First trip home

This was my first visit home since I left at the end of September. Needless to say, I don't think I've ever received so many hugs and heard so many screams over a 6-day period before :) It was great re-connecting with friends and spending time with family while reminding myself of all the things I love about home...

Enjoying my lunch of curry duck with mango and pumpkin lovingly prepared by my aunt

Out to dinner with my family

Spending time with my pumpkin

Sunday school young adults class

My first baby, all grown up now

The one thing I did not enjoy was the traffic. My entire schedule was built around me trying to avoid wasting time in bumper to bumper traffic on the roadway. I left a lot of things undone, visits not made because of the traffic situation. On Thursday I went into town, spent half an hour driving around looking for a place to park, got frustrated and left. I think I am spoilt from living in traffic-free Grenada...

Officially I came home for Alistair and Shena's wedding. God smiled on them as He ensured that the rain stopped in time for them to take pictures outdoors after the ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony with nuff kicks as the minister had an interesting sense of humor, and the groomsmen had no behavior. That, combined with Alistair and Shena's unique personalities ensured that the wedding day was a tremendously enjoyable day. 

The newly weds - praying for a purpose-driven marriage for you two!

I also had the pleasure of reconnecting with some friends I haven't seen in two years.

As an added bonus, I was able to witness the dedication of my latest god-daughter, D'neve. It will be difficult figuring out how to be a part of her life when I can't spend so much time with her physically, but the love is certainly there.

She always responds when she hears my voice

I am overjoyed to report that I am now able to pay off for my car!!!!! Over the past two months, I have received financial gifts from persons, that I have been saving until I had enough to pay off the outstanding balance. I am extremely grateful to all who gave. I see all as expressions of love - those who committed to giving on a regular basis, those who gave a one-time gift, those who gave in spite of not having an abundance of personal finances, those who emptied their wallet when they saw me - may God richly bless you all as you have helped to supply this need. Now on to the next project - a laptop for the Ministry :)

I had mixed feelings on returning to Grenada. I was happy to in Trinidad and see my loved ones, but I now have persons here who I consider to be my Grenadian family, and I know that God has 'assignments' here for me to do. I just wish there was someway we could all be together in one place... wait, that is what heaven is for! And it is forever! My prayer is that all my friends and family would surrender their lives to Christ so we would never have to say goodbye.

Embracing Grenadian culture

The past couple days I have been indulging in much of Grenadian culture, specifically the food...

It all started with a 'Potluck and Social' held at Wildwood Park on BBC Beach. God provided us with a lovely sunny day, after it had been raining all week.We had a great time playing games, liming, swimming, and of course, eating good food!

Beautiful beach weather

My friend Colleen who has got my back!

Johnell trying to block my path in Chinese Checkers but he was defeated :)

Just in case we planned a dancing session on the tables....

Bringing back the ole time days with hop skotch

Having a good rope swing

Had to wait in line for a turn at the tyre swing dem chirren was having too much fun

Oil down in Grenada is a little different from Trinidad - it is full of all kinds of meat (chicken, pork, crab, fish) and callaloo

Having my full after waiting 3 hours... dem does grate de coconut for this by hand!

Lambie for the after lime. It had some kinda octopus thing in here too

Then last night Sister Wilma decided to introduce me to another local delight - tittery. It's a pretty sad story how they get these fish - at a certain time of the year the fish come to a point in a river in order to spawn and that is when people spread out their bags to catch them. 

Curried tittery with beans

Last night I also got indoctrinated into the "Tanya Log" night lime. This is a traditional drink that is prepared especially for limes that occur in the night.

Colleen grating the nutmeg

Darius bubbling the pot - grated tanya, condensed milk, coconut milk and lots of spice

I helped by eating it afterwards - it was delicious! It was also the first time I had Grenadian guests at my apartment so that was a lot of fun.

Before I end this post, just wanted to share two more roundabouts from the lovely Spice Isle:

Consisting of three large truck tyres painted white, this one can take you into Woodlands or Lance Aux Epines (pronounced Lans-ee-peen) or back to Grand Anse

This was in Wildwood Park's car park - I guess they wanted it to blend in with the scenery

In case you haven't realised it, I am really enjoyed exploring and experiencing Grenada - I highly recommend it!

Such a time as this

The past two weeks have been a time of establishment and building of relationships. It continues to amaze me how God's hand has been clearly evident in bringing together the people and resources needed for the relaunch of the ministry of ISCF in Grenada. For example, after doing a promotional at a church couple weeks ago, a lady walked up to me and told me that she is a reporter with the Grenada Informer and she wanted to do an article about the relaunch of ISCF here, so I sent her the information and the article was out the next week.

Sister Joan Purcell, the chairperson of the Interim Committee of ISCF, used to be involved in politics up to a couple years ago. She still has her contacts in government, so she organised for us to be interviewed on the Government Information Services' morning show. The hostess was really nice and seemed genuinely interested about the ministry. She even invited us to come back when we start meetings in the schools, and to bring some students with us!

On the set with Tahira Somebody

I have also met with many different ministries locally that have a similar vision to reach young people with the Good News and to help them to live victorious Christian lives: Youth With A Mission, Repairer of the Broken Ministries, Raise Praise, Christian Students Association, Cross Connect Ministries, Inheritors of the Earth. We look forward to seeing how God will use strategic alliances with these ministries to advance the work of the ISCF ministry in Grenada.

Meeting with President of Christian Students Association

On Saturday 2nd November we had the official service to relaunch ISCF Grenada. Those who flew in for the service had quite an adventure getting here, but they eventually arrived safely. When people asked me before the service how many persons were expected, I told them I had no clue because all the communication I was getting from people were saying that they couldn't come so I couldn't say for sure who was coming. However on the day of the launch there were approximately 60 persons in attendance, and I was very happy that we didn't have to eat all the refreshments ourselves :)

Supporters of ISCF Grenada

From all reports, the service was well received by those who attended. I give thanks to God for bringing all the pieces together and for the great testimonies that were shared. For me, the highlight was the testimony of Kelvin Dottin who is the Co-ordinator of Ecclesiastic Affairs in the Ministry of Youth. When he assumed office in May this year, he wrote a list of projects that he would like to accomplish. The first item on his list? Restart ISCF in Grenada! He had no clue how to go about doing this, but he knew the impact that the ministry had on his life as a student, so he knew that this generation of students needed to be exposed to ISCF. So when Sister Joan approached him in an effort to get the support of the Ministry as we restarted ISCF in the schools, it was really confirmation to him that God had placed him in office for such a time as this.

Meeting with Mr. Dottin to discuss the reintroduction of ISCF in schools in Grenada

I also give God thanks for laying it on my sister Dyann's heart to come to Grenada last weekend. 

So happy that she brought my Pumpkin with her!

God knows the tremendous support and encouragement she was to me during the time she was here, not only on the day of the launch, but also in sharing her experiences as an ISCF sponsor at our first meeting with sponsors. Four teachers from four different schools attended, so we are grateful to God for the start that we are now able to make.

Participants at the first orientation session

Over this past weekend I was also able to build some relationships that are clearly God-orchestrated. I didn't go looking for them, but God opened the doorways and connections have been made. It has been a blessing to see how God just intervenes and provides support exactly when you need Him to. One opportunity that has arisen is the privilege of sharing a Bible Study with someone, so please pray that the study of God's Word would bring freedom.

Preparing for a study in the book of Ruth