Day Nine - Last Work Day and Cultural Night

DAY NINE – MONDAY

On Monday we were scheduled to help with clean-up and maintenance for an older parishioner who is facing physical challenges. Tyrone is the catechist for St. Margaret’s Savannah Sound and has been since the 1970s. The catechist is an important role in the Anglican Church of the Bahamas. For many years there were not enough priests. The catechist held Morning and Evening prayer, organized parish life and prepared people for confirmation and communion. Even with a priest the catechist has an important role in the service and chooses the weekly hymns. Tyrone lives in Savannah Sound and was catechist for all three churches in the parish. He was a mentor and father figure to many of the leaders of this parish today. During his working life, Tyrone did the maintenance for an apartment complex on Windermere Island, the vacation home of the rich and famous (Mariah Carrey has a house here, Prince Charles and Diana honeymooned here, …). He is going to Nassau next week for medical treatment so we will hold him in prayer. We loaded up a weed-wacker, lawn mower, rakes, shovels, wheelbarrow and other tools to do yard pickup and cleanup. Fr. Eldon drove us in a smaller church van. His grandson, Cameron, joined the team, as did Janice and Mandolin.

Monday was a scorcher! The sun was out; it was hot by 9 am and hit 115 degrees by noon. The team worked on raking up leaves, cleaning up beds and trimming vegetation. Alexis suffered a touch of heat exhaustion and needed to get rehydrated and cooled off. Tyrone’s son, Roscoe, also helped with trimming plants and cleanup.

The work was messy and we filled bag after bag with debris. Ariana said she liked cleaning up the house but it was tough in the heat. It was nice to be able to do something nice for Tyrone. Rachael said it was extremely hot outside so our work was really slowed down. There was only so much work we could do so we focused o the yard and a little debris. She wished there was more that could have been done but so much of the yard was beyond what we could do in a single morning. With virtually no shade we called it a day at noon and went back to the Laughing Bird for lunch and a break.

Fr. Lance, Bailey, Claire and Faith went back to the doctor for a check-up on the stitches. Everything looks great and Claire’s cuts are healing nicely.

After lunch we split up into two teams and each group went on a shopping expedition to one of the two local stores to price the cost of the food package that we had distributed.

The parish normally distributed 40 packages of food each month. They have had to reduce this to 24 per month as economic stress has impacted church giving. Fr. Eldon said that the parish prioritizes providing support to its members. But the reduction in food hit those who lost the support very hard. The food packet includes sugar, oil, flour, oatmeal, grits, cream of wheat, rice, canned green beans and canned corn, Vienna sausage, tuna, sardines and canned corned beef. Each packet would cost about $40 if purchased in Governor’s Harbour. Pensioners can receive as little as $247 per month depending upon who they worked for. There are government clinics for basic medical care, but beyond that many specialized procedures require private insurance.

And then back to Sky Beach where all the kids can swim – even Claire who keeps her arm held up out of the water. Claire said that she enjoyed it very much even though she couldn’t swim. Today we walked on the beach taking boomerangs (short picture videos that can be posted on Instagram).

Tonight we cooked our own dinner of cheese quesadillas and refried beans. Rachael was lead chef for the quesadillas and she made a filling of black beans, chilies and sautéed onions. We had refried beans, fresh pineapple and mangos to round out the meal.

Tuesday is scheduled for a cultural day. Monday was cultural night. About 8 pm the electricity went out all over the island. There was a fire in the electrical plant. Normally the electricity browns out (which we had experienced) or if it goes out it is for an hour or two. The electricity was out for 14 hours - until 10 am! Don’t forget it was the hottest day yet – 115 degrees. No fans. No air conditioner. No lights. But lots of bugs. And a slight ocean breeze. By 8:30 Alexis said that it was very dark and really hot inside the unit. At first the girls played card games using a flash light. The team held our nightly meeting outside around a candle-lit table. Some of the girls were wrapped from head to toe in imitation of invasion of the mummies to avoid the bugs. And then to bed. With three girls sleeping to a bed everyone was hot and no one got much sleep. We taught the girls to wet down the sheets and put ice in bandanas around the neck. It was a long long night.

One blessing of the electricity going out was the opportunity to view a brilliant night sky. Lance, Bailey, Nancy and Chris went out to the beach to see the stars after the girls scurried back to the hot units to avoid the bugs. Later in the night, when the units were untenable, Chris took the girls out to the beach to see the night sky. The milky way covered a wide swath right across the center of the sky. Everyone could pick out the Big Dipper. But the stars were so brilliant and plentiful that it was hard to find Orion’s belt and the North Star. Mars was red, red, red. The ancients saw this night sky – a mirror of the creation.

Day Eight - Sunday Service

DAY EIGHT – SUNDAY

Church starts at 10:45 at Governor’s Harbour. Fr. Eldon has three churches in St. Patrick’s parish – St. Patrick’s church (ADA 70), St. Margaret’s church (Savannah Sound; ADA 10) and St. Agnes church (Gregory Town; ADA 35). He preaches at all three churches each Sunday morning and had started this particular Sunday at the 8 am service at St. Margarets. On the fifth Sunday of the month there is a single service which alternates locations. The church bus is used to transport parishioners to church and between churches and to festivals and other services.

St. Patrick’s, built in 1893, is a beautiful large limestone church with walls over a foot thick and, like all the Anglican churches on the island, is located right on the harbor. The church has an organ and choir loft in the top back – about half way across, with a central altar flanked by two formal alcoves/seating areas – St. Patrick on the left and The Holy Mother and Child on the right. These areas serve the useful purpose of the robing room behind one and the altar guild materials behind the other. The service was a traditional Anglican service at which all of us felt right at home. We recognized the hymns, the liturgy and flow. There were a total of eight hymns including “Be Still and Know that I am God”, “I Am the Bread of Life” and “Marching to Zion”. All the singing is congregational and everyone sings out.

At Fr. Eldon’s invitation, Rachael read the first lesson, Claire read the second lesson, Janice read the psalm and Fr. Lance preached. The sermon was on mission – the job of the church being mission and ministry.

Between the ministry of the Word and the Eucharist, Fr. Eldon asked if anyone was celebrating an anniversary or birthday. It was Chris’ 17th wedding anniversary and Rachael’s 17th birthday. Fr. Eldon prayed for Chris and the whole congregation sang Happy Birthday! At the end of the service, the parish has all the children come forward for an individual blessing – from babes in arms all the way through high school. It was lovely and makes a statement about the importance of children in this culture.

Singing is a huge part of the service. They have music throughout the service, for the blessings and every week a group sings to the community – the women, the men, the children. And this week, our entire group, led by Sara, sang for the community “What Makes You Beautiful”. They loved it!! Then Fr. Lance invited the entire congregation to join the team in “Bind Us Together, Lord” – which is in their hymnal.

Like Anglicans everywhere, the community had seats where they always sit. Nancy noticed that the central portion of the right side was empty. And of course asked “why?” The church installed air conditioning last year. Prior to that the center right was where the sun beat in on Sunday morning making it very hot. The left side enjoyed the harbor breeze! There were fans along the right wall. But it was hot in the middle right so no one sat there. Al and Janice said that they had tried to sit there and it was too hot. And, no one sits there even now. On the wall were many banners – the parish banner, the Anglican Church Women and Church Men banners and a Cursillo banner.

Nancy lit up when she saw the Cursillo banner and had a chance to ask Fr. Eldon about it. Cursillo started in Nassau in the 1980s and is an important ministry in the diocese of the Bahamas today. Ther are two to three weekends put on each year – generally two for men and one for women. Cursillos are generally held in Nassau at a youth camp. It is very expensive to hold them on Eleuthera and other out islands. Six parishioners have been to Cursillo and there are some small prayer groups. Fr. Eldon is an active Cursillista and has been for many years. He is hoping to encourage more members of his parish to attend as a springboard to ministry. Two men including Sean were supposed to go to the last men’s weekend but had to cancel two days before due to logistics!

After the service, Sandra, Stephanie, Melinda, and Gail with whom we had gotten to know the past week through the food distribution and preparation, graciously prepared and served us a traditional Bahamian meal.

Our team was joined by Al, Janice, Mandolin, Cameron, Fr. And Mrs. Eldon, and Shannon. We served the traditional foods of the islands including barbequed chicken, peas and rice, baked macaroni and cheese, and potato salad; it was simply delicious. For desert we were served coconut cream pies (individual tarts) and guava duff – a magnificent Bahamian delicacy made from kneaded dough that is rolled out like a bread roll, with a guava paste spread across the dough and then rolled up like a jelly roll and then boiled in a turkey bag. A wonderful custard sauce is poured over the top. The women told us that their mothers used to boil the guava dove in pillow cases or in sacks that were placed on top of pots placed inside a pot of boiling water. Guava duff must be tried to be believed.

After lunch we went back to the Laughing Bird for a rest and then a lesson in hand washing clothes. We are working hard, sweating a lot and our clothes had started to smell. Bailey gave the girls a lesson is how to hand wash clothes in little trash cans, rinse them well and lay them out to dry.

This is one of the more useful skills for the future. We ate a very quick dinner of sandwich wraps and cold hot dogs. No one was particularly hungry after our Bahamian feast.

With the clothes hanging on chairs, we all piled into our truck for a trip back to Pascal’s and the infinity pool. We arrived in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm. The woman who runs the resort at Sky Beach is Cece – she had been supplying us via Shannon with the large coolers of ice. Cece is a talented jewelry maker. While we waited for the storm to clear Cece invited us into her bungalow to show us her jewelry studio.

Every one of us purchased something!! – bracelets, earrings, pendants. We swam in the pool, had fruit smoothies and cooled off. This was the first time that Nancy had felt reasonably cool in eight days!!

On Sunday night we held a team meeting for the first time since Thursday. We all processed how we had felt at the time of Claire’s accident and how we felt now. We have a strong team of amazing young women, a very talented Director of Youth Ministry, Fr. Lance and two chaperones to assist. Each of us was scared but we all came together to support Claire. Claire for her part bounced back by mid-day Saturday and was determined to participate in the rest of the trip. We laughed and sang and shared. This team has weathered changes in flights, changes in plans, heat, bugs and then Claire’s accident. Through all of this we have shown resilience, teamwork and a spirit of unity. This team was truly called.

Day Seven - Sun and Sea

DAY SEVEN - SATURDAY

After we returned from the fish fry on Friday night, a constant drizzle began. It turned into a dramatic thunder, lightening and rain storm that lasted nine hours. The electricity on Eleuthera is generated by a single diesel generation facility in the south island. Electricity and water began to come to the outer islands in the 1980s and 1990s. Prior to that people had to go to a distribution center in the township to fill up five gallon jugs each day. Most homes now have running water and electricity. Electricity is four times more expensive so people are very careful in its use. The government is beginning to explore publicly supported solar. With the high cost of power, many homes lack air conditioning and become stifling in the late afternoon. Some homes have limited lighting. With the storm, the entire island lost electricity – except for those few souls who have privately installed some form of solar power. After the excitement of Friday, the lack of air conditioning made for a long night. All of us were tired at the beginning of Saturday.

Fortunately, Friday was a day of recreation and refreshment. Our host, Al Curry, owns the Ocean Fox Cotton Bay company that operates an excursion boat business for snorkeling and scuba diving, shark diving, deep sea fishing and private charters. His charter boats operate out of Davis Harbour, South Eleuthera, an hour south of Governor’s Harbor. Davis Harbour was blasted out of sandstone that is largely visible in parallel strata marked by caves.

The geology is similar to what we saw in Gregory Town in the old abandoned gentlemen’s club. Between the ocean and the harbor is a large mangrove swamp which helps clean the water and provides habitat for a large number of bird species. The Bahamas are surrounded by a steep shelf on the Atlantic side where the wave action is strong and the water is colder. The Bahamian Bight or Bank creates a gentle slope into the Caribbean, the water is much shallower along the reefs until the edge of the Bight the ocean reaches 500 feet and deeper. With shallow waters up to 10 or 15 feet, the water temperature around the reefs is 80 to 85 degrees this time of year and visibility is crystal clear.

After breakfast on Saturday we loaded the team into the St. Patrick’s church bus which is air conditioned for a trip to the boat. St. Patrick’s purchased the 30 person bus new in 2006 and use it throughout the week as well as the weekend to transport parishioners to and from church and between the parish churches in Savannah Sound, Governor’s Harbor and Gregory Town. The bus is used daily - about 1/3 of parishioners at St. Patrick’s do not have their own transportation. George is the bus driver, and was so supportive and helpful when we were diverted to the medical clinic yesterday with Claire.

For our excursion to the ocean, our team was joined by Fr. Elton’s grandson, Cameron, who is 9 and has been helping our team this week.

 
 We were also joined by Shannon who has been so wonderful all week long. Shannon lives in Manhattan and Eleuthera. What a contrast in lifestyle! On Monday night she let the girls swim in her pool. Throughout the week she has provided the team with coolers of restaurant ice. She supported our painting and cooking and community outreach. With us also was Al and Janice’s granddaughter, Mandolin, age 11, who is also one of our Bahamian-based team members and has helped with painting and cooking and serving. Unfortunately, Jenness left early Saturday morning to return to Seattle.

The weather was perfect – the sky was cloudy which kept the heat manageable, water temperature was about 80 degrees after the rainstorm the night before, and a slight breeze was blowing. We boated about 45 minutes off shore to a snorkeling reef which is only about 7 to 10 feet deep. The girls were given instruction for using equipment.

With calm waters and a warm sea the conditions were safe and inviting for all of us. The coral formations on the reef are amazing. We saw coral fans and tubes, vibrantly colored fish and a large school of fish that seemed to not move but were transported by the currents – back and forth, up and down. There were schools of minuscule jelly fish that stung arms and legs and feet. They looked like bubbles. Almost none of the group had gone snorkeling before, but we dove in (quite literally). Chris and Ariana were our snorkeling champs exploring all around the reef. Claire agreed to be our videographer since she couldn’t get her stitches wet.

Cameron liked the long spined sea urchins. Al brought up a sea biscuit from the reef so we could touch it and feel its sucking action. Claire captured all of us with a Go-Pro. Janice and Nancy finished snorkeling and then floated in the water alongside the boat. We snorkeled for an hour or so, then loaded everyone up for lunch at the beach.

The beach can only be accessed by boat and is so pristine. The sand is a peachy beige and the consistency of flour paste. Shells were everywhere. Fr. Lance collected a shirt full of beautiful conch shells. The girls put their snorkels and masks back on to explore the shallows out to twenty feet from the beach. Sara and Rachael made the best find - a small conch in his shell.

A conch is a little bivalve that has two eyes, one foot and a body that fills the cavity of the shell. When he hides, he withdraws up into his shell and the foot seals the cavity and keeps the animal wet. It was so weird to look into this tiny shell and see these two little eyes staring back! The living conch and shell are vibrantly colored in reds, pinks and browns. Alexis and Cameron played catch and keep-away with a sponge that we found on the beach. Not a kitchen sponge – an ocean sponge.

One of the families that we visited on Wednesday gave our mission team a watermelon which we had on ice and ate with lunch. This is not the wimpy seedless watermelon that we get in Seattle. It was filled with gigantic seeds so of course we had to have a seed spitting contest. Everyone gave it a try. I am happy to report that Bailey is the seed spitting champion of the trip – with a big arch in her back and a whip of her head she managed to spit it 7 feet.

After the boat trip we sang our way (One Direction) on the bus back back to the Laughing Bird to shower and change, and then to Al and Janice’s for barbeque hamburgers and hot dogs. We met two very interesting men at Al’s who do photo-journalism – Florian and Christian are from Germany. Florian has done videoing for Al in the past including the drone videos of the Glass Window Bridge and the fly over for Eleuthera that can be found both on Al’s website and one of the tourist websites for the Island.

Al and Janice hosted our team for a second hamburger/hot dog barbeque on Saturday night. The no-see-ums (little tiny biting insects) were out in force so much of the team was inside enjoying the air conditioning, while Bailey uploaded the blog from the porch.

While we were cooking Al told the girls that we would be special guests at the service in the morning and suggested that we might put together a song for them. Lance kept suggesting “Bind Us Together” but most of the girls don’t know it. Instead they worked out the BEST flash mob – What Makes You Beautiful. By the end of the evening the whole team was involved – Fr. Lance, Chris, Nancy, Bailey, Alexis, Ariana, Sara, Rachael, Faith, Claire and Mandolin.

Day Six - A clinic visit and Friday night fish fry

DAY SIX - FRIDAY

On Thursday the team completed its work in Governor’s Harbor and we shifted to St. Agnes parish 45 minutes north in Gregory Town. Gregory Town has 250 people and is built around a little harbor. Fishing is a major occupation with a wide variety of fish and a specialty shellfish called conch. The rules for fishing in Bahamian waters protect the environment and diversity. Fishermen cannot use spear guns or scuba gear. Conch are found at a depth of about 30 feet and are a main food source. Other fish are found close to shore along the caves in the limestone and as far as 30 or 45 minutes away from the shore. Catch this time of year is slow because of the heat and includes grouper, mahi mahi, and wahoo.

The day started at 6:45 am in order to get the work done in time to return to Governor’s Harbor for a mid-afternoon break and then a community fish fry.

One of our team had visited Gregory Town for the food distribution and had met Sean who was to guide us in our work this day. St. Agnes church sits right on the harbor in the oldest part of town. The walls of the church are about two feet thick and built of limestone blocks covered by cement. The church has a total of 16 pews – 7 to a side. Our job for the day was to sand and stain 7 of the pews under Sean’s tutelage and supervision.

Friday was hot and humid. No cloud cover, no shade and only a tiny breeze. We had one electric finish sander which was used by Chris, Bailey or Camella. The girls were taught to use sand paper. Rachael said that sanding was really hard. “We had to be really thorough. We had to prepare for the stain and if we didn’t do it properly then the stain wouldn’t take.”

The girls teamed up on each pew and then sanded the kneelers. Sanding the seven pews took about an hour. The stain was almost black. Sara said that Sean was very particular about both the sanding and how the stain was applied. The girls had to carefully brush the stain on smooth and straight so it looked like wood and covered completely.

The team finished the sanding and stained five of the pews before lunch. The lunch break was short but blessedly in the shade on a porch of one of the oldest homes – typical colonial architecture that we are getting to recognize. We took a short break to a souvenir shop that is stoked full with locally made handicrafts, lotions, clothing, jams, and jewelry.

After lunch it started to rain so we had to move all the benches across the tiny harbor to large open air gazebo that is used for community festivals. Little flags in Bahamian national colors waver in the wind. The stain was really messy – oil based and hard to get off. The girls were told to use paint thinner to clean up.

The bus arrived at 2pm to take us back to Governor’s Harbor. We were finishing the final bench, cleaning up the grounds, and cleaning ourselves up when there was a loud crash and a scream. Claire had jarred a sink loose from the wall in the men’s room when she was cleaning her legs. The porcelain sink shattered, Claire lost her balance, fell and cut her right arm and hand. There was a lot of blood so it was really scary. Chris responded immediately and wrapped her arm in a t-shirt, Bailey tied a bandana tightly around the lower arm. Sean and Camella contacted the government medical clinic to find out where to take Claire. We were told to take her to Hatchett Bay, about 15 minutes to the south so Camella drove and Claire was accompanied by Chris, Bailey and Faith. The rest of us collected all our stuff and piled into our bus to follow. On the bus we prayed, sang and prepared to support Faith and Claire.

Medical care in Eleuthera is provided by a series of government clinics that are staffed by nurses, with one shared doctor. If a serious medical condition occurs, the patient is airlifted to Nassau. Medical care is subsidized but it is not nationalized. Bahamians must carry insurance which can be quite expensive. Some surgeries such as joint replacements are done in the United States.

We were sent to the Hatchett Bay clinic because the staff nurse has extensive emergency room experience. The Holy Spirit has been so present on this trip. A spirit of resilience and service and unity. And now protection!! Amazingly, despite numerous lacerations that required stitches, no arteries or tendons were impacted so the nurse was able to stitch Claire up on site. Faith, Chris and Bailey stayed with Claire. Faith is an amazing older sister – she is caring and supportive and most of all kept her cool! Chris provided a warm calm presence for Claire for the two hours it took the nurse to put in 29 stitches in her fingers and arm. Claire trusted. She was hurting and scared but trusted the medical team and Chris to support her. The doctor, in Governor’s Harbor, examined the wounds and stitches and provided prescriptions for pain and antibiotics.

While the nurse was helping Claire, Nancy and Camella took the remainder of the team for ice cream. Eleuthera is an extended and connected island community. Camella’s mom, three aunts, uncles and cousins live in Hatchett Bay. Camella drove us to her cousin’s house, then to a tiny local store for a carton of Oreo Cookie ice cream, bowls and spoons. We ate our ice cream at a beautiful new park and dock in the bay on the Atlantic side.

Alexis said that when we walked out to the dock it was so peaceful, the water was calm, all the trees. When the rain began you could see all the drops and you could look at the ripples. A small school of fish swam by. We met three young men on the dock. At first they were a bit reluctant to talk to us but under Nancy’s determined questioning they told us that they liked Hatchett Bay because it is quiet, the liked the people and weren’t really strict on crime. The boys went to high school one hour south in Palmetto Point. Two were still in school and one had graduated. They told us that Gregory Town is on the Caribbean side and is a fishing town, Hatchett Bay on the Atlantic focuses on agriculture. The town is surrounded by small farms that grow pineapple, mangoes, onions, garlic and other vegetables.

After the doctor we returned to Governor’s Harbor to get ready for the community fish fry. The fish fry stand is located across the street from St. Patrick’s. When we arrived the music was playing, and the stand was rocking. The menu was a choice of pork, chicken or fish, accompanied by peas and rice and your choice of macaroni and cheese, potato salad or coleslaw. In other words, the top choices of local cuisine. The leadership of St. Patrick’s church including Sanda and Arthur, the senior warden, organize, cook and run the fish fry. The fish fry is attended by locals and tourists. We ran into a group of three Kuwaiti students from Boise State who had arrived on the same plane with us last Monday. They were scuba diving and snorkeling their way around the island. Food was great. Music rocked. It poured down rain. The party moved inside the food stand. Fr. Lance and Nancy went inside with several other team members.

Fr. Lance began serving alongside St. Patrick’s team. Rain lasted about 45 minutes. And the party resumed in the street. Many of the team danced in relief for the Lord’s protection and celebration of our mission. The fish fry happens every Friday night!! Ariana said that the fish fry was really fun looking at all the people and seeing the variety of local people mixed with the tourists many of whom we had seen at the pool and elsewhere. She ate the barbequed chicken and macaroni and cheese – food was delicious.

Day Five - Rachael's Birthday!

DAY FIVE – THURSDAY

Day Five arrived with sun and heat. And Rachael’s birthday!!

ARIANA – “To surprise Rachael on her birthday, we decided to wake up early and all go on a walk. We were trying to wake up at 6:15 to go on the walk at 6:30. But then we ended up waking up at 6:23ish. We all got dressed and headed over to the others. (Rachael is in a different condo). No one in there was awake so we said “Happy Birthday Rachael!” to wake up Rachael. We ended up waking Claire and Alexis as well. When Rachael was up and ready we walked down to the beach and had a great walk picking up shells and enjoying the great view of the beach.”

Great day. A day of completion. Our goals were to finish painting, distribute the food packages, and finish assembling new benches for the parish grounds.

Day Five was hot the entire day. Unlike Tuesday and Wednesday there was no cloud cover in the morning to cut the heat. Fortunately, we were able to work mostly in the shade or in the parish hall. We divided into three teams – two completed the painting; two did benches; and two made gazpacho soup that we will deliver along with the food packages.  

We made 5 gallons of gazpacho which was distributed with the food packages. A lot of chopping and assembling but blessedly not as much simmering as the red beans and rice. Gazpacho soup was accompanied by another interesting market adventure. There are two grocery stores in Governor’s Harbour – one is tucked away and used by locals. The other is on the main street and is accompanied by a gas station. This one is used by locals and tourists and tend to be more expensive. However, it had more selection and was laid out with more room. Shannon took us shopping and gave us a lesson in import duties and brands. The products from the US cost more than the same product from Canada – up to 3 or 4 times as much. Fruits and vegetables are mostly imported into Nassau and then distributed to the islands. They are expensive and not very fresh. There is almost no gardening in Eleuthera although the climate could support growing a wide variety of vegetables; nor is there much gardening infrastructure in terms of local knowledge, tools and compost. The local diet is rich in starches such as grits, rice, beans, marcaroni and farina. In the summer there is an abundance of local fruits grown in most backyards such as mangos, sugar apples, a local plum variety, and tamarinds.

We divided into three teams for food distribution – one went to Gregory Town, one went to Savannah Sound and one delivered food in Governor’s Harbour. These distributions were the highlight of the trip so far. Rachael was struck again by how deep roots go in Eleuthera. Land occupancy in many settlements is based on your ancestor’s residency. In Savannah Sound, a person can register with the community council for a 100x115 foot plot of land for $36. They are then free to build a house and live there so long as they pay dues of $500 per year to the community council. Upon death they can leave the house to their direct descendants or the land goes back to the community. However, in Governor’s Harbour the ancestors had sold their land to outsiders when times were bad so residents of this settlement must pay cash for their land. They have direct ownership and can will it without restriction. Faith said that settlements are identified with last names – the Thomases live in Gregory Town.

The Bahamians who we served said that they feel very safe. Crime is low. People are interrelated across the islands. We met many people who are born and will die in their settlement. 85% of Bahamians are of African descent and are descendants of slaves who were brought here by British loyalists from the Carolinas at the time of the American Revolution to grown cotton. A major concern raised by the priest at St. Patrick’s is the illegal immigration by Haitians who “are a drain on the government”. They cannot legally work because they cannot get a work permit although they do work under the table. Their children attend government schools and families use the government medical clinics. They don’t pay taxes –the only tax in the Bahamas is a 7.5% VAT.

One theme that struck Ariana (and all our team) was the spirit of joy and gratefulness in those we served, the spirit of community, and welcoming hospitality. Lance, Jenness, Ariana and Alexis visited a family that was very poor and lived in a house with a couple of rooms and a dirt floor. They shared how blessed they were in their lives even while sharing stories that told of a hard life. Praising God is an attitude and way of life here.

Faith shared how welcoming the families were – inviting us into their homes and sharing their stories and their lives. They were excited to meet the mission team and shared with pride the history of their community. We learned that Savannah Sound has a deep history of producing educators. Savannah Sound includes Windermere Island where the billionaires own homes and where the British Royals stay when in Bahamas. A local baker was invited to the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and proudly displays his invitation. Another man wrote the melody and words to the Bahamian national anthem.

Sara said that the families she visited talked about the impact of the hurricanes. The hurricanes come and they come and they come. Homes are demolished but there isn’t money to rebuild. Roads are washed out and left unrepaired. In fact the road in front of the church is impassable due to hurricane damage. Everywhere we turn there are homes that are well maintained adjacent to buildings that are destitute.

Claire was struck by the large number of dogs and cats wandering around. The local dogs are called pot cakes because they were fed the scraps of food left over in the pots and patted into a cake. At one home we spotted four cats in the back yard – “oh, that’s nothing” said the grandmother – we have a whole bunch next door at my mother in law’s! Every home seemed to have large number of dogs and cats which Bailey noted were probably a key in keeping homes safe and rodents at bay.

Day Four - Hard at work and a little relaxation

DAY FOUR – WEDNESDAY

Day Four started out overcast and the temperature was a blessed ten degrees cooler than the day before – a mere 85 degrees – until the sun emerged around 11 am. Our tasks for the day were to continue painting the rectory and preparing food packages for distribution.

Sara began her day at 6:30 am on the beach across the street from our condos.

SARA - “Waking up at 6:30 in the morning is a lot easier when you get to be in a beautiful place accomplishing amazing things. One of my favorite things I’ve done so far is to wake up early and take a walk on the beach by myself. I felt completely safe, and every person I saw greeted me with a “Hello, How are you?”, always with a smile on their face. I feel so fortunate to be here and excited for more activities to come.”

On Day Four the parish joined us in our work. Two men set up scaffolding for us early in the morning. Other men supplied us with ladders. Camella, a member of the vestry, joined the paint crew. Jenness and Janice returned as well.

Painting on Day Four moved from the ground floor to the upper story – complete with scaffolding and ladders. Every girl had a chance to paint on the scaffolding. Some were challenged by the height and the climb, but all were game. The upper story looks GREAT. Chris was in charge of the scaffold painting. He and girls tried an experiment to see whether it was true that everyone would greet us with a wave.

CHRIS: “Everyone here in the Bahamas is super friendly, always stopping to chat or wave hello and lend a hand if needed. We learned that if someone waves and you don’t respond, they get offended. Yesterday while up on the scaffolding painting the rectory, Claire and I started a game of waving to everyone who passed, looking for anyone who didn’t wave or say hello back. We lost the game. Not a single person didn’t respond to us!!”

The second story balcony area is accessible through the house but the house was locked and we didn’t want to tramp paint on the carpet. So we set up a ladder and climbed over the balcony. Paint, brushes and buckets were hoisted over using a rope.

Once again Janice and Jenness joined the painters and painted, and painted, and painted. We painted from 8:30 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon with a 45 minute lunch break. Many hands make light work though and we managed to get almost all of it painted with two coats – just few hours left for Day Four.

Lunch was leftover red beans and rice. Which was delicious after a day to blend the flavors. After lunch the group split in two with some painting and some assembling food packages. The food distribution ministry at St. Patrick’s began about 18 months ago. St. Patrick’s has three parish churches – one at Gregory Town, one in Governor’s Harbor and one south in Savannah Sound.

ALEXIS – “Yesterday our youth mission trip to the Bahamas went well. Our group was finishing up the painting on the house. We also helped make care packages that will be given out by us. We ended the day with a meeting to talk about all we learned as a group.”

After work concluded for the day we went into Governor’s Harbor for ice cream. The view from the shop was breathtaking with St. Patrick’s church visible right at the bend.

Camella’s family owns a lake/resort called the Green Turtle Pond. It is a large lake formed by a blow hole. The blow hole is formed by two limestone tubes – one from the Atlantic side and one from the Caribbean side. When the tide shifts the water in the lake is pushed and pulled. Camella’s resort is called Green Turtle Pond because of the presence of a small population of green sea turtles. Green sea turtles, which are endangered, are one of the largest on earth and are indigenous to the Bahamas. These turtles nest in South America and swim to the Bahamas as adults where they feast on the sea grass providing an important ecological link in environmental diversity. The green turtle preserve was started by Camella’s grandfather. After his death it lay quiet until a cousin of hers from Everett, WA encouraged the family to resurrect the preserve as a place for tourists to kayak, body board and enjoy the turtles. A group of girls and Fr. Lance were able to visit the “pond”.

After two days of hard work we were all ready for refreshment. We piled into the truck and went to Sky Beach Resort which has an infinity pool that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. One the way we saw a host of red crabs all crossing the highway from the Caribbean side to the Atlantic side. This is mating season and the crabs are out from about 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. You have to try and avoid running over them as they cross the road. In other seasons these crabs are invisible in the bush.

Sky Beach was so beautiful and relaxing after a hard three days. The sand on the beach is like flour it is so fine. The Atlantic breaks off in a steep shelf, with the waves crashing gently on short. The pool was about 85 degrees with a bar built into the side. We were greeted by Shannon, who has been with us every day, bringing ice, taking us to the store, providing support and encouragement. Shannon and Cece (who manages Sky Beach) paid for the bartender to give each girl a smoothie!

FAITH – “We went to the Beach Club which is a swimming pool. It has access to the Atlantic Ocean. We swam in both and I had a mango smoothie at the pool bar. Two of the ladies we met, Shannon and Cece, bought us all one drink. When we went to the ocean the sand was so soft and the water was pretty warm. The water was super salty and it stung my eyes. It was still pretty though.”

After the pool we were tired and hungry. We closed our day with a wonderful dinner at the Sunset Inn. This restaurant is pointed towards the sunset and sits across the water from Governor’s Harbor. We all had local seafood – especially conch. The bugs were out however and we went through most of a bottle of bug spray. The sun went down through a towering bank of thunderclouds. The light went from yellow to orange to red and finally to sundown. As it has every night we witnessed a stunning lightening display.

After dinner it was back to our units for a nightly meeting, internet time, phone calls home and bed.