Island Impressions

The wonderful couple that was serving in Saint Vincent, the Goddards, finished their mission this month and went home to Utah, so President Herrington has asked us to cover Saint Vincent as well as Guadeloupe for the time being.  This, of course, presents a few challenges - the main one is that it is difficult to be in two places at the same time, particularly when those two places have a bit of Caribbean Sea between them. The plan is to spend about a week here each month in SV and the other three weeks in Gudadeloupe. It takes about half a day to get here, and due to the Liat Airlines schedule ( stands for Leave Island Any Time?) about a day to get back to Guadeloupe.  SV is a poorer smaller island than Guad and presents new challenges for us.  There are some good aspects to being here as well as some not so good.  Let's start with a few  good things. 

Our apartment is clean, air conditioned, roomy, and has an incredible location right on the beach with a gorgeous view and the rhythmic sound of the waves splashing on the narrow beach below us. 

They have some American groceries here - oh  the joy of Betty Crocker Brownie Mix! ( Which I was able to make once I found some eggs.) There are also two fast food imports from the states - a Subway and a KFC.  We've had more KFC chicken in the past ten days than the past ten years. Apologies to all my chicken loving friends. Here is our local grocery store and the Colonel's very popular eatery which is the most modern building on the island.

                                                                          

Last but not least, they speak English here ( sort of ) so communicating is much less stressful than Guadeloupe.  This allows us to be a bit more helpful when teaching with the missionaries. 

The poverty in some areas is pretty depressing.  One sees a lot of the preferred Third World building material here - corrugated metal.  Many houses have a first floor with the idea of building a second floor - but the money runs out and there is only a cinder block shell open to the sky.  The sign on this person's house says, "please call out do not knock on door" which is ironic since much  of the time there is no door so one just calls out to the house.  Yesterday we taught a  gospel discussion with the elders.  I'll try to paint a picture for you:  it was really hot and humid ( as always) ; three ladies were sitting in front of their house as we stood in the dirt teaching  them for an hour  while  dogs and chickens walked around our legs;   I tried to not notice  the mosquitoes biting.  This house was directly  behind the beer factory so we were hearing truck loads of beer bottles being dumped and broken while teaching the blessings of the Restoration. Not quite the MTC-suggested format for creating a spiritual environment.   

This is  the police station in Kingstown, the capital of St Vincent, which is quite possibly the ugliest city I have ever seen.  Since it is really the only city on the island- this observation is kind of depressing. SV got its independence from Britain in 1979 but the only solid buildings in Kingston  are the ones built by the Brirish in the 1800s.  The guide books say the town is "lively and bustling" which is the nice way of saying it's dirty, crowded, noisy, exhaust filled, and dangerous.  Thankfully, the people are usually very nice ( if odd at times - I don't think I've ever run into ( literally) Rastafarians before).  I've twisted my ankle a couple times on the uneven broken up 'sidewalks' and constantly walk in fear of being run over.  The only safe place to walk is in the gutters- the regular kind, not the three foot deep ones. 

One of our assignments is to pay the bills for the missionaries so they don't have to take their time to do it.  This is why we need to go into Kingston.  They have yet to adopt payments online, though we understand they are starting to implement that.  Imagine everyone in  an entire country going to one office to pay their water bill!  Even more challenging is picking up boxes delivered through DHL.  The customs procedure can take hours in order  to visit several bureaucratic  locations in town.  Here are a few more sights in and around Kinston...

Here we are in the post office to pick up mail. 

The best sight is to see children going to and from school.  Most have access to education, so that gives me hope that the country will have a better future.  

The church has three units here.  This big chapel was built for the Kingstown Branch by E. T. Joshua the first chief minister of the country who joined the church when he was in his seventies ( 1980).  He is much beloved by the people of St Vincent.  Unfortunately his baptism did not lead to making the church well known.  The airport is named after him.

This is the chapel for the Calliqua Branch halfway up the coast.  It's in an old house with a great view...

And this is the Georgetown Group chapel.  They rent the upstairs of this house.

Here are the Primary children...

Then time for the hour drive home...The beautiful views make up for the scary hillside road.

Something I've learned on St. Vincent....  It doesn't matter if you are in a really depressing  part of the island;  If you just look up and out, you realize you are surrounded by incredible beauty.  When we are in a depressing  part of our life, if we  look up to God and out to serve others, then  we realize our lives  are actually surrounded by incredible beauty as well.  See you back in Guadeloupe!