I thought I'd start today's blog with some pictures of Dominica. This first one is a picture of the OceanView Retreat Center for the Church of the Nazarene. It's taken while standing up at the Dining Hall. The Snack Shack is the unfinished building down the hill on the right. That hill is a long & steep hill to climb, let me tell ya... but the view from the top is breathtaking.
(EDIT) The first picture here was supposed to be the last picture, but it got deleted, and so I re-uploaded it, and not I can't get it to go back to it's rightful place... Oy... So, the caption for it is at the bottom of the picture segment... (EDIT #2) Okay, so I just realized that the date on my camera is wrong... LOL I will change it tomorrow, ROFL
Here is the Snack Shack, in the state it was when we arrived. It now has a roof on it, and the men are working on the deck out front. Tomorrow or Monday, we women will start priming the wood for paint.
This picture is one of the many beautiful plants here on Dominica.
THis river is next to the airport, and is one of the many beautiful rivers in Dominica. Looks so cool & refreshing, and positively inviting!
Another view of the retreat center, from the top of the hill by the dining hall.
This next picture is the view from our back deck at the Mission House. I have blogged while looking out at this beauty.
Flying over a rainbow. Wow!!!
Black sand at the beach. I have never seen black sand before. So beautiful.
An afternoon at the beach. The cliff was beautiful and fun to be next to. The black sand was near the cliff. This whole place is simply breathtaking. (See picture above, lol)Okay.. so some thoughts about today....
While working on Pastor Ray's house, we have befriended a lady named Pam who lives across the street from Pastor Ray. She is a doll. She has shown us around her home, and has talked to us about how they live here on the island. She is a Christian, but doesn't attend the Naz church here. I believe she's Methodist. Anyway, we have become good friends here, and we have enjoyed getting to know her.
Today, she was so excited to get the school report on how her son did in school this year, that she had to run across the street to show me his report card, even though I was standing on a bench on the side of the house painting the trim of a window. She was so excited!!
Yesterday, Pam showed us how to do the basket weaving. She allowed Janet to practice, and then today, at the little bazaar set up after our lunch, Janet bought the basket that she helped weave yesterday. That was so cool...
Three of the ladies from Batacca came to the campground after our lunch and set out their wares for us to peruse and purchase. Their crafts here are extraordinary. I think our team of ladies spent most of our cash, and in turn we are bringing home beautiful items, and we contributed to the economy of these ladies' families. We are making great friends and forming bonds with them, which is what Christ would have us do.
I look at the humble surroundings around me when I'm painting Pastor Ray's house. These people have very little in the way of creature comforts. And yet, God has provided for their every need. Pam lives in basically a shack. It consists of 2 buildings made of scrap wood, with a connecting passageway between the main room & the bedroom, and a corrugated metal roof held in place by large rocks. Her running water is from a spigot located behind this shack. Her kitchen is a separate smoke house, where she keeps a wood fire burning. Her living room is up a slight hill, and has 2 wooden benches in it, and the ceiling is a canopy of trees. You need to climb a steep hill to get to some herbs & the plants where she gets the materials to weave her baskets. Climb up further and you get to her clothesline. Climb even further and you will get to her garden where she grows vegetables to sell for profit. She has basically very little, and yet, she has all she needs. There are fruits and nuts growing for them to eat. She even grows pineapples for her family to eat. Her clothes are rags. Yet she prides herself on looking as neat as possible. She has no transportation of her own. She walks or catches a ride with someone going her way. She has no TV, but she does have a radio. I don't know if she has electricity. She barely has anything, yet she is so happy! There is something to be learned here, from observing her life.
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Tonight, the men are playing Dominoes with the local men, and the women have gone to get some cheesecake. Frances & I stayed behind, at the mission house. I stayed in tonight because I am tired. This work is wearing me out. BUt, I cannot wait to see the finished house tomorrow! We will get it finished, and Pastor Ray, a preacher with literally no worldly possessions, will have the nicest house on the road, thanks be to God! Someday, I will return and Pastor Ray will serve me coffee in his new house. :) Isn't our God so good??? He provides for our EVERY need.
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Perhaps when I get home, I will get rid of things I don't need. I am humbled by this experience. I am blessed by my new friend, Pam.
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The end of Day 7 of our journey.
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