Bye Bye Bonnie

Well Tropical Storm Bonnie blew threw here in the middle of the night and it seems all is well. I was glad I put up the hurricane shutters in the priest's apartment. There no water leakage on the leaky windows I covered - naturally the windows that never leak, which I did not cover, had a lovely puddle waiting for me the next day.

The storm itself was a wind and rain event. The wind was pretty constant at about 30-40 mph all night long and when the rain started it was a monsoon! Around 2AM the lightning and thunder just rocked the place, literally, windows rattled and when I got out of bed I could feel the vibrations from the thunder in the soles of my feet on the tile floor.

What was most surprising the next day was that on the patio between our home and the church were about 100 small white paint chips all over the grey floor - the storm actually blew chips of paint off the walls! As I drove through town and saw a branch here or there I could not help but wonder about our Haitian friends up on the northern part of the island. In that community there is actually 1 house, the rest are the tin roof huts with makeshift walls consisting of whatever planks were around when they were built. Some have dirt floors, some are raised up on cinder blocks and have plywood floors. Needless to say they were not built to endure tropical storms, much less an actual hurricane.

We haven't been able to hold church services for them up north since the schools closed (we had been meeting in the school). I have called my Bahamian contact up there, but she is off the island for the month of June so, since they have no phones, I will have to take the hour drive up there to check up on them, and possibly have church outside next to the fields where they grow cabbages and onions.

We still haven't had a priest for some time. The last priest to join us on Andros was on Easter but I am hoping we will have one with us soon. The first communion class is still waiting to experience their first confession and then first communion, but for now we wait until either a visiting US priest on vacation offers to help, or a priest from Nassau can be sent. I was talking to the Sister who had been on Andros prior to our coming here. She is now on another family island and she's in the same boat, not having had a priest since Easter.

The Archbishop actually does a great job providing coverage throughout the Bahamas with the limited resources he has. In the US a priest may cover multiple churches by driving great distances. When the different churches are on different islands that are miles and miles apart it creates a whole different dynamic.

The Bahamians simply smile and say "Dis be island life faddah" - and smile, recognizing the reality of island life. When you run out of something you just have to wait for the boat, if its not on the boat you wait for the next one. When I had a flat tire once, it took 4 days before I could get another tire - all you can do is wait. In our case, we're waiting for a priest (a limited resource). Until then, everyone has to settle for the Deacon. :)

Till next time.

Tropical Storm threatens oil spill - what about us!

Well if you watch CNN or the Weather Channel you've been hearing about this tropical storm that is brewing that could cause all kinds of caos in the Gulf of Mexico and disrupt the oil spill cleanup. You might also have heard that this storm is forming IN THE BAHAMAS!!!


You got it folks, lets forget for a minute where it 'might' go, and talk about where it IS!


Actually, as far as storms go, its not that big a deal compared to an actual hurricane, but the point is, this storm is right now chewing up the south eastern islands of the Bahamas and is on track to just follow the entire Bahamaian chain and pass over the tip of Florida.


This means Andros, and Fresh Creek in particular, is the bulls eye of this storm's projected track. So - the good Deacon needs to get ready. The storm is headed on a NW track and we sit on the east coast of Andros so we'll get it from the SE. The sky right now is dark dark grey in that direction and the wind is about 20-30 mph.


Our church as a small apartment for visiting priests on the south end of the church that will get the full force of this thing so I went into the garage and pulled out hurricane shutters and covered all the windows on that end of the church and the window in the sacristy that faces due east. Usually we don't need the shutters for a big wind/rain event, only for hurricanes, but these windows all face the sea and the years have taken their toll. We know that several of these windows leak and some of them, being the crank-out style, no longer close tightly. So I sorted through piles of tin shutters until I found the right ones, gathered up the metal clips that hold them in place, and my ball-pean hammer (actually my only hammer) and the shutters went up not only to protect the windows, but to help keep the rain out as well.


Rainstorms here are an amazing example of natures power. The wind is so strong here that the rain falls sideways, literally, sideways, parallel to the earth.


As I write this its about 4PM, we have already lost power once around 2:30, and I am sure we'll lose it again a few times before this passes on by and creates problems in the Gulf. All we can do is sit and wait - after all its not a hurricane, its not even a tropical storm, its a tropical depression, basically a big windy rainstorm (OK since the Weather Channel shows it as all red and orange its a really really big rainstorm).


So we will just sit tight and see what happens. Both here, and in the Gulf - but for now, its OUR storm and the Gulf will have to wait their turn. Bye for now.

Vacation Bible School - Bahamian Style!

Hello again - Well let me tell you what's been keeping us busy this week - Vacation Bible School.

For the past 25 years the AUTEC Navy Base has been hosting a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for all the grade 1-6 Bahamian children. This has been done in collaboration with an evangelican church from the US who has been planning the entire program, gathering up volunteers, equipment, supplies ... Then coming to Andros to lead the Bible Study. On the Bahamian side there is a complex network of volunteers to register kids, and coordinate transportation.

Historically, the volunteers have conducted fundraisers in their local churches to fund this mission trip which includes them chartering 2 planes to get here and AUTEC has provided housing and food for the team of volunteers once they are here. This year, however, with Navy budget cuts and economic stress, the policies have changed and this year the volunteers have to pay AUTEC for on-base housing and food, which may mean this is the last year for this program.

Later on tonight I will be talking with some of the other ministers, and possibly a government official, to see if we can continue the program using the Crabfest Fairgrounds. Clearly the team that comes from the US wants to keep coming, they just can't afford the added expense and there isn't anything the Navy can do with current Navy budget constraints. If we can pull this off using Bahamian resources we just might keep this program alive. Keep this one in your prayers because this program is a winner!

Last year Ginni and I were travelling off island and missed VBS, this year we made a point of being here and you cannot believe how valuable this program is for the local children. During the school year the kids are all in school doing what you do in the school year. In the summer there is NOTHING for them to do. There is no mall, no movie house, no bowling alley, no youth center, not a thing - until Vacation Bible School. So the kids come in droves, from everywhere. This year there were over 200!

Ginni and I get to the gate at the Base a little before 8AM where there are already a crowd of kids waiting to get signed in. Signing the kids in is a MAJOR project. This is, after all, a secure US Navy Base. Every day Security requires each child is signed in, gets a guest badge, and is chaperoned while on Base. So I drop Ginni off on one side of the gate, where she works with the Chapel Staff to sign in kids and pass them off to the Security Guards. The Guards sign in the kids and give them their Navy badges, then they are passed through the gate in blocks of 10-12 and given to me. They pile into our Church van and we drive off through the Base to the beach where the volunteers are waiting. They climb out of the van and the guitars and song time begin to kick off the day as I shuttle back to the gate to get another load.

After 4 or 5 van loads of those kids that have been dropped off early, the buses begin to arrive. Two school buses of kids from the far reaches of the island arrive and the check in process continues until they are all done and the bus loads of kids hit the beach where Ginni and I are now traffic cops directing the kids towards bleachers that had been set up under a pavilion the Navy has at the beach.

One thing that happens to me since I let the beard go longer is that the Bahamians want to know if I am really Santa Claus. So of course I say I am and explain that I always come to the Bahamas for the summer and tell them all about my riendeer and the elves working away at the North Pole. These two just couldn't get enough of it.

Camp songs from my youth are still in vogue, we used to get our kids out of bed with "Rise and Shine and Give God Your Glory Glory", and here it was again - complete with hand motions and weaving back and forth in your seats. A guitarist that was just fantastic with the kids, and a crew of 20-something volunteers that were the most energenic, positive, upbeat crew you can imagine. The kids ate it up. Older songs like "Amazing Grace" become new when sung to the tune of "The Gilligan's Island Theme Song". The song leader was an incredibly talented guy, he had the kids in the palm of his hand in no time - singing, clapping, and making all the hand motions to each song, including the Deacon!

After "song time" there was a skit the volunteers put on depicting a bible story such as Daniel in the Lion's Den, or the birth of Christ, or Noah. Hillarious stuff and very well done. Then the kids would go to small groups. On the first day each block of about 10 kids were given a colored sticker and they had picnic tables with the same colored flag. When in was time to break the volunteers would shout, "OK, purple team come with me". "Green team, over here", "Yellow team, follow me" and in minutes all 200 kids were off doing their individual projects with 2 team leaders. The organization was amazing.

Once they broke up into small groups it was time for us to head back to Fresh Creek and get back to work on our own programs. We haven't had a priest since Easter (does that give you a new perspective on the priest shortage) and we have lots to do. Last week Ginni led "A Ladies Renewal Night" for the women of all 3 churches. We had a great turn out and Ginni's reflection was as big a hit as my barbequed chicken fresh off the grill. We hope that this might become a monthly event and help bring our 3 churches closer together.

Well there is always more to tell, but I need to go meet one of the contractors about restoring the church in Calabash Bay we want to re-open, so until next time - Peace.