My life is not my own

What can I say about my life that would mean anything other than "I am because You are". During a devotion this past week, Abe brought up this quote, and it stirred something deep inside me. It shames me to think of how often I think my life is my own, and the choices I make are just that... my choices. I pray that the Lord will be my one desire, and I will daily surrender my life to Him to do with as he pleases.

"I am because You are"

What about Faith?

We have a new group here at camp, and it has really livened things up. This is the group that I got to work with last October, during my first visit to Eleuthera, so it is wonderful to have them back! Tonight was our second of many gatherings together, and Abe, Emily and I decided to use it as a time to try and build team unity. I thought that the plan was us to guide them in some trust building activities, but it ended up that since they have an odd number of people, I was volunteered to take part. I knew that the activities were going to involve mouse traps somehow, but I wasn't sure what they were going to be used for. Well I found out quite quickly. The rules were as follows... one team member got blind folded, and could no longer talk. The other team member then led them to a different place in the room, where they set a mouse trap. The team member that could see had to talk them through setting off the mouse trap by just talking to them. The first time around I was the one talking my blindfolded teammate into setting off the mouse trap. THEN IT WAS MY TURN!! It completely freaked me out! My heart began beating fast, I was incredibly nervous, and I was convinced that I was somehow going to be misguided, and in the process lose a couple of fingers. All of the teams finished before me, and it seemed like the only thing I could focus on was the fact that I didn't trust my teammate to lead me to safety. After at least 10 minutes (which felt more like forever) I finally took the plunge.... I set off the mouse trap successfully and didn't lose any appendages!

Even though I was eventually able to set off the mouse trap, it keeps playing back in my mind how difficult it was to TRUST! I didn't trust her. I couldn't trust her. I wasn't in control. That fact wouldn't concern me too much except for the fact that I thought that I trusted people, and if I was proven wrong in that, then what does that mean about my trust in God? If I was really put to the test, would I have faith enough to trust Him with complete abandon?

At this point, it seems that the answer is obvious.... and its not the answer that I want it to be.

I know that this probably isn't the kind of post that you would expect to see from me, but this is my life, and it seems that the Lord wants to reveal certain weaknesses, which I am thankful for. Please pray that the Lord will finish the good work that He has started.

I'm Back

Hey everybody! I wanted to let everyone know that I'm now back on Eleuthera until May 2009. I got back September 19th and have had to deal with some of the repercussions of the storms and hurricanes. For the first couple of days, I didn't have access to the internet or a phone. Thankfully, things here at camp are up and running again so I can begin to focus on the teams that are going to be coming down to serve.



Since being back, I had the opportunity to go down to Great Inagua, the southern most island in the Bahamas as well as one of the hardest hit Bahamian islands that Ike devastated. Bahamas Methodist Habitat was the first group that was able to get to the island to help the people in whatever way possible. Roofs were what was most affected by the storms, so that has been our main focus. We've teamed up with NEMA, the Bahamas national distaster relief organization, who has helped provide many of the supplies needed to repair the roofs.



I stayed in Inagua for about 8 days working mainly on roofs. I flew down with 3 other BMH staff members, and we were greeted by a sea of blue. I'm not talking about the blue ocean, but the houses that are covered in blue tarps. It was an overwhelming sight. I knew we were coming into a desperate situation, and could only pray that the Lord would give us the strength that we needed, to help improve the lives of the people of Inagua.



Now about the actual work... If you've never done roofing, let me tell you, it is really hard work and its even harder to do when the heat index is 120 degrees! It was so hot, that our shoes were melting on the roofs, but that didn't slow us down. Even though we were working in uncomfortable conditions, the volunteers that have come down have done an amazing job. By the time I left, the total number of roofs completed was around 25! This next week will be our last as far as constantly being on Inagua goes. There is a volunteer group coming to Eleuthera from Cary, NC and we need to have them do some work here on Eleuthera. Then, if everything goes as planned, we will move on to help out Grand Turk on November 2nd.



If there is anyone interested in coming to help out with the hurricane relief efforts, we would love to have you come! Please let me know, and we'll see what we can work out.



Now for really fun news... the reason that I left Inagua and came back to Eleuthera, was because some of my family came to visit! It was so much fun having them here, and getting to show them where I live, and introduce them to the people here on the island that I've come to love. We had quite a full week of snorkeling, visiting various beaches, taking pictures, and eating lots of wonderful Bahamian food. I said goodbye to them yesterday (except my dad who left Thursday). So now I'm going to try to catch up on the work I put off.



I'm so glad that the Lord has given me the opportunity to come back to this wonderful place again and serve Him. Thank you for all of your prayers and emails. I'm definitely encouraged to know that you all are praying for me! I love you all and will try to write again soon.

Grace and Peace!

Home Sweet Home

I've made it home, and things are going well. It was really hard for me to leave everybody in Eleuthera, but my consolation is that I will be going back in August! I've decided to defer grad school for a year, and go back to serve with Methodist Habitat. The main reason for me coming home this summer is to try and raise support to go back, as well as save money from my summer job. My goal is to raise enough support to last for the entire time that I will be in Eleuthera next year.

Since coming home, I've been reflecting on my experience. Some of the things that I've been confronted with have been hard to swallow. For example, through different experiences, it has hit me that I truly am a judgemental person. I used to not accept all people for who they were. Thankfully, the Lord put people in my life that are much different than me, and I'm really learning to love people for who they are and not what I think they should be. The people of Eleuthera have a genuine love for one another, that still blows my mind.

There were ups and downs, but I wouldn't change anything that happened. I can't wait to go back, and would love to share more details with anyone that is interested. Thank you all for your support while I was there!

Part of the community

Living here has been quite an experience. Not only do I work at BMH, but sometimes staying busy with things that are going on in the community feels like my second job. I came down here with the anticipation of getting a lot of reading and down time at night... thats definitely not the case. This past week I went and helped out at youth, at the Methodist church that I go to. They are having a huge youth meeting for people that live on Eleuthera and the surrounding islands Saturday, in order to hear the views and opinions about the conference from the youth. Then last night, Emily and I had a suprise visitor that came over and brought ice cream treats for my birthday. We've both been approached about volunteering at the library in James Cistern (JC), and today, we're about to start hiking down to Governor's Harbour to help serve at a lunch for some type of church meeting. Life is busy, but life is good. Well, off to hike.

This is my life

I'm sorry about not posting for a while. My computer apparently hates me, and wouldn't let me get on this sight for a while. The problem is solved for the moment, so I'll go ahead and post about whats been going on...

Abe has to travel quite a bit, he's only been around about 5 days over the past 3 weeks! So Emily and I have been holding down the fort. Abe is back now, but while he was gone we were really productive. One of the perks was that we made our own work schedule. Get up in the morning like normal, work until 2ish, then go to the beach for a couple of hours. Once we get back from the beach, work some more. It was a great schedule. Yesterday morning while we were having devotions, the type of work schedule we had came out, and just to show you how great of a boss Abe is, he said that if we want to normally do that, we could! Ahh, living and working in the Bahamas... its fantastic.

The past 2 days I've been working on making my plans to go home. I'm planning on traveling back to the states on May 17 or 18. I honestly can't believe how quickly my time here has gone. I don't want to say goodbye, but at the same time I'm really excited to see everybody at home. Speaking of home... I've come to realize that home is truly where you're heart is, and honestly it has dawned on me that where my friends and family are is home. The reality is that now I have 2 homes, one in the states and the other here on Eleuthera.

With that being said, I got accepted into grad school at ETSU. After much prayer and guidence from friends and family, I have decided to defer my acceptance until the fall of 2009, so that I can come back to Eleuthera in August for up to one year. Even after my year of service next year, I don't know if I'll want to leave and go to grad school, but I've decided that the Lord has given me the opportunity to go to school, and I shouldn't pass it up. A career as a speech pathologist will most likely put me in a position where I can still go on mission trips or even serve full time on the mission field.

Tonight I had lots of fun hanging out with my family here in Eleuthera (The Weinburgers, Abe and Emily). They took me to the "big city", Governor's Harbour, for dinner. We managed to just get to the Waterfront Cafe right before they locked their doors. The only thing they could fix us were chicken wings, so that was what we had for dinner. They were really good! On the ride down to the cafe, Wayne, the youngest Weinburger, sat on my lap, laid his head on my shoulder, and held my hand the whole way there. Talk about MELTING your heart! He definitely did without any problems!

Cliff Jumping Anyone?!

I’m so glad to be back in the Bahamas!! On my first day back, Abe and Emily wanted to welcome me back by taking me to jump off of some cliffs. Almost everybody that lives here on the island knows about these particular cliffs. They are a little over 40 feet high, and you can only jump on a day where the Atlantic is very calm. It would be very dangerous to do on a day where there are big waves, because you have to allow the waves to carry you onto coral, and then climb up the rocks. Thankfully, the water was calm enough, so we made our way to the top of the cliff. Looking down off the edge was incredibly scary! I was instructed to land in the water like a pencil… well, that is easier said than done when you’re petrified. My feet ended up going into the water first, but my butt was second. It hurt so badly, but I was excited that I had done it! I decided to give it a second try and see if I could do it any better. That next jump was painless, and really exciting. Sadly, it has been very difficult to sit this week, and I’ve never been more bruised in my life, but I will definitely be doing it again!! The picture is of Abe and 3 volunteers jumping off the cliff.