KT to VZ

Feels like it's been a while since I wrote last (yesterday morning I think) so here's another update for ya. :)

Yesterday morning (and afternoon!) we were at the Dios Admirable church for the final service of the conference. And what a service it was - started maybe 9:30ish, and didn't finish til 2pm! Try doing that in the States! :) Lots and lots of singing and dancing and music, worship here is very artful. Ben and I led our session for single Christians, and I think it went well. We had maybe 50-60 young adults there. For the most part our message was well-received, although they sure didn't like to hear about the possibility that God may be calling them to remain single rather than getting married! We had Q&A time at the end, and they posed some good questions about what to do in certain situations. The married couples stayed in the church building with Ed and Linda leading that session, so Ben and I were outside by another building to do ours. It got really hot during it too - I had sweat literally dripping off me! The church building was pretty hot too, no a/c there. This one actually has walls, and just a few windows to help ventilate.

The worship here has been powerful, even though I can't understand a lot of what is said. I love how they incorporate so much music and dancing and singing into their worship - it's more than half of a service, from what I've seen.

After that loooong service, we went to a restaurant for lunch. It was family-style and we got a large variety of foods, including sausage, steak, chicken, french fries, and more... probably the most "American" meal I've had while here. :) All the food has been good though, there have just been a few things I really didn't like. I'm at least trying everything, since who knows when/if I'll have a chance to experience these kinds of foods again?

We all came back to the house and changed from our church clothes, and for the rest of the afternoon we traveled a bit to go to a nearby river. Most of the group got in and swam, but I didn't have a swim suit and honestly I really didn't care to anyway. It was really gorgeous, there were a few decent size waterfalls too. Of course I took lots of pictures. :) We were getting into the vehicles to leave the river and Liarxi (pronounced like Yahtzee; he's a pastor of one of the churches here) was putting stuff into his trunk, then got out his small guitar (not sure what to call it) and we had an impromptu brief singalong!

On the way back, Ed, Linda, and I were in the car with Liarxi. The three of us are struggling with Spanish, and he knows very little English. Ed and Linda love to sing (and they're good at it too!) so they started singing worship songs and hymns that both cultures might know. It was lots of fun. :)

In the evening we had a little rest time at the house, then headed to a family's house from one of the churches. They were having a birthday party for the son and had invited all of us. We sat around chatting for a while, ate some more food (I think I had 4 meals yesterday!), then Liarxi played some songs, then we all sang happy birthday songs, ate cake, and came home and went to bed.

This morning we were told we'd be leaving between 7 and 7:30am to go to Parapara (not sure if that's the right spelling) to see another church, and some other sights. Transportation rarely seems to run on time here, so it was more like 8am or so that we finally left. We stopped at a bakery for some breakfast, which was a toasted ham and cheese sandwich on a croissant for me. In Parapara we saw some local sights, then went to the church and hear the pastors' testimony about it. On the way back we stopped at a coconut place. I tried coconut milk (like actually sticking a straw into a coconut) but didn't really like it, so I had another drink instead - it's made from coconut but is much sweeter and is an iced drink. I also tried eating the fruit of the coconut but didn't really care for it either.

We're relaxing for a bit at the house now, and soon we'll head into town (San Juan de los Morros) to see the big St. John statue and do some shopping. Seriously thinking I'll be buying a hammock - I hear the going rate is maybe 200 Bolivars, which is like $22 US, or maybe cheaper. I have $30 US worth of Bolivars to spend, so I'll see what I see. :)

Side note... another random fact I've learned here: I think it's hard to get neutral colors of paint. Everything (houses, fences, buildings, etc) are painted in nice bright colors, I love it! :)

It's hard to believe my trip is nearly over. Today is our last full day here in Venezuela. Tomorrow morning we're leaving the house by 5:30am to get going on the 3-hour drive to the airport in Caracas. Our flight to Miami leaves at 11:15am. We have a layover for about 4.5 hours in Miami until our flight leaves for Detroit. It'll be a very long day of travel, since we're not scheduled to arrive in Detroit until 10:45pm. We'll still need to get our luggage and drive the hour and a half back to Findlay, so I'm expecting to be home around 1am. I'm taking Wednesday off work to rest and catch up on stuff at home.