My ministry is going quite well here, although it is a slow start since I still have work to do around home finishing up certain projects. I’m not getting much writting done yet either. Here’s an example of a day of ministry yesterday.
I got up around 5:30, chanted a couple of rounds, had a big breakfast and went to the Pahoa Sunday market arriving by eight. This was my fourth week there, so I’m a “regular” and have a reserved booth and don’t have to be there at seven any longer. However, I got there to find out that the wind had blown the whole market down over night. I picked through the rubble of my booth organizing the aluminum pipes that the tarps are hung on so they could be put back up again. Called my brother in NY and did some produce shopping. By 8:50, I was setting up in another booth that had been reconstructed. I did a couple of Osho Zen Tarot readings, talked with other vendors and left around 12:30 because I was tired of my signs blowing down.
Went home, unloaded the truck bathed and headed down to the beach where there was the usual assortment of Rastas, pot sellers, women in bikinis, men and women not in bikinis, gays, children, devotees, a great drum circle, dancers, palm trees, surf, etc. I talked to people and took part in the drumming for a couple of hours. Went home, and after dinner my wife read out loud to me from Satsvarupa’s book Prabhupada as she’s been doing lately as background for my book. I fell asleep on the couch and was up again at 3:00 this morning.
Saturday, my wife and I went to a Bob Marley birthday celebration out in the bush. We saw a group of devotees there who looked like they might be approachable, but I decided to wait. Some of them were at the beach yesterday also. We drummed together but didn’t talk. There are at least three groups of devotees here, but I don’t think I’d be welcomed by any of them, so I stay away. I’m not interested in getting caught up in the in-fighting and politics, but I’m open to those who are open to me. I’m taking things slow, getting to know the scene here. The 60s are alive and well in South Puna. We’re loving it here. Sometimes we go watch the lava flow down the mountain at night. It’s a few miles away from here.
