Packing Up

I can't believe that I am writing my final blog from Antigua. This trip has been a whirlwind. I am so thankful for the opportunity to come and be a part of this team. Each team member has worked so hard and had a great attitude. Each person added his/her own personality and we wouldn't change a thing. Today was a day of lasts... projects, beach time, dinner, Bible clubs, etc. We were talking that we can't always say "see you later" because we may not. We pray that even if we don't get to return, we will see each other in Heaven someday. The team is down packing and weighing suitcases right now. Their bags have many souvenirs! I even saw people getting sand from the beach today.
 We would appreciate your prayers as we travel tomorrow. We have a long day ahead of us and we are praying that all of our flights go as scheduled and that we don't have delays or problems. We have had a great trip! Everyone is talking about the first thing that they will eat when we get to America.... I hope they aren't saying anything about my cooking! :)

Sheneeza, Me, Mary Ann, and Beverly at the Radio Station

The whole crew about to leave the Lighthouse for the last time

The girls with Mrs. Kirkland and her neighborhood girls from Bible Club

Winding Down....

It is so hard to believe that our time here is almost done. We got a lot accomplished today and are hoping to finish all of the major projects tomorrow. We do not want to leave them with half-finished projects. A group went to the AM tower and painted, cleaned brush, and worked on some screens. Jonny and Ben got to climb the tower. They all worked very hard and were thankful for a rainy afternoon. The inside crew continued to clean up audio, create programs, and record music. Some of the team went down to a resort that is very close to do some final shopping today. I think I have done my last grocery run for the trip. I have stopped rationing the food as much and it seems that no one is as hungry any more. I think it is like the "forbidden fruit." They only want more when they know they can't have it! :)
Thank you all again for your continued prayers. We have some projects to finish tomorrow and then on Wednesday we will be cleaning and packing. Our flight leaves here at 3:50 in the afternoon. We will be very sad to leave!

The view from the AM tower

Ben on the AM tower

Looking down to Jonny climbing the tower

Nate and Eric hard at work

Kristine and Jessiejane working on Little Lighthouse Club

Tyler painting the awning

Taheshah got her hair done today

The finished product!

Sunday Services

Today was a scorcher! The boys said the hottest days are the ones that they have to dress up and wear ties. I might have to agree with them today. I was sweating profusely!(I know that might be too much information)For those of you who know me well, if I am sweating, everyone else is probably dead or dying. :) I felt bad for the boys in their ties and long sleeves. We had two great services today at Maranatha Baptist Church in the Jennings Village. Their pastor was gone this week, so we got to help cover both services. In the morning, the group sang, some girls did the offertory, Bree and Eric sang, and Jonny preached. It was a wonderful service. We all came home and relaxed and tried to cool off a little this afternoon. The evening service was very warm and it was right at dusk which is when the bugs come out. You would think that we were all Pentecostal with all of the hand waving going on! We have nicknamed Taheshah "the slayer" since she hates bugs so much and will kill any near here - even if that means hitting others around her. In the service this evening the group sang again, the girls and Jonny did the offertory, and Jon Hicks preached. He did a great job as well. We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet the local Christians. They have all been so friendly!
Tomorrow we plan to get back to work and get a lot accomplished. There will be the station crew and the outside crew again. Although I think that some of the boys' sunburn might move them in to be a part of the AC crew. We have 2 full days to work and then we leave Wednesday afternoon to fly back to the States. It is hard to believe. This trip has been very eye-opening to me and I know to the rest of the team as well.
This morning Mrs. Waite talked in Sunday School about thankfulness. She read a book about  a thousand blessings. A girl just started listing all of the blessings of God's grace in her life. It made me stop and think. God has done so much for me and I am not as thankful as I should be. The people here live very minimally and are some of the happiest people I have met. It has been a great rebuke to me. When I get home, I plan to start my own list of blessings!

The group singing in the morning - Jon Hicks at the piano

Morning offertory

The special before the message

Getting to mingle after church

Evening offertory

Jon preaching

A Day At The Market

Today we got to go to downtown St. Johns to the vendors market. It is a big tourist spot. There are tons of little vendors selling jewelry, t-shirts, bags, cups, drums, and much more! We had a great time. I think that everyone walked away with a little something to bring home. We then went out to lunch to a place called The Captain's Table. A Christian man named Charlie owns it and is the cook. It was a fun experience. Some people got seafood rice - a seasoned rice with just about any kind of seafood in it. Some others got grilled swordfish. One person got the clam chowder. It was all so delicious! After that we got to go back to the Australian ice cream shop. We went there last Saturday and everyone has been begging to go back. One of the churches we were in last week gave us a love offering and told us to do something fun with the team. This was a great treat and we are very appreciative. We then ran quickly to the food market to get some more fresh fruit and veggies. I am really going to miss the little bananas, fresh mango, and pineapple. I won't be able to get it quite as cheap at home. Tonight we had another fun dinner. Everyone had a  bun, "buttah" (butter), and cheese. It is a huge roll that has a little cinnamon and sugar baked into it, with a little butter and cheese. It doesn't sound like much, but it is delicious. I ordered 20 knowing how these boys have been eating. I was shocked when I asked who wanted another one, they all said that they were full! I should have that for dinner every night. :) We all just got back from the beach. They tell us that the salt water is good for our sunburns, we are just a little afraid to go back out in the middle of the day again. The sunset was beautiful and I tried to get some good pictures, but they don't do it justice.
We are all ready to go to bed early to finish our trip strong. We are doing the morning and evening services in a local church tomorrow. We would appreciate your prayers!

A visitor outside the girls' house last night... we were less than thrilled!

At The Captain's Table for lunch

Everyone's favorite ice cream place

Dinner tonight with the drink 'ting' - like a grapefruit soda. I think the boys have bought every bottle on the island!

The sunset tonight

And again :)

Beautiful!

Our Last Friday

Today was an interesting day here in Antigua. Everyone was pretty tired from our day on the water yesterday. We pretty much worked a half day. We went in to the station at 8 to get some work done. The 3 ladies who work at the station wanted to make us an authentic lunch today. Some of the girls got to watch and learn this morning. At 9 we went to the local primary school and did an assembly for them. We had 4 musical numbers, Scott did a martial arts lesson, and then Jonny gave a brief testimony. The students then got to go to the classrooms and help tutor again. It was a great opportunity to interact with the children. I can't get over how open and friendly they all are. We then went back to the station for our lunch. It was delicious. We had salt fish, plantains, spinach, and dukuna - A dish that has white sweet potatoes, coconut, cinnamon, sugar, flour and water. It is boiled in a leaf from the beach and ends up being a very thick paste. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. We then came back to the house to rest for a little bit. We went to the Kirkland's house this afternoon for their weekly Bible Club. There were 23 children there. Many of them had been to the reading club, the girl's Bible study, or at the local schools. It was great to see many of them again. We got to lead some singing and Emily and Kristine did the Bible lesson on David and Goliath.
We really are having a wonderful time! We can't believe that our trip is coming to a close. We all will be very sad to leave.

Emily and Kristine doing the Bible lesson

Part of the group with Beverly and Sheneeza at the station

Jonny and Jimmy eating our delicious lunch

Jonny and I leading some songs for Bible Club

Bree and Eric leading mor singing

A Day on the Water

Today was the big day - we all just couldn't wait. We woke up early this morning to get ready to catch our boat. I looked out the window and it was rainy and nasty. I checked the weather and it said we had a 70% chance of rain and a small boat caution because of large swells in the ocean. I couldn't decide what to do. I called the catamaran company and they said that they were still doing the cruise today. I talked to the Kirklands and the Waites and we decided to go for it. The weather always says it is going to rain, but it is usually just short storms. We met the boat and were ready for an exciting day. About 3 minutes into our ride, the sky fell! It was absolutely pouring. I was praying and praying that it would stop and that we would still have a fun day. It rained hard on and off for about the first hour, but then we had beautiful weather for several hours. The trip was a 60 mile tour around the island. The bad thing was we left the Caribbean and went out into the Atlantic Ocean for about 30 of those miles. The water was so rough! That is where we ran in to the large swells and waves. The boat pulled into a bay for us to go snorkelling. That was amazing! It was the first time for many on the trip. We were right by a big reef and it was full of beautiful fish. It was awesome to see all of God's creation below the water. The fish were beautiful - such vibrant colors! It was hard to get out of the water and back onto the boat. But, lunch was waiting for us. We had a delicious lunch of barbeque chicken, tilapia, seasoned rice, mac and cheese bake, cooked pumpkin, garlic bread, and pimento cheese sandwiches. The team could eat as much as they wanted - many of the boys were so thankful since I have had a pretty tight control on food rations since we got here. :) As soon as we got done eating, we had to hurry to out-run another storm. We went back out to the Atlantic and it was so rough! A couple of us got sea-sick. I think I got it the worst - which I am thankful the rest of the team did pretty well.  I think the biggest problem was many of us were slightly dehydrated from a full day on the water. We made it back to our beach right around 4. I am doing my post a little early tonight since everyone is fast asleep for a nap. The day wore us out, but we all had a great time! Many of us got a lot of sun today so I believe it will be an early bedtime all around. We thoroughly enjoyed the day getting to see the whole island. We are ready to go back to work tomorrow! Thank you again for your prayers. Our trip has gone so well so far.

The beginning of our day - right before the rain

Some more of the crew

Jonny and I

Some of the girls enjoying the sun - they are regretting that now!

Looking over the edge of the boat

The water was beautiful

Right before we got to go snorkelling

We're Halfway There

Today marks the mid-point in our trip. We were talking about it tonight and we can't believe we only have 1 more week. We feel that we are just getting into the swing of things. Today was a very productive day. Scott and Nate got to go dowtown and minister in a prison. They said that it was a good experience. The outside crew got some help from Bree and Emily. They painted the shed, some boys fixed some boards on the awning of the station, and Jonny mowed the lawn. The inside crew had several more computers to work with today since several of the staff ladies asked for the day off. Each person had a computer and a lot of work got accomplished. The boys worked back at the Waites house in the afternoon. At 3:30 the whole team went to the Kirkland's house for an afternoon reading class. They all had a great time interacting with the neighborhood children.
Tonight the Kirklands and the Waites came down and ate dinner with us. We had a great time of fellowship. Tonight we all got together and had a time of testimonies and a singspiration. That was a great time of encouragement. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend this time with the group. Many of them were my students this semester and I feel like I now know them on a different level.  Many of them talked about some of their struggles and discouragments from the semester. It is important to realize that each person has great times of growth and times of discouragements. The group was very open and honest about the lessons that the Lord is teaching them right now. I know many of you wish you could have been here for that as well.
Tomorrow we are rewarding the team with a day off. This was planned for the end of the trip, but we were worried we might not get to do it if it rains. We will be spending the day on a catamaran boat that will circumnavigate the whole island. We will spend the whole day on the water. It includes lunch and snorkelling on a reef. We are all very excited about this!

Ben on top of the FM tower

Shots from the FM tower

Isn't it  beautiful?

Jon hard at work

Kristine and Jessiejane working on the children's programs

Tyler working on replacing the board on the awning

Bree joining the outside crew for the day

Emily hard at work while Jimmy tells her what to do

Jonny being Jonny

Our testimony time

A view from the other side of the room