Cristalbol, Panama

Today, Sunday, was different and interesting. Yesterday I asked Paul Jauncey if he knew where the local churches were. He said the local churches take turns having service in English, and his wife keeps the schedule and goes to the one having English service each week. That sounded interesting so I decided to go with her and John said he would like to go too.

The church was Bethany Baptist Church and most of the members were transports from Caribbean islands. The service began at 11:00 today, just before one of the hardest, longest downpours Panama has seen this year. We were the only white people in the church and the only people in shorts. They greeted and welcomed us warmly.

The service consisted of mostly hymns, most planned, but some spontaneous. One hymn was a "testimonial hymn" sung by a member of the youth choir to her recently deceased mother, who was the first Panamanian woman tug boat captain. The hymn was made wonderful by her voice.

The minister wove our whiteness in an all black church into his sermon (the concern of being different but still doing what we think is good). I can not say enough about how friendly and welcoming the members of the church were.

We road back from the service on the overloaded church bus through roads filled with water. The driver went out of his way to drop us first, at the Panama Yacht Club.

George had an exciting time while we were gone. During the hardest part of the storm, he believes we were dragging anchor, so he started both engines realizing the steering was disconnected while the bolts are replaced. He use the engines to assist the anchor and to be certain we would not drag into Paul Jauncey's boat. He was pleased with the end result. So was I.

It rained all day. We washed clothes all day and I sat in the PYC and went through digital movies of getting the boat ready in Ft. Lauderdale and the trip to Panama. I created 21 stills that I hope to send tomorrow. Post what you want to the web site.

BTW, yesterday was my birthday and the crew made a three layer cake (one layer of white bread, one layer of peanut butter, and another layer of white bread) and put three candles in it for a quick round of HBTY. Another year older in Panama.

Joe Dorr