Woke up with the write, yoga, bfast routine. Walked down to Dee’s at 9:30 for the West Bay ride. At Sundae by the Sea last week, the pastor and his wife asked me to come to lunch to go over my spiritual gifts test. They’re very nice people and I can’t turn down a free meal, so I happily obliged. So I headed to the R Church with Dee and Louie (of Lionfish Louie’s, a restaurant in West End that specializes in dishes made from the reef-killing, invasive species: lionfish). There was quite a crowd this morning – turned out there was a mission group in from NJ working with some ministry on the island. I liked singing the songs and today pastor Travis talked about some verses of John and the meaning of heaven.
I waited around after church, and rode with Travis, Trish, their 4 kids, and 2 other kids back to their home near Gumbalimba park. They have a beautiful home right on the beach. I ate my fill of pasta, veggies and cantaloupe while Travis dove into the gospel stuff. The first two questions were “do you feel secure in the fact that you will go to heaven?” and “what will you tell God when he asks you why you should be allowed into heaven?” Those were the toughest questions, to which I didn’t have proper answers because I honestly don’t think about that, but all in all we had a good conversation (I mostly listened) and I got a better understanding of what my spiritual gifts of discernment and missionary/multiculturalism meant.
They’re very kind and caring, but I was happy to move on with my day. I walked to West Bay and met a bunch of other volunteers. Dee led us on a wonderful snorkel adventure (I saw a huge grouper and lots of beautiful fish). Near the end, I looked up to find that I was all alone. Everyone else had gone in. Then Dee found me, and we swam in together. I read in the shade and enjoyed the gorgeous view. Then Danielle, Manu and I walked down to meet some other volunteers for a bite to eat. We ate fish sandwiches at Beacher’s. I tried Manu’s Monkey LaLa (the island drink) and it was way more delicious than the one I tried at Sundowners. It tasted like a milkshake. The sky was beautiful as we walked back (I’ll put up some pictures in a bit). Dee, Danielle and I watched the sunset for sometime. I felt very connected to the island this evening.
Then Dee drove us home, first stopping at an ice cream place and an ATM (much needed!). I opted to ride in the back and we picked up one of the massagers (I can’t remember her name but she’s a really sweet gal who gives massages on the beach) and then picked up 4 teenagers, two of whom were pregnant. They all had stalks of sugar cane which reminded me of Haiti and the DR. It was sad to me to hear their 15 and 16-y.o. banter on our drive home knowing that 2 of them were going to be moms soon. They asked me if I had any kids and told me that they want kids. I’ve thought this the whole time I was here, there’s just not much to do for kids. They only go to school half days (if they go at all) or they start working or they just lolly-gag around. When there’s not much to aim high for, what else are you going to do than start having kids. That’s for sure a generalization, and perhaps there are elements that are less toxic than the over-scheduled, manic childhood of the US, but a lot of kids enter adulthood way earlier than is probably healthy for their development.
I hopped out of the truck at the end of the Colonia and walked back to the hostel. Showered and wrote and soon to bed. Another week at Clinica Esperanza starts tomorrow.