Sunday, Dec. 7th
This morning we had an awesome church service with the congregation of Islitas CRC. The Carpenteros Choir and “Pastor” Ken led the service with singing and sermon, and the church members were asked to also sing some of their songs. The first selection was Cuan Grande es El (How Great Thou Art), which they sang with much heart-felt emotion. These people truly have great faith in God.
The service was ended with dozens of hugs, handshakes and words of thanks and blessings for us from the church members. We then presented our masons, cooks and the Islitas church and kindergarten with thank you gifts of a framed picture of this year’s Carpenteros group as well as various Canadian souvenirs. And then the much anticipated conclusion… a piñata! Once the paper mache creature broke, there were a few minutes of sheer pandemonium, as the children (and their mothers) scrambled for the candy and trinkets. It is always so much fun to watch this chaos, at least from a safe distance!
Our lunch today was a community effort… various ladies contributed shrimp, lobster, fish, vegetables and rice for the seafood soup, which we thoroughly enjoyed. This was topped off by some of sweetest watermelon I have ever tasted! (I should just explain here that Henk enjoys going fishing, but he does not like to eat seafood, so whenever fish was served, the ladies always prepared something different for him. Apparently his bribes of candy and chocolate paid off!)
This morning we had an awesome church service with the congregation of Islitas CRC. The Carpenteros Choir and “Pastor” Ken led the service with singing and sermon, and the church members were asked to also sing some of their songs. The first selection was Cuan Grande es El (How Great Thou Art), which they sang with much heart-felt emotion. These people truly have great faith in God.
The service was ended with dozens of hugs, handshakes and words of thanks and blessings for us from the church members. We then presented our masons, cooks and the Islitas church and kindergarten with thank you gifts of a framed picture of this year’s Carpenteros group as well as various Canadian souvenirs. And then the much anticipated conclusion… a piñata! Once the paper mache creature broke, there were a few minutes of sheer pandemonium, as the children (and their mothers) scrambled for the candy and trinkets. It is always so much fun to watch this chaos, at least from a safe distance!Our lunch today was a community effort… various ladies contributed shrimp, lobster, fish, vegetables and rice for the seafood soup, which we thoroughly enjoyed. This was topped off by some of sweetest watermelon I have ever tasted! (I should just explain here that Henk enjoys going fishing, but he does not like to eat seafood, so whenever fish was served, the ladies always prepared something different for him. Apparently his bribes of candy and chocolate paid off!)
After we had eaten our fill, several members of the team took advantage of the hammocks that hang in Juanita’s yard for a short siesta, while a few others went on a “pila inspection tour”. The village children followed us everywhere as they knew that we had a second piñata, and they could hardly wait until we were ready to begin the festivities. First, thank you gifts were presented to our translators, Diaconia staff and the Tigilotada kindergarten, then Pablo the Pinata took his beating, much to the glee of the screaming children. Approximately 20 lbs of candy and trinkets disappeared in mere seconds!Finally, it was time to say our good-byes to all the people we have come to consider our brothers and sisters. There were lots and lots of hugs and words of thanks as we piled into the pick-ups for our last run up the hill leading out of the village. We will not see folks again for at least another year (for some of us it will be longer), but they will daily be in our hearts and prayers, and we know that they will also pray for us. So now we ask that you also will pray for traveling mercies for our team begins the journey home.
Via con Dios
Audrey
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