Hi everybody,

We got the boat going! Bill worked last night until about 11:00, and started it to see if it would run. I had gone to bed shortly before that, but of course I heard it. I was too tired to get up and clap. Nobody got up real early this morning, but about 9:00 Bill, Judy and I got into the dinghy and went to find a church. It was actually their idea. As we motored past the shore, we spotted two church towers. When we got closer, it looked like one was a work in progress or else remodeling. Bill started walking down one street after another and let us right to the doors of a church that was obviously Roman Catholic. 5 or 6 large statues graced the front of the building between the many doors. When we got inside, I recognized immediately where they were in the Mass. We had just missed the sermon! Bill said that was good, because we wouldn't have been able to understand it anyway. But Bill does know quite a bit of French, and he was translating for me in various places. They sang no songs that I recognized except a classical number played by the organ during communion. But they really sang. There were about 50 or more people in the choir, and they sang LOUD! When the rest of the church joined them, they sang loudly, too. There were 2 priests, 12 servers, 12 communion ministers, 2 choir directors, and a cantor. The servers were boys and girls, large and small: from 6 years or so for the little ones, to high school or maybe even seminarians. It was hard to tell their ages. They were all lined up from tallest to shortest, and they all stood there with their hands hidden behind the opposite elbow. After Mass, we wanted to go up and look at the crib, but so did everyone else. So we waited a while until we could get close enough to take a picture. The manger was an old fisherman's shanty washed up on shore. Around it were palm trees, sea shells, tropical plants, and lots of stuff that might wash up on shore with an old shanty. The shanty sitting was on some rocks and of course was not straight. We have pictures! Which brings be to a question for Beth, or someone who has knowledge about printing pictures. Judy would like to send some in an email so they can be printed on photo paper. She said it can be done at Walgreens, but I don't know anything about that. We're about to sit down to Christmas dinner, so I'll write to someone else about what happened during the rest of this Christmas day. There's more. Stay tuned. All our love, Mom and John