Steve and Maureen swung by our place in the afternoon, ready to go down to the docks to board the ship. Our plan was to accompany them, and then bring their car back with us, so as to take it to their house and leave it there for the duration of their time away. It was a right party at the wharf, with everyone and their auntie there to bid farewell to their loved ones. Sarel and Elza, and Harry and Jenny were there to see S&M off as well. We stood around chatting for a while, and when the call was issued for passengers to head through the mule yard, we said our goodbyes to Steve and Maureen. In their usual style, they were very unexcited – much like Nick! After they had left, we sat down at the coffee shop with our ex-pat social group and had a very good time over cappuccinos. The boys, in the meantime, had disappeared in the mule yard, lost among friends and the playground equipment. We didn’t see hide or hair of them until we were nearly ready to leave. Church this evening was outstanding – I told Nick it was one of his best. He made God big again – challenging our thoughts on God’s sovereignty. Does rain make plants grow, or is it God? Does medicine make us better, or is it God? Does God control every single wave that ripples in the ocean, and every rock on the cliff, and every drop of rain that falls? If we say ‘no’, then we have to be careful that we don’t side with those who say that God set the universe in motion and wound it like a clock, throwing it off to see what would happen, every now and then controlling events here and there. God is much more in control of everything than we can imagine! The actual message was from Acts 4:23-31, about the early believers’ long prayer.
Yesterday was another reasonably busy and social day. After GNC, I went on my own to town first, and then to Elza to drop off a package of scrapping goodies she had ordered through Lorna, which I had to pass on as Lorna is off-island. She was as keen to show me all the papers and goodies she brought back with her as I was to see them! I spent over an hour there, and it was 1 pm by the time I got home for lunch. I expected Nick and the boys to either be starving and irritable, or to have seen to their own lunch, but they were neither – Nick had just finished playing guitar and had come downstairs, and the boys were happily rearranging the lounge and hadn’t particularly noticed that they were hungry. After a brief discussion as to what the nature of Saturday lunches should be and usually is, I persuaded Nick to come with me to town to buy the apparently necessary cold meat and cheese. At 4 pm we were due at Harry and Jennifer for supper, in honour of Harry’s birthday. Steve and Maureen where already there, and another couple whom we hadn’t met arrived about an hour later. It was an excellent afternoon and evening of chatting and laughing. M & I helped J in the kitchen, where she was cooking up an enormous batch of pork dumplings, followed by fried chicken, to go with rice and peas – Chinese style. There wasn’t much space left for pudding, let alone the chocolate cake which followed! After supper, the men and women naturally separated to talk business. After the boys had gone to bed (very willingly), we had a good chat about all sorts of things, ranging from dogs and the advantages of female dogs and puppies, to the problem of street children and the heart of the matter which is that people aren’t using God’s instruction manual to live their lives.
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