24 Feb 2013
Well, I had my moment this morning teaching Sunday school to
about 90 kids in the basement of the Calvary Haitian Baptist Church. It might not have been so bad if there
weren’t two other adult Sunday school classes going on at the same time in the
same room with their chairs facing another direction. The acoustics of the tile floor bounced around
every little noise and sniffle so it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced
before. It was crazy in there. The kids couldn’t settle down, as kids go
these days, and all ages were together from 3rd grade to high
school. I had my work cut out for me. At least they got the microphone working,
otherwise it would have been hopeless.
Children’s church started right after Sunday school and
those poor kids didn’t even get to get up from their seats, so they were on
those benches from 9:30 until 1pm without a snack, a drink of water or
anything. You can imagine how well they
were paying attention by the end of it all.
Both Kory and I spoke a little during Children’s church but there were
only a few, I’m sure, paying attention to what we said. So much for taking control of the
classroom! I’m just trusting God someone
heard something and it made a difference.
They all prayed for us and called us missionaries, which was very
ironic, and they couldn’t be nicer people or sweeter or cuter kids, but it was
a challenge. I was watching the clock as
much as Kaleb.
I had two kids act out a scene where one kid took the
other’s Bible then they got in a scuffle and the one who stole the Bible ended
up “killing” the other kid. I put the
“bad guy” on a chair and condemned him to death because of what he’d done, but
then Kory interrupted and offered Kaleb as the sacrifice in his place so the
bad guy could go free. I guess they
liked that demonstration a lot so hopefully someone understood the level of
God’s love for them today.
After church we came back to Louise’s house and Kory did a
few more repairs for her daughter, next door.
They were so kind yesterday to take us out on their boat and they had a
front door that wouldn’t open, so Kory fixed that while Kaleb and I went to a
nearby beach so he could do a bit more metal detecting. We found a lot of buried pop cans and wires and
he even found a Bahamian penny. Kaleb
was still full of hope in finding real buried treasure. The kid’s gotta dream, I guess. It was
another gorgeous day in Paradise and I used the time to pick up more sea glass.
I made dinner tonight (Red Beans and Rice and mashed sweet
potatoes & salad) and Sheila and Greg came over again and we had a long
talk over dinner about dysfunctional families and the history and politics of
this country. They pay NO income tax
here! Hard to believe a country can run
without it, but they do.
Louise reminds me so much of my dad’s mom. My grandma used to say things like, “Now, I
don’t mean MAYBE!” when she was making a point, and Louise likes to say, “Now I
don’t care who you are, THAT’s funny.”
She’s got this southern drawl from North Carolina that makes her
pronounce words like “daughter” as “door-ter,” and she talks with each word
drawn out. Classic.
I just can’t get over the judgment and almost abuse she’s
taken as a missionary with so many people critical of her lifestyle down
here. But as she says, “everyone thinks
missionaries should be poor and living in a straw hut.” When she gets calls from people who want to
come down to ‘bless” her, now she just says, “Just stay home and be a blessing to
those around you…”. She is one funny
lady. We were pretty lucky to even get
to come here, but already she’s asking if we’ll come back next year.
Louise took Kaleb and I to an abandoned mansion right on the
water on our way home from the beach.
She got the “what-for” from her daughter for doing that as a lot of drug
users hang out there, but I think she’s been curious for years to walk around
in there. It was some place – marble
floors and mahogany ceilings, but every window was broken out and the floors
have buckled from the wind and rain.
Some guy built it years ago with illegal money and then went to jail right
afterwards so it went into ruin. Nature
will soon claim it, but I’ve never seen anything like it. Humongous, built with six-inch concrete
walls, at least six bathrooms, several ball rooms, two kitchens and views to
beat the band. It’s just torn to bits
though. I don’t even think imploding it
would bring it down, it’s such a strong fortress. It was a good picture of what sin with do in
a person’s life.
Well, our hearts to serve here including working on the
church building, but that just didn’t happen.
The amount of things Kory was able to do for Louise personally though,
was huge and I know it really made a difference. She has a long list of people she’s called to
do things for her and they end up stealing from her or not completing the task. She even took her car in for an oil change
and they charged her but didn’t do the work.
It’s hard for her to trust any one she doesn’t know and she doesn’t know
any all around handymen like Kory so he was the man of the hour.
When Louise’s husband died 22 years ago, the Baptist
missionary board told her she had to come in from the field because people
always drop their support for widows.
She said she wasn’t going anywhere and that the Lord would provide, and
He sure has. She doesn’t live on much,
but God provides in other ways and she’s planning to continue serving til He
takes her home. I imagine this island
will feel her absence and the number of people’s lives she’s touched would be
hard to measure. It’s been so great to
see the inner workings of a missionary’s life and I know it will help me in my
roll on the Missions Committee at church.
God uses all things together for good – even a trip to the Bahamas! Hallelujah!
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