I'm officially a professional at driving on the left side of the road. As brotha Vince, a resident at All Saints Camp, informed me, "drive in the left or die on the right." I've also become familiar with roundabouts instead of stop lights. Bahamian driving is less than timid. Each excursion is an intense experience of aggressive winding, weaving, honking, and getting cut-off. Two short honks means 'thank you,' one long honk means 'you're an idiot,' and NO ONE signals left or right. You can imagine a roundabout with no one signaling toward which way they are going to go...terrifying! Sorry if this worried you, Mom. I promise I'm getting really good at it. :)
I've learned to share my bathroom with lizards, tree frogs, cockroaches, and wasps. Did you know that cockroaches can even get into the refrigerator? We are taking it all in as part of the experience. Afterall, they are God's creatures too.
Grocery shopping here is outrageously expensive. To all my fellow interns serving in the States: do NOT take Sam's Club for granted! I purchased a $7.00 bag of chips this week just to give you an example. Prices are expected to raise by 30-40% by next year this time creating an even greater gap between the wealthy and poor.
My team is also learning things the hard way. One particular lesson took place the first night we arrived in the Bahamas. Somehow we managed to lock our apartment key in the apartment and didn't realize it until everyone had dropped us off for the night with no cell phones, no wifi, and no form of communication with anyone. The international phones I was given were inside of the apartment and we felt stranded. It quickly escalated into a pretty stressful situation. Immediately the guys on the team were getting their tools out and trying to unhinge the door. Our the girls got into a circle and prayed over the situation. After about an hour the rusty metal on the hinges broke loose and we got the door opened. It was so cool to see how everyone worked together to get through the stress, but more importantly it was cool to see how God completely showed us that we can do nothing on our own. We need Him!
Last but not least, we've been learning a ton about the camp and what an incredible blessing it is to be here this summer. We've spent a few days at the All Saints camp already, talking with each resident, serving them lunch, and hearing their stories. I can already feel myself falling deeply in love with the camp. Huge tranformation is about to take place!
There is still so much we have to learn, but I can't stress enough that through the exhaustion and difficulties I a have overflowing joy that comes from God alone. Please pray for us as our first group of students come on Sunday! God is going to do some amazing work in all of our hearts.
Love you all and miss you!
We are lifting Paula, our designated prayer warrior for the Bahamas team.
Landing in Nassau!
Getting into our apartment night one.
Reloading fresh water...have to get use to this. We can't drink the tap water here.
Flowers like this around. Rachelle decided I needed one in my hair.
This is Rachelle, Tim and Felicia's (fulltime missionaries here) daughter. She's so sweet!
