rural church

When we were up in the mountains recently, we spent Day 2 at the rural church. I have much to say yet about our outreach there.... so much to say, and a gazillion pictures, but I'm about to take an oozie to my internet. It's schizophrenic and doesn't know if it's high-speed or not. Mostly not. That one lovely picture up there took 5 minutes to upload. Five minutes. Which is better than the 10 to 20 it has been taking lately. Suffice is to say, this might take a while...

The rural church was rural. It is nestled snugly way back in the mountains about an hour and a half out a gravel road from the main paved road. It is one of the few buildings within miles around. Neighbors are very far apart. Walking to church may take a half an hour, an hour, or two. There is no running water, no flushing toilet, no refrigerator (see my bag of milk hanging outside in the cool mountain air, in a bag above the door, refrigerating?). There is no microwave, no corner store, no telephone, no internet, nada. Surprisingly there is cell phone reception, on clear days. But the two days we were there, rain rolled in over the mountains from the west and the signal disappeared. It is an isolating feeling. When people get sick or have an emergency, sometimes the only way to communicate is by radio. You know how truckers used to have CB radios back in the 80s? Like that.

Tony and our friend Miguel made several runs to a nearby stream to fetch water to flush the toilet. The stream had swelled from the day's rain. They carried several very heavy bucketsful of mountain run-off back to the church.

It's always good to be able to flush the toilet. :)