As Maria puts it, "At least in the States you can have a second opinion." Basically here, you are stuck with whatever decisions and conditions are given to you. Maria has described some of the conditions of the hospital that she is at : no hot water, no a/c, lights & phones out by 8 P.M., mildew throughout the bathroom, TV from M-F if you pay the $13/day rate, and if you have an IV you cannot take a shower, get out of bed to use the bathroom, nor wear any clothes (even undergarments). Yikes! But praise the Lord Maria has been witnessing to whomever she can get to listen. She has witnessed to a Jehovah's Witness nurse, an 86 year-old Jewish lady, and a young lady at the hospital here on St. Barths. In fact, please be in prayer for this young lady who is a married and is a mother of two. She told Maria that she wants to come to our Bible study in the future and that she "has a lot of questions to ask me". The Lord is definitely using Maria in a great way!
Here are some more quick updates as well:
(Here is one of the girls' latest cake creations, a "fish cake". They made this cake for the birthday of Marion. He is a fisherman by trade!)
(A first for us : We had to buy water! It is definitely not an expense that we wanted to have to pay for but water just happens to be a staple of life we can't live without. This is the water delivery truck. Silas is 3 years old and his little bicycle is next to the truck if it gives you any indication as to the size of the water truck!)
(This is Josh uncovering our cistern from our dining room.)
(This is how much water we have after our delivery...not much better than it was before!)
(One of the highlights of this week was when Kami hosted a Valentine party for our family. She stopped school and we all shared our cards and creations to each other. We feasted on Fries and Chicken Nuggets! Yea for a McDonald's type meal! If was fun lunch for our family.)
On a final update, we finally got to get Beth an orthodontist appointment here. Her last adjutment was at the end of November back in Florida. When we first asked if there was an orthodontist here on St. Barths, we were given the number for a orthophonist...no Beth didn't need an appointment for a speech therapist! But we did finally find out that two days per month, an orthodontist does come to St. Barths. We got an appointment but they would not tell us the price until after the appointment would be over. After replacing two broken brackets and making adjustments, the cost was 60 Euros ($80) for the visit...better than the $200 I was preparing for!
Please keep praying for the people of our precious island to be saved. We are beginning to see some eyes to be "opened" to the truth and the Lord is working in ways we haven't seen here before. We are truly excited as to what the near future holds for the ministry here! Until next time...
