2009 Letters home to Parents and Pastors
Monday July 20, 2009
Hello Parents and pastors of Bahamas mission trip participants.
It is already Monday evening and our first day with the VBS is over.
As you know we arrived Saturday evening. We were met by Pastor Robert
McKinney and his brother in law / youth Pastor Des Curling - along with
several other members who were helping with our luggage. All our
luggage and boxes were piled into pickup trucks and we piled into a
minibus and were taken to the church property. The members had
refreshments ready for us and welcomed us.
The heat and humidity were quite noticeable! They have two old houses
on the church grounds and the guys are staying in one house and the
girls in the other. Cold showers, no a/c but they did provide some fans
for us. We are all sleeping on our inflatable air mattresses on the
floor. With the high humidity it was difficult for many to get to sleep
and then we had an early morning Sunday because of the time change - we
are 3 hrs ahead of you. Sunday morning we went to church. Most found
the church service different than they were used to so I am sure they
will tell stories about that. When they get home ask them about about
the style of music, the offering and the prayer time.
We are eating all our meals on the church property - several members
are cooking for us. We get our own breakfast. Sunday afternoon and
evening we spent preparing for the VBS that started today. Members here
had set up their large (200 person) crusade tent on the property and
many of the activities take place under it.
Last night (Sunday) was quite eventful. We had a huge lightning storm
and lots of rain. Some told us this morning that they hadn't had a
storm like it in years. Whenever we fell asleep a huge thunder bolt
would sound and wake us again. Very exciting for a while but it
continued until morning so little sleep was had. Larry and Steven also
had an eventful night. The guys house, being old, had a roof leak, and
an acoustic ceiling tile fell down on Larry's face. He was asleep, got
a fright and yelled and flung the tile off himself onto Steven.
Needless to say, Steven got a fright as well. However no one was hurt
and it made an amusing story for them to tell this morning!
When we went outside this morning we discovered the large tent had
partially collapsed and one of the poles bent from the weight of the
rain water on it. We were able to get it back up again before the
members arrived.
The VBS was scheduled for 9 am to 2 pm. One boy arrived on his bike at
8:30 asking if we were still having it and when we responded yes he
said he would go get his cousins. At 9 am we only had about 30 kids but
over the next hour or so the kids kept arriving until by lunch our
count was 94 kids. (about 75% of them Haitian, the other 25% Bahamian) They
have never had that many kids the first day so they are expecting even
more tomorrow once the kids go home and tell their friends what they
did.
It was quite a chaotic day (as I had expected) because when you cannot
get kids to sign up ahead of time you never know how many you will get
and what age or sex they will be. However the team held their own
really well even though most were exhausted by 2 pm. The high heat and
humidity and the behavior of the kids was quite exhausting for them.
Many of the Haitian kids don't have supervision at home so don't pay
attention or follow instructions well. They don't stay in groups but
wander off. This we had been warned of.
So once all the kids had gone home we had a 2 hour meeting to debrief
and make improvements. The meeting helped perk everyone up as many good
suggestions were made and will be implemented tomorrow. It is easier to
plan now that we know how many kids we will have. Probably tomorrow
afternoon we will tell the kids not to bring any new friends the next
day as we will not be able to staff it with more kids and we also will
not have enough craft supplies, etc.
Many are tired because of not enough sleep due to heat/humidity and the
LOUD lightning storm last night. They spent this afternoon preparing
and getting supplies ready for tomorrow so that they can go to bed
early and get more sleep tonight. Hopefully we will not have another
loud lightning storm.
............ the power went out here for about 4 hours and I was not able to send the email Monday evening ..........
Tuesday morning July 21.
Apparently they have black outs almost every day here. The water also
went off and Ashley was left with shampoo in her hair. All part of life
here on the island!
So after the power went off last night we went to our separate houses
for an well needed early night..... only for the girls to find their
house infested with flying termites! The rain had disturbed their nest
in the trees above the house and they came in seeking refuge. This
ended up being a blessing for the girls as we then got to sleep in the
worship hall for the night. Not only did we not hear the thunder storm
last night because the worship hall is a large building without
windows, but also the power came on later in the evening and we had a/c.
So we are looking forward to a good day today. The kids will arrive
about 9am here (6 am in California) Please pray that the weather stays
dry during the day and that we can keep them focused and working
together within their groups - not wandering off whenever they feel
like it. (It is easier to share the gospel with someone who is right in
front of you than with someone who wanders off.)
So overall I'd say we have had some good growth experiences so far and I look forward to see what God is doing here.
Janet
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Tuesday July 21, 2009
Hello again Parents and Pastors
.........Continuing from Tuesday morning: It was raining at the start
of the day so that required us to be under a roof all the time, so the
locations for activities had to be adjusted. This turned out to be a
blessing, as the kids did not tend to wander off, since they didn't
want to get wet. I guess God knows what's best! We had 124 kids, and
the day went better than Monday. Several of the Bahamian youth are
helping us - some of them helped with the summer school program last
year. Some of them are singing and playing with our band, as well.
We had a ministry planning meeting again in the afternoon, and some
more good suggestions were made. Some groups spent several hours
planning and preparing for the next day's teaching and activities, so
it was another long work day.
Mike gave a Bible study that evening for some of the locals, but many
of our missionaries had their own studies at the same time.
Lights out was 10 pm, but the lights came back on at 10:45, and there
was much banging going on, as the girls were trying to kill the 2 inch
long cockroach that had just flown onto Deanna's leg. More fun in the
tropics!
Wednesday morning 22nd - the guys were awakened, as usual, at 4 or 5 am by
the rooster in the chicken coop next to their house. Some of them are
learning to sleep through it. Cody can do a pretty good rooster
imitation now. Breakfast was a little later today - 8 am, and one of
the Bahamian ladies prepared us a common Bahamian breakfast: tuna salad
and grits. They put lime in the tuna salad, and that makes it quite
nice.
We had some sad news this morning. One of the Bahamian guys helping us
was at the beach with his father last night, a fight broke out nearby,
and he was stabbed four times and had to go to hospital overnight. He's
out today and recuperating. Gillian said we are working in a ghetto
area. Life is tough in this neighborhood.
It was hotter today, and there were again 124 kids. Some of yesterday's
kids didn't come back (some told us ahead of time that they'd have to
work), and some new ones came. The program starts at 9 am, but some
come at 8, some come at 8:30, some at 9, and some as late as 11.
It is fairly common that the kids will argue and even fight with each
other. Today one of the boys brought a blade and cut someone else on
the hand. He was sent home and told not to come back. Gillian is going
to really crack down on the trouble makers tomorrow and tell them they
can't come back.
The older kids bring their younger siblings and most of them walk in
groups to the VBS. We have to take the youngest children in order for
the older children to come, as the older children are the babysitters
while parents are at work.
We are finding that there is not enough time in the day to debrief, do
daily devotionals, plan for the next day etc, so tomorrow we will close
at 1 pm instead of 2 pm. Another reason is that the youngest kids are
tired and it is too long for them. We cannot send them home until their
older siblings can take them. They had the program from 9 - 1 pm last
year but we were trying to extend it until 2 pm. Not such a good idea.
Many children live in shacks, have been abused and are already trained
in crime by the example they see around them. Kids will think nothing
of picking up something and walking away with it. If caught they just
laugh. It's is a tough community. But not all the kids here are like
that.
Larry had three kids accept Christ today during his message!
That's all for today - who knows what tomorrow will bring...
Janet & Mike
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Thursday 23rd July, 2009
Hello parents and pastors.
I can't believe it is already Thursday and we have already had four
days of ministry. At our debrief this afternoon everyone seemed to be a
lot happier with the kids behavior. The kids are responding a lot
better when told to do something. Tomorrow most of the groups will
share the gospel and give the children an opportunity to accept Christ.
Some of the children have expressed that this VBS is like Christmas for them - a real treat.
We seem to be averaging about 125 children a day now. Some may skip
a day and then return two days later but new kids come to replace them.
Everyone is well. Most are tired but we have more time to relax this afternoon.
The Pastor from Haiti, Andre Naval and his wife and three grown
children (Daniel, David and Cassandre) arrived this afternoon. They are here to observe, learn and
help when translations are needed. They were supposed to arrive earlier
in the week but there was a hurricane in Haiti so were not able to fly
out.
Not much news today.
Janet
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Friday July 24, 2009
Hello parents and Pastors
When the Haitian kids here saw the Naval family (Haitian Pastor and
family) they were amazed that they could have come from Haiti and that
they were Christians. We want to show the kids where we are from - a
picture of where we meet for church and perhaps of our church group. Is
there any chance some of you could take a picture of the building you
meet in and also send a picture of your congregation? Some (NewLife)
already has a picture but unfortunately we don't have it here with us.
Bermie do you have an original?
The church here is having a potluck right now so I need to join
them. Hopefully I'll get a chance to email later this afternoon.
Janet
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Sunday July 26, 2009
Hello Parents and Pastors;
Sorry I haven't emailed for a while. We have dial up internet and it hasn't been working lately.
On Friday as I mentioned, we asked the kids if they would like to commit
their lives to Christ. We didn't ask for a show of hands but many /
most prayed the prayer. Only God knows who meant it and who was just
saying it because everyone else was. :) This week we are covering the 5
means of growth: Bible study, Prayer, Witness, Fellowship and Worship.
Friday afternoon we all (20 of us) went to the laundromat to do our
laundry. It was the first time the group had been off the church
property since we had arrived 7 days before. It was dark when we
arrived in Bahamas so they felt like they hadn't seen anything of the
island. They were happy to get off the property and not have a debrief
and band practice Friday afternoon.
Saturday morning was church and then a potluck. Mike gave the sermon. It poured with rain all day Saturday.
We were supposed to go to the "Junkanoo" Saturday evening but it is
outdoors and the area was flooded so that was canceled. Instead
everyone piled in a minibus and we were driven around the island. We
ended up on Paradise Island (big tourist area) to see the Aquariums.
However the tunnels in the aquarium were flooded with about 2" water
and the lights were mostly out. We walked along them for a while trying
to see the fish but couldn't because the lights were out. When we came
to a fork in the tunnels we decided to turn back as we didn't want to
get lost. So it was kind of an adventure. We ended up at McDonalds at
9:30 pm for a late dinner.
Sunday church was canceled because they were having a picnic at
the beach. Des Curling has a cousin that has a house on the beach so we
had a private beach to ourselves. A nice sandy beach with crystal clear
water. A good time was had by all.
It's almost 9 am Monday morning and I can hear kids outside the
ministry center waiting to get in. They came about an hour ago and have
been waiting and killing mosquitoes.
We've had a lot of rain and the mosquitoes are back. Last night
there were too many mosquitoes for us to stay in the two old houses so
we all moved into the ministry center for the night. We will stay in
here for the remainder of the time.
Got to go as we are almost starting.....
Janet
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Monday July 27, 2009
Hello Parents and Pastors;
We had 105 kids today, about 20 less than usual. Quite a few missing
kids were from Steve and Gloria's age group (4 - 5 yrs) which turned
out to be a good thing........
The heat and lack of sleep are catching up with some. Steve Brooks
has the SEP bug that was going around. 103 degree fever and cough. He
stayed in the house today to rest. Gloria feels a cold coming on and
says she just needs to get more sleep. 4 yr old Shanelle isn't getting as much
sleep as she gets at home but she is holding up remarkably well and
always has a smile for everyone.
Quite a few are suffering from sunburn from our time at the beach
yesterday. Steven (Morrison) was burnt so bad that we had to take him
to a doctor today. He has hundreds of blisters on his back, shoulders
and chest. (and he applied sunscreen twice while at the beach) However
he still has his sense of humor, is in good spirits, and when I asked
everyone what their health condition was, Steven reported a mosquito
bite on his foot! Steve Brooks also went to the Doctor with us. So they
both have medicine, etc.
Melinda also has a few blisters on her shoulders and it is painful
to lift her arms. She took only six pictures today (very unusual for her) - three of them were
of Steven's blisters. It was just too painful for her to get her camera
out for most things!
David has a slight sore throat.
Deanna has over 40 mosquito bites but is in good spirits. (The bugs liked her in the Philippines last year as well.)
Larry is fine.
Carmel is fine
Megan has sunburn on her shoulders (no blisters) but as she says, it's nothing compared to Steven. She put lotion on it.
Abel is fine
Cody is tired & Heather has 35 mosquito bites but is fine.
Brian is in the shower but he seems to be ok.
Vonnimae is fine
Alex has a slight sunburn but is otherwise ok.
Alisha says she feels drained.
Ashley said she is fine except for 91 mosquito bites! (No kidding, she counted them)
Mike & I are ok.
The mosquitoes are quite bad now because of all the rain, but that
means we are now meeting in the ministry center and also sleeping in
there. Yeh... air conditioning! We also got permission to keep worship
sessions indoors - it makes setup much easier when we have a consistent
place.
Today instead of taking the kids out to play in the mosquitoes, we
kept them in and showed the first part of Chronicles of Narnia.
Pastor Robert McKinney and Gillian Curling are very thankful that
we are here helping them and repeatedly express that. They want us to
come back next year. They say we are making a difference. The kids are
better supervised and are better about staying in their groups etc. Our
young people are being a good example to their group of young helpers.
We are thinking of ending on Thursday so that we can use Friday to plan
for next year.
Well, 10pm is lights out and it is 9:50 pm. Time to end.
Janet
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Wednesday July 29, 2009
Hello Parents:
More excitement: Last night Brian was getting clothes out of his
suitcase and he discovered a Tarantula! Apparently it was as big as his
hand. Some photographers amongst us were called over and it was duly
videotaped and photographed. We are not sure if it was in Brian's
suitcase or on the floor beside it. There were also water spiders
outside on their porch that were pretty big as well. But the tarantula
out sized them. Thankfully it wasn't in the girls' house. They are
bugged out!
There are still a lot of mosquitoes around, but not as bad as the
last couple of days. The kids had more activities outside today. Today
was our last day of teaching, and tomorrow is party day. We'll finish
the Narnia movie tomorrow, play party games, give out goody bags and
give them chicken and fries for lunch. Last night Ashley, Megan,
Melinda & I filled up goody bags with stuff we had brought with us.
School supplies, candy etc.
One 9 yr old boy was crying during worship time this morning and I
asked him what was wrong. He said he had a headache. I offered him some
gatorade because often that helps headaches when people have been
playing and sweating a lot. While he was drinking it I asked him if he
had eaten breakfast. He said no. It turns out that he had not eaten
since we gave him lunch yesterday. Very sad. Apparently that is quite
typical for many of these kids. Later during lunch he was sleeping on
the chairs in the ministry center, so we let him sleep and fed him
lunch later when he woke up.
When people are hungry it is hard for them to focus. No wonder
Jesus fed thousands. These kids can't stay focused, and they break into
a fight easily. They are fighting to stay alive. Of course not all of
them are like that, but it is tough for some of them. They may only
have one parent and that parent is out working, earning very little
because they are not legal in the country. The only supervision the
kids have during the day is from siblings. Some as young as 10 yrs have
jobs to help support the family. They live in very small shacks, close
together so there is no privacy. Many of the girls have been sexually
abused.
Carmel, Brian and Larry are working with the 13 - 18 yr olds. They soon
learned that they need to separate the boys from the girls because it
just doesn't work to have them together. When the girls are around, the
boys are extremely distracted and unfocused. Now that we have the Naval
family from Haiti here, they are able to tell us what the guys are
saying in Creole. I'll say no more on that subject.
Some went to the laundromat this afternoon. Others stayed back and
napped. Others decorated and organized stuff for the party tomorrow and
talked.
Steve (Brooks) seems to be recovering and he helped out again with
the 4 - 5 year olds today, but he and Gloria are still under the
weather. Alisha also now has a fever and cough. She had a nap this
afternoon and I've given her and Gloria, Dayquil and Nyquil. (Steve has
his own supply of medicine from his doctor visit.)
Steven (Morrison) still has hundreds of blisters from the sunburn
and can't wear a shirt, and can't be around kids as they will touch his
blisters. So he just sits in the pastor's office from 9 am - 2 pm while
the kids are here. I suspect he will wear a t-shirt next time he goes
swimming during the day. This is not an experience he will want to
repeat!
Megan's sunburn turned into several blisters and some of the
blisters joined together to make a big one that is waiting to break. We
have been taking daily photos of its growth. :) She is using Steven's
silver sulfadiazine that he got from the doctor to apply to her
sunburn. It is a topical antibacterial burn cream. One side effect it
has is to discolor the skin - grey. So Steven is getting a grey back,
shoulders and chest, and Megan is getting a grey shoulder.
As I mentioned before, Pastor Robert and also Gillian really want us to come back and help next year.
A few days ago Pastor Robert gave our group some words of
encouragement. He said that at their summer program last year, they
only had about 6 workers for 60 - 100 kids. They couldn't take the kids
outside as they would go wild. So at their "post mortem" meeting
afterwards they made a list of what they needed in order to continue
the outreach program:
More help to organize it
More supervision of the bathrooms
More volunteers
Set up different activity stations
Have something different from what the kids are used to.
Have the kids in smaller groups
Keeping them in one room is too crowded
Involve more people in the planning
Have training in preparation for the program
More space is needed
More Bible teaching is needed
More Praise & worship songs needed
More sports needed.
Given their circumstances, this list was really overwhelming for
them. I doubt they could have seen a solution. So it was encouraging
for our group to hear what was needed and what the locals had been
praying for. God used us to answer their prayers. Our group was very
encouraged by this! Gillian is praying for better housing for us for
next year now. She has effectual, fervent prayers.
Gillian is also a good speaker/teacher. She speaks powerfully from the
heart. When she speaks, the kids listen, and she doesn't seem to need
preparation time. Deanna has been worship leader, and this morning
Deanna called on Gillian after the worship ended, thinking that Gillian
had some announcements. This took Gillian by surprise. But Gillian rose
to the occasion and gave a good message about Shadrach, Meshech and
Abednego.
Our group is mixing with the Bahamian youth helpers. They are trying to talk about 5 of them into coming to our SEP.
Some people from a local TV station came and filmed us today. They
will probably show portions of the day camp on their local cable
station. Apparently it will also show on satellite TV in California,
but I don't know what channel or when.
The weather forecast is 30% chance of rain tonight then fine for the
remainder of our time here - if you call an overnight low of 82% with
high humidity fine. Anyway it looks promising for our outing on Friday.
We'll go to the Straw Market, perhaps the Pirate Museum and maybe try
going to Atlantis again as the Aquarium shouldn't be flooded this time.
Mike and I just did the rounds and locked all the gates and buildings. Now it's time for bed.
Janet
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Thursday July 30, 2009
Hello Parents and Pastors:
Today was party day and a different format from the past 8 days of the
VBS. Besides worship and a short message from Gillian, the kids played
musical chairs, freeze dance, hot potato, limbo, splash ball,
basketball & pin the tail on the donkey. I was surprised to hear
that the 13 - 18 yr old girls wanted to play pin the tail on the
donkey. Perhaps they had never done it so it was a novel idea. Cody
drew the donkey and Heather made the tail.
Hot potato is very different here. The gift which has been wrapped
multiple times is passed around the circle and whenever the music stops,
the person holding the gift tears the wrapping off as fast as possible
trying to get it all off before the music starts again. Quite fun.
We gave all the kids goody bags to take home - school supplies,
candy, a piece of cake and a tub of icecream to eat. We had learned
last week when passing out candy that many kids would sneak back into
the line and say they hadn't gotten any, so this time we were prepared.
We had them line up and gave it to them as they went out the door. Then
we had people at the door to make sure they didn't come back in again.
Since today was the last day we had a 2 hour "post mortem" this
afternoon, talking about how the VBS went and what changes need to be
made for next year.
After the meeting we piled into 6 cars and drove a few blocks to
the Haitian village. The problem was that 6 cars driving into their
village was about 5 cars too many, so we were pretty obvious. Once the
Haitians saw some of us taking pictures we felt that they were suspicious of
us and we decided we had better leave quick as they were getting tense.
We didn't want to cause a problem. Pastor Robert and also Gillian knew
several people there though and they said hello to them from the car.
Some of our students also recognized us.
It has been 4 days since we were at the beach and Stevens blisters
are not disappearing. Many break but more seem to come. We are
wondering how he will be able to go on the plane on Saturday evening.
He has not been able to wear a shirt as it is too painful. Last night
he slept by sitting and leaning forward with his head on a table. He
can't raise his arms. He has not been getting much sleep. This evening
Mike and Pastor Robert took him to Doctors Hospital - a private
hospital here. we are concerned that he might get an infection and also that the pain is preventing him from sleeping. They left about 3 hours ago so there is no word yet.
Abel, David, Melinda and Megan all have peeling skin now from their
sunburn so they have been lining up together having "peeling parties".
Steven is nowhere near the peeling stage and it is remarkable that he
doesn't complain in spite of the pain he must be in.
Shanelle now is sick with what I call the SEP bug so Steve, Gloria and
Shanelle all went to bed early tonight. Everyone else stayed up later
than usual talking. They can sleep in tomorrow.
Janet
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Friday July 31, 2009
Hello Parents and Pastors;
Steven and Mike got back from the hospital at 3 am this morning. They
gave Steven an I.V. with morphine, put some vaseline based ointment on
him and gave a prescription for pain medicine. They said he has 2nd
degree burns on 18% of his body. (I don't know how they came up with
the 18% figure.) One nurse guessed he'd had boiling water poured on
him. Another said she'd never seen sunburn that bad and thought he must
have fallen asleep in the sun. Having been given morphine, Steven slept
well on his back till about noon and then slept most of the afternoon
as well.
He hasn't worn a shirt since Sunday. For the plane tomorrow we'll cut
the front of a t-shirt so he can put it on. He will probably need to
wear 2 t-shirts, the first to absorb the ointment smeared all over him
and the blisters breaking. (Pretty graphic)
Today was about relaxation and fun for the rest of the team. We
went to the Straw market this afternoon and made some purchases of
local made goods. After that we went to Atlantis on Paradise Island and
saw the aquarium. Some wanted to stop for conch salad or fritters on
the way home so we did that as well.
The evening was spent with the Bahamian and Haitian people we have been working with the past 2 weeks.
We'll leave here tomorrow at 1:30 for our 5 pm flight.
As I think about it, the trip has been quite eventful and quite an
eye opener for our group. In many ways it has been our toughest mission
trip. It is certainly one the group will remember for a long while.
We have had a great team, and each one of them has really
contributed. Everyone has had a great attitude the whole time and has
been willing to do what was needed of them. They have made great
suggestions for improving what we did and what can be done in the
future. In many ways I have just been a facilitator and they have done
all the work. I appreciate each one of them.
This is my last email update. I'll see some of you tomorrow evening.
Janet