Caleb & Della: 3/9/14: Day 7: Anniversary and Bees!

Woke up at 6:00, we were out of milk but we have a working stove now! Della cooked eggs and toast. Apparently there is not a starter for the oven so I had to use a paper towel to light it. After breakfast I studied Spanish a bit. Then we went to the new building for the church at 8:00. Since 4:30 PM yesterday they had completed hanging the mounts for the projectors and finished filling the pool/ baptistery. I put my projector on one mount and Hector’s on the other and got them aligned. The cord for the projector wasn’t long enough so I had to sit in a chair holding a box for the computer and carefully make sure it didn’t fall off. For the first half of service Samuel led singing and we had the Lord’s Supper. I counted 45 people in attendance and a bunch of people were having to stand in the back due to lack of chairs. So during the break I went back to the house and got three of the chairs I had bought yesterday and the cake. When we got to the church building and opened the cake box, I saw that the top half had slid off really bad. Hector jokingly said he would make me pay for it, I know he was disappointed. Then they served tamales for everyone, these were even better than yesterday because they didn’t have any bones. For the second half of service we had a guest speaker. I don’t know his name but he knew a little English and said he had attended the Sunset School for preaching back in 1975. At the end of the service Hector had us and the rest of the team stand in the front and he gave a short introduction for each of us. We then all ate the cake and it tasted really good despite falling apart a bit. I then took my projector down and went with Manuel back to our house to change clothes and the contents of my backpack. Then Manuel gave us a jar of honey in a bottle of wine, it very yummy. Then Manuel, his daughter Sylvia and I walked to the bee farm. It was about 1.5 miles to the farm and we met Noé on the way. The walk wore me out because it was incredibly steep. Manuel’s mom’s house was about 150 feet from the bees. He introduced me to his kids and his mom and gave me a net and a hat to put on. Manuel worked on preparing the humidor to smoke the bees. He used corn husks to as fuel for it. After catching my breath and resting a few minutes we started on the bees. He had 15 boxes full with 2 shelves of 10 slots in each. He showed me the queens and he picked some off because he said that they were non reproductive. He let me hold a slot and took my picture. It was amazing getting to see this! I had never gotten to go to a bee farm before. His wife worked the smoker while Manuel worked on taking apart and putting back together the boxes. He managed to get one box super mad, I was glad to make it out without getting stung. While we were working Della called and said that the meeting had been pushed back so I didn’t have to be back till 3:00. As Manuel and I walked back our conversation was very limited due to my poor Spanish. We talked about the ages of my siblings and how long I had been a Christian, how old he was and his brother, wife, and kids. We got back to the house at 2:40, Edgardo was there waiting because he thought we weren’t going to be back in time so he planning to walk Della back to the church at 3:00 for safety. Della and I offered them the leftover tamales from yesterday and some Cheetos. I ate two peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches and Della ate one. Manuel and Edgardo left for the church building. Just as Della and I were about to go, Javier showed up and told us there was no one there yet. So we waited a few more minutes and I let him fly the RC helicopter a bit. At 3:05 we all walked back to the church building. There was a slim turnout for the second service. Samuel led the singing and I said a prayer for Hector’s preaching, I was embarrassed because I forgot to tuck my shirt back in after the long hike to the bees. The second service lasted until about 4:30. Afterwards Della and I rushed to the market to buy milk for the tomorrow. We dropped it off at the house and I grabbed the computer in case we might be able to use Hector’s internet. Then we rushed back to the church building were Hector, Samuel and Carlos were waiting on us to go to Hector’s house for a team meeting. On the way we stopped and hiked up a steep trail to deliver some food to a family in need. The hike was beautiful with a shallow fog on top of a mountain. When we got to the house they introduced themselves as Pedro and Felicita. Pedro told us that Felicita has what sounded like diabetes. Hector talked to them for a bit and then put a bit of oil on Felicita and we all prayed together. Then we walked back to the car and continued on to Hector’s house. There we started a meeting discussing our calendar for the next week. He started by recording all our needs and Carlos shared that there were some concerns about Linda (his wife) and their baby, please pray about this. Then we discussed some family matters that also need some prayers but I don’t want to be specific. Hector told us that he wanted us to work in the mornings preparing for the mission groups and activities and that in the afternoons he wanted us to have evangelism from 1:00 till 4:00 and be a part of every evening bible study from 5:30 till 7:30 this week. This Friday is the preacher’s meeting in the morning where we are going to share our visions and Friday night is the teen meeting. This Friday and Sunday Carlos is going to teach and I am just going to be there but next Friday and Sunday I am going to teach the teens and hopefully Della will be comfortable enough to interpret. After much haggling we managed to negotiate having a rest day for tomorrow! The meeting at Hector’s house continued until 8:30. We were all very tired and hungry so we got in the car and Samuel drove us (Carlos, Samuel, Hector, Della, and I) back to Ataco. We ate amazing pupusas at the restaurant across the street from the house. While we were eating there were crowds marching in the streets blowing air horns and playing music for the elections. The T.V. in the restaurant was tuned to the elections and the votes were split almost perfectly. Samuel told us that the elections were a big deal here, that they are held only once every five years and that expected that some changes were coming.