It’s Saturday evening and I’ve finished dinner (canalones, YUM) and am ready for a shower and to spend time reading before bed.
The team from Parkside Baptist Church arrived on Thursday evening. It was nice to see a few familiar faces. They got all settled in to their rooms and we prepared to start ministry week that is a little different from most, since it starts on Friday and the team leaves on Thursday of next week.
I started Thursday by taking food to the Monte Horeb Feeding Center and then coming back to the Mission House for some computer work. Then Mayela and I went to Noah’s Ark Feeding Center to gather info and get updates. After lunch, I worked a little more on the feeding center computer work before the ladies from Rose of Sharon church arrived for their Sewing class.
Sewing class was very fun and very hot and sweaty! It was pretty miserable, actually. We may have to break down and turn on the AC in that room. I hope the units really do work and we don’t burn down the place. We had 6 fans on and the doors and windows open, but it was stifling and the fans just make it harder to cut out patterns and thread needles, etc. But we made it through with lots of laughs and fun. Sister Teresa made a new apron with lace that she had brought with her. She gave the apron to me as a gift. It was such a nice thing to do! I have a picture of her wearing it and a picture of me wearing it standing beside her. She is very sweet. The other ladies worked on shorts (for sleeping in) and more skirts. I sent them all home with extra fabric to make more items of their choosing. We won’t have class again until the first Thursday in June (since I will be out of the country for a week) so I’m interested to see just what they might come up with to make for themselves by hand at home.
Friday morning the team went out to do some Fiestas and I took food to Monte Horeb Feeding Center again. Then I ran by Salmon grocery store to buy some more of my favorite drinks (V8 Splash juice blends). I worked on the computer all morning until Mayela was ready to return to the Noah’s Ark Feeding Center. We had a productive day there and were glad to get back to the Mission House about 1:15. The team had already had lunch and then planned on an excursion to the beach at 2pm. They had fun and came back for church.
After church on Friday night, the team came back for dinner and right when we were serving up the food, the electricity went out. A few of the team members brought flashlights (we tell all teams to do so) and a few used the flashlight app on their cell phones and we served and ate dinner. After eating, the team started singing praise songs in harmony and it was beautiful. I was in my room reading and I usually am very successful at blocking out sound, but the music was so pretty that I didn’t want to miss it. So I put down my book and just sat back in my rocker with head back and eyes closed and rocked and praised God with the music.
I grabbed my shower by flashlight and then decided that 2 hours without power was not good for the refrigerators that hold the food for the team. We have a small generator, but no gas. So I had Manuel (one of our hired drivers) go with me to the gas station to get a jug of gas. I normally would go by myself, but it was night and very dark and I felt more secure taking him with me. We drove the KIA SUV and he thought it was cute, but didn’t like driving an automatic. While at the gas station, we saw Oscar, Josselin and Axel. They were walking down the street to take Axel home to his mama’s house. The electricity was out all over our part of town. The gas station uses generators so we were able to pump our little bit of gas.
On the way home, the power came back on. I was very glad and I was very happy that we now have the gas needed to run the generator for the next outage, which could come at any time.
Saturday (today), the team left for more Fiestas and I got a lot of work done on the computer trying to catch up and also get ahead because of my upcoming trip to the states this coming week. After lunch, which surprised the team since we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn, some of the team went to town to shop around the park. I went along since I wanted to pick up something for my new great-niece (I’m saying it’s a girl until the doctor proves me wrong), and to look at fabric at my favorite stores. It started raining on us and we got drenched. Even though the park and downtown is only 4+ miles away, there was not a drop of rain at the Mission House. Just hot and muggy. Juan and Jaasiel, two of our translators, sat with me in my room and we looked through some of the movies that Mary and I have been buying at our favorite video store. We had a nice visit.
The team left for church tonight and will eat dinner when they get back. I’m ready for a shower now and thankful for a wonderful day.
I can’t believe I’ll be leaving the Mission House on Wednesday morning and flying to the states on Thursday morning. The week in the states will go by just as quickly, I’m sure! I’ve got my shopping list ready and am taking empty suitcases to bring back lots of ministry supplies.
Just a few more weeks and our summer of teams starts. It will be so busy and so wonderful. I can’t wait to see what God brings each day.
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