El Día de la Madre in Puerto Rico

Today we spent our time with our host families. We joined them at morning church. I (Pame) went with my host mother and her sister to their Evangelical Church called Betania Church. Today they had a service regarding Mother’s Day and it was a small crowd. I enjoyed how many of the people from the crowd brought their own small instruments just because they wanted to participate in the music. Also many different people went up to speak at the service. About six different people spoke. I got the sense that because of the small church people were more involved and able to participate freely. The service ended after one hour and thirty minutes and we ate a lunch made by the people in church for Mother’s Day.

 

I (Edwin) on the other hand had my church service at the Mennonite Church of Aibonito. I witnessed multiple different activities. Just when we arrived at about 10:37 am, I could hear songs of worship to God. The church service today was about “Apocalipsis (Revelations) 7” and spoke on God’s words to us about hunger and thirst that we go through each day, how nothing can satisfy us even when we thought it did, because we need the food and water that only our Lord can provide for us. They later spoke about the need for rest after a hard day of work, but the rest only provided by the words of the Lord. After this they continued to celebrate the mothers at the service. I could see a big recognition and appreciation for the mothers since today is Mother’s Day in Puerto Rico. They referred to them as people who have fought, as our mothers they are the most important people because of which we grow and even though it is a pleasure they also spoke on its hardship too. Mothers get hungry, thirsty and tired as well. Kids from 9 to 14 years old showed their appreciation by reciting a poem for the mothers. Finally, the service finished recognizing all mothers with a rose and a gift and afterwards a variety of food for all the people in church.

 

After this, multiple of us met and went to the Arroyo beach in Puerto Rico. The host families were really nice and they drove as many students as they could. On the beach we spent some time in the sea just swimming together, the waves were strong on the windy day. The beach was long, not crowded as in San Juan and with a lot of greenery around. We then just stayed talking in the water and played around with a volleyball one of the host families lent us. It was a lot of fun and we were really grateful for the host families’ generosity in helping us plan the whole thing. We later stopped by a fast food restaurant called “El Mesón” to eat some sandwiches and headed home for the day.

By Pame and Edwin