In case you were wondering how come I haven't posted anything over the past two weeks, things were kind of quiet since most schools were in exam mode. However, the events of this past weekend more than made up for the lack of action over the last couple days.
It started on Friday, with another round the island road trip - this time from St. George's to St. Mark's, passing through Sauteurs on the way to Grenville, then finally back home through the Grand Etang road. The official reason for being in St. Mark's was for a school visit, but since I was there on a week day, I accepted Tony's invitation to take a tour of the new chocolate factory they are planning to open next year.
First phase of production - roasting the cocoa beans
Cocoa in de sun!
It was exciting to see all the equipment that would produce the by-products of the cocoa beans - from chocolate liquor to cocoa butter to chocolar bars. I can't wait till it opens next year to see it in action!
Since we were up north, I decided to stop by Leaper's Hill in Sauteurs.
Monument erected to commemorate the Caribs who leaped to their death
The inscription on the monument reads:
In 1651, the Caribs, realising that they had made a mistake by allowing the French to remain on the island, became hostile. They killed many French men who in turn retaliated and with their superior weapons decided to wipe out the Caribs. The last stand the Caribs made was on a precipice in the north of the island, but they were completely defeated. Those who survived, rather than surrendering, jumped over the precipice which the French called "Le morne de sauteurs" or "Leaper's Hill". The town that grew up there is known as "Sauteurs".
After leaving Sauteurs, we headed to Bathway to check out the beach there. This beach is the venue for many parties, but on this Friday afternoon it was tranquil and very tempting.
Beautiful Bathway beach
By this point the needle on my gas gauge was getting close to 'E' - I had forgotten to fill up before leaving town! I prayed all the way to Grenville, where we were able to get gas (thanks God for answering prayer). We joined with four people from Grenville in the first of their monthly prayer meetings for the ministry of ISCF. I was very happy to see that one of the attendees was someone who I had met at a youth program the week before - the power of networking :)
Since the meeting ended in daylight, I decided to be adventurous and take the Grand Etang road to get back to St. George's. For those of you who have never been to Grand Etang, it is a mountain range in the middle of Grenada, with peaks rising as high as 1910 feet above sea level. The road is very narrow with plenty corners, which apparently I was taking wide because I didn't want to drop off the edge of the concrete road, so when I was complaining about the oncoming traffic being on my side of the road, my navigator calmly informed me that I was the one in the wrong. I will definitely not ever be driving over that road in the night, because the lack of street lights coupled with the headlights from oncoming traffic would make it an even greater challenge.
Gracias a Dios I made it back safely to St. George's in time for Worship Explosion - a monthly gathering of churches in the Springs area.
Spirit-filled worship with the group Testimony
The evening of worship was refreshing - two hours spent lifting up the Most High is not a bad way to spend a Friday night :) But the evening was not over as yet. After the program finished at 10pm, some of the leaders from the Baptist churches in St. George's had a lime by Shannon's house. It was supposed to be a sleep over, but it was more like singing-and-dancing-to-the-theme-songs-of-shows-we-watched-in-the-eighties-and-nineties
They look normal now, but when you feed them at midnight it's a different story :)
We had a good time, laughing until the wee hours of the morning. The next morning greeted us with this beautiful sight:
Perfectly formed rainbow over the Carenage
After a lazy morning of more liming and breakfast at 11am, I headed out for Day 2 of my weekend adventure - exploring Fort Jeudy with Coleen and Darius. I honestly believe God put Coleen in my life to keep me out of trouble in Grenada: when she found out I was planning to explore Fort Jeudy by myself, she immediately volunteered her services to accompany because she know I wuda get lost inside there and is true! If you don't know where you are going, it could be very confusing inside there.
We went to Egmont first where there were some really spectacular views. Coleen had to remind me that we were in the middle of the road when I wanted to stop and take pictures.
Breathtaking view from Egmont
We then visited La Phare Bleu, which is a marina with villas and a restaurant. This was also a very beautiful place, complete with a restaurant on a boat!
Posing among the lovely landscaping :)
Raft with a hammock in the middle of the sea!
You could spend hours admiring the flora
Lighthouse on top of the boat-restaurant
We then headed down to Fort Jeudy. First stop was an open area on the coast where we had a light picnic of soursop juice and vanilla cookies. Kudos to Coleen for getting me to drink soursop juice!
Perfect spot for kite-flying
Unique roundabout that Grenada is famous for - a circle in the grass around a light pole!
We then headed down to the first beach - Will Cox beach is a nice little cove which is good for fishing. There is sea grass under the water, so you have to be careful when putting your foot down that you don't get stuck by one of these creatures:
Locally known as 'sea egg'
This is more popularly known as a sea urchin. Those little white pointy things were actually moving on my hand so it was tickling. There were some guys roasting them on the shore so we gave them one more to add to their pot. When we left there, we drove to Modeste beach, where we enjoyed the coconuts generously provided by Darius.
Enjoying a drink of sweet coconut water
Shells resuced from the rubbish heap - they do a lot of lambie fishing here
Our final stop was Fort Jeudy beach, where we had our last dip as the sun began to set.
Darius reliving his boy days on the swing
Sunset over Fort Jeudy beach
But the lime was not over yet... we stopped off for ice cream on the way home, even though I had a dinner to go to. Coleen sets the standard high when it comes to hospitality!
Enjoying a sweet treat at the end of a long day
Taking my second coconut to go
Pops and Sister Wilma are involved with the Gideon's ministry in Grenada.They had their end-of-year dinner on Saturday night, and I was cordially invited to attend. So when I got home, I just had to get ready and go again.
Ready for dinner in 17 minutes
The dinner was nice, meeting up with some folks I had met when I first came here. Sister Wilma put so much food on my plate that I had enough left over for a full Sunday lunch! I stayed back afterwards to help clean up, but you know when I got home I hit that bed hard...
After having such a packed Friday and Saturday, I didn't have much planned for Sunday - just church in the morning and an afternoon nap, since my beach buddies are presently out of the country. There is a pastor who I met in October and he invited me to his church, but every free Sunday I had was taken doing ISCF promotionals in other churches, so I had not gone as yet. We saw him at Fort Jeudy beach yesterday, and I told him I would try to make it either this Sunday or next Sunday. So this morning I got ready and left in enough time to get to True Blue Bay Resort, where they have their service, for 10am.
On the way there, I slowed down at a traffic light. On my right there was a family at a bus stop - the grandmother caught my attention, because she was pushing a pram with a baby in it. I was wondering about where the mother was, when a little girl ran up to the grandmother, saying "Phone! Phone!" in an anxious voice. Then I noticed the mother holding on to the side of the bus stop crying. I drove off, thinking at first it was none of my business. But then the Holy Spirit brought back very clearly to my mind James 2:14-16, where it questions the validity of one's faith if it is not accompanied by deeds, and I knew that I couldn't just "hope that they would be OK" but I had to go back and see if there was anything I could do to help.
So I took the nearest roundabout and went back. By that time a cyclist had also stopped, because the mother had cut her foot on some broken glass and it was bleeding profusely. I knew I had to take her to the hospital and make sure that she was properly attended to. She was crying because of the pain, but I got her to calm down enough to give me directions, because I had never driven to the hospital from that direction before. She took me up the back road, which had a very sharp corner that I had to do a three-point turn on before I could go around it. The road was also very narrow, so I thank God for the experience I had on Friday going over the Grand Etang road that I was able to go up there without feeling like I would fall off the edge.
When we got to the hospital, we needed a wheelchair, because she could not walk, and was bigger than me so it would have been a challenge to get her inside. There was no wheelchair available at Accident and Emergency, and the receptionist couldn't leave her post to find one, so I had to go searching. I was able to get one, and thank God by then there was a security guard nearby so he helped her into the wheelchair and got her inside.
We had a two hour wait, so we had enough time to get to know one another. Her name is Ann, and she has four children, aged 3 months to 13 years. She is raising the children on her own, with the help of her mother, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. I was able to encourage her, in the midst of her challenges, to put her hope in God rather than men. By the time I dropped her home, she was asking for my phone number so we could keep in touch. Please be in prayer for total healing, because she works as a cleaner, so she needs to be on her feet for long periods of time. She is also diabetic, so pray that there will not be any complications in the healing process. Pray also that she would surrender her life fully to God.
She had to get four stitches
In Trinidad, this would have been a 'normal' weekend for me, but it certainly is not the norm in Grenada. I am thankful for my wonderful friends who made it so enjoyable, and also for the opportunity to demonstrate my faith through my deeds. My encouragement to us all comes from James 2:24 - "You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone." Let us be on the look out this week for opportunities to demonstrate our faith in action.
