Fellowship, Friends, Festivities

today, the Maranatha volunteers were split up in three different groups to attend various churches. my group went to attend a campmeeting taking place nearby. the weather was warm and although there was shade provided by a tarp at the front of the meeting area, we preferred to huddle under a shade provided by a skinny tree because there was a breeze. however, from time to time the breeze will happen to pick up the aromatic fragrance of fertilizer and/or open drainage which was the complete opposite of pleasantness. as the morning sun worked its way across the sky, so did our shade which we moved right along with it. baptisms were also to take place and one of the pastors conveniently volunteered all of us to shake the hands of the baptismal candidates as they leave the baptistry. apparently no one told him that we were on a schedule and had to be back at our dorm for lunch and other activities in the afternoon. so when an opportune time came, we started to trickle out of the campmeeting area and boarded the bus back.

in the afternoon some of the group went to the coast while others went for a hike on the mountain adjacent to the campus. still others like myself decided to do some lay activities and just chill. there were some VBS crafts that needed to be completed so we just sat in the lobby of our dorm and did some cutting and folding but eventually we made our way back to our rooms for a nap embracing the Day of Rest.

in the evening, our cooks prepared a festive dinner for us and later we received presents. the adults got hats… or caps of sorts… i didn’t learn what name of them were… and the children got pan pipes. later on, some locals acquired fireworks but we learned due to insurance policies that we weren’t allowed to set them off so we just watched as the locals did. having seen how fireworks are done for Fourth of July, Disneyland, and New Years in the states, the fireworks we set off soon lost all appeal to me. so i and my cousin Jessica left early.