Dear Pastor, Churches, and Friends, July 2024
I’m writing this letter to you after the passing of Hurricane Beryl. The smaller islands here have been hit very hard. As for my family, we are all safe and healthy. We were without power for 6 days, but God is good. We celebrated Katie's 11th birthday by generator light with some mostly melted ice cream, cake, and several of her friends. She had a blast. We still don't have internet, but phone data works from time to time.
During the storm, we sheltered at the church with a few of our members until the storm passed. Once it let up, we went out to check on everyone and inspected Pastor Mitchell's church and home, our boat, and the house we rent. Gospel Light suffered the most, with about 12 pieces of the roof being ripped off. We secured it until it can be replaced, but will need to rebuild part of the wood structure first. One lady in our church lost half her roof, but some folks were able to temporarily fix it. Another lady lost some of her roof as well, and we were able to put it back on but need to go back and put screws in to secure it better. We did lose a window in the van when something hit it, so hopefully we can get that fixed soon. It’s been funny driving around and folks waving, saying “HEY PASTA”… and then seeing the window as I pass “OOO NOOO PASTA YA WINDOW.”
We’ve stayed busy working on generators, cutting trees, working on solar equipment, providing food, and other necessities for those in need. We’ve given out Bibles to the shelter here in Bequia. Our churches have cooked and provided hot meals for them. One of our tent meeting generators has been placed at the clinic and police station in Paget Farm until power can be fully restored. Our small Honda generator we have moved from place to place to help recharge phones and devices so folks can reach family and friends. It’s been used to run water pumps, freezers and more. It’s definitely getting worked hard.
It will take some time here in Bequia to get back to normal, but Bequia is fairly well connected. My burden and heart are for the people in Union, Mayreau, and Canouan. They have been completely devastated with over 90% of the homes damaged, roofs taken off, or completely destroyed. That’s about 5000+ people who have been affected. We want to try and help as much as we can. What that will look like at this point, I’m not sure. I was able to talk with some ladies from Union that made it through the storm and gave them a Bible and some tracts. Pastor Mitchell has a gentleman in the States that is filling a container with relief supplies and building supplies to come down. If someone wanted to help add to the container load, reach out and I will give you Brother Billy's number. If you wanted to ship something yourself, www.caribshipatl.com is a company that we use often.
We are planning to get Bibles and hot meals to some of the shelters St. Vincent this week.
If you would like to sponsor some meals for the shelters, please let me know, and any funds
can be sent through MWBM or directly to us through PayPal. (this would be the fastest way)
Immediate needs:
• 1000 Bibles, coloring books, crayons, coloring pencils for people in shelters.
• Canned goods, rice, water, and hygiene items.
• Tarps, crow bars, hammers, roofings screws, nails, saws and building supplies.
• Dewalt 20v battery and reciprocating saw would be helpful. (We have drills)
• Stihl chainsaw: this can be purchased here for about $900 (yes, they are expensive here) We will use this for clean up now and in the future.
I’m writing this letter to you after the passing of Hurricane Beryl. The smaller islands here have been hit very hard. As for my family, we are all safe and healthy. We were without power for 6 days, but God is good. We celebrated Katie's 11th birthday by generator light with some mostly melted ice cream, cake, and several of her friends. She had a blast. We still don't have internet, but phone data works from time to time.
During the storm, we sheltered at the church with a few of our members until the storm passed. Once it let up, we went out to check on everyone and inspected Pastor Mitchell's church and home, our boat, and the house we rent. Gospel Light suffered the most, with about 12 pieces of the roof being ripped off. We secured it until it can be replaced, but will need to rebuild part of the wood structure first. One lady in our church lost half her roof, but some folks were able to temporarily fix it. Another lady lost some of her roof as well, and we were able to put it back on but need to go back and put screws in to secure it better. We did lose a window in the van when something hit it, so hopefully we can get that fixed soon. It’s been funny driving around and folks waving, saying “HEY PASTA”… and then seeing the window as I pass “OOO NOOO PASTA YA WINDOW.”
We’ve stayed busy working on generators, cutting trees, working on solar equipment, providing food, and other necessities for those in need. We’ve given out Bibles to the shelter here in Bequia. Our churches have cooked and provided hot meals for them. One of our tent meeting generators has been placed at the clinic and police station in Paget Farm until power can be fully restored. Our small Honda generator we have moved from place to place to help recharge phones and devices so folks can reach family and friends. It’s been used to run water pumps, freezers and more. It’s definitely getting worked hard.
It will take some time here in Bequia to get back to normal, but Bequia is fairly well connected. My burden and heart are for the people in Union, Mayreau, and Canouan. They have been completely devastated with over 90% of the homes damaged, roofs taken off, or completely destroyed. That’s about 5000+ people who have been affected. We want to try and help as much as we can. What that will look like at this point, I’m not sure. I was able to talk with some ladies from Union that made it through the storm and gave them a Bible and some tracts. Pastor Mitchell has a gentleman in the States that is filling a container with relief supplies and building supplies to come down. If someone wanted to help add to the container load, reach out and I will give you Brother Billy's number. If you wanted to ship something yourself, www.caribshipatl.com is a company that we use often.
We are planning to get Bibles and hot meals to some of the shelters St. Vincent this week.
If you would like to sponsor some meals for the shelters, please let me know, and any funds
can be sent through MWBM or directly to us through PayPal. (this would be the fastest way)
Immediate needs:
• 1000 Bibles, coloring books, crayons, coloring pencils for people in shelters.
• Canned goods, rice, water, and hygiene items.
• Tarps, crow bars, hammers, roofings screws, nails, saws and building supplies.
• Dewalt 20v battery and reciprocating saw would be helpful. (We have drills)
• Stihl chainsaw: this can be purchased here for about $900 (yes, they are expensive here) We will use this for clean up now and in the future.
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