St Helena Day

The island takes the celebration of St Helena day very seriously.  The day starts off with the a march from the canister  down Main Street to the Mule yard.

 The march is made up of police, scouts, girl guides, Brownies and Rainbows.  Then there is a religious service led by the bishop of the Anglican church.

 After that there are many different events over the course of the day, including a Jacobs ladder climb, a parade with floats, and fireworks.
Graeme and I attended the church service where Graeme played in the band,

then we took a slow walk back to the manse.  We did some prep for the coming week, had Jean and Trevor over for tea, went outside to look at the floats, and then continued with house work and prep.

 Here Graeme is giving a donation to a "slave girl",

a float representing Napoleon's home accompanied by "French soldiers"

The wirebird is St Helena's national bird.  It is not found anywhere else in the world.  So, just by the way, here is a photo to show you what these endangered little creatures look like.  They make their nests on the ground, and usually have 2 eggs at a time.  I was very lucky to get this photo.

A close up of the nest

The mother bird trying to get me away from her nest by pretending to have a broken wing

Leave cut short

With the recent "happenings" at church, it was decided that it would be best if Graeme cut his leave short.  So he is back in the saddle full time.  One thing he managed to do during his 3 weeks of leave, is to varnish and line the boxes that John Reid had made for their bag pipes.  I think he did a good job.

His bag pipe playing is also improving slowly.  The pipes are a VERY different musical instrument to play from the trumpet, but Graeme (and John Reid) are determined that he should get the hang of them.

A turning point

Today has been a turning point in our ministry on St Helena.  Since the beginning of the year there has been a dark shadow over us, and our future has been uncertain.  Today we had 2 difficult church meetings after the church service.  The final outcome of the meetings is that we have a new deaconate, and the majority of the church members voted to keep Graeme as their pastor. We are VERY relieved, and grateful.
 We now want to focus on the way forward, and pray that God will fill both Graeme and myself with new energy and enthusiasm for Him, and also fill this lovely restored chapel at Jamestown with people that love Him, and enjoy Him, every day of the week.

Restful Sunday

Graeme is on leave for the month of May.  It was great to be able to sleep in, then have a leisurely breakfast.   Read and pray.  Cook lunch without being rushed.  Visited Dawid and Ira Breed in Levelwood in the afternoon.  Attended "ordinary church" in the restored chapel for the first time.  Nick Williams preached.

Jamestown Chapel Re-opened!!

AT LAST!!
It was a hectic day, with a lot of last minute things to organise.  e.g. I had organised a bunch of silk flowers (fresh flowers are almost unavailable on St Helena) but needed someone to arrange them.  Edyta arrived an hour early to attend to this task.  Charles Thomas needed to be collected from Cape Villa. Our pets had to be secured in the manse (they like to follow us)

The chapel looked clean and fresh and inviting.  The school room next door was ready with tables laden with eats and many cups waiting for tea to be poured.  People started arriving and filling the newly mended pews. A large number of people from the other denominations came to celebrate with us. Teddy rang the bell (a sound I love to hear, especially since church bell ringing has been banned in S Africa)

I usually end up baby sitting Hannah in church.  I took her up onto the balcony, thinking that she would not disturb people from there (silly me!)   I ended up trying to hear what I could from the school room, while also trying to keep her relatively quiet.

One highlight of the service was hearing a recorded message of greeting from Nick Clevely, who was the pastor at the time of the rockfall, and who was very involved in raising funds for the restoration.

All in all, a wonderful celebration of God's provision and faithfulness.

                                                            Chapel door open again

                                                             Graeme at the chapel door

                                                                   New roof and ceiling

                                                                    Front platform

                                                                    Congregation

                                                            View from the gallery stairs

Ringing the bell

Hannah going to chapel

                           Hymn singing                                            Steve at the organ

                                                                     Bible reading

Edyta, who arranged the flowers

                                                       Hazel and Jean in the school room

                                                        A long row of people, eating

                                                Anglican and Salvation Army guests chatting

                                                          Graeme and Bishop Richard

                                                                  Plenty of refreshments

                                             Mama Lizzie (94 yrs) and 2 of her children

                                                                      Blue eyed doll

Anticipating the BIG DAY

The painter was supposed to have finished painting the chapel by the 7th of this month.  Of course, it never happened.  The walls were only finished on Saturday.  We had to decide whether to stick to the planned date for the re-opening of the chapel, or postpone it.  We decided to stick to the chosen date.  The painter arrived early on Saturday morning to finish applying his last few swipes of paint before a work party arrived to start on the floors.  They worked from 10am to 1 pm.  Much sweeping, wiping, dust, and sweat.  Polish was spread on the wooden floors; and Graeme learnt to drive a temperamental, borrowed, industrial polisher.  The chapel was beginning to glow.
Teddy Thomas has spent nearly every day this week working on repairing the damaged church pews.  Today, Trevor Stevens was there helping him.  They are almost finished.
The carpet on the front platform has been laid, and just the runner carpet down the aisle has to be positioned.
The windows will get their final wash and shine over the next few days.

We WILL make it for the grand reopening and dedication of the Jamestown Chapel on Sunday 3pm (by the skins of our teeth).

Over 70,000 pounds raised or donated from 14th August 2008 to 28th April 2013 to repair the damage that was done by tons of rock that fell onto the chapel, the work yard, the school room, and the manse, on 14th August 2008.

Praise be to our amazing God!

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.