Monday, August 17, 2015

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.