A Farewell, a Funeral and a Festival

Our visitors from Texas left last Saturday.  It would be so easy to slip into the old routine as if they had never been here.  But they have left many reminders of their presence, which should help us build on their enthusiastic encouragement.

We have just had our second major funeral in two months.  I realize that any funeral is major for the principal person involved, but these have been two prominent, long-standing and beloved members of St. Joseph’s.  Last month it was Mrs. Idoly Singh, today we buried Mrs. Cleopha Romero, mother of the retired Bishop of this Diocese.  Bishop Romero celebrated and preached at his mother’s funeral, something I could never have done. There was another great turnout including clergy and staff of the Diocese.  The service was conducted partly in Spanish as the family had lived many years in Guatemala and many of the attendees were Spanish speaking.  The evening before, at the wake in the family home, there was a short service led by the Roman Catholics with a homily by their Bishop Wright, who
is a close relative of our Bishop Wright!

At last Sunday’s service we celebrated our Patronal Festival and, among other things, dedicated two gifts: a crucifix (given by Mal and Mary Roberts who made a great contribution here in 2004-5 while Mal was Priest-in-Charge) and a banner (made by the people of St. Peter’s, Norfolk, Virginia and celebrating our companion parish status).  We also received from the Singh family two wooden chairs that, for the moment at least, are replacing the plastic ones we used to have there.

The weather has suddenly
turned HOT with forecast highs of 30C today and tomorrow.  We may have seen the end of rains for some long time, though people say you can’t be sure in PG.  A couple of times I have neglected to wear headgear in the sun and paid the price.  My hair, sparse at the best of times, has been cut pretty short and provides no protection.  I mustn’t forget my Tilley hat!

Eye Has Not Seen...

Sights not seen for years, or ever before, are to be seen this week in Punta Gorda.  Perhaps most impressive is the town clock indicating some time other than 4:50.  The newly elected Council, presumably in an effort to show that it is capable of doing something, had the clock running and ringing within days of the election.  When I first heard the chimes I thought another church had opened here; but no, the Town’s main landmark is no longer a clock which does not run, but one which, I hope, will instill a sense of newfound pride among the citizens of PG.  We’ll see.

Then there are the bright yellow T-shirts which arrived with our Mission Group from Fort Worth, Texas.  They were unpacked for a Vacation Bible School evening with the local children and were a great success with adults as well as the kids.  There is a big banner outside the church now (no one can miss us) and Echo has identifying signs on each side.  All this is courtesy of our friends from Texas

The Mission Group itself has had a confusing first few days with plans being changed moment by moment, and it may continue that way until they leave on Saturday morning.  It’s certainly making for an exciting week which has so far included a boat ride to Punta Negra and back (45 minutes each way and a little rough on the way back), a day bringing medical expertise to Mayan villages almost to the border of Guatemala, and a long morning seeing all sorts of patients at a clinic mostly run by volunteers from the States.

They brought with them a fantastic amount of luggage, mostly things to be left in Belize.  For my part I received a couple of Christian music CDs, a good solid electric drill, one of those nice yellow T-shirts and a new baseball glove!  7th heaven!