Sunday in Florida

It was a blessing to worship Sunday morning with the Spanish congregation at Ft. Myers.

Here the pastor (in the gold shirt) and a couple young men are leading the service.

We think it is interesting how the Spanish folk like bright colors. 

They dress up very brightly. 

I like it.

I have to admit there is something about brightness that contributes to cheer and joy. 

Plus it was so refreshing to see all those young families. 

Most of the folk in this large congregation are young. Hardly any gray hair there!

My brother Fain's family sang a couple choruses in Spanish in four part harmony, very beautiful.

Then they played their bells.

They had brought part of their set of handbells along.

Jonathan and I got a kick out of all the phones that suddenly started appearing, capturing the music on phones, ipads or you-name it.

 In this picture there are probably at least four phones up in the air, three of them right in front of us, and the pastor's over on the left.

Fain said there were probably twenty phones up in the air as they were playing!

I managed to snap this photo of the three phones in front of us, including the little boy's in the red jacket.

 Here Fain and Natasha are playing "In the Garden," with Regina accompanying them on her accordion.

It was a real blessing to have Fain's family along, to be able to speak Spanish and communicate with the folk, as well as to share their music. The pastor wanted their family to share more in the evening service, but we went to the rescue mission service that evening.

Later in the service, this group of children sang a beautiful song together. 

We were amazed at how well they sang.

This is how they took up their offering--in a red velvet bag.

Then we had a whole long afternoon to spend somehow. 

Jonathan didn't want to take a nap, because we'd gotten up late, and he was trying to adjust to Florida time, plus Daylight Savings Time.

So we decided to find a park somewhere to take a walk with the young people.

We found that there was a park about 20 minutes away.

On the way, we passed a sports stadium that had hundreds or thousands of cars parked there, with a bunch of policemen there to direct traffic at the end of the game.

We drove on by, very content to just go stroll through God's creation on His day.

We loved observing many Florida plants--even hanging plants!

I love arches!

They just beg to have couples stand under them for pictures!

It was so wonderful to be able to go with my dear hubby on this trip, and to be able to work side by side, and enjoy many wonderful experiences together.

We were grateful for each one back in Colorado who came to spend suppertime with our children back home, or went to the park with them, or opened their home on Sunday and other times so our five children at home wouldn't be lonely.

It takes many people working together to make a mission trip like this happen.

Another arch, this time begging for a photo with my two beautiful nieces, Candace and Natasha Morley.