Good old fashioned revival meeting!

Some things no one mentioned in the blog before because they happened on the last night and final morning before we left San Jose. After that we had no access to the internet as the hotel in Tela as we had expected (it was out of order). On Thursday night all four church's congregations gathered at Gladis' church for a guest speaker from the Dominican Republic. He and his entourage took "the stage" (actually the back yard of the people who live next to the church). It was incredible how they transformed the front area of the church into an outdoor ampitheater atmosphere, they brought giant speakers from somewhere and strung a couple of lightbulbs across the yard. They had a microphone and keyboard hooked up to an amplifier (all run off car batteries) and the place was packed! With about 15 rows of benches and plastic chairs - obviously borrowed and brought over from all the churches - there was standing room only. Had to be at least 500 people there. We sang, we prayed, we heard testimony, hands were waving, people of all ages - it was awe-inspiring. I especially enjoyed seeing some of the bibles we donated being waved in the air and WWJD bracelets on the teens in the crowd. It was supposed to start at 7, but actually didn't start until 8 and by 9 we were exhausted and ready for bed. People could still hear the rejoicing through their ear plugs (too keep snoring and rooster noise out) at 10 p.m. It was neat. Friday morning before we left, the youth bible study class from the Catholic church came to meet with us and discuss questions they had. We both sangs some songs for each other and then said our goodbyes to the health committee and other kids that were hanging around to see us off. It was a great way to end our time in San Jose.