Hurry and more hurry

Tuesday was a catch-up day for me and Mama. We had had less than four hours of sleep in the thirty hours or so from the time we had gotten up Monday morning not know we would be flying out the next morning and the time we were picked up at the airport in San Pedro Sula - having spent the night in baggage claim at DFW. So, after getting to the house in El Progresso, Mama and I both took a long nap - almost two hours. We went to bed as early as was practical that evening. We were both asleep in only a few minutes and slept soundly through the entire night. When you get to our age, sleeping an entire night through is not a normal occurrence. 

Wednesday was shopping and Megapaca - an upscale Goodwill store where Mama found multiple items we could not do without - and La Colonia, one of the nearby grocery stores. Services at church that night were in English because of two visiting preachers who are speaking at the Come Away conference starting Thursday evening. Pastor Matt translated the preaching into Spanish for his congregation. I still marvel at the skill required to translate a speaker, especially a preacher, and maintain both the intent and continuity of the presentation, or in this case, the sermon.  Since I know both languages, it was instructive to see how Pastor Matt accomplished the translation when some additional explanation was required to get the point across. 

Last night began the Come Away conference. I spent an hour at a grill cooking hotdogs - the the main fare of the meal - and visiting with John, the leader of the children's home there. All I was able to eat of the many things offered by those who added their dishes to the hot dogs was the hotdogs themselves, but it was still a time meal in great company, followed by a song service and a sermon. We ended up getting to the room Mama and I are in at the clinic on the property about 9:30 pm. We stayed at the clinic overnight to facilitate being able to clean up last night and prepare the breakfast meal this morning. We will follow the same routine tonight and tomorrow morning.  Many of the kids, especially the teenagers, were out much later playing basketball and soccer on the property. It is a fenced and gated property, so there was no concern about those who were playing outside late into the night.

This morning we started about 7:30 preparing a continental breakfast for the seventy attendees. Cutting muffins, sweetbreads and fruit. Making copious amounts of coffee and juice, emptying and relining trashcans and making sure tables were set up and ready for the 8:30 meal. We had a general service at 9 am and sessions were broken out for men and women separately after that early preaching service. We elected to come home for the afternoon and will return to the church this afternoon for an evening meal, a preaching service and another late night of fellowship. Mama has reconnected with friends we know from years past and made a couple new friends who are attending for the first time. It has been a great conference so far.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Norman, Victoria and Grandpa have been dealing with freezing conditions since Mama and I left. Only today did the temperature get above freezing. Thankfully, tomorrow will be well above freezing even overnight. That is good because on Wednesday afternoon the heat pump shut off so the house was without central heat overnight with the outside temperature in the low twenties. Since the house still had power, electric heaters were put in service to keep everyone warm. Yesterday the wife of the owner of the company Victoria had called for help called Norman and was able to give him directions of how to get the heat unit operation again. Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow, Saturday, we will wrap up the conference by now and shortly thereafter relocate back to the house. It will be an overnight stay at the house because Sunday morning, as soon as the service is over, we will be leaving for Roatan. It is about a three hour drive to catch the ferry from La Ceiba to the island and another hour by ferry to the island. We will need to have the van packed with all our luggage and anything else we want to have in the four days we will be on Roatan by Saturday night.  I am sure we will make it, but it will be a bit hurried to meet the timeframe. 

Mama and I are rally looking froward to stying on Roatan.