2/25/2002
Letter from Charles Brown to Helen Brown RE: Maranatha Mission Trip
This is my first chance to write and get word to you that all is well, so you would get it before I got home. They say mail here is slower than "snail mail" so when I got the opportunity to send a letter back with one of the Directors, who was flying back to the U.S., I wanted to take advantage of it. Also, they tell me postage for letters and cards is the same and is 90 cents each and I would even beat it home! So much for communications. There is no phone here and no mail delivery, plus the T-V doesn't work, so we are really cut off from the outside world.
I was assigned to the kitchen as a helper so I have not been off the Camp grounds, except for church last Sabbath. The building they are working on is adjacent to the church, so I took a couple of pictures of it and want to take a couple more just before we leave. Before we got here, another Maranatha crew had poured the concrete slab and erected the steel frame for the sides and roof as well as starting to lay the first blocks. The first day our crew worked (Sunday) they really had a good day-laid about 900 blocks- the best they had ever done on a first day at Maranatha!
Since I am working in the kitchen, its our job to keep them all well fed. We have some terrific cooks as well as helpers. This morning I went in at 5:00 a.m. to help get breakfast out by 6:30. One of the cooks, Mae-Brit Rusk and I fried pancakes for 72 people WITHOUT any skillets or a grill. We used kettles-about 16"- across with 4" sides -over two gas burners. They turned out amazingly well, at least most of them because the Lord was with us. After breakfast, we then have worship at 7:05 and then the 2 buses leave with all the workers for a half hour drive over to the job site. About 12 of our group are left here to cook and clean up. (Sack lunches need to be prepared for the crew as they do not return again until the evening meal).
This is a typical Junior Camp but is really quite modern in some ways. They have a nice open air pavilion for meetings and eating with a kitchen on the end. It is two stories with 20 rooms (like a motel) on the second floor. Each room has 2 twin beds, a closet, cabinet, shower, lavatory, toilet and 2 steel chairs plus a 19" T-V that doesn't work. The floors are 12" ceramic tile (white and professionally laid) which along with the carefully painted walls and woodwork make for a deluxe looking room. ..I was assigned room #20 with our bus driver, Captain Charlie, a native Jamaican and new SDA, who acts as our tour guide whenever we go out on the buses. They are scheduling a day off next week for us to get away to see some sites as well as buy some souvenirs.
The weather has really been great since we got here-cloudy with some sun and not really hot at all but very humid. It rained hard last night which helped to cool things down abit along with the gentle breeze which makes it almost perfect. Everything stays so green and nice. They have cocoanut trees growing all around the Camp along with many other large native trees which make it a real jungle all around. They also have more rustic cabins with wooden bunk beds and concrete floors but only a light bulb in each cabin and no electric outlets. They have 4" sheets of foam for the beds so they are comfortable. The people are great and are so happy in working for the Lord.
Here is our Third Report - by Don Crook.Here is our First Report - by Don Crook and Lou Kratzer.
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