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| The Burnhams--Our New Mission Leaders |
July came in with a literal BANG as we welcomed our new mission leaders The Burnhams and hosted Hurricane Beryl all within a few days. Ironically, when the Bickmores arrived 3 years ago on Barbados, they had a hurricane hit Barbados within 48 hours. Fast forward 3 years, history repeated itself. Jokingly I said, y'all need to talk to someone about this Mission Leader Welcome Package. It needs some work!
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| The Calm before the Storm |
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| The Storm is rolling in |
Barbados was fortunate that Beryl turned a bit more south from us, so the eye was about 100 miles south of our island. Unfortunately, Grenada and St. Vincent were right in its path and saw much more devastation. Our infrastructure is better than theirs as well, and that's saying something, so we saw a lot of wind damage as well as storm surge damage right along the coast. Our apartment is 150+ years old, so we were a little concerned about our roof, but Doug prepped us as best he could so I really didn't worry much (which is HUGE tender mercy). That's one of his gifts.....preparedness....and so I slept through much of the storm. In fact, we kept power the entire time when most of the island did not. Barbados actually turned off the water about 4 am and turned it back on around 6 pm after the all clear. We ventured out after the bulk of the storm to see the damage.
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| Doug's favorite restaurant was demolished |
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| The Military came to clear the roads and put the beach back where it belonged. |
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| Bridgetown Marina was devastated |
All our missionaries were safe. We had a few lessons learned with communication and have already improved our process in preparation for other storms that will likely come our way this summer. Grenada missionaries are working with the Helping Hands group to take needed supplies over to Carracou which was completely devastated by the storm. Carriacou is one of the Grenadine islands closest to Grenada. Barbados missionaries have been working downtown in a local warehouse boxing up needed supplies that were shipped over to St. Vincent who are just now getting back their power and water. It's yet another way to share their light through service to others.
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| Jolly Roger sunk |
Miles of sandy beaches have eroded away and either landed in the streets or have been weather beaten back out into the ocean. Palm trees and other vegetation have their roots laid bare because their sandy base has now disappeared by feet not inches. We ventured up to Speightstown on Saturday for a little beach time, which was perfect because Beryl had blown away all the Sargassum from the shore. It was clear and blue and perfect for floating and relaxing after a crazy few weeks.
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| Sargassum is not pretty |
We are loving our little branch. We have a recent convert named Juliette who is in her 70s. She feeds the missionaries every week and also Doug & I. She makes food, boxes it up for the young missionaries & us, and the young missionaries bring us a whole meal that we eat throughout the week because she sends a ton. Juliette's love language is service and she shines bright with the light of Christ through her service.
We officially hit our year mark on July 3rd. We did an inventory to see what we have learned in the last year. We've really been pondering and working on obeying the First Great Commandment. As we do this, we feel how much easier the Second Great Commandment is to obey. There is a reason why those are the 2 great Commandments, because if we can master those 2 then the rest should be much easier.....in theory. As we are learning to master the natural man and become more Christ-like, it really makes us think about the little things/habits in our lives that can be refined that in turn shows Heavenly Father how much we love Him by our willingness to change and turn to Him. It really is an interesting thing to ponder and then pray about "What lack I yet? "
Thank you for all the texts, prayers, and IMs to check on us. We have really felt the power of your prayers! It is humbling to see the hand of the Lord in the details of our lives. When we are still, we truly do come to know that He is God!
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