Volcanoes, VBS & Vibrant Vegetation

  It was a typical afternoon on this little tropical island. Hot. Sticky. Quiet. I was having fun puttering around in my sunny kitchen, one of my favorite pastimes.
  My peace was shattered though, as the boys came tearing in through the house, bug-eyed, and talking so fast, on top of each other, that I could hardly understand either of them. Something the whole village of LaBorie was talking about, but apparently I was blissfully unaware of the impending danger as I bee-bopped around in my kitchen....unaware that I was about to be blown off the map into the great unknown. Or, who knows, maybe swept to sea along with all the other inhabitants of Grenada.
  At least, that's what the boys had heard....a rumbling volcano causing earthquakes, that pending its imminent eruption, would cause a tsunami so large it would cover all of Grenada, that is, if Grenada still existed after the eruption.
  Now, I must say, from what I had previously heard of the submarine volcano, (meaning in the ocean) located off shore at the northern end of the island, it did sound pretty scary. It is one of the few active volcanoes in the world. Large enough that if it blows to the extend it could, the little pin dot on the map called the island of Grenada could no longer exist.
 But as often is the case, fact and fiction became a swirling vortex of mixed and mangled information. It traveled with the speed of a tsunami and left the hearers as unsettled and shaken as the aftermath of an earthquake. So now my goal was to separate the two, so I could disregard the fictitious part and closer examine the facts.
 I called Chris, who was out and about, to see if he had heard anything. He didn't know much more than the boys knew. I checked the news online but unfortunately that web page was down because a major communication cable had been damaged in an earthquake. So at this point I really had no clue what was happening other than what the children were saying, and by now they had worked themselves up in a complete tizzy. While I was trying to find any tidbit of news on the situation, they had ripped the book off the bookshelf on "What to do in Natural Disasters." Quickly flipping to the tsunami section, they found what they needed to know, and the book was flung aside and forgotten as they raced around the house throwing together survival kits. Flashlights! Water! Cookies! Nestle Quik powder!  (Who knew you needed chocolate milk to survive anyway?)
 When the living room reached the point of looking like a mini tsunami had already hit and it started holding more clothing than their closets, my annoyance level was raised to red, meaning I could very well erupt without a moment's notice. With information, false and true, swirling around me as fast as things and children and clothes and cardboard for survival kits, I was wondering if I'd survive this, the natural disaster pre-disaster!
 In an attempt to find out more, one of the staff called the American Embassy. Their advice was, "No need to panic at this point, but get your important documents ready and have a pair of shoes handy in case you need to leave in a moments notice."
  Little by little information kept trickling in....they had raised the alert level on Kick-'em Jenny (what a name for a volcano!) to orange, meaning it had highly elevated levels of activity and eruption could begin with less than a 24 hour notice. (fact)
 After it blows it will trigger a large tsunami, covering all of Grenada (IF it erupts it could cause a tsunami, but very very unlikely that it would cover all of Grenada)
 There were over 200 tremors/earthquakes in a span of two weeks causing them to raise the alert level. (fact)
When it blows, it will blow Grenada clear off the map. (more than likely fiction. It is a large volcano, so if the whole thing would blow it could do alot of damage but its history of eruptions are not that scary)
 These earthquakes are an ominous sign of more to come (Could be, but Grenada lies on a fault line, meaning when the earth's tectonic plates move or shift it is more likely to cause an earthquake. However, tremors and small quakes are quite common and not necessarily a sign of an impending larger ones.)
 Update...as most of my posts are, this one was written in bits and pieces, so by the time I get it finished and published the news is slightly outdated. But I guess the good thing is that now I can give you an update:) After a few days of the volcano being on the highest alert level that it could be before it erupts, it seemed to settle down and they lowered the level to yellow, which means it is still restless, the activity is above historical level and it can be expected to change without warning. We checked the news quite frequently for a few days but, to be honest, it kinda slipped our minds already. Every now and then I'll check the web-site but it seems around here word of mouth is just as fast, although usually not quite as accurate!:)

                                    Studying the natural disasters book, mapping out their survival plan

                The book....Tsunami survival rate 70%. If a tsunami strikes a town or a village,
                   it will almost certainly be a killer. But you have a good chance of survival IF
                     you know what to do........(ok, no wonder they were in a tizzy!)

                                         All she needs is her dolls and precious purse to survive!

                                              Oh yea, and every last dress from her closet

                                 Green, yellow, orange and red...alert levels explained by Christi

Backing up a few weeks....we decided to hold a VBS in Willis, a new location for us. We had no idea how it would go and if all the time and effort put into it would even be worth it. The first morning by starting time there were only about five kids there and I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be a total flop. They kept trickling in though and by the end of that day there were over 80 that came and most days the attendance was over 100. This area of Grenada is home to a large number of spiritual Baptists, a religion that combines many dark practices of traditional African religion with Christianity. Some of those practices involve witchcraft, calling the spirits of the dead by lighting candles, chanting and dancing and offering sacrifices. It is a dark religion, probably made all the more confusing by their mixing of  Christianity with paganism.

                                              Singing in the morning before going to class

             There were 7 WATER students here over this time and we were so thankful for their help!
(The Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute began its ministry in 1977 by offering one six-week term of study. Through the following years it has grown to now offer five six-week terms of study in Bible, Theology, Missions, Music, Language, History, and Practical Studies. The institute also offers a six-week summer W.A.T.E.R. (World Awareness Training in Evangelistic Responsibility) program)

              The boys were thrilled to have Joel Hoover around! He was in the youth group when
                we were youth leaders and the boys always loved all the attention he gave them!

                                    Youth girls class taught by Renita Plett and Lynelle Hess

                                Austin Smoker's class...a tough age....wanna be cool in front of their
                              peers but deep down inside a longing to learn of the deeper things of life

               Austin Smoker and an adorable, mischievous little boy!:) As cute as that cap was
              on him, it had to be confiscated during class after proving to be a major distraction!

                                                           Such precious innocent children!

                                 I wonder what thoughts are going around in her young mind...

                                                            Theme song....I AM that I AM!

                 The first day we had the youth boys and youth girls class in two adjacent rooms which
                 proved to be a major distraction. After that they had the boys class on an outside veranda
                 which worked well...except there was no outside entrance. A ladder worked fine though.

                                               Will they remember what they were taught this week?
                                                We trust the seeds planted were not in vain.

                                       Arts and crafts class taught by Kayla Chupp & Kaitlyn Martin

                                                 Waiting for the children to arrive in the morning

                                                     Bible story taught by Galen Shrock

                          Games and snack....Duck, duck GOOSE! A game that is fun for all ages:)

                                    Youth boys class taught by Daryl Hursh & Verlin Shrock

                              Lesson reinforcement station...taught by Jessica, (guide Mr. Austin)

                 And then there's always all that behind the scenes work to keep it running smoothly

                                This group of girls came down to help with VBS and also help out where
                                 needed...which included lots of cleaning and odds and end projects!
                                L-R: Christianne Musser, Lauren Oberholtzer, Jolene Sensenig,
                                 Bethany Sensenig, Jen Wenger, Amanda Snyder (Kaylah & Shivoni)

           WATER student girls...Renita Plett, Jessica Eby, Kaitlyn Martin, Lynelle Hess & Kayla Chupp
                                           The WATER students were here for the month of July

The Queen Elizabeth Home...this home provides shelter and support for poor, orphaned or abused children. Some of the staff and WATER students spend a morning here reading to the children.

                                      Story time at the children's home with pastor Marvin Lapp

                         This has been a busy month of building for Chris. Here they are adding an
                         addition to a home with the help of Galen Shrock, Daryl Hursh & Joel Hoover

                  This small house is home to 8 people. They were extremely thankful for the addition.

                                                                   The completed addition

             Carter having fun helping to paint a gate that Chris made for the girl teacher's apartment

                        Every. single. year I dream of a weed free garden...This year I'm living my dream....
                                                              (never mind the size of the plot....:)

          There is more than one way to dry wash...or so he thought, till I put a stop to his bright idea

            It's a resort. He's the owner, she's the guest. Wish he'd always pamper his sister like this!

                                                                   Christi Brooke - 10 yrs.

                                                                 Sweet dreams while driving

                 The night the gutters flowed with beer, wine and whiskey..a truck rolled over on it's
                  side into the ditch, tipping the freezer that was full of drinks on the back of the truck

                                     Carter turns 9! L-R: Austin Smoker, Daryl Hursh, Collin, Carter,
                                     Conrad & Caleb Lapp, Trey, Bryce, (peeking:) & Kade Martin

      We moved his birthday party up two days so his buddy Joel could come before he left for home

        Some beautiful scenery pictures I stole (with permission:)) from one of the visitors camera card

                                                                   Rainbow in the valley

                                                  Sunbeams dancing through a gigantic tree

 

   And that's all for now folks! Thank you for continuing to remember our family and the work down   here in prayer. We are highly anticipating (understatement) our visit home from August 19-Sept 9.

Pray that we could feel refreshed and ready to come back. This past month has held some disappointments and times of discouragement. Pray that we could keep our eyes lifted up, be faithful in the little things and focus on the positives and not the negatives.

 Also prayers for the teachers, especially the new ones, would be appreciated. They are adjusting to alot all at once.

The Loyal Dog

 It's a humble little building....painted concrete walls, tin roof, simple wooden benches. But I love it....and the people inside. I love the family atmosphere. I love the casual but sincere style of worship at our little LaBorie Mennonite Church. I am encouraged, enlightened and.......occasionally entertained there.
 One recent Sunday morning we were deeply engrossed in a passionate message being delivered by our compassionate pastor when I realized we weren't the only ones being drawn to the powerful message. By the open back door, a slinky little fur ball was pacing back and forth, just waiting for the perfect moment to make a mad dash toward the front pews in order to be able to join his master in the worshipful experience.
  Now typically my husband is very accommodating to these nervous first time attenders, making sure they feel welcomed and finding a spot for them to sit. This same hospitality does not extend to dogs. Noting the distraction this mutt was creating, he grabbed the mop setting by the door, took a few menacing strides towards it and gave it his most threatening look. The dog had the wisdom to strike a pose of surrender, tuck his skinny little tail between his scrawny little legs and make haste toward the road.
 Chris, thinking his mission was accomplished, turned and headed back toward the church. So did the dog. Now from my spot where I was sitting I could only observe this fiasco through the two side windows. Like a DVD with a scratch on it, I continued to see this repetitive scene...one screen, Chris brandishing the hairy mop, the other screen, the stinky shaggy dog. Back and forth went Chris. Back and forth went the dog. He would chase it up the road a bit, turn around and come back. And every time by the time he got to the front door of the church, the dog was not far behind him. Finally, after this fiasco continued for awhile, the dog gave up and perched himself beside the road. Which would have been fine....IF he wouldn't have taken up a high-pitched howling to voice his displeasure at being so forcefully separated from his master. This created as much a disturbance as the slinking by the back door did, so in an effort to maintain peace and unity, we raised the white flag of surrender and grudgingly allowed the hairy creature into the house of the Lord, where he joyfully resided by his master. Quietness and order were once again restored to this small body of believers.....for the moment anyway....
 In our church we have the message first, followed by Sunday School. There is this certain lady that occasionally attends our church and sometimes for only part of the service. She is the kind of woman you meet once, and remember for a lifetime. This particular Sunday she decided to join us just for the Sunday school hour.  Upon noticing this creature lurking around in the front of the church she began commanding it  in her most authoritative tone of voice to leave. The dog, knowing it had our grudging permission to be there, refused to leave. Not to be deterred, this flamboyant, but well-intentioned lady began chasing the dog this way and that, trying to get it to hightail out the door. Unfortunately, high-heels and a stout frame are no match for a quick, sure-footed dog. We observers realized the futility of her efforts and implored her to give up and make peace with his presence. Out of breathe and finally realizing she was no match for the quick stubborn dog, she gave up and plopped on a chair in the lady's Sunday school class.
  Before getting started on our Sunday School lesson, the teacher asked if anyone wants to lead out in prayer. The words were scarcely out of her mouth and we were all looking around yet to see who would be the willing volunteer, when we realized the breathless Mrs. Flamboyant was already praying. Taking us alittle off guard we quickly bowed our heads and closed our eyes. The ever observant mutt, noting every eye was closed and every head bowed, decided it's a perfect time to now join his master in the Sunday school class. Meanwhile, elderly Miss Bertha, engrossed in prayer but feeling the urge to reposition herself, shuffled around the precise moment the hairy creature went slinking past her. Her hard-bottom dress shoes are pretty and pleasant to the eyes, but quite painful when brought down on a dog's paw, which is exactly what happened. The dog, frightened out of his mangy skin, let out a screech, which caused the stunned lady to shriek. Our closed eyes and bowed heads popped up as fast as they went down. Undeterred Mrs. Flamboyant continued her fervent prayer as the rest of us (or some of us:)) struggled to keep our silent laughter from becoming undignified, irreverent snorts.
 Yes, indeed, it's an interesting church. One where you never know what will turn up inside its painted concrete walls. It may be a rat in the corner, a lizard on the wall or a congaree in the songbook racks. Come join us sometime! You might be encouraged, or enlightened....and just maybe... entertained!

And now for a few pictures of our month.....

                      The children had so much fun with these baby chicks! We got twelve
                        of them and hope to have a good supply of fresh eggs in the future!

            They all have names....now I don't know if I'll be eating Bertha's egg...or Rachel's...
                  or Jake's?? I think our children need an A&P class on chicken anatomy...

                          ....children & chicks.....these are a few of my favorite things.....

Around and around...this was a common scene this month as Chris practiced for his bike license test. He's been driving with his permit but wants to get his license. One of the requirement is to be able to ride in 15x15 circle, which is very small! And, of course, monkey see, monkey do....the boys had fun trying to follow him.

A long-awaited, much practiced for day...Bible Quizzing! They memorized 

James, Chapter 1, this year. Limes & LaBorie School competed together.

 

                                                 Eagerly a-waiting that first clue word....

                                                                Oh the anticipation!

                                              And then the teachers get their turn

   While the Bible Quizzing was going on, Chris & Kaylah decided to walk over to check out a
    nearby vehicle accident. It was a gruesome scene....blood running down the truck doors....

                                                     Moaning, mangled passengers...

The one old lady was beside herself in excitement. She told Chris, "Some people don't believe in dreams and visions, but I do! My neighbor lady told me last night that she had a dream that this was going to happen! She described the scene perfectly! Same place, same truck, same car! Yes, I believe in dreams!!" The funny thing was, and I hope you're all with me yet so you're not thinking I'm posting pics that aren't fit for the public eye, is that it was a staged accident scene. They set it all up for a training session for emergency personnel.:) Why do I have a feeling the lady's neighbor was a part of this process? lol!

 This month Chris went into the dog house building business. He build, or helped build three different ones. Two neighbor boys each wanted one and that lead to our boys thinking Frisky needed one too.

                                   The boys had so much fun helping to put them together

         With no mower around here, this is how we cut our grass...a perfect job for a young boy

                                                                            My gypsy girl

                                                          It's their latest imagination station

             Did you know......if you mix eggs & sugar together it makes glue?.....(and a big mess?)

A new, sporadic, volunteer job for Chris. It is very hard to find an ambulance driver for the private hospital close to our house. They don't go out that much so they can hardly hire someone full time and most people that have license have a full time job elsewhere. The previous driver had another job and sometimes it would take him two hours to get to the call. Since we live so close, Chris has license and a flexible job, he decided this is something he can do to help the community.

                         They were amazed how good he could back the ambulance around...
                               after years of driving truck, this seemed pretty easy to him:)

                                                Carter and his new sail boat he made

I felt like a real Egyptian this evening! Rain flies are something that usually shows up around the same time as the rains, hence the name. The come inside, shed their wings and then crawl off to who knows where. We've had them before but never like we did this evening! It was unreal! They seriously covered every surface in the kitchen and living room. It got so bad we couldn't even walk around without having them crawling all over us, so we shut the door to the kitchen & living room and went to our bedroom. They don't bite or anything but are pain to clean up because the wings are so light that any little breeze sends your pile to all four corners of the room:)

And the same evening we had our plague of flies, we had another new experience. Kaylah had been running a fever of 104-105 all day. Her neck & other parts on her body were covered in a rash and she was complaining of a bad sore throat. I thought if I don't see improvement till the next day we should probably get her checked out. Late that evening though, we discovered she's not making any sense when we would ask her simple questions, didn't know where she was or who we were. I figured she is probably delirious from her high fever. We thought rather safe than sorry and decided to take her in to the hospital to get checked out. Since I couldn't drive and Chris wanted me along, we called Scott and Yvonne to see if one of them could come up and stay with the children. Poor Scott had to wade through fly wings and bodies and other rubble since we had left the living room and kitchen in shambles when the flies chased us out. So much for thinking no one would see our pig sty of a house!:)
 Anyway, we went to the government run General Hospital since the private hospital does not staff a doctor 24/7. And what an experience that was! And not a good one. I generally don't like to give a negative view of public places where just anyone can read them, but it really left alot to be desired. The first thing the nurse said to us was, "Well, of course, she has a fever! She has a blanket around her! Take it off! Take it off!" This was said in a very rude manner. I thought, "Ok, maybe it's not helping the fever, but it surely did not cause it!" She had on a very thin nightie and we had just walked into air condition and I wasn't about to make her sit there and freeze yet. The next nurse came to take her blood pressure and told Kaylah to lift her arm up. Kaylah still wasn't comprehending things and I could tell she wasn't even understanding what the nurse wanted her to do. The nurse got all irritated and asked Kaylah, "Why you so vexed for? Huh? Why are you so vexed?"
 I said, "She is NOT vexed (a word they often use for mad)! She is sick!!! She is usually happy and cheerful but she is not feeling well!" Uggggg! Without going into too many details, I will say the place left ALOT to be desired when it comes to cleanliness and sanitary practices. I was so ready to get out of there! They gave her a painful penicillin injection that send her through the roof and never really diagnosed her with anything, other than he thinks it's strep throat. I will say the doctor was fairly professional, or at least not as rude as the nurses were. Never again will I take good medical care for granted again.

                          While friends from home were celebrating America's Independence
                                          Day, we were celebrating our last day of school.
    Can it be real that these kiddos will be in fourth and fifth grades when school starts again???

   Award's Program...the last day of school they have an awards program in the evening. The children  sang a few songs and then the teachers handed out character, behavior and academic awards.

         "I want us to be together in Heaven!!" our hope and our prayer for these precious children

Chris was kept busy this month lining up work projects for visitors. Here Wilma Shrock's (teacher at Limes) dad, Verlin, is helping to make columns for an addition to a house. Most everything is done by hand.

 Scott Martin, (pastor at LaBorie) Joel Hoover and Daryl Hursh,  (two WATER students) are
 mixing concrete for a house, while little boys look on in total fascination.


Prayer request and Praise reports...I think so often I share prayer requests and then neglect to follow up with how some of the prayers were answered! I want to try to do better with that. We are sooo thankful that God answered our prayers for teachers for the next term...in the nick of time. We now have all the positions filled except for one. Pray that we could find that one teacher yet. With school starting in 7 weeks, there is not a moment to spare.

 We are also thankful for two pastor couples that have committed to serve in Grenada. Arlen & Sharon Krabill are an older couple from Oregon and have committed to a 2 year term starting this November.
 Shannon & Janelle Martin from Pennsylvania have committed for a three year term starting in October. We are so excited to have them come join us! Pray for these couples as they make all the last minute arrangements necessary for a cross-country move.

 Pray for Nelson & Rhoda Snyder and family and Kendall & Ginger Fox and family. Nelson's returned home in June and Kendall's returned home this month. They will be missed and we wish them the best as they adjust to life at home again.

 A praise for a good week of VBS! Last week we held Vacation Bible School in Willis, a new area for us. We had no idea what to expect but were very thankful that enough kids came out to make the effort put into it worthwhile. Most days there were around 100 children that attended. Pray the seeds planted would take root in their precious young lives.