Good church day
My congregation has been so wonderful these past couple of weeks, so glad to see me, so involved in meetings and visioning, that they have forced me to concede that my ministry here is important too, even if it's not quite as desperately life-changing as it is in Ecuador.
Today was a great church service, one of my best. Unfortunately, I did not have the sermon taped. However, guessing that it was going to be a good service overall, I did *video* tape the entire service. If I can figure out how to do it, I may be able to capture the video of the sermon and post that online instead of the audio. That would be way cool, because I used props. Also, I could totally use it for my ordination interview if I don't tape another service that I like better (like the other Ecuador one upcoming in September, or the Mother Teresa one I'm planning for later in the fall which will be more theological in nature).
Anyway, we had a baptism, so the place was pretty packed for summer, which is always good for morale, and then I did a sermon about the love of all god's children as I experienced it in Ecuador. People laughed and cried. My poor Ecuador house-building-buddy A came and sniffled through most of the service. Still, it was great to see her and we went out for lunch afterward. She and Husband got on like old buddies, but I predicted that.
Then there was a massive upload of some pictures from our group photographer (about 1500!), so I got to be all melancholy again, but in a really sweet way. There's even a picture of me macking it up on the dance floor that I think represents the incredible restraint that I demonstrated. observe my married woman space bubble (also note that I'm looking pretty fine for someone who has been building cement walls all day):
also, just in case you doubted how sad I was to leave:
Happily, I start Spanish tomorrow, and I can get serious about thinking about going back to Ecuador a more conversational woman.
Today was a great church service, one of my best. Unfortunately, I did not have the sermon taped. However, guessing that it was going to be a good service overall, I did *video* tape the entire service. If I can figure out how to do it, I may be able to capture the video of the sermon and post that online instead of the audio. That would be way cool, because I used props. Also, I could totally use it for my ordination interview if I don't tape another service that I like better (like the other Ecuador one upcoming in September, or the Mother Teresa one I'm planning for later in the fall which will be more theological in nature).
Anyway, we had a baptism, so the place was pretty packed for summer, which is always good for morale, and then I did a sermon about the love of all god's children as I experienced it in Ecuador. People laughed and cried. My poor Ecuador house-building-buddy A came and sniffled through most of the service. Still, it was great to see her and we went out for lunch afterward. She and Husband got on like old buddies, but I predicted that.
Then there was a massive upload of some pictures from our group photographer (about 1500!), so I got to be all melancholy again, but in a really sweet way. There's even a picture of me macking it up on the dance floor that I think represents the incredible restraint that I demonstrated. observe my married woman space bubble (also note that I'm looking pretty fine for someone who has been building cement walls all day):
also, just in case you doubted how sad I was to leave:
Happily, I start Spanish tomorrow, and I can get serious about thinking about going back to Ecuador a more conversational woman.