BYOP

Palm Sunday in the Caribbean is BYOP: Bring Your Own Palm. I guess churches in places where tropical flora isn't native get palm branches from florists that grow them in greenhouses or import them or something? I, on the other hand, got the following text message last Sunday at 8:11 am: 

Also, do you mind grabbing a couple more of your palms? We don't have any in our yard.

I snipped a couple extra fronds from the pot on the front steps of my apartment complex and off I went. Like most around the region, my church's service began outdoors; we marched around the block waving our branches to the tune of All Glory, Laud, and Honor (in Spanish), accompanied by the Rev. Sergio Fritzler on accordion and a choir of dogs and motorcycles, before entering the sanctuary. It went like so:

I'll get into the rest of my Holy Week as well as what tomorrow, Easter, looks like in a separate post. I was pleasantly interrupted with water for the first time all day at about 8:30 pm, so I paused in the middle of typing this one to flush the toilet, brush my teeth, wash the dishes, and make more dishes by doing some of the baking I'd been avoiding so as not to make more dishes. I was, understandably, not in a very good place mentally for much of the day, but I'm going to bed ready to wake up and celebrate the risen Christ's victory over all the sinful thoughts I've had about my current living situation; the sin of the whole world, in fact; death; and the devil. He is (almost) risen! 

Until next time, blessings in Christ!