Trip Update 5

Friday morning we had breakfast with the people and then headed off to walk through and pray for the city as we walked up a small mountain (no joke!). On the way, we visited a seminary where one of the pastors went and where his son was married. It was so neat to be there to see their history, as well as hear the history of the seminary. Very different from our Pastors' College. Al has great plans for this place. :o) While we were there, one of the professors gave us a tour and then sang for us an American folk song - very hilarious. We stopped in at the Chapel where Al read a few verses and Todd led us in spontaneous worship. Again, I'm always amazed by the fact that I can worship God anytime, anywhere. I love it!

We continued our walk, munching on fresh coconut!, and reached the top where we got more ice cream and big bottles of water (water gets drunk quickly by our team! :o). This place wasn't there when we visited last time and it was extremely oriented to foreigners. The view was absolutely incredible and just left me in awe of all our God has created. After resting, we headed towards 'the ruins' which are in the process of being rebuilt! I think it used to be a Catholic shrine and now it's being fixed up. Eric got to talk to a music teacher who was traveling with her friends. The woman was having a clarinet lesson with the friend's daughter out in the open under the blue sky and surrounded by the huge green hills and trees. What a place to have a lesson!

We got back from our walk, ate lunch and had the opportunity to go swimming!!! We packed up, slathered on sunscreen and climbed into a big cargo truck. Nice. As we drove, we picked up (running!) members of the church and headed to a beach outside the city. We thought we might be able to snorkel as well (hello! the Caribbean! oh wow!), but that didn't work out. It was still amazing and Al was so awesome to work that out for us - a surprise for the team! We enjoyed a couple hours swimming and dodging Fire Coral (Coral de fuego) and stepping on lovely bits of sharp rock. Then Jorge found a nasty dog that he named Jessica or something and tried to find a way to water it. It was pretty hilarious watching him. Does anyone have pictures? :o) On the way back, we stopped to pick up - you guessed it! - more water. When we arrived home, they held a ceremony in my honor to present me with my first Diet Coke of the trip. It was wooonderful! :o)

Dinner was delayed until 8 pm because they had run out of gas, couldn't get more and had to cook over charcoal. Unbelievable. I cannot imagine not being able to run to the store and pick up what I need! So, as soon as we were done with dinner, Melinda and I watched the girls from the church practice a dance for the party the next evening.

Then we took a quick walk (dodging HUGE crabs in the gutters!) to a restaurant inside a castle - literally! It was time for them to close, but they let us in and shut the doors. It looked like a prison but they served up great french frieds, shrimp (bleh!) and sodas. :o) That was a lot of fun and a place I'd never been before. Next door was some lovely (ahem) karaoke and dancing. :o)

That night Mindy and I talked way late (like 3:30!!) and prayed the two newlywed lizards who showed up in our room would decide it was too cold and head back outside.