DAY 11

Today is the teams’ final day on the worksite. After breakfast and seeing them off, I spent the morning continuing my work in the office. Today my jobs included working on the registration for the BMH Kids Camp, updating contact lists, writing thank you notes to donors, and working to figure out which churches Abe should contact from Georgia when he goes to the Georgia United Methodist Conference this next week. To do this, I cross-referenced two lists: one included a list of churches that brought in the most donations and the other was a list of the churches with the highest global outreach. I also took into account which churches have visited BMH before in order to create a list of the churches that would be most beneficial with which to make contact in order to gain more support for BMH in the Methodist community.

After lunch, I had the afternoon off. I spent the afternoon preparing my devotion, working on my blog, and calling my mom. Then Madison, Brenda and I drove a couple minutes down the road to the Eleuthera Bible Training Center where we met up with Lori, the wife of the man in charge of EBTC, and her two daughters. Together we did strength exercises and yoga on the front porch of their house on a hill overlooking the Caribbean. Lori used to be a personal trainer, so the workout was great, and after we finished we went and jumped in the ocean in our clothes because it was just too inviting not to jump in. Looking out over the ocean, I was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I came here to work, and yet I’m having SO much fun.

View from our yoga place

After dinner we heard a testimony from one of the ladies that works in the kitchen, Ms. Maxine. Following her powerful story, I gave the nightly devotion. My devotion talks about making God a constant presence in your life. First I define “present” by quoting the book that the interns were supposed to read this summer. It says, “Being present involves letting go of our constant preoccupations, immersing ourselves in the here and now, and giving ourselves wholeheartedly to whatever is at hand. Involving far more than being merely physically present, it’s about becoming more aware, alert, awake to the fullness of the immediate moment. If we are with another person, it means engaging him or her with all of our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength.” Rarely am I ever fully present with a person standing directly in front of me, let alone with God. We often praise God when something good happens in our lives, but we leave Him out when things aren’t going so well in our lives. The American mindset is that everything is always fine. We ask each other how we are doing, and the answer is always “I’m good.” Even if something difficult is going on, we put on a happy face and walk around like we’re fine. 

Two types of Psalms exist: Psalms that praise and Psalms that lament. Lamenting Psalms are Psalms in which the author cries out to God in anguish. Psalm 22 says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” The author is crying out to God in pain without fear of angering God. The lamenter tells God how he or she feels, asking Him why He is not with him or her. Then the lamenter says to God, “I need you to be with me. You have been with me before, why are you not here now?” The lamenter is in a sense calling God out. He or she feels lost and is in despair, and he or she does not choose to hide it from God. But the key is that the Psalm does not end there. After the crying out, the anger, and the sadness, the lamenting Psalms all end with praise for God. They say, “You have been faithful in the past, I know you will be faithful now.” Psalm 88:13 says, “But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.” We can scream and cry and pour our hearts out to God without him being angered. But the challenge is that in the morning we must again lift our prayer to God. 

We must stay constant in prayer and focus on staying present with God. We had been singing the song 10,000 Reasons throughout the week during devotions. The song says, “The sun comes up. It’s a new day dawning. It’s time to sing Your song again. Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me let me be singing when the evening comes.” I believe it’s easy for us to stay focused on God here in Eleuthera where every direction we look we see the beauty of his creation, whether it is in the ocean or the palm trees or the blue sky or the people. But our challenge is to stay focused on and present with God when we return back to our homes. Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” God listens to our needs, and He answers our prayers. We just need to call on Him in all things.

DAY 12

Today was excursion day for the teams, and all the interns went with them this week. We headed north on the island, and started the day with a stop at Glass Window Bridge, the narrowest part of the island. On one side of the bridge is the calm, turquoise Caribbean Sea and the other side of the bridge is the dark blue, billowing Atlantic Ocean.

Josh, Tom, me, Madison, Jordan

View from Glass Window

Then we continued north to Preacher’s Cave. The cave was cool, but we quickly headed over to the beach. Madison and I grabbed our snorkels and swam over to the cliffs where TJ, Smitty, and Tom were spear fishing. The coral and fish were awesome, and I got to try spear fishing a little bit. At the end, the boys saw a barracuda and chased after it and speared it. I came up for a breath at one point, and I saw the barracuda jump completely out of the water with the spear going through it. But they quickly shot it again and luckily caught it.

Preacher's Cave

Preacher's Cave

Then we headed south a little ways to Gaulding Cay. We dropped the teams off at the beach and the interns went to pick up lunch at the Laughing Lizard (a restaurant I have eaten take-out from twice before but never been to before. Think hip coffee shop mixed with island food/bar and no coffee). Then we brought the food back and ate on the beach and swam for a little while. Then we went to Gregory Town where Island Made Gift Shop is and an ice cream store and Pineapple Fest was going on. This means that down by the water there were a few booths set up selling food and other goods (including, thank goodness, pineapples). The pineapples on Eleuthera are so soft and sweet that you can eat straight through the core. 

Gaulding Cay

Island Made Gift Shop

After leaving Gregory Town we headed back to camp and dropped off people that were “beached out” and then we headed to a beach on the Atlantic side of the island. TJ, Smitty, Tom, Madison, and I swam way out to an island to go spear fishing. We had a lot less luck at this beach than the last one, and after about an hour we had only caught a lobster and one other fish. We were heading in to leave when Smitty thought he saw a shark fin close to the shore a little ways down the island, so we ran down to see what it was. Turns out it was a huge fish (we weren’t ever quite sure what kind it was), and they ran in the water and speared it. It took a couple of tries and a lot of flopping, but they finally caught it. It was crazy to see them spear this huge fish and how long it stayed alive and how difficult it was to carry. I had never seen a fish that big before. It was a good way to end excursion day.

TJ, Smitty, and the fish

After dinner we headed over to Abe’s house for closing devotion. I remember this night being one of the most powerful experiences on my mission trip to Eleuthera two years ago, so I was excited for what the night had in store. I headed over with Brenda and Madison a little early to get the bonfire started, which started instantly despite the rain that morning. Even I was impressed with those fire-starting skills. Brenda had everyone talk about where they saw God this week and their favorite parts of the week, and I hope it was special for everyone involved. We sang the song “Oceans” to close and had quiet time and I just still can’t believe the way God is working in me and through me and all around me on this island. I can’t imagine a better way to spend my summer and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here.

Bonfire at Abe's

DAY 13

This morning we woke up at 4:30 to see the teams off to the airport. Possibly the hardest thing I’ve had to do since I’ve been here is get up this morning (and that’s saying something because I’ve had to do a lot of hard stuff). But we woke up and had breakfast and saw the teams off on the bus. We had to clean the entire camp before our day off would start, so I did some major recruiting from the teams to help speed the cleaning process along. After they left we cleaned the girl’s side and the girl’s bathroom, and then we were mostly done.

Abe was signed up to participate in the Pineappleman Triathlon today (as a part of Pineapplefest of Gregory Town), and earlier in the week Brenda, Madison, and I had decided we would go with him and do the running part of the triathlon (a 5k). Maggie and Ali came back from South this morning, and Maggie decided to join us. I briefly considered doing the whole triathlon, but I didn’t have a bike. I was going to do the swimming and running, but we (no surprise) ended up a little late to the event so I didn’t have time to change into my suit and sign up before it started. So I ended up just doing the running, which was hot and humid and consisted of two big hills. Not my favorite run. I ran more on the way back than the way out, and right at the end Abe caught up to me and made me run fast with him. It was tough. But we finished! And had the cool ocean to jump into as soon as we got back. Which is the first thing I did. I can now say that I have placed second in a 5k (even if only five people were competing and three of them were my friends). I’m still proud.

Pineappleman Triathlon

Brenda, me, Madison, and Maggie

At the beginning

Halfway selfie

So right after the race we are swimming in the little harbor area of Gregory Town to cool off and we see people start pointing at the water on the far end. We hear someone say “manatee” so we decided to swim over to see how close we could get. We swam right up to the manatee. I borrowed Abe’s goggles and could see him swimming around under the water. Every once in a while the manatee would come up to breathe and you could see it’s little face and whiskers. The manatee was about eight feet long and so magnificent. We were able to pet him, and every once in a while he would turn around and run into us. One of the local boys got a hose to give him fresh water and he came up to drink the water. WHAT A SPECTACULAR WAY TO END A RUN.

Manatee

Eight feet long

 

Pineappleman BMH participants

The team from South Eleuthera wasn't leaving until later in the day, so they had come with us to the triathlon and Gregory Town this morning. After the race, we drove them to the airport and then went back to pick up Brenda at the festival. The triathlon was a fundraiser for the Zion Children’s Home on Current Island (we visited it last time I was here). The ladies who run the Home asked if we could take the kids back to the ferry dock, so Abe dropped Madison, Maggie, Brenda, and I off at Laughing Lizard for lunch before he took them up to pier. Abe ended up getting tied up with stuff so we ended up being at the Laughing Lizard for three hours (which was nice because they had wifi and the internet at camp had been out for two days). But by the time Abe showed back up, Brenda, Madison, and I were all passed out because (although it was only 2) we had been up for eight and a half hours after only four hours of sleep. Then we headed back to camp to pick up the rest of our friends and went to Rainbow Inn by Brenda’s house to swim in the pool. We played a game similar to Categories for almost two hours before we went back and showered at Brenda’s and hung out for a while. Abe and Liz showed back up and we all headed back North again to Gregory Town to go eat dinner and hang out at Pineapplefest. Between the eight of us, we bought over fifty conch fritters because they were so cheap. We listened to music and saw the “Miss Pineapple” beauty contest and soaked up some Bahamian culture.

Laughing Lizard

Pineapplefest

Girl interns and Brenda

We left around ten and headed back to camp and immediately went to bed because it had been a looooong day.

DAY 14

I slept eleven and a half hours of much needed sleep before waking up for church at eleven. After the two-hour service, we headed back to camp to do last minute cleaning and preparing for our new groups coming in. Only eighteen people were coming this week, compared to almost forty the previous week, so we were hoping for a little bit lower key week and we were hoping to build some deeper relationships with the team members. The groups arrived, I collected passports, we ate, we did orientation, and then it was time for bed. It was amazing how much smoother this week went from last week simply because we had a week of experience under our belts.

BMH at Wesley United Methodist Church

DAY 15

In the Bahamas, the day after Pentecost is a holiday called Whit Monday, and in accordance with the Bahamian culture, we do not work on holidays. Therefore excursion day was Monday for this week’s teams instead of Friday (which I was aware of because I am in charge of making the schedule). The Methodist Churches of Eleuthera were putting on a festival in Governor’s Harbour in honor of Whit Monday, so we all went to support the church. Also BMH was in charge of preparing games for the kids to play, and Liz had worked super hard to prepare some awesome games for everyone to play. I spent the morning taking lunch orders from everyone and collecting money and placing orders along with helping Liz load the truck and make sure all the games were in order. Then Brenda, Liz, Tom, and I crowded into Abe’s truck and drove the most beautiful drive down to Governor’s. When we got to the festival park and set up all the games, we mostly just hung out until the groups finished worship and came down to the festival.

Face Painting

Liz and I

Ojay about to get TJ with a water balloon

As soon as worship finished, the congregation began a slow processional parade from the church down the road to the festival site. They were playing drums and other instruments and dancing the traditional “junkaroo.” Most of the group members participated in this parade, which was fun to see.

The parade

We spent the rest of the day playing games with the kids including face painting, tarp toss, and my personal favorite, the water balloon fight. It was so much fun to see the joy on the kids’ faces while playing the games Liz had provided for us, and it was great to see the teams interacting with this community I have come to call my own. I believe that being able to understand and work within a culture completely different from your own is an act of strength, tolerance, and understanding, and when I came here I didn’t know if I were going to be able to break down the barriers put in place by my own safe and comfortable life. I’m so proud of the way I have been able to get to know this blessed community and the relationships I have built so far on this journey.

We were at the festival until about 3:00, and then we headed to Navy Beach on the Atlantic side to finish up excursion day. I was supposed to go back with Brenda and work on finances, but she said I should go ahead with the group to the beach. We body surfed in the waves and hung out in the waves for an hour, which felt glorious after a long day of sweating.

Later that night I walked to the store with Liz. “Ms. Liz” has spent her past six weeks here working with the after-school program and has developed it into something wonderful. As we were walking the streets of James Cistern, about every five houses or so a face would pop up in the doorway and say, “Hi Ms. Liz!” and it would be one of the kids from After-School that we both knew. We ran into three or four other people we knew on the way. And of course we had good conversation. Liz is definitely one friend I’m thankful I’ve made.

When we got back we did a quick intern Bible study with Brenda, simply because she had picked up a book and read a few chapters and wanted to share with us what she learned from the book. She talked about how we must embrace the things that make us uncomfortable in order to help us grow. That God tests us by putting things in our lives to take us out of what is comfortable, to ensure that we have faith to carry on. I believe that’s what I did by entering this community. The dialect, the customs, the way of life are so completely different than ours, but I have grown to understand and accept the people for who they are and embraced the lifestyle while I am here. I think I’m almost picking up a little accent. Maybe.

DAY 16

Today was back to the office. My workload started out small simply because we hadn’t been in the office for four days, but my to-do list quickly grew to almost a full page. I mostly worked on preparing notebooks full of information for our outposts on Current Island, Andros Island and Nassau. We have a group going to Andros next week, and then in a couple weeks this information will be helpful to me because Tom, Madison, Jordan and I will be heading to Nassau for two weeks to host teams there. The first week we will have 36 people and the second week we will have 18. I will be in charge of keeping track of all of the finances and paperwork. So basically I will be responsible for running a small nonprofit for two weeks. I am learning such valuable skills.

We worked on our various office work until it was time for after-school. Unfortunately our bus wouldn’t start, so we were thirty minutes late to pick up the kids. Liz and I drove over to the school to tell the kids what was happening and bring them water, and about ten minutes after we got there Brenda pulled up in the bus, so we headed back to camp. I worked with Grawille again, who read me four books. I was so proud of him, but then I realized he mostly had the books memorized and was too scared to try a book a little harder. He did do a great job at sounding out words he got stuck on though.

Once the kids left, Brenda and I drove to Abe’s house and ran a two-mile loop with Amelia and Jackson. Exercise has been keeping me going when I work from 6:30 am to 10:30 at night every day. Luckily it started raining on us halfway through our run because it was very hot and very humid today. 

After dinner was supposed to be church, but because of the rain and our large group, church was relocated to the dining hall. We sang two songs American style, two songs Bahamian style, and then had worship. It was so neat to see the two cultures combine.