On Monday morning, Doug & Sheila went "to town" (the main city on St Vincent is Kingstown and going there is referred to as going "to town") to get snacks and other items in preparation for VBS.

On Tuesday morning we went out looking for Conroy.  When we arrived at the house where he'd lived in the past, he wasn't there.  We sat down to rest and write a note letting him know we'd been there.   As we did, up walked Conroy!  We learned that he doesn't regularly come to that house anymore; however, on this day (we think God brought him) he did come.  While we were walking in Campden Park with Conroy, up walked Ekron, Conroy's uncle and another of the young men with whom we had studied the Bible.  Tuesday night Ekron came by the Providences.  Sheila and Doug had some good conversations with him regarding God's working in his life.  On Wednesday morning Conroy came by the Providences house and we were able to have a good time of friendship and spiritual encouragement.  After that, Russell & Doug headed into town to buy additional VBS snacks.  While we were there, we "ran into" Jeronnie Richardson.  Since we had no information on where he was living, this was the only way we would have seen him.  We were able to encourage him in his relationship with God and to encourage him to stop by the Questelles Church to pick up some Bible study books which we left for him with Pastor Carter.  Thursday morning, in spite of heavy rain, William, Russell, Phillip & Doug walked to Questelles beach.  We avoided the rain showers until we were in the water and then it didn't matter!

After VBS on Thursday evening we were able to see Kamara Jerome.  Kamara had participated in the boy's Bible study in 2003.  We prayed with Kamara that he would be seeking God's way.

Friday morning we went looking for Enrico whom we had not yet seen.  We walked around to Lowman's Bay to the place where he had built a little shelter in which to live.

We were disappointed that Enrico wasn't there.  As we took a few pictures and prepared to leave, a truck pulled up and out hopped Enrico!

Enrico invited us to meet his girlfriend, Zinga, and his baby boy, Jason Rico Jack.

We followed Enrico further up the Lowman's Bay valley into an area called "the Hole".  After crossing a section of good concrete road, another section of rocky road, and a steep path up the side of the valley toward the south, we reached the spot where Enrico was building a house.   We are glad Enrico is working hard to provide for his son.   We pray God will help him to make a wise choice regarding marriage and that he will choose to follow God's way of purity from this point forward.

When VBS was completed on Friday evening, we were able to relax a bit.  On the way home from VBS Doug was able to talk for an hour with Cusmore Ryan who had studied the Bible with Doug at the Questelles Church in 2003.  Cusmore is working at a window factory.

Saturday morning we went out in hopes of finding others from 2003.  We'd stopped by CJ's home two other times and not found him but this time he was there!

Our next stop was Romaldo Isaac's home.  As with Conroy & Enrico, when we arrived, there was no one home.  As we prepared a note, Romaldo and his mother came up the path!  We had a great opportunity to sit on Romaldo's porch and have an important discussion about the Good News of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

On our way home we were able to stop by Delando Charles' house.  He wasn't there but his mother called him on his cell phone and learned he was on his way home.  In about fifteen minutes he was home.  We talked for a bit and encouraged him to come to visit at the Providences house.
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Saturday afternoon was set aside for a trip to Questelles beach.

Sunday we enjoyed meeting again with our brothers and sisters in Christ at the Questelles Evangelical Church.  Doug was able to link up with Corey Keil after church and encourage him regarding his relationship with God.

In the afternoon we had a good visits with Delando Charles.  Charles, as he is called, was recently engaged to be married to Sharlene.  We had a good time talking about Biblical principles for marriage.

Sunday night we enjoyed a good visit with CJ Rogers.  As with the other young men, we had a good time catching up on his life, encouraging him, and praying with him for God's guidance in his life.

Monday morning we were up early to take the ferry to Bequia (beck-way)

On our way to catch the ferry, we met Corey Keil on his way home from his police work (he often works nights).

In Bequia we visited Pastor Cameron Cato, his wife Andine, as well as their two children, Andron & Cadine.  We had Roti for lunch -- something we'd been looking forward to the whole trip.

We had good conversations about their ministry work at the Pagett Farm Evangelical Church and got to see progress on the apartment being added to the church.  Pastor Cameron drove us around the island, took us to Princess Margeret Beach and then back to the Ferry for our trip home.

Since Enrico had not yet come to see us at the Providence's house, we went to look for him after arriving home from Bequia.  It was dark as we walked back to "the Hole".  We thought we'd gone to the wrong place because there was a completed shelter where we thought the frame of Enrico's shelter (see picture above) should be -- it turned out Enrico had been working very hard and had completed the house (complete with a door, window, and corregated roof).  Enrico wasn't there but a little girl 5-6 yrs old came out of the house.  We asked her if Enrico was around and she said no but pointed down the hill.   We asked her to show us where he was so she started down the hill.   Since it was dark and the path was very muddy, we could barely keep up with her.   She eventually got back down to the concrete section of road, passed the place where we'd met Zinga, and stopped at a gap that went down toward the stream at the bottom of the valley.  She pointed down indicating Enrico was down there.  We walked down a short distance and it appeared we'd reached a dead-end at a house.   We saw a person and called out asking if Enrico was there.  The voice said to "Come-on".  We went into the yard and found there were steps to a lower door that turned out to be a shop.  It was the shop owner who'd called us down and, in the shop, was Enrico!  He said, "I was supposed to come by wasn't I?".   We said yes and he said he'd come by the Providence's in 15 minutes.   We were amazed out how God had helped us find Enrico as we trekked back down to the beach, back up the hill out of Lowman's bay  and back to the Providence's house.  Sure enough, not long after we returned to the Prov's Enrico showed up.  We had good conversation with him about marriage and other areas of his spiritual walk with God.  We also played some Boom-o with him and with Ekron.

Tuesday, our last full day in St Vincent, we hadn't seen Ashaman or Jamal.  Doug took at van into Kingstown and then caught a second van to Ratho Mill where Ashaman had worked at a welding shop.  Ashaman was there but couldn't take time off.  He agreed to stop by the Providence's that evening.  Doug met Sheila & the boys in Kingstown for some souvenir shopping.

In one store we met William's teacher, Mrs Walker, from when he was in 3rd and 4th grade at the Lowman's Leeward Anglican school.  We enjoyed a short visit with her.

Next we enjoyed going on board the ship Logos Hope which was docked in Kingstown for a two week period.

This ship, operated entirely by Operation Mobilization volunteers, sells literature and reduced prices.  Many different types of book topics are offered including cooking, health, science and, most importantly, the Good News of the Bible.  On Sunday we had the privilege of meeting one of the ship's crew, Aaron Hand, who works as a welder.  He grew up about 2 hours from where we live.  From him we learned a great deal about how the ship functions.
While on the ship we "bumped into" Pastor Providence.  We hadn't planned on that but didn't think much of that "coincidence" and Pastor Providence soon left the ship to go elsewhere in Kingstown.  We looked at various displays on the ship and had just purchased a book on the story of the originial Logos ship when Pastor Providence "re-appeared" and told us that Jamal was at the Providence's house waiting to see us!  Earlier in the week we had stopped by the house where Jamal used to live but he was no longer living there.  We asked where he was and generally figured out he was living at the north end of the island.  A sister of his said she'd try to have a nearby aunt call another aunt with whom Jamal was staying so he'd know we were in St Vincent.  At noon on Tuesday Jamal got the word.  He took an hour long van ride which cost him $2US to come see us.  When he arrived and we were not there, Sister Ena Providence didn't know how to reach us.   Thankfully she decided to call Pastor Providence on his cell phone to see if he could find us and tell us to come home.  Of course, since we'd not gone to town with Pastor Providence, there was no reason to believe he'd have any idea where we were in the mass of humanity and buildings that make up Kingstown -- no reason, that is, unless God was helping us out again (we're certainly believe He was).   Of course Pastor Providence had just seen us on the Logos Hope ship so  He back tracked, found us, and sent us home to see Jamal!
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We enjoyed the reunion with Jamal.  Pastor Providence, as he does with many of these young men, provided counsel to Jamal in seeking a meens of providing income for himself.  We are praying that Jamal can get linked up with some believers whom Pastor Providence knows who live up near Jamal.

All too soon it was time for Jamal to leave to go home.  This picture shows him walking down the street as he leaves.  We include it because it reminds us of the sense of sadness we have in having to say good-bye to these young men who have a special place in our hearts.

While Jamal was at the Providence's on Tuesday afternoon, Enrico also came with his son, Jason.  Baby Jason slept a good deal of the time while we played games and talked with Enrico.

Pastor Wade and Sister Jean Carter graciously hosted us for dinner on Tuesday evening and we enjoyed giving them a report on VBS since they'd been gone the preceding week at the camp for the Evangelical Church of the West Indies.  We had the privilege of leaving some of the VBS items for them to use in upcoming Questelles Church ministries.

David Phillips graciously drove Doug back down to the Providence's home by 8PM so he could meet Ashaman there.  Ashaman has a vehicle of his own which he drove over.  Doug and Ashaman had some good conversations which we pray will encourage Ashaman in pursuing God's best path for his life.   After Pastor Wade & Sister Jean brought Sheila and the boys down to the Providence's house and after Ashaman had left, we had a good time of prayer with the Carters and the Providences as we said our good-byes prior to our Wednesday morning departure.  We thank God for these dear brothers and sisters in Christ who are making great sacrifice to further the work of God's Church in St Vincent.

As we got up early to head for the airport on Wednesday morning, Conroy made the effort to come down to see us off.   That special effort was meaningful to us.  We prayed with him, gave final hugs to the Providences, and headed for the airport in a taxi driven by a brother in Christ from the Barroullie ECWI church, Gregory Williams.  Soon we were winging our way back to Barbados.  The picture above shows two of the Grenadine islands, Battoweya and Balliceaux which can be seen from the southern end of St Vincent.  Through the whole trip God smoothed our flight connections.  We caught our American Airlines flight to Miami and then our last flight to St Louis.  Our neighbor, Tom, picked us up at the airport and we walked in the front door of our house at 10:45PM.

All in all, we felt very blessed with the things God allowed us to do and experience on this trip.  The days were tiring but it was the kind of tired that left us with a feeling of joy in having been, we believe, used by God to serve others.   Pastor Maxwell Providence and his dear wife Ena were wonderful hosts to us and spent many hours cooking meals for us (and holding them to strange hours) so we could fit in as many visits with folks as possible.  Without their graciousness, the trip wouldn't have worked as it did.  If you have any questions about the trip or would like to see a picture of a particular person for whom you prayed in the past, let us know and we'll do what we can.

Doug, Sheila, William, Russell & Phillip

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