Weekends in Pesillo

Every Saturday morning a man of God by the name of Jose meets me at my house in Carapungo around 7:30am. It's Latin America time so that means 7:30 is the earliest he'll be there. Jose is pretty good about not being late most of the time. If i haven't wrecked my car or lost it to a senor missionary (as the case this week) we'll take it to Pesillo, about 2 hours away. If not, we'll take a bus to Cayambe and from there to Pesillo which is a much slower trip. Once in Pesillo, we make our way up the hillside to the only evangelical church for several miles. Jose is the pastor. It is a mud-brick building sitting on a packed dirt floor topped with a tile roof that's seen its better days.By this time several children are waiting patiently* in the church for their lunch consisting of a bowl of rice and if their fortunate enough, a small boiled potato. I like to take this time to talk with them or play a game. Once they eat, we bid them farewell and start unpacking our travel gear. Mine consists of a hammock and sleeping bag which i strap to the the old wooden rafters of the church. This will be my bed for the night.*(By "patiently" i mean fist fighting one another.)
Lately we've been building a small (2x3 meter) bathhouse of cinder blocks (no two blocks are the same size). We'll work on it as long as the weather and daylight cooperate. At dusk we head to town (walking, if without a car) for visitation. Please pray for Luis (family?) and Cesar (husband and father of 4 girls) as we witness to them over several weeks.
Sunday mornings are busy. Two weekends ago Jose had the wonderful idea to do visitations at 7:30am. Evidently the man who we were visiting didn't think it such a wonderful idea. He cussed us out from his bedroom window and went back to sleep. When not getting cussed out, we are tidying up the church or working on the bathhouse before 10am rolls around.
The 2-3 hour service begins at 10am. The 10(+/-) member congregation walk to church, some very elderly. We start with a 15 minute prayer. Everyone is praying out loud at once. All the men are on their knees facing their chair. Their knees are protected from the dirt floor by a straw mat or piece of cardboard or a folded feed sack -whatever they could find. Sometimes i'll stand and read a chapter God lays on my heart. If someone who knows how to play the guitar shows, we'll have music. Sometimes we sing anyway. If someone is late, the preaching stops and everyone greets the late person with hugs and God-bless-yous. Even the preacher gets a hug! If this person happens to be the one who can play the guitar, the preaching will pause for even longer to allow us to sing about 10 songs. Feel free to listen in...