A Sunday morning in San Diego

 Sunday morning, Allen and I took a walk by the hotel.

  

I wasn't sure what kind of ducks these were.  Looking at my bird book, perhaps they are bufflehead sea ducks?

This sign caught our eye because we are planning to go to Galati, Romania!  

Galati is pronounced "Galatz" in Romania.  In Italy they evidently pronounce it as it looks (with an Italian accent, of course!)  I wanted to know if they happened to be from Romania.  We should have gone into the shop.  I think maybe it was actually closed.  We did check out the prices of the yachts for sale; they were posted on the outside of the store.  Never in a million years could we afford them!  Here is what I found out: 

"The legacy of Galati Yacht Sales goes back to 1970. That’s when Michael Galati Sr. left his bakery business in New York and moved to Florida with his wife Anna Maria and their five children. There, he purchased a hurricane-devastated marina on Tampa Bay. With little experience and even less money, they adjusted to their new life and the enormous task of repairing and managing the marina." And now this yacht brokerage has 14 dealerships in North America.

We are going to go visit a church in Galati.  Our son-in-law and daughter's church are a sister church and have helped them much.  Adam has been there before and Mihai, the pastor, has come to the States some too.  Now we are going to go and take 2 of our granddaughters with us to see how they are helping Ukrainian refugees.

It began to rain a little before we got back to our room.

Nathaniel Johnson took this photo!  Wow!

After the walk, we went to the fellowship service that CAJ put together.

I think the photo below is by Daniel Sims.

We sang "To God Be the Glory", "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and "Day by Day".

The lyrics of "Day by Day" really spoke to me.  Used them as a prayer for my friend Carolyn, who is struggling with her health.

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,
He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made

Help me then, in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till with Christ the Lord I stand.

Rick gave a few words.  He shared memories and the impact of the different staff on his life.  

I can still remember when Rick, after his wife passed away, traveled across the US, visiting many of us that were in the room that morning!  He came to our town in March 2019 to see somel of us who knew him from our time in Japan.

Here he is showing us where all he was criss-crossing across the US.

Flossie gave a talk also.  How God often uses unexpected ways in answering prayer.  She also signed when we sang!  

Gary Friesen, who is with FEC (Fellowship of Evangelical Churches) like us, shared a story about Samuel Morris.  You can read it here.  It is really a miracle how God used this man to impact so many lives!

Lunch was on our own and then we went on a trolley tour of San Diego! 

Next post!