Heading into the weekend

Thursday night was my first “social event” – choir practice!! South District is starting to prepare for their harvest cantata and they formed a choir for that. It was very nice to meet some of the people outside of a worship context. Fortunately I read music so I could pick up the soprano line quite readily. We were practicing 3 songs with 1 more to come next week. Thank goodness for all the singing in my last pastoral charge in Port Dalhousie – they certainly have some high melody notes! I went with Mary because I’m still not anywhere confident enough to drive at night. It was good to do something together.

Friday morning I was off again to Bridgetown for a meeting of all the pastors in Bethel Circuit. It was a good thing that I left extra early because I managed to miss a turn as I was getting into the thick of traffic in the heart of the city. Did a few extra circles around but found my way to the office nonetheless and on time!

There are 6 Churches in the Bethel Circuit. Somehow, I was expecting 6 pastors to be at this meeting. This speaks to my assumptions of my experience with The United Church which has been solo ministry (one minister for one congregation) or team ministry (several ministers in a larger congregation). The UCC does have plenty of multiple pastoral charges throughout the country but this does not shape my personal experience. Rev. Bourne is responsible for 3 churches – South District, Vauxhall and Dalkeith. He is the minister that I will be working with most closely throughout my time here.

The meeting was very fruitful in that I met informally with Rev. Bourne, Rev. Walfall (my Learning Supervisor), Rev. Dalaney and Rev. Saunders (chaplain). As well, schedules for several months were provided which began to structure my time here in Barbados. We began by finalizing details for Ash Wednesday (I’m reading Scripture), Maundy Thursday (I’m preaching), Lenten Study every Wednesday (on the book of Revelation and I’m doing the 3rd in a series which I do not know yet what that may be) and then there is a week of Evangelistic Services in March, a Children’s Evangelistic Training Program on 2 Saturdays, a Preacher’s training course and ongoing Harvest Cantatas for the next many weeks. These are the Circuit Events (kind of like Presbytery events) and we are expected to attend all. Now the planning of my time at the churches can be planned accordingly.

After the meeting, food appeared as if out of nowhere – homemade garlic bread, raisin biscuits, whole wheat buns – all still warm – butter and jellies, lasagna and some fruit and drinks. I sampled the baked goods and shared some conversation with Cheryl who is the manager of the Circuit Office. Others sat down and had a hearty meal before they left for their respective ministries for the day.

The rest of the afternoon was free so this time, I wandered to a shopping mall. Located like most shopping malls, this one was by one of the major interchanges well away from the heart of Bridgetown. Conclusion? Some things don’t change from country to country! There was a food court, clothing stoes, children’s stores, electronic shops, furniture stores, book stores, phone shops (I had to top up my cell phone), hardware, decorating and touristy type stores. It was interesting to check it out but not being a “mall person” back home, I have to admit that I had far more fun on the next part of my adventure for the day – the grocery store!

To get to that grocery store, I had to ask a woman standing in the shade outside the doors of the mall for directions (its not marked on the map so I couldn’t begin to figure this out by myself). Within a minute of starting the conversation, we were bustling towards her flatbed truck and “my car”. I followed her for about 10 mins and then she pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store I was seeking. We both parked and walked into the store together. I thanked her and we went our separate ways – sweet lady!!

I was intent on buying some groceries for the Forbes household since Mary makes supper for all of us every night. I spent nearly 2 hours wandering every aisle in this supermarket. It was fascinating for me to see common products and different products. A couple of things that stood out in my mind:
1) almost all the containers of juices are actually fruit drinks – I had to really search for a carton of regular unsweetened orange juice, not from concentrate (again, this simply shows my dietary preferences);
2) the Healthy Request line of soups that we have in Ontario appeared to have at least 3x the number of options, including fish based soups and gumbo soups;
3) there was a huge selection of vegetarian and gluten free products (gluten free I’m not sure about, but I believe that all serious Rastafarians are vegetarians as well – someone can correct me on that if that is not so)
4) the fish selection was much, much bigger but almost all of it appeared to be frozen – I didn’t stop to examine where the fish came from – local or imported – West Indies or elsewhere
5) there was a deli type section that had mostly cheese and BBQ chicken as well as a limited take-out section
6) most of the vegetables and fruit were common – I was surprised how much of the fruit came from the States just like us. Also, I had learned that there is a big difference between sweet potatoes and yams (we seem to use them interchangeably at home). There were several different looking yams, including one that one of the older ladies told me originated from Africa and was brought here by the slaves; and
7) the extent of sugar enriched products and correspondingly, the extent of the “sugar-free” section of products (I was told that Barbados has a significant number of people with diabetes)

Well after all that observing (surprise, surprise) and the shopping, I was ready to head home. There was a very pleasant teen girl that packaged all my bags, put them in a cart and loaded them into my car. I wonder if this is one of the ways that the businesses provide some employment for teenagers because there were essentially 2 teens for every checkout! Interesting. I made it back to Rose Hill with no further complications and was glad to be back. I stopped for a moment to watch them cutting the sugar can on the plantation - interesting machine! It has been a good day of experiencing other parts of life in Barbados.

Time to go …guests have arrived from the cruise ship and Basil has made arrangements for a mini-van so he can tour all of us around a bit of the island.
Till next time….blessings.

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