welcome!

'shine your eyes’ is a phrase that I picked up in liberia, west africa. it means to open your eyes and see the Truth. this is my hope for people everywhere, myself included, that we will continually be transformed to see and be the ideals God has set forth as the Kingdom. the book of isaiah says it this way:

'see, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. the mind of the rash will understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.’ isaiah 32:1-4

currently this is taking shape in my life working with bahamas habitat. we are working to provide aviation support to bahamas methodist habitat, a hurricane relief/sub-standard housing repair organization based in the bahamas. know that we would love for you to come spend some time with us as we take part in all the beautiful ways that God is loving His creation.

in the words of mother teresa, “pray for me that i not loosen my grip on the hands of Jesus even under the guise of ministering to the poor.” and i pray that in all that you do, whether coming to the bahamas, serving in haiti or celebrating life in your part of the world that you will simply love and come and see all that God has for us. let this place be a place of celebration and conversation for us to greater understand life with one another.

‘and because of our faith, He has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand. and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has in mind for us to be.’ –romans 5:2

peace.

10.21.2009

Spearfishing, Airplanes and Rainbows

hello!

everyday brings something new.  the new bit on sunday was spear fishing!!  manex works here at camp too and showed us how it's done.  right when you look into the water you immediately see hundreds, maybe thousands, of fish.  at some points you couldn't even see the bottom of the water even though the water is perfectly clear and about 8' deep because of the density of fish.  i heard there is a bottomless pit of water here on the island too.  no one has ever seen the bottom.  crazy.  anyway, the spears where essentially 1/4" rods with a sling shot attached to the end.  i tried shooting a lobster but missed...practice practice practice.  manex got two lobster.  we all had them for dinner and it was really good.

big news:: we have an airplane!!!  a for sure, no turning back kind of deal!  a pediatrician heard about this ministry and decided to donate his beech baron b55 straight-up, great condition signed, sealed delivered.  In non-pilot words, this is a 6 seater twin engine airplane with a lot of muscle, perfect for our needs to carry heavy cargo and travel to-and-from the states (over water, really).  the plane will be here halloween weekend ready to fly.  if you're wondering, we scrapped the deal on the 44 year old plane that was still needing repair and money and sticking with the bird in the hand (the pun may or may not be intended).  this is great!!!  and then...another guy called asking if we would submit a proposal for a donation of a glastar kit plane.  this would be great for our short haul trips and save a lot of money that the baron would require for short, light trips.  God is good always, and this time decided to throw an airplane in for good measure...and we are thankful.

one of my favorite bits that I've gotten to experience down here so far is...get ready...it's the big word:  community.  yes.  preparing myself to come down, loneliness was not far from my mind when imagining life here in the bahamas being far away from family, friends and what i know.  i am thankful for an already strong community among the staff and those from this area.  we cook together, ride around town together, work together and already take care of each other.  also, i love how the conversation shifts when talking to people around town when they realize we're here for awhile.  it goes something like this:  someone will say, 'this is cameron' they'll be cordial and nice and then whoever introduced me follows it up saying, 'she's going to be sticking around for about a year so you'll see her around quite a bit!'  and goodness, the conversation then switches to, 'oh! hello!  my name's so and so!' i really think there's a whole theology on presence and it's role in wholesome community and relationship.  without commitment and learning each other by just running in the same area of the world, we miss so much of the goodness we can learn from one another.  i am thankful to see the effects of presence and look forward to how being aware of its role in relationship will lead to some pretty incredible moments.  an african proverb goes like this, 'if you want to go fast, go alone.  if you want to go far, go with someone.'

The community here is very open and it's really warm.  Last night I went for a run around town.  i passed a house with kids in the front yard.  we greeted each other and they ran to give hugs and simply say hello.  this happens all the time.  many people are out from inside the house and i've loved seeing already how this fact changes the familiarity and relationships around town.  presence.

next week i plan to start reading with the kids at the school down the road.  im thinking about reading the hobbit to them.  i'm looking for ideas for other books to bring down when i'm back in the states for thanksgiving.  ideas??

sprinkles of rain came enough tonight for one full rainbow stretching over camp and half of a second just above the full one.  it was beautiful.  i'll try to upload pictures soon.  one of the girls here at camp, emma (7), said, 'it looks like the ark!'  i agreed.

last story for now...ledonna cooked lasagna rolls tonight, they are about what you'd imagine them to be.  pouring the noodles in the water to boil, not only did the noodles come out but so did a good number of weevel/maggot/nasty bugs!  sick!  we decided that boiling water does wonders, at least we hoped, and pressed on after picking out all the bugs.  keeping with a theme we have here, 'it is what it is.'

good things and we are thankful.

peace to you.

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear you are getting some protein with your carbs ;) And forget the Hobbit, I think those kids are ready for the Silmarillion.

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  2. Hey Cameron...Can we spearfish with you when we come in April? Miss you! Love, Kathryn

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  3. Cameron. Just ran across your blog on Holli's. Glad I found a way to keep up. I'm so glad thins are off to a great start. Praying for you!

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