Driving took us almost as long as it used to on horseback!

Me...3 or 4 years old...a rest stop on the way home.*

Actually, that's an exaggeration. (And that's an understatement!) We were setting out for another visit to the Tsachi church.  From the house we stay at in Santo Domingo, it usually takes 5 to 10 minutes to reach the main highway.  This time it took an hour! We were part of a several-miles-long "caravan" snaking along at a snail's pace. We tried to relax and enjoy the lovely sunset splashed over the darkening sky.  We figured our Enemy wanted us to get all "hot and bothered"...so we just figured we wouldn't.  (Once we reach the highway, it's about a half-hour drive to the church.)

That morning we had read Psalm 90:16-17:  "Let your servants see what You're best at - the ways You rule and bless your children.  And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes.  Affirm the work that we do." It helped to remember the words.
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We were a little late, but we slipped into the comfortable atmosphere of the church...and time seemed to stand still. They don't worry about finishing at a set time, so we don't when we're there.

Speaking for a few minutes, I asked them about some of the wild animals that had been around when I was a little girl.  Are there still agoutis? armadillos? ocelots? monkeys? jaguars? parrots? snakes?  deer?...Snakes still live there, but there are no monkeys, deer  or jaguars anymore, and the other animals are only found every once-in-a-while.

How things have changed! Time and "civilization" encroach on their habitat...and encroach on our memories. But I reminded them that some things never change...like our God and his love and mercy.
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My husband's message touched on Wycliffe, one of the first brave men God used to open people's eyes to the errors of the then-Catholic Church, helping to pave the way for believers to have God's Word in their own languages.  He spoke clearly and simply about the necessity we have, now that we can understand it in our own tongue, to obey what the Bible tell us - how God wants us to relate to Him.

Then on to the post-service "social hour":  eating Banana Bread, getting an impromptu massage, speaking for a little video - a theology student's assignment, being given some finger bananas and oranges to bring home...and talking. My friend Carán has bad arthritis in her hands, so I had taken with me a menthol-based pain-relief gel for her to try.  (I use it daily for some of my pains.)  Of course, other ladies came to see...and I ended up with "orders" for a number of tubes of the stuff!  (The company should give me a commission!) We left the church, encouraged and looking forward to the next visit.
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                     Thank You, Lord, for being able to live the reality of this verse:

                            "Let your servants see what You're best at -
                              the ways You rule and bless your children."  (Psalm 90:16)            

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(*No, I didn't ride bareback.  My dad just sat me up there for a picture.  You can see his writing on the bottom part.  "In San Miguel" - which was where we would spend the night before starting the second day on horseback to reach home.)