Day 12

Friday morning dawned grey and overcast.  As I was out on the balcony to enjoy some quiet time, suddenly huge raindrops fell on the leaves of the tree in front of me.  Soon little streams ran down the red tiled roof.  A little wind gust came up and splattered rain on the balcony.  I wondered if this was an all-day weather condition, or if it would move on.  It turned out to be less than a ten minute shower that cooled things down and felt very refreshing.

So we packed our reading materials and found a coffee bar to settle in and read by the pool instead of on the cool and windy beach.  (Cool?  Listen to us, after a few days on this tropical island and we think it’s too cool to be on the beach!)  An hour later or so and we moved to beach loungers as the clouds cleared and the temperature rose.  Looked like we could sail again today at our two o’clock appointment time. 

Louisjean found us again and stopped to visit for a while.  He said he’d be heading back to Haiti next week and get involved in his home church once again.  He and Walter talked about tent-making versus church-supported ministry.  As we understand it, the Haitian church has had some extremes with some who get into ministry to take from the charitable giving from outside the country and do not distribute the food and resources to the people.  If as a minister he could support himself and not take from what the church has, Louisjean thought he could be more of a true servant.  It was an encouraging and enlightening discussion.

Then we got ready to go sailing!  This time, we were all excited and eager to go and the direction of the wind was a bit different than the previous day.  So, we set off after another sailboat pulled away, but somehow we couldn’t catch the wind right and ended up drifting helplessly across the buoys that marked the swimming area!  Some swimmers helped push us back and gave some instructions-again, not in English-and we attempted to pick up speed.  Another failure to head northeast and we decided to go the other direction!  Eventually we cleared the swimming areas and were on the open sea.  We avoided the parasail maniac, the motorboats taking snorkelers out and the party barge!  Heading to the northeast, we could see the reef out yonder where the waves were breaking quite aggressively.  It made for bigger waves and swells than I was used to on our tame Katepwa Lake back home in Saskatchewan, so I suggested we turn around! 

The hour went by too quickly-$6 worth of sailing-and we pulled into shore uneventfully!

At the booth, we met up with the fellow Canadian from the Toronto area whom I chatted with in the omelet lineup, and in the course of conversation, found out he and his family were Christian Reform.  We had opportunity to visit, share about our ministry and hear a little about his heart to reach young people in their church community.  Cool opportunities, even on vacation!

After sun, sand and sailing, it was time to hit the showers again!  We took care to dress for dinner-we had a reservation for “La Gondola”, the Italian restaurant on the resort.  It was worth the extra effort for a lovely and romantic and quiet evening.

The daylight was waning as we strolled to the Italian restaurant entrance.  We lined up behind a few other folks as the host seated the patrons.  We were handed a beverage and a skewer of chicken as we followed the host  to a small table by the open air wooden railing. We looked out over plants and a path; the other wall was draped with white, red and green cloth to set the Italian mood.

The waiter came to bring our menus and explain the salad buffet.  Walter ordered the tortellini pasta starter and the lasagna as entree.  I chose the spaghetti and veal with mushroom sauce.  Then we went to the buffet.  Two kinds of lettuce, toppings to make Caesar salad, bowls of olives, asparagus and artichokes, and then around the circular counter to find cold meats, cheeses and breads.  At the end, we found steaming minestrone soup.  And this was the appetizer course!

We enjoyed the meal immensely in the more quiet and formal dining room.  Bryan Adams provided background music and we could simply sit back and relax and be served.  The ambiance was lovely.

After I finished the last bite of Tiramasu and sips of strong coffee, and Walter licked the lemon tart from his moustache and also savoured the rich coffee, we sat back and smiled at one another.  What a wonderful anniversary dinner, a celebration of twenty-five years of God’s goodness and love.