The way to church is a 20 minute walk from our apartment across the down town area. Church “begins” at 8:30. That means people come in and wait for something to happen. Singing begins at 8:45 and continues for about 30 minutes. The sermon and communion took until 10:30 when church was dismissed.
Seven – eleven music (singing the same 11 songs over 7 times each) has never been my favorite. I discovered today that it is an ideal time to learn Spanish. I took notes on frequently used words. We will look up the meaning and attempt to memorize them. Next Sunday we will have a chance to reinforce these words at least seven times.
We reflected on our communion experience over the last three churches we attended counting our experience here. It seems as though we have gone from wine to grape juice to kool aid. To each his own flavor.
On a more serious note, we continue to be impressed with the sincerity of the people during church service. This is not just a formality for most. The simplicity and bare necessities of the surroundings add to the favorable atmosphere. And now if we can condition the posterior to accept these bare (and hard) necessities, we will be OK.
After church we encountered, by chance, a wonderful cultural parade lasting about an hour. The tourism bureau sponsored a parade consisting of many of the Pastaza (our province) ethnic groups as well as some barrios (neighborhoods) of Puyo. Each group was dressed in full costume. Each of them did extravagant dances to a loud boom box type speaker in the back of a pickup. One of the Indian groups included some old men and women with feet which had never seen shoes. The feet at the toes are twice again as wide as normal. The men have a big toe which is almost like a thumb. This is developed over the years by extensive tree climbing. We normally don’t take a camera to church and so missed many wonderful pictures.
Our Sunday noon meal was eaten at the church owned restaurant located just behind the church. This is a new beautifully decorated restaurant which is quite formal. A four course meal including an appetizer, soup, main course, and desert was $3. We know of some congregations in Iowa who should consider this idea as a church fundraiser since half the congregation heads for a restaurant after church anyway.
It is time to make those final preps for classes tomorrow.
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1 comment:
Omer and Mary Jane,
Wehave been back from Colorado long enough to get things here up to par.
We finally got around this afternoon to going to your Blog and reading to catch up with your introduction and now, your full speed ahead.
It really sounds as if you are fully occupied.
The pictures give us a sense of the locale, and you folk's description of school activies show how quickly you are into "the school activies".
Good luck, love, Dorothy and Duane
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