WEST PALM BEACH

We arrived safely at Miami airport at 5:00 pm local time. By time we arrived, plans had changed slightly. The Corderos' nephew picked us up,then we drove to Fort Lauderdale Airport to pick up the Cordero's arriving from Costa Rica. Gustavo, the nephew is married to a Cuban. The Corderos had just cleared customs when we arrived. We then went to have dinner with Gustavo's wife's family. His wife has a twin sister. We went to the sister's house for dinner. We had a party! It was the twin sister's wedding anniversary. It was just the Corderos and us, Gustavo and his wife, the twin sister, her husband, their son and daughter (teenagers) and the grandparents. Wow! We were greeted like old friends and immediately immersed in the Cuban culture: jokes, singing, and a lot of food. It was so much fun! John was the star of the show when he told the story of how we met, dated and how he asked my father for my hand in marriage. We left after 10:00 pm because we weere staying at the pastor's house.

We arrived at around 11, by the time we unpacked and went to bed it was midnight, local time, but we couldn't sleep. We really had a hard time sleeping. I don't know why. Maybe because we were so excited and ate so much Cuban food. The accommodations here are very comfortable. The pastor is a man in his forties. They have two young children, but only the 5-year-old girl is here. Her 7-year-old brother is staying a couple of weeks with the grandparents in Orlando. They take turns in the summer, one at the time. We are staying in the little boy's bedroom and have our own bathroom.

I got up at 7:30. We had a nice breakfast, read the Bible and prayed together, then left for church. The Senior members were having their weekly prayer meeting and pot-luck. The pastor says that they are the backbone of the church. They were already praying when we got there, but it was planned that way because the pastor did not want us to rush the first morning. The men and the women were in different rooms. They were in groups of three or four, so Rosario and I joined different groups. Carlos shared from the Bible after the prayer time.They sang happy birthday to me and gave me  card signed by a few. (This people have never met me before.) I also met three ladies from my home town, one lived just a couple of blocks from my house. Lunch was delicious. These were about twenty grandmas bringing their best stuff!

After lunch we had a brief planning meeting, the four of us and the pastor and his wife. Then we went visiting. The first visit was to another pastor on staff who is really a retired missionary, but he is the Pastor of Evangelism. He has some serious health issues. We read the Bible and prayed for him. The other visit was a family new to the church. One son worked in landscaping and fell from a tree 60 feet high. It is a miracle that he survived. He was in a comma for three weeks, then physical therapy, altogether, he spent two months in the hospital. He is still not well, but he can walk and talk. There is a long road ahead for him, but he knows now that the Lord has a plan for his life. English was their dominant language, so John shared and prayed for him.

It is now 5:30 pm. Tonight we are having dinner with another family. I think we are going to put on a few pounds this week.

The conference starts tomorrow night.

Until next time...from the beach...West Palm Beach, that is...