If you had asked me at 5:45 am if my day was going well, I might have said, “pa pe mal,â€� meaning, “not too badâ€� in creole.  I had just had a boat ride the wave into my shin, cutting my slightly and seriously bruising my skin.  But in a matter of seconds that all changed.  Rachel Williams took the front of the boat.  I jumped in with an oar, and Ben Mullet followed, taking the rear steering position. In less than one minute we were shoving off the rocky beach and headed into the Caribbean Sea. 


       The objective was to go for a float and watch the sun rise….


       The company was wonderful and we had thought provoking, inspiring conversation.  The sun truned the clouds into light yet neon pink curls as they snuck over the mountains.  As the sun continued to ascend, the golden rays of light littered over the ocean waves.  It is the exact color that I dream the streets of Heaven are made of.  The rays have and still remind me of angels looking down and spreading their Heavenly light over us.  Whether or not angels’ wings glow as the sun through the clouds, the sky was spectacular.


           

       Ben decided we should pray to the artist of the beautiful site.  “Dear Father I thank you for ……â€� As he speaks I notice how wet my shorts are getting.  I open my eyes and realize we are taking on water!  Mid prayer I say, “I think we’re sinking.â€�  Rachel tried to scoop water out with her hands, but the ocean seemed much more efficient at putting water in.  We were furiously paddling for about a minute until it became apparent we were going down.  We all just burst our laughing and jumped into the ocean. 

     For the next 30 plus minutes we swam back, alternating between pushing, pulling and carrying the oars.  At least God has a sense of humor, He waited till the sun came up for us to sink!  As we got back to shore, we had had the most amazing God time, had witnessed a breath taking sun rise, and had a morning swim!


      Being a Monday it was our “free dayâ€� to relax and recuperate from travel.  We didn’t do much relaxing, but what we did was well worth the exhaustion.  On our first full day at Mission of Hope International we took a tour of their main site.  It is a construction site if anything.  They do successfully conduct Church services and school in a covered area while construction sounds loudly all through the day.  In the future there will be a three story building, built to CA codes, housing a school, sanctuary and dormitories!  What a great opportunity for our group to make an impact!


          Needless to say, this was the best day yet.