Sunday Drive

About a week ago, Pastor Rob asked if I wanted to go with him to another church of ours further out. It was a little joke here because he wanted to take the Ford Ranger and the joke was that he wanted to have the mechanic along to fix whatever broke.

We left at 6AM and had no issues with the Ranger. There were a lot of people coming with because we have visitors this week, so we took two vehicles. I drove the shortbox Landcruiser (we got that back a couple weeks ago after having the bodywork repaired from the meeting with the cow) and Pastor Rob drove the Ranger. I love driving and I love driving here on the difficult trails. I miss my driving buddy, though (Shannon)!

The "roads" we went on were difficult trails with huge boulders and narrow paths along the way. At one point, they were doing work on the road and we had to wait a little bit for them to clear a path for us to travel past. I enjoy driving here so much that I left it out of four-wheel drive for a little challenge. I made it all the way without using it.

I didn't get many pictures of the drive because I was driving, but when we got to the church area I did take a few pictures.

Here is one of the baptism area that was used by a couple churches in the area. It was really pretty - there was a 2-3 foot water fall just behind where they performed the service:


Here is my favorite shirt situation of the trip (you may have to click to read the pink shirt):


The church service lasted from about 9:45 to about 1:15. We were invited to sit up front. Sitting up front means sitting behind where the pastor stands, facing the congregation - not just sitting up front facing the pastor like everyone else. It's quite the experience!

It didn't feel quite as long as 3.5 hours to me. They had some great groups of singers come up to perform (one with a squeezebox, Dad! - they were my favorite and I got video of them).

I posted on the Field Journal of the BHM website a little while ago that Smile Train is coming soon to our hospital and it was mentioned at the end of the church service. After the service, a lady was brought to Pastor Rob who had a real bad cleft lip. I am guessing her age to be mid 20's (I am horrible at guessing ages). She had one of the worst cleft lips I have seen. She was given all the details of what to do and hopefully she can come in and get the free surgery. She is one of those cases where you would hardly recognize her after the surgery - she'll be a new woman.