Friday Night

Well, after a little rest....some maybe more than a little.....(sorry Dave...I had to put it in....lol ) and the girls were finishing up their hair....(remember the braids...) yeah, it was a long long time..... we got ready for our last night of church in the streets. I was ready, but then, I wasn't.

We "piled" in the van, with, of course, many many others....and off we went... my heart hurt....yet I was excited for what was ahead....and I wasn't disappointed...not one little bit.

We sat in our "designated" chairs....I could see lightning off in the distance. Hmmmm its not gonna rain on our parade...is it? Ooooo this isn't good. Where would we go....there are a lot of people here....I guess, we'd go in the little building....we'll fit...these people can fit more people in the smallest places.....no biggy...

The beginning of the service, they started with thanks....and gifts....and a little talk about us and being our friends etc.....of course, Richard translated..... then we broke out in song. Well, as most churches, you sing a song....and your done. This song, is my favorite from here....why? you ask...because it never ends. Did I get pictures of it? no...this is something you can't catch on a still picture. Dave got the whole thing on video.....the whole 28 min. of it. yeah, 28 min. and we sang and danced and jumped....even the kids were jumping to the music.....I LOVE this song.....I love it! (and to top it off...it's pretty good exercise too!...yeah, we were sweatin.....)

Then, we had a little shower.....people scrambled, but before we even knew what was going on....POP, we had big ol umbrellas over us. Nothing stops church.....nothing. The Dominicans stood behind us in the rain to hold umbrellas over us! Wow talk about hospitality......and things continued. It was a quick shower, but, I still saw lightning in the distance...it was just a matter of time....

Then, it was our turn, so we got up and sang...we sang songs we always sing, songs they knew and songs we taught ourselves just for this. We had microphones in our hands, in the street, in puddles of water, with lightning all around us....dangerous? nah......We had God watching over us...we were ok....but I did hand my microphone over to Ed. (sorry Ed)

Then the best surprise of all..... the kids put on a little skit....talk about tearing up....They must have practiced this for a while. They sang songs in English!!!!! they did dance moves to the songs.... Then there was a rain break.....and back out again. Next thing I knew, they pulled out paper with our names on them.....it was so personal...it was soooo very awesome! Very impressive..... One of the songs, the tape stopped working, and the all the people just kept singing so the girls didn't miss a beat. Then we did a greeting of goodbyes...lots and lots of hugs.....everyone...every single person came up and hugged us....yes...this is right...its just right! This is what God wants from us....its really that simple....love each other....share the love....give a hug...its easy....yes...this is right! Then the clouds opened up....and into the little building we went....we were served ice cream....which Bob said was made from alcohol.....it was good....hmmmm no wonder.......and we took pics with our friends and just enjoyed this evening. We were tired....but....we'll have plenty of time to sleep on the plane ride home! Here are some of the pics of all of us with our friends.....

The journey is coming to an end ....but its not over yet.... until tomorrow...... La Bendiga!