First Days

On Tuesday when I finally arrived at the branch, it was hard to believe that I only had been here five days.  Sister Andrea Holt picked me up from the bus station and the first order of business was to take me to the grocery store and get some food for my house!  Here is the picture of the house.

My House

It is one house with 3 apartments.  Sylvester and Andrea Holt live next door to me and own the house.  2 sisters from England, Carol Pollard and Jamie Gray live in the apartment downstairs.  They have been here for 6 months with the Hindi group and will be leaving to return to England at the beginning of May.  They took me under their wings and showed me the ropes. Going forward, I'll probably just refer to them as "the girls":)  More on them later.  

The house is on a hill and you get a view of the green hills and when its clear, you can actually see the ocean.  But enough about the outside, lets go see inside:

I quickly unpacked and got ready for the meeting that night.  The congregation is called Queens Drive English, and in addition to sponsoring our Hindi group, there is also a Spanish group that meets at out congregation.  The other congregation that meets at our hall sponsors the 6 member Chinese group, including Cathy Chai, who some of you know.  

We walked into the hall just a few minutes before the meeting started, and I nervously say "Namaste" to everyone, only to be stopped by a smiling Indian Sister who gives a me a giant hug. "Namaste Bhaiya! Welcome!" This of course, is Vina Thacker, a Jamaican missionary of Gujarati descent, and the only native speaker in the group.

Imagine my surprise when brother Maurice Pinock, the conductor, walks up to me 2 minutes before the meeting is to start and asks me to read for the Bible Study!  I hadn't read in Hindi for the study in almost 3 years! I told him where I come from, only the real Indians read for the study and pointed at Sis Thacker "sure." I prayed, calmed my nerves, and everyone told me I did a good job. 

I was a bit overwhelmed after the meeting attempting to meet everyone and decipher their names, I'm still having trouble with the accent.  I'm about ready to take post-it notes and have everybody write out their names

From left to right: Jaime Gray, Carol Pollard, Loren McDonald 

The next day the girls took me to the beach and showed me around town a bit.  It's a nice town, right on the ocean, and it caters toward tourists.  On the shopping strip is a place called the "Pelican Restaurant", which is owned and ran by a brother in the congregation. We walked to a spot along the beach that borders the the airport.  It is set up in such a way so that you can look at the runway and planes fly directly overhead so you nearly go deaf.  We were literally just a few feet from the runway, but Jaime told me that if I actually ventured onto the runway (past the barbed wire) I would be shot.  Sounds like the end of a game of 'Truth or Dare.'

Later that night, we went to the home of brother and sister Pinock, who are Special pioneers in the Hindi group and who hold weekly informal Hindi learning classes.  The group has only been in existence officially since January, so most are very new, but are still working so hard.  I look forward to working with the friends and getting out in service. More pics and experiences to come soon!