What a glorious Easter morning! After searching for a church without success on Good Friday, I decided to go to the English Speaking Community Church for Easter. On their website though they had a post about having an 8 am service at a golf course without any note about their regular service. To the golf course it was!
Fortunately the time change in Chile occurred this weekend so 8 am wasn’t QUITE as early as it usually would be. After just missing one bus, I took the next out to the golf course where it dropped me off outside the fence. So, golf courses are big. This one is no exception. Fromwhere I stood, it had only a fence (without holes to look in) for as far as the eye could see.
40 minutes later I show up to the service as it ends. All I can think is “I can’t even get to a church on Easter!” (it’s been a long week : ) It turns out though, this service was the greatest gift I could ask for.
The pastor, having completed the service, immediately greeted me and introduced me to his wife and several other people. There was a display of food—including banana bread that I so badly wanted to make but couldn’t find any bananas for on Holy Saturday (and my other bananas had begun to mold! I have no oven so I had to wait till the weekend…which turns out was a little too long!) and the group of 25 or so people wanted to be sure that I had plenty of food! (I was starving so that was fine with me!)
I met several tennesseans, KY-eans, Arkanseans, and so on as well as Brits and Canadians. Additionally, I met a friend of Jessica Bridges that works in a community of mentally handicapped adults (whats the pc phrase?) who I have been supposed to email since I arrived!! She’s also a Methodist minister so knows the UR well!
I rode with the pastor and his wife to the other service. Arriving an hour early, I went to coffee with a lady who works at the ministry described above and then finally made it to that Easter service complete with 3 of those beautiful easter hymns and all the support of a Christian community I had been looking for. Even an invite to Easter lunch, which I had to turn down for my almuerzo at a friends home. I felt like a completely different person walking out of there. I’m so glad I made that 40 minute walk! What a little easter hope will do :)
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