January 29, 2005
| Ina, A. Mildy, A. Sharon & Mandy Showalter |
Our guests got here a little after midnight Sunday morning. I got them settled in then met my wife in bed.... Sunday morning we all attended church at Barnwell. Nathan Goering preached on "Respect for God". Ina Sue fixed us up quite a spread for lunch. Garlic bread, swiss chicken, baked rice, baked pineapple and cabbage salad. The aunts supplied a dessert of orange pie from Florida. It was scrumptious! We all played Rook in the afternoon before they had to leave around 4:00. We rested a while then went to the evening service which was a topical program on "Respect for the Elderly, Peers, & Property" by Delmar Diem. He had a good talk. |
| Carolina Sue's first flight (to Puerto Rico) |
I started our big day Monday off with a service call to Plain or Fancy Signs in Orangeburg. Ina Sue said she had a humongous load of wash to do. (8 loads) She was able to take the time for a quick run in to Dr. Sheally for a back adjustment before our big trip. After I got home we scurried around and pretty much got everything packed up and ready by 10:00 in time for a good night's sleep. |
| Working on a laptop for our extremely hospitable
hosts... (Tim & Bonita Myers) |
We yanked ourselves out of bed at 4:15 Tuesday morning to get ready to fly out.. We made it to Charlotte by 8:00 and had time to get checked in and rest a little before our flight left at 9:30. We had about a 2-hour layover in Miami then flew on to San Juan. (For anyone who doesn't know, I serve on the board of the Puerto Rico Mennonite Council and was scheduled to go on the delegation trip again this year) At San Juan we met Samuel Goerings (with daughter Erika) and Sam Petersheims. Sam & Sarah serve at the church in Barceloneta and kindly picked us up at the airport. We all went over to Tim & Bonita Myers' temporary home for supper. We had a delicious meal of rice & beans, bread fruit, salad, pasta casserole and cake. A delicious supper and a nice evening visiting together. Samuels went over to Sam's for the night while we stayed with Tim's. |
|
Carolina found a friend in Tete |
Wednesday was a lovely cool morning. Had a delicious breakfast with Tim's. (Lots of fresh citrus fruit) then I went over to Sam's for us to have the interview with Sam & Sarah. We had a good time of sharing then for lunch we all went over to Juan & Mildred's for dinner. I was thrilled to have Puerto Rican pinchos along with rice & gondules & pastelles. In the afternoon us men & Marsha (Ina Sue's sister flew down to help Ina Sue with the baby) went to help a neighbor pick pineapples. Unfortunately we missed him and were not able to help. Mid-afternoon we all packed in the van and drove down to the Indian caves for a picnic supper. On the way down we stopped at a huge dairy (800 cows) for the dairy farmers that were along. The Indian Caves were large stone formations along the beach that the water had carved caves into. The waves crashing onto the rocks was quite an awesome sight. Back to Sam's then for more visiting. Sam played his saw for us while Samuel picked the guitar. It was quite a combination. |
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Sam plays the saw while Samuel picks.... |
Thursday morning we got up to another delicious breakfast, this time of egg sandwiches on pan (Puerto Rican bread). Tim and Bonita have taken such wonderful care of us! Samuel & I had our interview with Tim's then we all met at Sam's for chicken enchiladas. In the afternoon we drove way back into the mountains for a visit with Edgar & Sheila and their two children, Lester & Ashley. This was the first time we had a chance to meet Edgar and his family. We had a really nice time in their lovely home then ate a true Puerto Rican supper around their table. New foods for us was the yucca balls & sorullitos. We barely got back to Barceloneta in time for prayer meeting. Bro. Tim had the discussion on from the Sermon on the Mount on "The Sin of Lust". He seemed like a natural Spanish speaker to my untutored ears. :) |
|
Tim & Sam checking out a strange bumping sound |
We all met at Sam's Friday morning around 8:00 to leave for Anasco. Us men drove the one van up for a 10:00 meeting with the team at Anasco (Carl Hartman & Craig Myers). The ladies left soon after in their own van and did a little shopping on the way down. We had good discussion in our meeting and nearly had things covered by dinner time. Kari Myers fixed us bean & pumpkin sauce over rice. June brought a chicken soup dish with lots of other goodies to go along. We love Puerto Rican food! After dinner we finished up our meeting. Carl showed us around the new Choicebooks warehouse. For supper we went to the beach at Rincon for a picnic. After supper Ina Sue and I spent a little time playing volleyball with Craig & Kari's "Youth" class |
| Ashley & Bonita with Carolina Sue |
We stayed at Craig's for the night while Samuels stayed with Jerrel Good's in the VS house. Breakfast Saturday morning consisted of papaya, fresh avocado sandwiches & sweet rolls with plenty of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Today was our "Workers Meeting" day. We have started having a workers inspiration meeting each year while the delegation & bishop are down. It is held in English and is seen as an opportunity for our workers to be ministered to for a change. I moderated and had devotions. Bro. Samuel had a talk for the youth and Bro. Jerrel had a talk for the adults on "Evaluating Your Marriage" He gave some specific guidelines on ways to make sure that we are meeting our spouse's needs. Joyce Good, Angela Goering & Ina Sue made the dinner for the day. Bread, meatballs, gourmet potatoes, zipper peas, broccoli salad, jello salad & lemon lush. Delicious but decidedly American after all of the Puerto Rican dishes.... |
| Midweek service at Fuente de Vida |
We spent the afternoon visiting together and finished off with a potato bar supper at Craig's. Oh yeah... Craig borrowed a go-cart from one of his friends to the great joy of the children present. Marsha and my wife had a obviously enjoyable ride around the neighborhood. See picture... After supper Ina Sue & I left with Tims to drive back to Barceloneta. We got there around 9:30 and went to bed fairly soon in order to be ready for the Lord's day. |
| Joint MAC/Delegation meeting on Friday |
The chairman's wife goes on a joyride.... :) |