Sunday, Antigua

Sunday morning worship in Antigua was quite a neat experience! To worship within a different culture but to be worshiping the same Jesus that we worship in our home congregation is hard to put into words. The choirs (both singing and steel drum) added a nice flavor to the worship. And in their second service, the children from 3rd and 4th grade sang as well.

Adult choir

Steel drum choir in the balcony

3rd and 4th grade singers

After lunch, the conference attendees hopped into two vans and took off for a tour of the island. We drove through different neighborhoods of significance and then took a nice bumpy road to a place called Devil's Bridge.

Famous Antiguans

Devil's Bridge

Here you can see the "bridge" of Devil's Bridge

Teacher Joy and Angie

After Devil's Bridge, we bumped back to an old sugar cane plantation that had been somewhat restored to show how it used to work. There are no longer any major sugar cane plantations on the island because it is very labor intensive and after slavery emancipation, the continued work in the sugar cane business reminded the Antiguans of slavery too much to continue.

Sugar cane "windmill"

From there, we drove through the rainforest and saw where they grow the black pineapples. They are not named because the pineapples are black, but that the soil is black.

one of the few 365 beaches on Antigua that you can't get to unless you stay at the resort

black pineapple farm

We headed back to church after the tour for the opening service and then a traditional Antiguan meal. The service was an opening for the first ever called worker Caribbean conference. Three islands (Grenada, St. Lucia and Antigua) were represented.

future steel drummers

conversations held under the church bell