The Island

So as one can tell, I am giving this blog thing another go. Third time is a charm, as they say.

As I look back through the very few posts I wrote a few years ago , I smile as I think of and see the changes in my three kiddos. What indescribable blessings they are! I also, think of all the changes we have gone through and how all of us in this home have grown.  Things have been unbelievably hard at times, unbelievably happy at times, and just plain unbelievable at times. But it is with joy and faith that it has all worked for good, just as we are promised in Romans 8:28…

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

The other thing I notice looking through these writings is that I still have yet to talk about the island. Saba, the Unspoiled Queen.

Where do I begin? How do I describe it?

I find this hard at times. First off, as my mother has said, one has to see this 5 square mile island to believe it.  A dormant, volcanic rock in the middle of the Caribbean Sea…home to somewhere around 1500 folks…it isn’t on many maps…the road winds into switch backs and curves…goats and iguanas roam free…there is desert, black sand beaches, and lush rainforest all within minutes of each other.  Inadequately said, it is beyond amazing.

Secondly, most can relate to the love between a parent and a child, or the love a wife has for her husband.  But many find it odd for a person to love a place, or a culture, especially when it isn’t the culture or place in which you were born and raised. Lots of people enjoy “going on vacation” or “going to the beach”. Very few feel an ache to go somewhere and never look back on things familiar.

So at times I fumble my words and leave conversations thinking I by no means explained why or how I love my little island the way I do.  My desire to be walking on the road there with the cool Caribbean breeze blowing on my face drifts through my days and fills my dreams at night. The sounds of the familiar Dutch island lingo play over and over in my head. Saba…she is on my lips, in mind, and on my heart.  I love her people. I love them with the love of my Lord.

It is my intent to share Saba as best I can in my writings on this blog. Today I have decided to share a writing that I did years ago for one of the mission teams that traveled to Saba with us. We share written devotionals with our team to promote quiet, daily reflection time.  Many of the team members end up asking how the trip began or how we came to know about Saba. So this has been my way of answering that and sharing a bit of God’s story of Michael and Aletha and Saba with our teams.

This is how my life with Saba began…

A Clean House, Good Friends, and A Red Car

Some of you may already know the ins and outs of how Michael and I ended up living on this beautiful little island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.  To make a long story short for those of you that do not…

Michael proposed to me in November of 2000.  Well not really…we just came to the conclusion we were going to get married the following July, but that is another story in and of its self.  With that agreement and decision, I knew that I had also decided to follow him to where ever he chose to go to medical school.  He had heard of some schools scattered on various Caribbean islands, including St. Martin.  He found five schools he was interested in, got accepted to four, and began weighing the pros and cons of each.  Together we chose SABA University School of Medicine by March 2001. We got married as planned in July, and a month later landed on the tiniest commercial runway in the world.

To say the least we were scared as we prepared to go to Saba.  We knew all we were going to have was each other and God. Through out those months we prayed like we had never prayed before, turning to God with our concerns and requests.  Our continuous prayers included these main requests…

1. A job for me to supply an income and success for Michael in school.
2. A safe and nice place to live.
3. Lots of new friends.
4. An affordable car.
5. An answer to how we were going to continue our walk with Him through worship and service.

God showed us the power of prayer and His blessings one by one.  Just before we moved I called the Saba Comprehensive School, with doubt that I would find anything they were willing to let a “home ec” teacher do.  Within a week I was hired over an email to become the schools’ food preparation and care teacher. 

About a month before we made the trip we began calling a list of possible landlords.  We finally found an American man that we could understand over the phone.  He had a small apartment for rent that sounded great, so with faith we took it.  The week before we were to fly out, we got a call from a Freed-Hardeman University graduate.  Scott Wilson and his wife, Kimberly, both enrolled in Michael’s class, wanted to know if we would like to worship as a home church with them, and let us know that they were renting from the same American man on the island, making our apartments with a couple hundred feet from each other.

We arrived on Saba safely on a wet and rainy Wednesday afternoon as two passengers of the only WinAir flight that made the trip that day.  Our apartment was clean and perfect for us newlyweds.  I began teaching the next morning.  Michael began classes a few days later and found med school to be challenging but rewarding.  As the next few days went on, our circle of friends grew with people with similar backgrounds that we began to depend on and love.  The times of Bible study and worship were wonderful and our numbers grew there as well, with believers and non-believers. 

One more answered prayer to go, you might think…the car.  Michael searched for a few weeks and we began to tire from hitching to town from Lower Hell’s Gate.  Nothing had fit our budget as of yet.  Then the call came.  An upper class student offered us a beat up red Hyundai Excel with a few problems under the hood…a typical island car.  The price was almost too good to be true…FREE, plus the repairs it may have to have.  We repaired the muffler, replaced a hose which we got at no charge, changed the oil a couple of times, gave it a paint job with five cans of red spray paint just for kicks, and drove it to the airport the day we left the island for good.  “The Red Flame”, as we called it, is a story that we will one day tell our grandkids about.

God is good to those that seek His guidance. We are told in Hebrews 4:16 to come boldly before His throne with what is on our hearts and minds.  In Philippians 4 we are told to not be anxious but just ask God for everything and then be thankful for His blessings.  The smallest things in human eyes, like a clean place to live and a car to drive, matter to Him because they matter to us. I am thankful I serve a God who listens, cares, provides, and teaches through it all.