Sabbath, March 27, 2004
I tumbled out of bed at 7 am and wandered out to the porch for some quiet time. Time stands still if you have a front porch to sit on. Breakfast was leftovers plus some delicious granola that Deena sent with us. Spiritual breakfast was given by Jim on works versus heart work. We were dressed and at church at 8:45, but few others arrived until about 9:30. The local members sang many songs in Spanish that were new to us. Since this was 13th Sabbath, the children were part of the program, giving recitations and scriptures. We broke for lesson study and Bob was asked to teach us English speakers. During class time Rigo asked me if I would make a presentation to his teachers of awards that Carl Moeckel had sent down with us from our Conference office. Church service was soon to begin and, during the announcement time, Rigo and Bob decided to give out the stuffed animals that had been used as packing around the computers to all the children in attendance. We envisioned chaos and bedlam as they fought over who would get what, but it went very nicely and the children were very cooperative.
Rigo opened the order of service and then motioned for me to join him to award the 9 teachers. He had put together a packet containing a notepad, pen, and ruler for each teacher. As Rigo read their names, I handed them the gift and placed a service medal around their neck. They were appreciative and moved.
Bob was recruited to preach and opened with the school story and progress that had been made. He thanked and commended them for their support and hard work, and noted the improvements that had been accomplished. He asked for testimonies and Pastor Adonja came forward and spoke works of encouragement to the people. Dale also came forward and spoke from the heart about his experience building the school and about the friends he had made with these people and the miracle of a school like this in Mitch.
Right after church Rigo caught me again and asked me to plan a social for that evening. Wow!! I had to start formulating a plan immediately. But first, lunch at Marcella’s. Marcella was a busy man because we kept him hopping. The boat was ready to take us to Michael’s Rock for a Sabbath snorkeling event. It was cloudy but that didn’t dampen our spirits. This is considered one of the better snorkeling places in the world. We were taken with the beauty of all the variety of colors in the coral, the plants, and, of course, the fish. I took about two dozen shots of this magic underworld. We swam through many schools of fish and tried to touch them, but they were always able to outmaneuver us. I found one of the rarer conch shells and brought it in to the beach. It was inhabited and we enjoyed studying it.
On the way back we walked through a large vacation home that Marcella’s cousin was house-sitting. Guanaja is an island of contrasts, with a few very wealthy people and many, many of those who struggle to survive. We decided to go home and take a little siesta time before the big social I was planning to have that night. Around 6 pm Marcella walked in with a supper of home fries and cheese sandwiches. He had hiked in all the way over that muddy road from Mangrove Bight with our meal.
Seven o’clock was nearing and it would be time to party with the kids. I hoped my games would interest them. When we arrived they were already playing basketball, so Bob organized them into teams. All 70 or 80 of them wanted to play at once. Eric played on the girls’ side and they had a grand time. Musical chairs were a hit game. I Saw a Shark lost something in the Spanish translation. Winkum and Steal-the-Bacon were pretty active and, finally, the adults were all worn out. Rigo called us together for a closing prayer and he translated for me as I gave the benediction. After prayer Eric broke out his chemical light sticks and was instantly mobbed with children. Bob turned out the lights and the kids had a ball waving their lights. And so ended our Saturday night social.