Hello to everyone from the isle of
Grenada! I’m not sure where even to start…so much has gone on in the past three weeks... I guess I’ll just start from the beginning. Hopefully i can give
you enough bits and pieces of my life that you can at least marginally taste
the flavor of my experience so far.
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| The airport in Grenada |
My parents dropped me off in
Indianapolis the evening of Monday, August 20th. I stayed in a hotel
for the night and the following morning at 4:30 I caught a shuttle to the
airport. My flights went well. I met up with Christopher Martin (PA) and Leanne
Lauver (PA) in the Miami airport and we arrived in St. Georges Grenada, about
8:30 that night.
Dan and Amy Burkholder (PA) along
with there daughter Tamara (5) and son Larson (3) picked me up at the airport. Three
of the guys (Chris, Mike, and Ken) from the Laura youth group, my church here,
were along as well. We dropped the guys off and went back to Dan and Amy’s
house. Amy got out some food, while I put my things in the apartment in the
basement and then headed back upstairs where the three of us talked until late.
The next day Dan took me into town
where I got my temporary license and did a bunch of shopping to stock up my
cupboards--doing my own cooking has been interesting:) Immediately after getting my license Dan put me in the driver’s seat
of the missions full sized Nissan Eurovan. I’m a lot more
comfortable driving now than I was then but driving in Grenada definitely
classifies as an experience! The roads are narrow with a lot of hills, blind
corners, speed bumps and round-a-bouts.
Thursday nights are basketball at
the church/school with the community and church guys. I went that first
Thursday and have been looking forward to it since then. It’s definitely street
ball, three on three and very physical, I’m way out of my league but its still
a lot of fun.
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| Part of St. George's |
For the next week I basically just
tried to get a handle on living here.. unpacking, cooking, cleaning, spending
time with Dan, and also with Chris Martin. The mission has a couple Suzuki dual-sport
motor bikes that we rode around some just trying to get to know the
countryside.
Jeff Burkholder came down on the 29th.
He had been teaching the year before and had gone home for his brothers wedding
and returned to be a personal worker for the next few months. He had been living
in the apartment I was in but the mission rented an apartment in the next house
down the road. When we went to check out the apartment it was a lot bigger than
the one I had been in so I moved out from Dan’s and in with Jeff. Its been great to have him here!
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| Our downstairs apartment |
School started last week with a
half day on Monday. School convenes at 8:30 and adjourns at 2:30, 2:00 on
Fridays. I’ve been enjoying it so far. I have five little boys Moses, Jonah,
Jonathan, Kenyon, and Caleb. Most of them are full of energy! Today one of them
snuck a lizard he had caught at break into class in his pocket! They are a lot
of fun!
Life here,
at least as a missionary, is very busy… I have something every night this week
and most nights most weeks. It’s definitely very stretching and I haven’t even
been given close to the amount of responsibility I will have once in a couple
weeks once I’m suppose to be more adjusted. Please pray for me that I can look
for ways to do things instead of excuses not to do them!
So much in my life has changed. I'm in a place unlike any I've ever been and there are so my things to learn. I've learned to know so many people, went so many new places, moved twice, new responsibilities.... And yet in it all my God is the same! James 1:7 Says "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow." God brought this verse to mind this afternoon. What a security that is...to know that the God whose loved me before is with me here and that He never will change!
God bless you,
Justin
