Vying to be heard: cattle, chickens, trucks, and a sermon

In church this Sunday, the pastor had to keep raising the volume of his preaching. Sunday here is market day. Buses poured into town, using their air brakes to slow their way into town. Trucks lumber on the main street beside the church, loaded with green-plantain bananas, oranges, and potatoes. Cattle and sheep were herded past. Stray dogs, chickens, and families wandered by, some of each of which popped into the church for a bit of a visit mid-sermon. One big german-shepherd-ish dog, came and slept just near our feet for the second half of the sermon. In honour of the Catholic month of Corpus Cristi, firecrackers boomed at random, sometimes in clusters that lasted for seconds strung together. And all of the while, the pastor tried to raise his voice above the din, so we could hear the father's day sermon. Maybe that's why this week's morning sermon was only about a half-hour long. One of our two local OMS churches: Buen Pastor If you get there 'on time' the church is pretty empty. Most people have arrived by mid-sermon (an hour later). Firecrackers have been going off night and day, all month. This OMS church is attached to the compound where we live in Saraguro. This church is called Amada De Dios.