Closing Thoughts on Grenada 2009

We're Back! To wrap things up, here are some of my closing thoughts on the trip:




The Big Swim
To show they were "real" men, several swam from our hotel all the way to Grand Anse beach. All told, it was about half a mile along the beach. Not an easy chore. As soon as they were finished, they were spirited away for the Wednesday night service.


Wednesday Sing Song

Church Wednesday night church at Grand Anse consisted of mostly of singing intermixed with a few prayers and a devotional thought by Jim. The singing was great. Better yet, Dorthy, a Jamaican who brought us food and sold us recipes, came just to help with the clinic and attend church that night.




Devo
The devo was short. We sang a few songs and Drew led our thoughts. He talked about how we are all members of a global body diverse in form and function.


Woody played a couple of jokes on us. First, he said he had some great confession to get off his chest. After several minutes of hem-hawing, we found out that the sin was passing someone on a hill. Considering the offensive driving in Grenada, I chalk this up as Woody going native. Woody then called out several people who sinned by leaving half-drank water bottles lying around. Shame!

As was done last year, Woody later took several out to Peron's house for a crab bake.

Bye Bye
After VBS, Crystal was cleaning up in the Limes Pre-School. After VBS, they close the doors as a hint to the kids that VBS is over. So, when she hears a knock at the door, she ignores it. When the knocking persists, she opens it and politely tells the kid that VBS is over. After several excuses, Crystal thinks he has taken the hint. Then she hears something being put under the door. The kid has put a paper heart with a note that says "Thanks for coming to Grenada, bye-bye" for his special teachers. Turns out, that's all the kid really wanted. Crystal opened the door, apologized, hugged, and talked with the kid. Its bitter sweet when kids remind of why we're really here. What a blessing.




28/31
Unfortunately, we had to leave 3 behind. The sick medical professional remains in the hospital but is expected to be released tomorrow. To help him return, Tim and Michelle will fly back with him Saturday.




Carribean Lectureship
Gaynell, Bonnie, and several from Galon's family will attend the Caribbean Lectureship in Barbados starting Sunday. Gaynell and Bonnie flew there straight today while Galon will fly back Sunday. I'm not sure what Gaynell and Bonnie will do in the Bahamas until the lectureships begin. I hope they don't get too bored!






The Final Report
Kathy Mixson has the forms each patient filled out. She will prepare a report for the Grenadian heath department on how many people we saw, common problems, and our assessment of the situation.


The same forms identify who had prayer requests and how to contact them. This information will be given to Jim and Marie for follow-up in the coming weeks.








Thanks Tony!
Tony Samuel, the member from Concord who brought us the fruit basket, carried our luggage to the airport this morning in his flat bed truck. He even let Tim drive his van to shuttle everyone there. When unloading all the luggage at the airport, we left Tony's van alone for too long and it was toed. We'll bail him out and try to find a better way of saying thanks next year.






Noyle
I gave Noyle my copy of How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. I got his email address. As soon as I find another copy, I'm going to trip to startup a long-distance dialogue. When I was reading it, I would have liked to discuss parts with someone. Now God has granted my prayer.







Grenada
Grenada is easy to love. While the climate is warm, so are the people. They are easy going, quick to smile, and generous with their time. They have lots of problems, but so do I.




Grenada vs. Nicaragua
It is interesting to compare my 2 trips to Nicaragua with this one to Grenada:

• We saw over 300 hundred total in Grenada over 4 days. In Nicaragua, we saw about 1300-1500 over 3 days.
• In Nicaragua, we had fewer but longer days were longer because we drove up to 1.5 hours each way to get to our destination. We never turned away patients and we all took a lunch hour to eat a meal prepared by the locals.
• Grenada had a greater spiritual focus than Nicaragua. It had classes for the adults, teens, and small children. We prayed with many people and made a large efforts to interact with the locals. Nicaragua was almost exclusively focused on the physical needs of the community. I think the language barrier also kept many from effectively ministering to the Nicaraguans.
• HTI in Nicaragua is a well oiled machine. They've been doing this for almost 20 years. They have great programs that mature young people and prepare them to be the leaders of their local church community in the future.
• Grenada is much healthier than Nicaragua. Their standard of living is higher, though nothing compared to that of the U.S. Sadly, we barely recognize what God has done for us while for people in Grenada and Nicaragua, it is plain before their eyes. I wonder who among us would trade some of our standard of living for a more acute awareness of how God works in our lives. That's one of the things that make the Sullengers, Dolingers, Becks, etc. so special.

The Gang

I've talked a lot about the people in Grenada. Let me say something about the people I went with. I'd like to pick on a few that I talked to and stand out to me. I'm reluctant to call out people since it guarantees I'll leave out somebody. Everyone played a vital role. I'll mention the few I interacted with the most:

• Tim and Michelle - o.k., really, just Michelle. Wow! A lot of blood, sweat, and work was poured into this trip and it shows. Things went very smoothly. Everyone knew what was expected of them and what was going to happen at all times. They were the oil in our engine.
• Woody and Drew were invaluable driving us (safely) around everywhere. They were our personal chauffeurs driving us to the market, beach, clinic, VBS, Sullengers, etc. every day all day.
• Julie Mabry and everyone in the dental area were awesome. They bore the brunt of the patients cheerfully with little time for rest or reprieve.
• The Becks are cool. Find out for yourself.
• Gaynell and Mike Kellum are cool. Gaynell was born to teach VBS. Mike is the ideal family doctor. They have a great sense of humor - something we didn't expect in a elder. Of course, while we just found this out by sharing a suite with them, most of you probably already knew it.
• Jim is a hoot. Marie is the modern day Donna Reed - the mother everyone wishes they had.
• I loved talking Hillary and Bonnie and listening to their plans for living a life of service. They make my heart glow with hope for the future.
• Randy and Allison are full of fun and energy. Randy cracks us up with his southern accent, jokes, and outgoing "coach" personality. Allison is a great teacher and puts up with Randy (not so easy a job).
• I tried my hardest to be near Galon and just soak him up. God has given him a vision of the Kingdom that we need to hear and understand. I think I'm starting to catch on, but I need time to let it stew.
• Lastly, my wife, Tammy. Her skills as an O.T. allowed her to fit in easily in the pharmacy. What a blessing it is to share a common spiritual mission with your spouse.

One of the big reasons Tammy and I came on the trip was to get to know the locals (at Greenville Oaks). Mission accomplished. It has been a blessing to spend so much time with so many that share so much in common. We're eager to deepen the friendships planted over the last week.

The Shack
A shout out to Jimmy Campbell who kept bugging me to read The Shack. While I might be the last one at Greenville Oaks to read it, I started it and finished it on the trip back today.


Since coming to Greenville Oaks, I've been thinking a lot about the way God works in our lives. I don't live at either end of the spectrum. I'm neither a deist nor do I believe God is a omnipotent micro manager. I've struggled with putting into words my personal belief, but made some progress on the trip back today. Maybe some day I'll write about it - but it won't be soon.






Thanks!
Thank you for listening to my thoughts, posting replies, and most of all your prayers. As of 7/16/9, Google Analytics says 326 of you have read the blog. This is more than I could have hoped for.


God has good things in store for Grenada. We just need to be ready.


Until next time ...


Mark