The Bahamian, American and Canadian flags were standing out straight as we walked up the dock this morning. The dock master suggested that Carolyn in the 
office might know where the church was, so biked to the office to check with her on the location of Aldersgate Methodist Church which we had seen online. (http://www.wesleycollegebahamas.com/aldersgate_methodist_church) She actually knew where it was! So with her directions we rode through Marsh Harbour out Don McKay Boulevard to the edge of 
town. It seems that Marsh Harbour is really a distribution depot from the Abacos. In this tiny town, we passed four huge hardware/ plumbing/ auto parts kind of stores. There was an ACE hardware, a True Value and a couple of unknown brands.
We arrived at Aldersgate at about 10:30 am for the 11:00 morning worship service.
So here was a real Bahamian experience – the parking lot was empty. So we parked our bikes and sat on the steps for a while wondering if perhaps the church did not meet every Sunday. So we read some scripture from John 1 and from Genesis 1. It is amazing how vivid the creation story is after living on a boat in seclusion for a week. And we sang the hymn “To God Be 
the Glory, Great Things He Hath Done”; still no one. We were discussing how long we should wait when at about 10:55, a white truck pulled in and parked. A lovely black lady came up, unlocked the church and welcomed us in, and began to play the electric organ.
The high peaked ceiling of the sanctuary was natural wooden paneling channeling 
your eye to a large cross in yellow and blue stained glass at the front. The wooden pews were padded in blue green fabric and we sat down and opened the hymn book. It was an old edition with the words to the hymns printed but without the musical notes and staff. This building was built and dedicated in 1988 although the Methodist have 
been active in Marsh Harbour since 1845.
So at 11:00 am there were three of us in the sanctuary- but the swelling hymn music was heartening. Several others slipped in and at 11:10 a woman came in who walked to the pulpit and called us to worship. Two 
of the congregation came forward and led us in some sweet praise songs and members read the Bible from their seats as called for. The message for the day was the hallelujah that Christ has risen from the dead and appeared to many of his followers in the weeks after Easter (Luke 24: 30-35). We enjoyed being with God’s people so purely there to worship Him. By the final greeting time, there were perhaps 15 present and accounted for.
casting off to head across the Abaco Sea to Elbow Cay for the night. We could see 
the Hope Town light house as we crossed, and with our depth finder barely edging over our keel depth on the bottom, we entered the harbor at Hope Town. The harbor here is filled with pastel houses with ornate porches overlooking the water. Currently we are sharing the harbor with two dozen sailboats all on mooring balls.
The candy striped lighthouse was built in 1863 and is one of the three hand wound kerosene burning lighthouses left in the world. Tonight at 8:00 pm we saw the lantern lit from a distance and tomorrow we plan to see it up close.
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