Sabbath morning I woke up at 6am with sunlight streaming through my window. I got ready for church and arrived before the doors opened. I was anxious not to get in the way of Ronald and Jessica. But as I was heading out the door Ronald came out and said they had wanted to make an arepa for me. I felt bad but I knew the food wouldn't go to waste.
Walking to church the weather was beautiful! I wasn't expecting such good weather. Apparently it starts getting hot in November. There was a cool breeze, the sun was out and it was almost chilly. Despite the cooler weather it's still humid. My hair is twice as short and twice as wide as it usually is at home.
Sabbath school started at 9am. People trickled in slowly. I was feeling a little homesick and anxious. I didn't really know anyone, I didn't want to be a burden and I still wasn't sure what my exact role would be. With all that swirling in my head the Pastor shared the verse of the day. Matthew 6:34 "so do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There's no need to add to the troubles each day brings." I instantly felt so much peace. I think that's going to be my verse of the trip.
Church started at 10:45am and I played for song service. I instantly started feeling more comfortable. I do best when I can help and have a role and playing for song service gave me that. The praise group was very talented and included classical guitar, piano and flute. As we played I quickly learned that every verse is sung for every hymn. They never skip. It gave me a lot of time to be creative and learn the hymns I wasn't so familiar with.
After church I went home with Jessica and Ronald to help finish lunch. As we talked they told me they were volunteers too! They left their secular jobs, working for public schools in Colombia, to work in a Christian setting with a minimal stipend. They'll be here for at least a year.
I asked what I'd be doing and how I could help their program. They're both music education majors so they don't have a specific instrument they specialized in but can play the basics on all. That's why Jessica has a violin and knows the basics. So, on top of teaching private and group violin classes, they would like me to teach Jessica more violin the next two months, as well as beginner music classes for toddlers. That way we can teach together and she can continue once I leave. I loved the idea! Sustainability is so important.
This week is the schools' anniversary (40th? 25th? I'm really not sure) so it will be filled with special programs and festivities. I'm going to start teaching Jessica and help with whatever I can (including giving special music and playing songs with the choir). Next week there's a holiday so it's only a half week. So the plan is to start advertising the music academy to the community so they can sign up. I'll be teaching for free and all the students' tuition will go towards buying much needed supplies (such as sheet music, more violins and xylophones for the toddler class).
After discussing the rough draft for the next few week we walked up the road to eat our lunch with Jessica (another Jessica) and Giuliana, the Brazilian missionary. By the time lunch was finishing I was already feeling more comfortable with everyone and I could tell they were warming up to me too. Laughing and starting to belong to the community really helped the homesickness start to go away.
After lunch Ronald, Jessica and I rode our bikes to Ronald (another Ronald) and Pamela's house to rehearse a song for next sabbath. As we rode to rehearsal I learned to balance the violin on my shoulder while riding a bike (not a simple chore for an uncoordinated person like myself).
The song Ronald chose is called "By Faith". It's the song my brother sang for his high school graduation so I was very excited. Plus, Ronald, who is an excellent transcriber, had written out a fiddle part for me to play along. The whole song sounds country and is a ton of fun to play.
As we rehearsed fireworks started going off and we heard a bunch of screaming, drums and tambourines. It scared me! It turns out there was an Emelec soccer game going on. Emelec is a huge team from Guayaquil and happens to be Chamorro's, the chaplain, favorite team. He might not have been watching the game on sabbath but he definitely knew that they were winning. The whole town did!
We ended our rehearsal with sundown worship. All the songs we're about the sabbath and keeping God's commandments. I smiled as we sang a song about the sabbath sung to the tune of Adeste Fideles. As we all (I mean all, no person left behind) shared our thoughts about the week and how God had worked in our lives,
Afterwards Pame sent out a mass text to gather the troops so that I would have a fun Saturday night. We went to the marina and watched the baby tiger sharks in the water and took pictures with the lobos marinos before we headed back to Pame's house to watch Zootopia. We brought popcorn kernels that she popped in a kettle over the stove and everyone chipped in a dollar to go buy bread and cheese for dinner.
As I looked around the room it hit me how young everyone was. Not one person was more than 8-10 years older than me. Yet there they were, professors, chaplains, parents, missionaries. There wasn't a single kiddult in the group.
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