Sunday October 12

Doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself. I've already been here for a week.

This morning I went to a local church with several others. The drumkit has definitely seen better days although the drumsticks were new! These drums certainly don't need to be miked up as the drummers are so enthusiastic they just hit the skins very hard. They even give quick flourishes as the preacher is speaking. In a church which has a timber structure with woven walls and a tin roof, they are loud, very very loud. The service lasted about one and a half hours. The worship team was 2 singers and the drums. 3 offerings were taken, 2 at the same time but rather than going round with baskets everyone walks round the church and places their gift in a box at the front of the church along with singing and dancing.

The beach then beckoned and so I returned to the ship and met up with a few others and went off to the beach for the afternoon. It was actually cool by Liberian standards and certainly not warm enough for me to take a dip. In fact at one point there were rumbles of thunder and it rained. Parasols on the beach of thatch kept us dry. The ship has several vehicles that are available for this kind of trip provided they are booked and everyone makes a contribution to the cost of the fuel - typically $1.00 for a short trip like the beach run but no-one has to pay to go to church on the vehicles so everyone has a chance of going.

After dinner I borrowed a guitar with nylon strings (much easier on the fingertips) and went to the ward with others to sing on the with the patients. They absolutely love these times and it's a way of reaching them with the gospel. Some of the songs I haven't sung in a long time but I learned to play folk guitar with some of these old choruses. In fact I remembered more than I thought I would and have even learned some new ones.

All things considered it's been a quiet day and I watched the sunset, not as spectacular as it has been on other evenings but I was on my own and had time to reflect on the way God paints the colours in the skies.