Inter-Island flights

Well we're in Nassau and last night we participated in the Chrism Mass, which was absolutely wonderful - that's a blog entry all by itself. What I want to tell you about in this entry, however, is our flight from Andros to Nassau Wednesday morning.

Usually we fly a small airline called Western Air. They fly to and from Nassau daily and are pretty reliable, however the last few times they've been late so we decided to try one of the smaller flights. GlenAir (owned by Glen), has daily flights as well, but its a 5-seater or a 10-seater plane. From what I'd seen though, they always were on time so we took the plunge.

We arrived at the airport at 6:30 for the 7:00 flight and the plane was waiting. We met the other passengers, handed our one bag over to Johnnie, who carried it to the plane (no radar machine or baggage exam here), and all 5 of us walked onto the tarmac to board (it was the 5-seater plane).

The pilot stood by the wing and took our $60/person fare (cash only please but $10 cheaper than Western). Then came the task of getting into the plane. There was a step sticking out of the side of the plane, then the next step was the wing, then into the plane. There was no aisle, those in the rear 2 seats stepped over the first 2 seats to get to their seats. The pilot wisely had the two more athletic-looking men climb into those seats. An older woman struggled with the stepping on the wing deal, but she did it and got into the first seat, then Ginni was next - up onto the wing, ducking into the body of the plane and into the last of the 4 seats in the body of the plane. It was then I realized my seat would be the co-pilot's.

The pilot looks at me and says, "let me get in first." He needed to get in first because there is only 1 door and his seat was on the far side of the plane. So in he goes, then I follow, plopping myself into the co-pilot's chair, complete with steering wheel, pedals, and the windshield right in front of me.

I tried to close the door and he told me to leave it open so we'd have some ventilation. Propellor #1 gets cranked up (on his side of the plane), then #2 (on my side). I try to close the door with the prop spinning about 4 feet away and he says, "Not yet, leave it open", and I do while we taxi down the runway. So we taxi, and taxi and taxi and I am holding onto the door by the arm rest, leaving it open a few inches with the sound of the prop, and the associated breeze, filling the plane.

Once we finally reach the end of the runway and turns the plane into the wind, reaches across my body and pulls the door tight, pushes down the little button to lock it (just like your car door lock), then off we go into the sunrise. I a few minutes we're flying through clouds, I'm trying to read the altimeter and speed and compass and the tiny GPS screen - and 15 minutes later we're descending into Nassau. As we taxi toward the terminal the pilot's phone rings and its Johnnie back in Fresh Creek. I hear the pilot say, "Yeah, I can get back to Fresh Creek this morning, how about 9:30?" and I wondered if the Western Air flight had been cancelled again and Glen Air was going to pick up the slack.

Getting out, this time I am first and the whole boarding procedure takes place in reverse, with me helping everyone go from the wing to that little step sticking out of the side of the plane, and then the ground. The door at the nose of the plane is opened and we all take our bags and head out to the taxi stand to go into town.

As we walked across the tarmac I look at Ginni and say, "Its just one little adventure after another isn't it" and she laughed and said "I just prayed really hard the entire flight".

Bottom line - we were on time without a hitch and our visit to Nassau was off to a flying start - literally.

More about our visit here and the Chrism Mass in the next post.

So much to type, so little time

Well we are back in cyberspace after almost a week with no internet and 3 days with no telephone. It seems like such a short time but so much has happened I think I could write a book. Just a few topics so you see what I mean.

My father and mother visited us for several days, spending a weekend with us. Consequently they got to hear the same sermon 3 times, experienced life on the US Navy base - a joy for my Dad, and the 40 mile ride south down to Cargill Creek. They came to realize that island life may mean doing without until the mailboat comes in on Wednesday, and that if the water pressure in the shower is less than adequate, you make do. All in all they seem to have had a great visit and we enjoyed having them with me.

Prior to their arrival the local Drug Enforcement Agency did a sweep of our end of Andros and to our surprise a prominent parishioner was picked up and taken away. On an island like ours this type of news spreads fast and, often is more rumor than fact. Bottom line, however, is that our drummer, and maintenance man, was arrested along with some of his friends. So far officials have found over a ton of marijuana with a street value of $3M and his bail was set at $100K. It will definitely create a few problems for us but life goes on so we are trying to find others to pick up his roles within the parish, while hoping we can be supportive of him when he returns. Doing both will be a challenge.

Throw in CCD (which has now grown to over 60 kids), RCIA, Holy Week, the weekly addition of praying the Stations every Friday in Lent and we really feel we're far far behind where we should be. I keep thinking of all the work our Director of Liturgy did at St. Tims and know I should have alot of that planned already and here we are Monday heading into Palm Sunday and I don't have extra lectors yet to read the passion at our 3 churches (never mind planning a rehersal), not to mention 12 people to get their feet washed on Holy Thursday and all the other minutia of Holy Week.

Just to make life interesting - WED we need to go to Nassau for the Chrism Mass and recieve the holy oils and chrism to be used on our island for the next year, and while we are away a priest will be arriving to celebrate Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter with us. He is a retirmed Catholic military chaplain so he will stay on the Navy Base. Coordinating a lengthy Holy Week 'To Do' list will be a priority once we get back.

Suffice it to say we're a bit overwhelmed. Friday I met with a young couple who want to be married, but of course he needs a prior marriage annulled; and yesterday two families called to tell me of family members who had become ill and had to fly to Nassau for treatment (we'll try to see them while we are in Nassau, meet with the Tribunal Office, as well as swing by the prison and try to buy a few things we can't get on Nassau).

Please, please, please keep us in your prayers - we definitely need the Holy Spirit by our side and your prayers are part of this ministry

Knocked out of cyber-space

Hi winds have knocked us off the internet for the forseeable future. No phone, no internet, no email, no blogging.

Right now I am in the driveway of a friend, using my wireless modem and piggy-backing on his satellite dish.

Hope to be back soon, but for now our Lenten fast includes cyberspace.

HO HO HO

Well its become clear to me that the children on Andros have decided I am Santa Claus! I haven't trimmed my beard that much since arriving and that, plus my portly status, has resulted in a new identity for me among the kids.

Last week I was parked outside the Primary (read elementary) School to pick up our CCD kids and the other kids would walk past the van and give me a sideways glance and say "Ho Ho Ho', then keep walking. I figured it out pretty quickly and every time someone did it I'd "Ho Ho Ho" right back, and its caught on. At the Bowen Sound Primary, about 20 minutes south, two little girls actually asked if I was Santa and just did my "Ho Ho Ho" routine and they fell to the ground laughing! I laughed right along and it seems to be going over big.

The next day I'm cleaning out the garage and come across old Christmas lights and decorations AND (you guessed it) a Santa Hat! Ginni says its not something I should wear until Christmas but I am dying to wear it the next time I pick up the kids.

It'll be a hoot whenever I do finally wear it - being nicknamed Santa Claus is alot better than other names they could be calling me, that's for sure.

Add another church - maybe!

So here we are on Andros - and I have learned we are in Central Andros. If you've followed the blog for any time you know we have 3 faith communities, one where we live in Fresh Creek, one about 10 minutes away at the US Navy AUTEC base, and a third about 40 minutes south in Cargill Creek. Well a few months ago a Nigerian Doctor who has a clinic in Mastic Point (read North, North, North Andros - far, far away) attends Sunday liturgy in Fresh Creek. After Mass tells me that, while Catholics up north had moved away and the Archdiocese had to close that church decades ago, over the last few years others have moved back. He told me he knew of several Catholic families that would love to have Catholic liturgy if I'd drive the 2 hours north.

Well, juggling 3 liturgies on the weekend is a challenge, but adding a 4th seemed unrealistic so I told him to go see how many people would actually come and, if he could find anyone I'd make the effort to go north. So off he goes and I really don't expect to hear from him anytime soon. Enter the Holy Spirit.

A woman calls to get a Baptismal Certificate and after digging out 3 huge ledger books of names I find a tiny one - yup, the baptismal register of Mastic Point. So I call the good Doctor and tell him I actually have a book of names - the Catholic families of Mastic Point. Well he is thrilled and I fax off the names of those baptized after 1960, figuring these are all about 50 or younger.

This past Sunday he shows up again and has found 12 families, all who want to meet. So on Sunday, after the 8:30 in Fresh Creek, then driving 40 minutes South to Cargill Creek for the 11, then doing sick calls to the locals, THEN we'll load up the van and drive 2 hours North and see if we can find the clinic in Mastic Point. Yup, we're going to gather together for the first Catholic liturgy in decades in North Andros at the Mastic Point Clinic. Hopefully this is the start of something very exciting.

Will this end up in adding a new church on Andros? Well if you believe WE are the Church, then the Church is already there! Praise God. I'll let you know how it all works out.

Big Breed

Well its been a bit longer than normal since my last post but with Ginni gone its been a tad busier for me than normal. She is due back today so I'm taken a moment to blog.

Every Sunday, after the last service in Cargill Creek we stop in Man O' War Sound and bring communion to Anna. Anna is a 94 year old Bahamian woman who had been a leader in this community. Over the years folks moved away from Man O' War Sound and eventually St. Joseph's church was merged with Christ the King in Cargill Creek, where we do the 11 AM liturgy.

Over the years Anna has lost her sight and now lives with her son's family. Stopping to see here is a treat in that she is full of stories about the Church, people in the community, and her family. She is also a faithful Catholic and will tell you over and over that she's been Catholic all her life and never worshipped anywhere else than the Catholic Church.

Well its been about 2 months now that we've been visiting with her on Sunday afternoon. Usually I sit next to her on the sofa and the rest of the family gathers round to watch. The also hear the gospel and a short reflection that I do prior to giving her communion. This past week however, Anna and I were laughing about something and she leaned forward and put her arms around my waist and gave me a hug. This was the first time she had ever done anything like that and it was the first time, as a blind woman, that she realized I am a bit 'portly'.

It was then that she said "Oh Faddah, you be a big man - yes you come from big breed Faddah". Well I just about fell over laughing at that one. I come from Big Breed. My father will love it!

Speaking of my father, I just heard from him that my mother and father will be visiting in March. Continental has a flight from Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday mornings and they have booked a flight for March 21 and will stay with us for a few days, experiencing life on Andros. Arriving on Saturday they'll experience the 3 liturgies we do and a few CCD classes as well, it should be an interesting visit for them - they might even get to meet Anna!

John's Visit and pics galore

Well hello again. A few weeks ago my son Joe's father-in-law was vacationing on Harbor Island and took a few days to join us on Andros. John is an adventurous sort and took two puddle jumper airplanes to get to us, and we are thrilled that he did. His layover in Nassau gave him an opportunity to get friendly with one of the employees of Glen Air, the small Charter service he was going to be flying. After chatting with this man for quite awhile he was surprised to see him tuck some of the baggage away on the plane, then climb up on the wing and get into the pilot seat.

This was John's view sitting behind the pilot on their way to Andros. Once he arrived we picked him up. John had started his journey around 7:30 in the morning and due to delays in Nassau he didn't arrive until almost 5PM (keep in mind these were two 15 minute flights, the rest was waiting in the Nassau airport). He is a trooper. On the way home we drove over the Fresh Creek bridge and John took this wonderful pic of the Creek looking out its mouth towards the ocean.

Eventually we arrived at our home and John settled right in. We told him that the next few days we were going to be occupied with CCD and he thought that was great. I said he was an adventurous guy and he is. He is a wonderful guitar player and had brought his harmonica so when Ginni began to practice for the next day's lesson he joined right in with the harmonica and I knew the kids were going to be in for a treat.

Well the next day I went to pick up the first class of kids at Fresh Creek Primary School and John helped Ginni set up the church. When I pulled in with a van loaded with kids Ginni and John had everything set up and ready to go. When John pulled out his digital camera however, the kids were more interesting in posing for John than CCD.

Eventually we all moved into the Church and we sang a few songs, taught a lesson, and did some classwork. John hit it off with all of the kids but made absolutely best friends with little Gabbrielle (the little girl in the far left in this pic above). What follows is a series of pics John took of the CCD class in action:

This is Gabbrielle singing O HOW I LOVE JESUS

THIS IS DESTINY TRYING TO FIND THE PAGE IN THE SONGBOOK

CCD CAN BE HARD WORK

After this first class of Primary School children they left and we set up for the High School kids and we did it all over again.

During the transition between the elementary school kids and the high school kids John said he was going to go for a walk and explore downtown Fresh Creek. There really isn't all that much to Fresh Creek but off he went and when we were finished John surprised us with a wonderful gift, our own bike! Bikes are very popular here, the roads are mostly flat and they are an economical way of getting to the Bank, the Post Office and the store without having to crank up our 15 passenger diesel van to go run errands.

THANK YOU JOHN!

All in all, John got a taste of island life and we were thrilled that he interrupted his vacation to come visit with us. It was great to have someone in our family make the trip over to Andros.

I want to thank John for taking all these pics and his wife Lindsey for sending them to us so we can share them with you.