Church members

We have had a lovely young couple join with our church over the past month - Gareth and Edyta Drabble.  Gareth left St Helena to further his studies in the UK.  While he was there, he met with some real live young Christians, became a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and married a Polish lady from his church.  They have returned to St Helena for Gareth to serve his time on the island in exchange for the sponsorship he received for his studies.

Regan Backhouse, one of the 2 teenagers that attend the Jamestown chapel, has had a rough time over the past 6 weeks.  First, she landed on her knee after attempting a high jump at school, and suffered a compound fracture at the top of the bone that supports the knee.  She has been in a long brace, and walking on crutches for about 6 weeks.  THEN, no sooner was she free of the brace, and learning to walk properly again, than she lost her balance while going down the stairs at school, fell and landed on her coccyx,  fracturing it, and bruising her back.  She may now only stand or lie down, for her coccyx' sake; but this causes problems with her knee that has not yet mended as it should.  Despite all that, she still has a cheerful smile.  Here she is standing with Edyta.

Wilson Scipio has lived on Ascension Island for a good few decades, but he has now returned to St Helena to retire.  He has also become one of our faithful attendees.

The chapel repairs are going ahead at a good pace.  The painters are due to start tomorrow, and are aiming at being finished by the 7th of April.  We have optimistically offered to hold an Easter cantata in the chapel on the 14th... and our grand re-opening is scheduled for the 28th.

92 years old

I forgot my camera, and do not have a photo.  It was Rose Stevens' 92nd birthday today.  She attends our Cape Villa Bible studies, and we had a little celebration for her.  The Saints age amazingly well.  Here is a lady who has only recently stopped dying her hair because she had no wrinkles to match the grey hair!!  She genuinely has far fewer wrinkles than what this Whitey does, who is 30 years younger than her.  Will post a photo of her next week.

Chapel re-opening date set

We were hoping to reopen the Jamestown chapel for Easter, but the renovations are not proceeding as quickly as we had hoped.  e.g. one has to wait for the plaster on the walls to dry before painting them.  So we have provisionally set the re-opening date as 28th April.

Danny's Birthday

Today was a special day for Danny.  She is now 18 years old, and no longer considered a minor.  It is also mothers day on St Helena.  We decided to take a ride out to Ruperts Bay and have a picnic lunch with her folks.  There is no beach to speak of, but we did see a few waves, and a man washing his dog in the water.

When we came home we tried to paint Hannah's palms and feet so that we could take palm and foot prints for Danny.  We put her in the bath, without any water it it, and had a great time making a mess and not really achieving what we wanted.  THEN we discovered that the paints we had used were not as water soluble as we thought....

                          

Abigail

Today I had 4 children arrive for Sunday School  (i.e. instead of just my faithful 2).  The attraction?  We were going to walk the dogs after the lesson.  Abigail posing with a matching hat.