The Events of Sunday, October 24, 2010

          I must have been a bit drowsy this morning because I missed two turns on our way to Plimoth Plantation. Though we visited on Friday, we hoped to participate in the Sunday worship service in their meetinghouse. Since the meeting did not start until 10:30, we took our time wandering through the Wampanoag homesite and the other parts of the plantation. It surprised me to see various villagers at work on Sunday. Some were cooking meals, others were fixing fences, and one was training a cow to follow voice commands (with the goal of pulling a plow). Then they genuinely confused us by talking about their Sabbath celebration “yestermorn”. Now, my Old English is a bit rusty, but I was pretty sure yestermorn meant yesterday morning. Do they celebrate their Sabbath on Saturdays? I wondered. It took several more minutes before we figured out the confusion. For the role-players there, it was Monday, so they were working. Their “yestermorn” never really happened. In this way, they could teach us about the Sabbath celebration without actually having to observe it. (We supposed that most visitors would prefer not to observe the plantation on a day of rest.)

          As a consolation, there was a meeting of sorts at 10:30 in the meetinghouse. A character playing Master Brewster, the stand in pastor for the settlers, explained to us visitors about their religious observances. As part of this, he taught us how they would sing the Psalter. Elder Brewster (he was appointed as an Elder when they were in Holland) would sing one line of the psalm, and the congregation would echo back that line to him. I was intrigued and informed, but it was not what I hope for in a Sunday worship service.

          Before departing from the village, we met John Alden (he was the one training the cow), Mrs. Alden, Governor Bradford, and Myles Standish. After this, we visited the Craft Center where we saw three specialists at work. Outside were three women repairing their outdoor kiln. Part of the brick base had melted (!) because it had gotten too hot—about 2000° F! Inside, the girls found a tailor who was hand-sewing clothing for the villagers. She was knowledgeable, articulate, enthusiastic, and eager to answer all our questions about the village and actors. Lastly, a woodworker was carving a bowl from birch. He has worked there for 17 years and was able to answer a question for Pam. She remembered visiting a place called Plimoth Plantation as a child, but her memories do not match what we saw. The woodworker explained to us that the village used to be populated by wax figures, not role-playing actors. He even had a book with some photos of the time. Yes, Pam now remembered, that was what she had experienced as a schoolgirl, when she lived in Delaware.

          Finally, we visited the cafeteria to sample pilgrim fare. We tried and enjoyed Indian Pudding (see http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HastyPudding_IndianPudding.htm). I agree with Abby, who said it tastes like pumpkin pie. The succotash (http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/succotash/Detail.aspx) was a new dish for all of us; most of us thought it was super, but it was a bit too spicy for Pam. However, we were all sweating and panting for water after trying their stuffed quahogs (http://rhodeislandjustice.blogspot.com/2008/05/stuffed-quahogs-recipe.html). Wow, these babies are HOT! We cooled our palates by having lunch in the RV. Pam treated us to her girlhood specialty, Croque Monsieur (http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/croque-monsieur/Detail.aspx).

          Then we drove to the tip of Cape Cod, where we had reserved a lovely campsite. Once here, we spent an hour with our Mark manuscripts. Today we studied the twin healings of Jairus’s daughter and the woman with a hemorrhage. It was interesting to note the detail Mark includes and the insights these afford into Jesus’ willingness to be interrupted. As a traveler, even though I have no regular work or school commitments, I still find myself struggling to value people over tasks. So in prayer we return to Christ and beg him to come and heal our spiritual sicknesses.

          Before dinner, we connected with all the Grandparents via Skype. After dinner, we started watching “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (the first part of the Tolkien Trilogy). Then we stopped the DVD to Skype with the Mitzners, so the kids could see their cousins and catch up on all the new doings in the Mitzner household. In this way, we hope for pleasant dreams of cute cousins, instead of the terrors of goblins, orcs, and ring-wraiths.