COUPLES EVENT

The couples event was a success. This year we could only have one meeting because of all the year -end celebrations. Our topic was conflict resolution, and we would have liked to meet at least once before the main event, but it was not possible. Once again, the Hacienda Administration let us use one of the facilities for free, since we are doing what they see as social work for the town. This time they let us used this large house right on the beach. It is near the owner's house, which we used last January. This house is one of the original structures at the Hacienda. It was the overseer´s house. It has two stories. On the ground floor there is a large room, a kitchen, a bedroom with a private bathroom, a utility room, a bathroom, and a separate room with a large shower facilities. Upstairs there are three large bedrooms with a total of 24 beds and another bathroom. They don't rent this house anymore, so it was quite dusty when we went to see it last week, but our dear friend LC asked housekeeping to clean it a little bit. Yesterday morning at 9:00 am Carlos and Rosario, and John and I went there to get the keys from LC and clean. We were ready for a few hours of cleaning, but when LC came with the keys, we were pleasantly surprised to find it clean. We still did some cleaning because places get dusty here quickly, but we were done in about one hour. John and Carlos had to go get two long tables and tablecloths that the motel here was letting us use. We got two long tablecloths, three round ones and two square, and also some extra folding chairs all for free. We went back with the tables and the decorations that Rosario made, got the place set up, and went back to put the lasagna in the oven (3 pans), get ourselves cleaned up, and get the rest of the equipment. At this time, LC called us with the bad news that the Hacienda couldn't provide transportation because the minibus broke down, but, being the resourceful man that he is, he had already found other transportation, only that we had to pay $60.00. We told him to go ahead. What could we do at that point?

 The minibus arrived promptly at 4:45 with all the couples. We had 11 couples. They already know that they have to be on time, or the bus will leave without it. They enjoy attending these events, so they are there on time. There is one tall guy in the center with a girl dressed all in white. This is a Christian couple, who are dating, but not married yet. He attends our church, but she lives in another town. They were allowed to come this time because we were talking about conflict resolution only, not sexual relationships. They are a very nice couple. On the left at the very end there is LC and his wife. They are the parents of the little three-year-old boy that I have mentioned before. The second couple from the right are also good friends, They have a nine-year-old boy. They are also of great help for all the events, whether in town or at the Hacienda. Neither couple are yet believers. There were two other Christian couples attending.Carlos and John spent time with the couples on the beach taking pictures and watching the sunset, while Rosario and I got the garlic bread ready and gave the rest of the meal the last minute touches.


Soon we were ready to eat. We called the couples, and told them to enter through the "curtain on love." Actually, some heart streamers that we hanged from the front door. The light bulbs that you see are the ones used throughout the house. They are a special yellow tint that keeps all the bugs away. We did not have any mosquitoes or other bugs inside the house. This couple is actually from Nicaragua, but live in town and attend our church. The dining room looked very nice really. We had candles and flowers, everything looked very romantic. They appreciated their candle-light atmosphere.

Just a partial view of the dining room

Another partial view of the dining room

 After dinner, we had a warm-up activity that we had before. It was like the Newlywed Game, where the group was divided into men and women. The men went into the downstairs bedroom to answer 5 questions. The women remained in the dinning room answering the same questions, Then the couples came together, and we compared answers. There was a three-way tie, but we had three identical presents, so that worked out fine. The ladies got jewelry and men got a soccer ball. 

Winning couple

Winning couple - LC giving the prizes

  
After the game, we had a talk about conflict resolution. John did the introduction and Carlos talked about the 12 steps for conflict resolution. We got our information from Peacemaker Ministries Spanish website. They listened intently to all the information. We used Bible verses and Carlos even gave a little Gospel presentation at the end, but no altar call. This is all very new to them. Rosario followed with an application. They had a string and scissors. The couples went off by themselves and talked about their conflicts. The cut the string at a conflict, and if it was resolved they tied it back.  This made the string shorted, but it got them closer together. This was an object lesson to drive home the point of the importance of resolving our conflicts. This was just a brief exercise because it was almost time for the minibus to get back. We had dessert (chocolate cake) after this last activity. The minibus was there at 8:30, but they took their time to say good-bye, thank us, and also they asked us to do this again when we return in April. One new thing we did this time was to bring a mini photo printer. While Carlos was speaking, John and I printed at least one picture per couple. Before leaving, they got to get their pictures. We also did a picture show of all the pictures while they were having dessert.

We loaded our SUV with everything because Carlos and Rosario had to drive back to the capital, since Carlos had to do a wedding today at 8:30 am, and were leaving immediately after the event. He just called. It only took them three hours to get home this time because there was no traffic that late. They got five hours of sleep, but were now ready to take a nap. We went to church this morning, and were pleased to see good attendance. Now is nap time, and maybe a little football.

 We will be going back home soon. Next week we will visit some of our closest friends here to say good-bye.


Until next time...from the beach...