few people got in the pool with Manuel and had some fun. Then about 3pm we took the team into town to tour the Cathedral, have ice cream, look at the old market and visit the grocery store. We came back to the Mission House about 5pm and had dinner. I broke off long enough to go to buy the fabric for the 5 aprons and to get a couple more plastic storage containers for my shelf. I found out that the name of the guy at the fabric store that I have started conversations with (because he wants to learn English and I am practicing my Spanish on him) is named Bismark. I told him that I would bring him a flyer for the first level of Juan’s English Academy for free. I need to try to get back to his store sometime soon. Hopefully this week! At least on Saturday after the team leaves. He said that he is familiar with Juan’s school and knows who Juan is. I think he will be another great student like Jonathan and Salvador. He’s really hungry to learn English.
We had a light dinner tonight and it was good. Tuna or ham & cheese sandwiches, salad and fruit salad. I enjoyed it very much. It helped to offset that candy bar and ice cream that I had earlier. Ooops.
Tonight a part of the team went to church tonight at Rose of Sharon Panteleon church to a youth worship service. The rest of us stayed back and visited and talked about serving in missions. It was a nice evening.
I had the chance to use the internet cable this evening, but wouldn’t you know it, the service was not working right and I couldn’t get on the internet! Argh. At least I have my phone to check emails and facebook on. I’m thankful for that.
I will stay back tomorrow morning and not go to the Fiestas since I have a class to teach in the afternoon and church tomorrow night. After the team leaves in the morning, I’ll go for my good exercise walk. I can’t wait! It’s been too long since I’ve had the chance to do that.
I’m looking forward to the Sewing class tomorrow. We are going to teach them how to cut out a simple pattern for tissue covers and to pin the pieces together and to hand sew them. It will be a good first project. We are trying to find many things for them to do by hand, since they will only have access to the sewing machine once a week when they come in here.
I can’t believe that December is less than 2 weeks away. Thanksgiving is this Thursday, but it’s hard to notice down here. Sherry is fixing a special meal for us, but it won’t be turkey. It’s fine by me. I’ll fix a turkey dinner when I’m back in the states. Maybe I’ll talk my sister into fixing one when I’m in IN in February, too. Ha
Guess I better go to bed now. I need my beauty sleep today especially! It’s scary when I look in the mirror sometimes! Haha I’m glad that God looks at my inside!
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