Hatchet Bay

For the past few days, I've been out in Hatchet Bay, another settlement here on Eleuthera. We've been working on building a bathroom and a kitchen. I feel like progress was kind of slow, but that was to be expected because of all of the construction that we had to correct before being able to move forward with our current projects. The building is over 160 years old, and it is also the oldest church in Hatchet Bay. It hasn't been used as a church building (or for anything else) for some time, so the decision was made to turn it into a community center. The people, especially the children will use it as a safe place to go and hang out. Right now, there aren't many constructive activities that keep the children out of trouble, so the whole community is very supportive of what is happening.
The group that has been working on this specific project have really adopted it. Some of the people on the team have already been down here to work on the building over 4 times. The Lord has given them a vision, and they've allowed Him to use them.
Personally, I've been doing well. Since I was away from the camp, I was out of contact with everybody for a couple of days, so I'm sorry for the lack of communication. The past 2 days have been relatively cooler than they have been, and I can tell that my blood is starting to thin... Its probably around 65-70 degrees, I'm wearing my thickest long pants and a long sleeved t-shirt, and I'm freezing cold!!
Thank you for all of your prayers. I think of you all often, and hope you're doing well!

Weekend Fun!

After working hard all week, I get the weekends off, and when you're on such a beautiful island, there is plenty to do. My roommate and I aren't aloud to drive any of the camp vehicles, so we have to resort to walking when we're by ourselves. and I started out our Saturday by walking through town, and making some new aquaintances. That's proven to be a really great way to meet people, and that's how our Saturday morning started. We walked down to ship wreck beach, which is appropriately named because there is a huge ship wrecked about 10 feet out from the beach. We stayed there for a couple of hours, and then Abe found us, and took us sailing!! All I have to say is that I am a huge fan of sailing now, and can't wait to get the opportunity to go back out. While sailing, we say Lenny Kravitz's yacht!! So cool, and then again today we saw his jeep, and decided to leave a note on his car inviting him to stop by the camp and visit. We'll have to see if he takes us up on the offer :) Today, after church, we went to surfer's beach, which is apparently one of the best surfing beaches in the world. The waves weren't good ones to try and surf on today, so we're going to go back another day and try again, but the waves were still tons of fun to play in! Tomorrow its back to work, but I'm not at all dreading it after having such a wonderful weekend.

Settling In

I've been down here now for almost a month, and I couldn't ask for things to be going any better! I've been given the title of Volunteer Coordinator, which means that I'm the contact person for everyone that is either coming down or anyone that has shown interest in coming down to serve. So far, I feel like I've been playing catch up with getting everything a little more organized, but things are coming together. Our goal is to get 750 volunteers to come and serve in 2008, and though we aren't at that number yet, I know that the Lord will provide people to come. If anyone is intersted themselves in possibly coming down, or knows of someone else that might be, let me know. The community here is in desperate need of people to come and make their lives a little bit better.

Brotherly Love

Nothing too terribly exciting has been going on around here since the last group left. I've mostly been in the office getting contact information for the potential groups of volunteers. Its been fun getting to talk to people that are really excited about coming down here and serving.
One thing that I've noticed since being here is that the community is actually a community! What belongs to one person, essentially belongs to the next because everybody shares everything. It makes me wonder if things would be different if there were more resources for the people here. I think that how they take care of each other, is how Christ wants us to live.

Busy, busy, busy

I'm back in the Eleuthera for round 2 of my stay, and so far its been nothing short of amazing! I arrived 11 days ago now, and had to hit the ground running. A team made up of 7 people came down from Kansas City, Missouri. There passion for the people here in Eleuthera was astounding, and thats so refreshing, because thats what missions is really about. Yes, we did lots of painting and construction on a home and a church up north on Current Island, but the relationships are what people need and want! And this group was perfect for that.
There won't be another group coming for about 4 weeks, so until then I'll be helping Abe in the office. I spent yesterday and part of today contacting the groups that are planning their mission trips down here. The other part of today I spent on the beach, and I'm paying dearly because I look like a lobster! Apparently when I arrived, a cold front was coming through (60-65 degrees at night). All of the kids were running around with their tobogans and long sleeved shirts on, because they were cold! I'm sorry to everybody thats actually suffering in cold weather, I'll try to send you some warm weather :)
For anyone looking for something specific to pray for, please pray that God will continue to give all of us involved with the Bahamas Methodist Habitat grace to know how to best fulfill his will, and then the endurance to follow through with that. Thank you! I miss you all and love you very much!