Work Days

The following was written for our church newsletter - but it didn't make it in on time. (because I didn't email it when I should have)
I still wanted to share it though...

We look at the calendar and we can hardly believe that we have been on Eleuthera just a month. Time has been just flying by because we have so much we have been doing. We are settled in to our home. It’s just a 12x12 room with an attached powder room and outdoor shower.

We live at Camp Symonette which is in the settlement of James Cistern (everyone calls it JC for short). JC is one of the poorer communities on the island. The school is small and there are limited jobs in the town. The people here are very friendly and love to joke and laugh, you just have to start the conversation. It is expected that you will beep or wave at everyone as you drive down the road.

 

My current job is to host the teams who come in to serve for a week. I work with the kitchen staff and the team leaders and make sure our volunteers are taken care of. Each week a new team of volunteers arrives to serve in the community in building projects. I lead the teams in orientation and explain the work for the week. The teams all take part in helping out with the chores, doing dishes, taking out the trash, cleaning the bathrooms and caring for the chickens and the garden. I do everything from cleaning rooms to baking a cake for a volunteer’s birthday and even act as the tour guide for excursion day when we take the teams to see more of Eleuthera.

David’s work is to keep the supply bus (an old bus in the back of the back parking lot) organized and to do maintenance work around the camp. The camp has not had a long term volunteer dedicated to doing just camp maintenance so there are a lot of small project which need to be completed. He works with the construction manager and the staff project leaders (all of whom are Bahamian). He’s helped to repair the rainwater collection system, tiled a floor and helped to install two newly donated air conditioning units in the second floor office. Last week our 120 gallon hot water heater failed, and so he’s got one more thing to add to the list.

David and I also get to reach out to the local community too. This week we took the afternoon to go to the primary school field day and cheer on the local youth as they ran in their track and field events. The kids love to have visitors. We plan to have photos from the day on our blog.

 

 

 

We are meeting so many interesting people who come to volunteer. Retired businessmen in their 70’s who come to work, retired IBM employees who helped to improve and repair our camp computers, a week of pastors who came to complete training to become “elders” in the Methodist church.

We know you are praying for us because God has been with us through this transition. 

Please continue to remember us and the work we are doing to improve the lives of others.  I look forward to telling you more about the families who are being helped by BMH through improving their housing conditions. Right now our focus is helping the people who come to serve. We are so blessed to have your continued prayers. Please continue to pray and take care of Mason! We are so grateful too for your continued thoughts and prayful support for our parents – Ron and Joan Yunginger, as Ron faces battling with cancer.