Arthur preaches

Arthur preached today AND it was broadcast on the radio. He was rather nervous, but I enjoyed his sermon when he preached it for the third time in the evening at Jamestown. He spoke on the last 3 chapters of Daniel. He has a gift of making the Old Testament come alive, and a number of people gave positive comments about his sermon - even non church folk who listened to the radio. Excuse the badly exposed photo - I caught Art in one of the lighter moments of his sermon.

The prodigal returns

Clawd is back!! We awoke at about 6.00am to squeaky sounds at our bedroom door. And there sat 'His Nibs'! His one cheek was swollen and he limped on one back leg, but did not look too bad. He drank and drank water, and ate a lot of food, and just wanted to be cuddled. What a relief!

Only 2 children came to Good News club. We later found out that it was Tourism Day, and some were involved in Girl Guide activites.

Friday

My first pay day! Not much by S African standards, but all right by Saint ones. The work itself is ok, and I am beginning to get the hang of things. I am also slowly getting to understand the personalities that I share the office with.
There is very little time to fit everything in that needs doing after working hours. HOWEVER, Graeme has been wonderful in making sure that the kitchen is clean and tidy when I get home. Arthur did his best to clean the downstairs floors. I am sure that we will have worked out a new routine by the end of the month.

It is Bev Kilner's birthday, and we were invited to spend the evening with her and Tony and Alex (their 2 yr old) and the Terrys. We went to "The Sunflower Cafe". It is a home that also doubles as a restaurant. One has to book in advance, and then they cook in their kitchen, and serve you in their lounge/dining room. The lady served a lovely 3 course meal, which was impressive considering that they had no electricity for most of the day. No sooner had she served our dessert, than the lights went out again. We went back to Bev and Tony's home for coffee, but their lights were also out. We visited by candle light, and were lucky to have the lights come on long enough to boil the kettle before they faded again.
Bev is due to go in for her caesarian on Tuesday.
Graeme and I went to sleep still wondering where our Clawd could be, and hoping that he would come home soon.

Still no Clawd

While I was at work, Graeme (who is also fond of Clawd) rode around on his motorbike trying to find him, but to no avail. Clawd was supposed to have been neutered a month ago, but ANRD ran out of the medicines and sutures needed for the procedure, and he has to wait until the next shipment of medical supplies arrives in mid October. People who know cats have told us that he is most probably just experimenting with his newly formed hormones, and will come strolling back in a few days’ time. But others have warned us that a mature tom cat could have picked a fight with him because he was a threat to his territory...

Arthur did another session on ‘Gospel Hour’ on Saint FM. Tammy Williams ‘interviewed’ him, and he spoke about his struggle with dyslexia, and then dealt with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The 2 of them make a good team, and the gospel comes through loud and clear – even in Arthur’s strange gospel rap music.

Missing Cat

Clawd is missing! I am distraught. He never came home after his usual afternoon ‘walk about’. I went to the 7pm Deadwood Bible study, hoping that he would be home when I got back. Nothing. Lately the weather has been cold and windy and drizzly, and it was horrible trying to sleep wondering where he was, and whether he is all right. To anyone else he is just a pesky cat, but I love the little creature.

Fascinating Spider

I spent my lunch half hour at work, watching a most fascinating spider. It was about the size of a largish shirt button, and looked like it was wearing an armour plate. The only reason that I recognised it as a spider, was that it was in the middle of a web.

Wharf

Work is under way to widen the wharf. At the moment, they are quarrying rock at one side of the island, and transporting it in heavy trucks to the wharf, where it is dumped into the sea at the wharf's edge. All day long we have these ‘rock bearing’ trucks passing up and down our road – either going to the wharf to dump their load, or going back to the quarry to fetch a new one. This has created a new problem. The roads were never meant to carry such heavy trucks, and they are churning up the tar, and causing potholes and general road damage.

The past 2 Sundays Ladder Hill road was closed from 8.00am until 5pm while repairs were carried out. This meant that the folk from the ‘country’ had to make quite a detour to attend the combined service in Jamestown at 2.30 pm. We were encouraged when most of them came anyway.

No pop corn :((

Attendance of the Good News club is starting to become quite thin. I started the first lesson on the life of David. Although we were few (only 4 children) it was still good to remember the story of the shepherd boy whose trust in his God was so firm that a giant was treated as being of no account.
I have been looking for a pair of jeans to buy, for the past 6 months. My 2 pairs are worn so often that they are beginning to look a bit sad. AT LAST I found a pair of black jeans that fit me. They were lying under some other clothes at the back of a ‘general store’. Shopping is a real art on St Helena. One often has to call in at all 6 stores that sell groceries in Jamestown in order to find the items on your shopping list; and even then, there is no guarantee that you will always find what you want. Improvising with what you have becomes a way of life. Recipes become mere guidelines.

The island is also out of pop corn at the moment. Very sad for Art and Graeme. And there is no assurance that there will be any brought in on the next shipment.

2pm there was a farewell social for Basil George, who was one of the founding members of Shape. We had a BBQ on the Shape grounds. Graeme and I are starting to feel like part of the community.

Back in the work force

I spent Monday to Wednesday doing as much house work as possible before returning to working in an office.

Arthur and Graeme had a good Bible study on Monday at Half Tree Hollow. 2 new ladies attended - Mary John (the lady that asked me for a Bible a few weeks ago) and her mother. Tuesday's BWA at Sandy Bay was the usual good fellowship for me. The arum lillies along the side of the road to Sandy Bay are really pretty now.

When I left for the Deadwood study at 7 pm on Wednesday evening, the weather was ok in Jamestown. By the time I reached Deadwood (about 25 minutes later) there was a nasty wind and fairly heavy rain. It ended up being only Sandra and myself who chatted and prayed together.

I was so tense about starting work again, that I hardly slept on Wednesday night. But now, 2 working days later, I am fine. The people that I work with (Leroy and Hazel) are helpful, and I have started doing what I did best in my old job - trying to reconcile and make sense of the previous person's work, before starting with the current stuff. And if I get stuck later on, Graeme said that he would come in and help me - he spent most of Wednesday at The Consulate with Leroy, trying to work out how the previous lady had set up the accounting system, and making suggestions on how to make the work flow more effective.
Although the work and the people at The Consulate are fine, I really miss being at home during the day. I even miss my cat, who used to follow me around from room to room. I don't enjoy house work, but I did enjoy being at home, and the freedom that I had to spend my time as I thought best. Anyway, I am praying that the Lord will help me to let 'my little light shine' in the spots where He has placed me.

Gas ran out

We had a good Sunday School lesson. Megan, who had stopped attending, joined with us again. The other children payed better attention this week. We have started going through the story of Joseph.

The government has commissioned a French company to put up protective fencing all over the 2 hills that bracket Jamestown, with the hope that they will prevent any further rockfalls from reaching the homes and buildings in the valley below. Here is the view of the back of the manse property now. I must confess that the fences do not inspire much confidence in me - especially when I see the size of some of the rocks that came hurtling down 2 years ago.
A photo of Graeme having 'a read'. Our 3 pets love it if Graeme or I sit still long enough for them to have an afternoon nap on our laps.
While Graeme was reading, and Arthur was lying in bed (not feeling well) I was busy preparing our Sunday meal. It is difficult to get beef, and I was happily preparing a small beef stew, and apple crumble. The stew was ready for me to add the potatoes and vegetables, and the apple crumble had been put into the oven. Then the gas ran out... I managed to finish the stew and the apple crumble, one at a time, in the tiny micro wave.

ABBA evening

Whenever the Ladies Orchestra has a presentation, they ask Graeme to participate. (Steve Terry - violinist - is an official member of this group). Friday was their 'ABBA evening'. I must admire the fact that Graeme plays in these events, even if he is not particularly fond of the music that they choose. The other trumpeter (Tom) also obviously did not care too much for ABBA music. It was added entertainment for me to watch Graeme and Tom try to keep their faces arranged in an expression that did not show their lack of enthusiasm - i.e. while they were waiting for their turn to 'come in' with their trumpets.

New beginnings

The problem with prayers is that when God answers them, it is often in the most unexpected ways. He often does not make life easier, but creates the arena for you to work out what you have been praying about. I have been praying for opportunities to make more friends outside of the church. I have also mentioned to the Lord that I would really like to be able to afford to go to SA to attend our Arthur's wedding in early 2013 (if all goes according to plan). Here is God's answer to me :
On Sunday, Hazel Wilmot, an ex South African who owns 'the' hotel on St Helena - The Consulate - emailed me and asked me whether I would be prepared to do the hotel's books for her. The suggestion caught me by surprise, but I thought long and hard about it. I had to accept that, although it is not what I was planning on doing - being the pastor's wife AND holding down a job - it was a direct answer to 2 prayers.

I will take Tuesday mornings off to lead the Sandy Bay BWA, and all my other ministries fall outside of working hours. Arthur and Graeme will help a bit more with the running of the manse (well, that is the plan) I start on Thursday 17th.

Boys' sleep over

Six boys arrived for the boys' sleep over. Arthur was given the responsibility of looking after them (which they preferred) while Graeme and I went to visit Dave and Gay Marr.

When we got home, one boy had a head ache and wanted to go home, and another had a stomach ache . Both boys got their families to come and fetch them. (We believe that the illnesses were due to overindulgence of junk food that they brought with them, as well as a rather exuberant pillow fight) The remaining 4 boys seemed quite happy to settle and go to sleep. But Arthur woke me at 7 am saying that they had been up and down all night and he had not got much sleep. What did we expect?

I took a photo of the happy 4, but somehow 'lost' it somewhere in the bowels of my tiny camera, and I don't know how to recall it. I am technologically challenged.

Jacobs ladder

I attended my first meeting of SHAPE's board members this morning. The chair lady, Ivy Ellick, appears to be a switched on lady. I pray that this new involvement will allow me to make new friends. Although I have not achieved all the spring cleaning and tidying and sorting of the manse that I wanted in this break from Bible studies, we have done some of the things - like shampoo the carpet, wash the car, fit a new window pane or 2, assemble the cupboards that we bought, and rearrange the contents of my craft room, etc. The visiting was also not as good as I had hoped. A few cancellations of appointments. But, if at first you don't succeed, try and try again.

Instead of going to the local 'diner' this evening, Arthur said that he was 'going for a walk' with his friends. He came home a while ago looking the worse for wear. They had climbed up AND down Jacob's ladder. All 699 steps. He told me that when he had climbed the first 400 steps, he almost sat down and wept. He wanted to give up, but his only choice was 400 stairs down, or 399 stairs up..... Obviously, peer pressure was the driving force that made him complete both climbs.

Bandwidth ran out

To those people who follow my blog regularly - apologies for the long silence. Once AGAIN we ran out of bandwidth before the end of the month. We surmise that there is a program that is running automatic updates, and sucking up our limited allowance. Or else... it may be the extra facebooking that is being done by our Arthur. We will play detective, and try and solve the problem. A number of entries will follow now, dated chronologically.

Sandy Bay visits

Tuesday and Wednesday were Sandy Bay visits. These dear folk tend to "kill us with kindness". Each home would have tea as well as sandwiches, cake and something else prepared for us to eat. We would be expected to sample everything. Then, each home would give us something to take home with us - bananas, or a cabbage, or left over cake, etc. Needless to say, we did not have supper when we arrived home. These people are the kind that one calls "the salt of the earth". Simple (in the good sense of the word) genuine people.


I had my final "get rid of the dye" hair cut today, and can now be called "Lady Grey".