Not being on a schedule would be so much easier and more relaxing. But since we have couple reasons needing to be back to Michigan by beginning of summer, not to mention getting my dad to Panama to catch his return flight, we have this time frame we are trying to keep, but things keep setting us back. But then there are things here that I am so glad we didn't miss. One of the recent ones was being able to attend Mass on Saturday evening before Palm Sunday.

We really felt it was such a blessing that we were able to attend that. John Guliano, the man who took us up to Chalatanango a few weeks back was here on the estero with a group of college students from Arizona State that are part of a Catholic student group at the University and are here on a retreat for their Spring break. They had been out kayaking and John stopped by to say hello and visit for awhile. The conversation came around to us missing being able to attend mass and especially with Holy Week and Easter coming up. He mentioned the students were having Mass tonight at the house they rented for the retreat and invited us to come along, and that being we were leaving the next day, the Priest could give us a special blessing as well! We were so excited and felt totally blessed again by John and his generosity. We had been working on the boat all day and he even invited us to come early enough to have dinner with the group. We had 45 minutes to get ready and he=d take us over in his truck, the house is just 5 minutes away up the coast and right on the ocean. The students welcomed us and were very friendly and inviting. It was great to see such well mannered young adults, and they seemed very interested in our journey. So again, our delay in leaving turned out to be such a blessing.
We ended up not leaving the next day- we just had too much left to do, things we planned to do Saturday evening, but went to the retreat house instead. But I am in no way regretting that we went. Things worked out so well, for it affected many other things that had we left Sunday, things would not have worked out the way they have several days later.