Today, we went to church at a more local church, well within walking distance of the house where we are staying. It is in one of the abandoned and unfinished structures in the Sir Charles Beach Resort. The signpost says that church is from 8:30 to 10:45. Frank and I arrived at a touch after 8:30 to find that there were about three people there, one setting up chairs, one setting up the equipment and the wiring, and one off in a room in the back. People slowly trickled in and then someone picked up a mic and started praying and singing in both English and a local language. This lasted for about 45 minutes as people continued to come in. There was a young man accompanying these activities playing chords on the electric organ. A woman joined the man with another mic. She accompanied the prayer with singing. Then two other women joined her and the man who started the prayer went to his seat and another man went up to give announcements. The young man at the organ was replaced by a talented organ player who accompanied the rest of the service. Once the announcements were done, the pastor got up and gave his sermon. That started around 10:00 and then about 10:45, he said we had about 15 more minutes to go. The man who had done the announcements earlier came up and made a few more announcements, then had an older man come up and speak and an older woman come up and speak. They both used the local language, so we couldn’t understand what they were talking about. I believe that they were talking about an upcoming service for a church member who had passed away. While this was happening, the children were putting away their plastic garden chairs and the drum set was put away. Once these final announcements were done, we got up and our plastic garden chairs were also gathered up and put away, along with the rest of the instruments and electronic equipment.
Island time! Go with the flow…………….