Another first for me

I preached the first night I was in Santo Domingo in an area called "El Mamon" (a mamon is a type of fruit). It's a small village out in the country--most of the people worked (or work) on one of many farms or ranches in the area. Attendance at Sunday morning services ranges from 15-25 and they meet again on Mon. night (ladies class) and Tues. and Thurs. for Bible study. They have a very adequate block building--it's not completely done, but it's a very good start.

I assumed we would be meeting in the building, but when we arrived everything was set up behind one of the members houses, under a very large mango tree. As the power frequently goes out shortly after dark, they now meet from 5 PM to 6:30, just before it gets dark. This couple has a lot of chickens and it didn't take me long to see which was their favorite spot to roost--you guessed it, the mango tree. Now I've swallowed more than my share of bugs while preaching and one time preached to less than 10 people and at least 10,000 ladybugs, but preaching under the roost of chickens is new.

When it came time for me to preach I chose my spot to stand (there was no pulpit, so I could stand whereever I wanted to) very carefully and kept an eye on chicken movements above. I guess one hen didn't appreciate my presence--she squawked for almost 5 minutes before finally jumping up into the tree.

So when the kids get too noisy where you worship, just remember it could be worse.

Tol