As you know, if you know anything about me, I like to make stuff. It’s even more fun when it’s my own invention. And you know I’ve been making a lot of stuff here lately and so has Frederick. But what I don’t like is the tedium of tidying up after a job. That, combined with incredible pressure to get the new transmitter shop into operation before we had to say good-bye to Frederick and Marlies, led to the generation of an incredible mess in our shops. So, as much as I dislike cleaning, I dislike even more an inefficient shop where I spend too much time looking for parts and tools. As a result, I have been devoting a couple of hours a day to cleaning up and organizing the shops and I have been surprised and amused at my discoveries. Once in a while, I’ve been shocked like when I found the manuals for the big old transmitters we got rid of over ten years ago. I also found the solder sucker I left behind when Mildred and I returned to the U.S. in 2003 at the end of our original temporary assignment. If it’s not my old solder sucker then it is one just like it. This is a mini-adventure that has really just begun. Who knows what thrilling treasures I will uncover in the coming weeks?
While not cleaning up, I have been finishing up details on our new transmitter installation. We now have a security light up at the new site, and I am working on the finishing touches to the grounding system for the STL tower and equipment here at the station.
A while back I mentioned a neighbor who had been really messed up with drugs and alcohol but wanted to get his life straightened out. I thought he was close to accepting Christ, but either I was wrong or Satan won a battle, because the poor guy has fallen off the wagon in a bad way. He is back into drinking and stealing and seems to be unable to tell anyone the truth about anything for any reason. As you can imagine his parents are just about at their wits’ end. I managed one Bible study with him before our vacation. But since we got back I’ve only seen him a couple of times and we haven’t had a study yet. Would you pray for this man? I don’t want to name him here on the internet, but God knows who he is.
On a brighter note, we have attended two weddings in the past week.
The first was a week ago on Saturday. One of our neighbor’s daughters, Lanakay, was married and it was quite a fancy wedding. She had nine attendants, there were six groomsmen, three flower girls, four little boys to ring bells as they came down the aisle, and two young boys to unroll the white aisle cover. The bride was accompanied down the aisle by both her mother and step father with Grandma and some aunts coming behind. In Honduras only a civil ceremony is recognized by the government, so the civil ceremony took place first and then the church ceremony. Peter and I didn’t go, but since the church was very small, Mildred and Sandi got there 30 minutes early to make sure they had a seat.
Then on Thursday evening we attended a wedding together. It was a civil ceremony only; no fancy dresses and tuxedos, no music, just a gathering of friends to witness the official act in the front yard of our neighbors. The young lady, Nicole, who got married Thursday is a sister of Lanakay who was married last Saturday night. They thought that since lots of relatives came from the States for the first wedding and were still here, they’d go ahead with the second one too. Even though it was simple, it was still special and very joyful. In fact, the mayor officiated and there was quite a large crowd there to share in the celebration. As you will see in the pictures below, this was a happy bride! I am pretty sure that the figures on top of the wedding cake are telling a true story; the bride dragging the groom to the altar. Everyone had a good laugh at that decoration, even the groom. Nicole and Steven have a beautiful little boy, Nicholas.
We finally went to the beach this week, for the first time in several months. During the big project we were just too tired on our days off. I had some excitement during my snorkeling. First, I saw the biggest parrot fish I have ever seen. It was about as big as I would be minus arms and legs. I did not get close enough to get a good picture of it and as I was hanging around hoping for a clear shot, my camera quit working. I got out of the water to investigate and found that the housing had leaked and the camera was full of seawater. We hurried home and I rinsed it out with fresh water. After a few days of airing out, it came back to life, but for a while I thought it was a goner. I haven’t had time to see why the housing leaked, but the manual says for unexplained reasons that a low battery will cause leaks. The battery was pretty low, so maybe that was the cause. Anyway, I’m thankful that I still have a functional underwater camera. Two new batteries are on order.
If you are curious about the political situation here and how it affects us, here is a link to a Wall Street Journal article that does an excellent job of chronicling the events that got us to where we are today. It is thorough and, from everything I have heard via local sources, very accurate. Read it and you will have a good picture of what has been going on and you will be amazed at the comments from the U.S. administration. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124847775316780293.html#mod=article-outset-box
We are virtually unaffected here on Roatán so far. There is supposed to be a night time curfew, but people continue to go to church at night. Unless I bring I up, the Zelaya soap opera almost never enters into conversations with islanders. There is general feeling that this isn’t really Honduras here and what happens on the mainland is their own problem. But if Zelaya somehow gets back in office, he will become another Chavez and socialism will come to these islands. I think that, deep down, the islanders know that – some have even told me so – but, like death, it’s something no one likes to discuss. So we watch with prayerful interest and concern. We wonder vaguely what our procedures would be if we had to leave in a hurry, even though that looks very unlikely right now. And we trust in God’s loving providence. And that is something we all need to do, every day and in every circumstance. Thanks for your prayers, and enjoy the pictures.
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