Our 2 1/2 yrs in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

     On Nov 27th, we ended a 2 1/2 yrs stint in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  I have to say that it was truly one of the highlights of our lives.  We cannot express to all the new souls that we met in GTMO how truly blessed we were to have met and come to know each and every one of you.  I will post a link to our Picasa site so that all of you that are interested can view all the photos we took while there. 

     Mark and I had a wonderful time there.  Mark's activities included work of course but he made the most of his time there as well. He made over 400 scuba dives while there (4-5 tanks per week), read, played guitar in the worship band and for his own pleasure ---learned bass guitar while there, rode his mountain bike, kayaked and hiked with me and helped me with a lot of hospitality duties.  I'd say he had a very full plate there and slept quite well with all our activities.

    I was the non working end of the relationship but was so busy that I think I was working.  I had the wonderful ministry of hospitality while there, hosting a lot of our Filipino friends, unaccompanied military and DOD men and women as well as those frequent visitors we had from our friends and family.  I volunteered at the Treasures & Trivia thrift store and eventually ran it awhile and trained 2 new managers for the job.  My weekends were full with singing in the worship band ----2 services on Sunday to start then one on Sunday night but by the last 6 months was back to 2 services on Sunday as well.  Saturday night rehearsals.  Loved every minute of it and met some of my most precious friends there.  During the week mornings most were spent either walking to and from exercise classes, walking the Ridgeline or JPJ  and some classes in the evening while Mark was at work. Kayaking with friends and boating with the scuba divers, hanging out at the beach and snorkeling. Oh and babysat a 5 year old boy (Nathan) for at least 6 months total.  The barefoot life was wonderful. Outdoor movies were great when not too buggy.

     It was very sad saying goodbye but was the time to leave.  Hard to explain how tiny it starts to feel after awhile as we were unable to leave the island frequently.  Island fever does  happen.

Hope you will follow our new blog on our travels with Fidel around the USA.  We can't go see him so we have a Fidel bobblehead and are taking him on our trip with us.

Our link to Picasa is as follows   gallaghermarkandjo84@gmail.com  Go to google plus symbol all albums