Day 14

Today was the last full day here in Antigua. We began the day with the most important thing: church. This was another amazing experience. I am not sure how many of the kids have done something like this before. I know I haven’t, and I was incredibly thankful that we had the opportunity to do so. All our kids had some part in the service whether it was playing piano, steel pans, or greeting. It was a good opportunity to show them the importance of becoming leaders in the church and helping out in whatever way they can. After the service, we stayed for a little bit of the Spanish service at church. It is yet another way St. John’s works to bring the Gospel to people. After church we came back home for a short time and did a little bit of cleaning so that it would lighten our cleaning load for tomorrow. At three o’clock, we headed back to church for our final outing. Today, it was Shirley Heights. In my opinion, it didn’t get any better than this! There were some pretty incredible views and I know a lot of photos were taken here. Some people walked on a trail that gave many more good views while other relaxed as they watched the sun set one final time in Antigua. There was a steel drum band playing at Shirley Heights and Kareem told us that was how they were supposed to sound because our steel pans were not completely in tune. This place was packed. Our group got everyone going as we started a conga line followed by a dancing circle as we showed off our Midwestern moves. We listened to a band play some music for a little bit, but then it was time to head out so we could get to the Johnston’s for the cookout. At the Johnston’s we ate a lot of food, played some basketball, soccer, volleyball, and visited. It came time to say the goodbyes. It was a bittersweet time as we were saying goodbye to people we had never met as of two weeks ago, but now, they are people with whom we can surely call friends. Hopefully we will get a chance to meet up with them soon, but we know there will be a time when we all will be reunited with each other eternally.