GRAY HAIR....A Crown of Splendor.... Proverbs 16:31

Sept. 29, 2013

Sunday, day of rest, even though we haven't done anything yet...  We sleep in..til 8 AM, have a light breakfast, and walk to church.  It is almost 2 miles, straight downhill, steep.  But a beautiful day to say Buenos Dias to everyone.  Pastor Pablo is pastor of this small Presbyterian congregation, held right ON the street, in a storefront type room  Trucks and cars down shift, and speed past the open door.  The prayers and music are more familiar to me, but I still have trouble following everything.   "Bienvenidos"sung gently while each person walks around greeting every other person, is always touching.  Of course, we were asked to introduce ourselves and are always treated as celebrities.  Without a hymn book, I am lost with the songs.  There is a type of sedate contemporary music presented by a young man and woman, singing and playing guitar.  It is pleasant... Pablo's sermon, interestingly enough was focused on gray  hair, elders,  the wisdom held and respect deserved.  I have been thinking a lot about my gray hair lately...   He compared this respect and wisdom to that of our Heavenly Father, wiser,kinder, and certainly deserving of the ultimate respect.   Pablo celebrated the birthday of a sweet gentleman, 82 years young (as Debbie would say) and his wife of 60 years.  He prayed for them, and used them as wonderful examples.   We were invited share lunch to celebrate, Marvelous home made tamales and tamarindo juice.  The joke here is that we Gringos love the tamales, but find the lettuce hard to chew...

The weather here has been stunning...sunny, kinda hot, humid, but with a gentle breeze that makes it almost perfect.  Big white clouds hover over the mountains, and sink into the valleys.  The hard rains of the last few weeks have subsided.  

The vista from our 2nd floor is spectacular, gentle landscape surrounding us.  We are in the middle of a pasture, at the foot of the mountains, outside the town of Ocosingo.  Picture this:  straight ahead, to the West are mountains. close enough to touch, green, with dots of lights at night coming from small huts along the highway, and beyond, up pathways far into the terrain.  The sun sets over here.   To the left, North is a corral, a cattle slaughtering operation...  Needless to say, there are sounds and smells that are not exactly idyllic...  To the right,  South are more of the Bible School buildings, dorm rooms, classrooms, a kitchen, sheds, etc   And down the steep stairs thru banana trees, across the little stream, and up the steep stairs on the other side of a little ravine, LasManos de Cristo, The Clinic.   Behind us, to the East, are distant mountains, where we watch the sun come up at 6:30 AM, and the city of Ocosingo nestled in the valley.   

I think I am finding myself....again....