My Advent Music Video

Life of Bainbridge with my family.

Fall in the Bahamas

HINT: Click the 240p on the player and change it to 360p for better picture...

Home Again Home Again

Due to some very unforeseen situations having to do with my visa, I needed to come home unexpectedly yesterday. It's left the school in a hard situation, but there was nothing we could do about it.

So I'm home for the next month: enjoying the crisp beauty of the Northwest, spending time with friends and family, working on writing final examinations for my students, and making some progress on my book.

Have a blessed Christmas and I'll be posting again when I return to the Bahamas in January!

I will leave you with a little slide show of the past 3 months...

A Bahamian Thanksgiving

Blessing food on Thanksgiving

The school getting interviewed by local TV on Thanksgiving

I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: a great job, speeding to work on my scooter in the warm morning light, new friends, new projects, and living right on the sea.

I ended up going to FOUR thanksgiving meals...I had stuffing coming out my ears by Monday morning.

The school Thanksgiving

The first meal was at school: we had a big meal all together. The second meal was at Marlene's cousin's house. The third with the Allen's family. And the fourth with Kari's house. It was quite weekend of feasting.

Thanksgiving at the Allens

I helped Vicki on Saturday wash the salt off the windows and get a Christmas tree for the house. It's always nice to do a little manual work on Saturdays.

And I worked ona draft for the first chapter of my book on beauty. I presented it to Marlene, David, and Vicki. They were very kind and encouraging, and basically just wanted me to keep writing and not get bogged down trying to perfect what I've done so far. So I'll be working on chapter 2 this week.

My church- St. Matthew's

Evening commute

A posed picture of me teaching Math

Evening commute..."Another day in Paradise".

People Helping People

Here's David on his TV show People Helping People.

It's been a quiet week in Nassau...

It's been a quiet week in Nassau. People are talking about a big new resort that China is investing in (2.4 billion dollars) and will provide many people with jobs here called Bahamar. They are going to tear down three existing hotels and build it right through part of my commute. Supposedly they are going to start digging up the road in a few months.

After practicing their song at the church

School is going well. Kelly was out sick most of the week, so it was fairly quiet around the office. The kids were practicing a song they will sing tonight for Kari's going away party/service at his church. And I've been working on the kids' final examination study guides.

The Allens have had a quiet week as well. David goes to different islands to do work with counseling centers there once week. And Vicki has been wrapping up her term this week at the college.

I spent a couple evening this week with an older lady named Suzanne Black. She is a friend of the Allens and is a local white Bahamian who has spent a lot of her life with the upper crest of Bahamian society. She has lots of class and refinement (in that respect she reminds me of my grandmother Mimi a lot). She's taken a liking to me and she's told me all about her life: 'overcoming' two battles with cancer, being a member of some prestigious clubs in London and New York, being the president of the richest club in the Bahamas for a few years, and her rocky family life. She took me out last night to a nice little restaurant down the street called Indigo's for dinner. It reminded me of the Tree House Cafe on Bainbridge-- nice quaint place.

On the bus to church with the students

I also met up with the pastor of the emerging church, Christian. He was actually a very nice guy and we had a great conversation about art and beauty. He's a rather eccentric artist/musician type with a thought or opinion about everything. I hope we can find some more time to hang out. 

My book on Beauty is coming along slow and steady. I'm at the research stage of accumulating quotes and ideas to flesh out later. It's a great project to be working on here. The Allens have tons of books-- poetry, theology, history, etc. So I've been using their bookcases as a library. Plus David has been great about recommending authors and books for me.

I was on a run yesterday morning and I decided that it was time to cut my beard. The season was over. My students haven't seen my face yet, and I'm sure they will freak out like 11 year olds do.

And I'm totally loving my scooter. There's nothing better than cruising along the ocean. Sometimes I go right along with the waves, and it feels like I'm surfing on the road. It's great fun.

This Sunday, after I went to my church at 7am, I head out west to the richest Anglican church on the island, St. Christopher's. It is in a country club, and I had to promise the security guard at the gate that I wouldn't 'cruise around' the club before or after the church service. It was a small church and had a bungalow feel. But after going there, I'm pretty sure that I won't be back. I didn't feel like I would fit there very well.

I'm looking forward to this coming week- I have a concert to go to, a meeting with my pastor at my church, and THREE thanksgiving dinners to go to at different places!

Three Month Aniversary in the Bahamas

The Oyster Bar

 Unlike sub-Saharan Africa, the Bahamas has distinct seasons. And with the cooling, it is pretty much perfect weather now. It's like the most perfect day on Bainbridge Island in mid-July, every day here-- mid 70s during the night and peaking at 80 during the day.

David at the Oyster Bar

I'm settling in well at the Allen's. Last weekend was the best weekend I've had since being here. It was a perfect balance between rest, work, and fun. David and Vicki like to go out to the little cafe on the Sandyport canal for boiled fish and johnny cake. It's always very relaxing and David ends up talking with pretty much everyone in the restaurant by the time he leaves.

Then I helped Vicki do some cleaning and did some writing in the afternoon. I've started in on my book and will be slowly chipping away on it over the next few months.

Then I met Kari down at the Catholic cathedral in town for their annual street fair. It felt like a quaint small town festival in the summer. It was great to just walk around and see all the kids running around, listen to the band play local favorites, and watch the old women play bingo.

Sandyport

On Sunday I went to the 7am service at St. Matthew's Anglican Church like I do every week, and then went back to the Presbyterian Church for their 10:30am service and listened to a new friend of mine preach (someone I met last Friday at one of David's lectures). He was a good preacher and it was fun to hear someone my age in the pulpit. (Unfortunately he's a missionary on one of the other islands and only comes to Nassau once a month so I won't see him often.)

Sunday night David, Marlene, and I went out to a jazz concert at Marlene's cousin's house. It was wonderful! They had big back patio that sat all thirty of us. There was great food, lots of interesting people to meet and talk to, a little dancing, good music, and a perfect warm night with the stars and moon overhead.

View from the balcony at sunrise

Perhaps one of the best things about my new living situation is that I now have my morning prayers over the most beautiful scene I could imagine: sunrise on the Caribbean. It's so majestic and contemplative...the predawn light making the clouds golden and purple, and then the first rays of light sparkling on the turquoise waves. Amazing. 

Getting around on my scooter is great. I'm feeling more comfortable weaving through the thick traffic. It's a beautiful commute along the ocean, past all the big hotels, through downtown Nassau, and past my church.  I am usually on the road right when the sun has risen and I have to wear a hat under my helmet to block the eastern sun from my eyes.

And as for school, it has really evened out and I've found a good rhythm that doesn't stress me out and the students are thriving in a schedule that is more predictable. We had our first PTA meetings last week, which went fine. I had about half my students' parents come out. They had a long lecture by this guy who had given all the students an IQ test and had all sorts of numbers and stats to decipher for the parents...for a 'reasonable price' of course. After his little shtick I tried to help the poor moms relax and told them that the most important thing in an education is the development of the whole person: relationally, spiritually, and personally, and that all those tests couldn't determine what really mattered.  They were all hard working women who were mostly concerned about their kids not completing their homework, and I think they left feeling more relaxed.

Steaming Coffee

The discipline issue is much better and once we've established the boundaries, the students are much more behaved once they've tasted the consequences a few times (usually their parents giving them a good spanking).

We finished reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last week and now we are listening a dramatized audio reading of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I'm going to try to persuade them that books are better than movies, but it will take some clever persuasion to convince this lot!

New Season...New Life

Well the anticipation is over. I've moved to the Allen's and I've got a new motor scooter. I feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury. No more toiling away on the side of the road on my bicycle as the cars zoom past. No more lonesome nights in a little apartment.

On Wednesday I went down to the Yamaha dealership near Paradise Island and talked to a salesman about a scooter. It looked good. I went back on Thursday and bought it and got insurance. Then on Friday, Kari and I went over on our lunch break and I drove it off the lot. I was somewhat nervous that I wouldn't know how to ride it, but within a few miles I was feeling relaxed.

I drove it into the parking lot at the school and started honking the horn. My students had been very excited that I was getting a scooter, and they all came pouring out the door - awe and wonder written all over their faces. As I walked in the class after I parked the scooter, all the kids gave me admiring looks and a few gave me high fives.

The sunlight is shining through

Later in the afternoon we all filed outside. "Someone go get my water bottle from inside." I shouted over the excited chatter. We all gathered around the scooter to pray, and spontaneously some of the kids started praying the Lord's Prayer in Latin. It sounded so beautiful. I then sprinkled water on the scooter and blessed it and prayed that God would protect me on it and that it would be a 'vehicle' for life and blessing. 

So now I'm riding along in style out in the sun under the palm trees everyday. Having a scooter feels so liberating...being able to get around anywhere on the island whenever I want...not be dependent on other people to give me rides. It's great. "Oh boy," David said when he saw if for the first time, "it's like a pretty little toy you get for Christmas sitting there under the Christmas tree!"

And now I am a resident of the "Bahamian Riveria"! The Allen's house is located right across the street from the grocery store so I can walk to get groceries. And I can go for runs through quiet private residential roads. Cable Beach is a more

The outside of the Allen's house

wealthy community and it's much more relaxed than my previous location. Even I never felt really threatened in my old house, there was an underlying sense of danger all the time that never let one really relax: the dogs, the fireworks at night, the loud rap music blaring from distant neighbors. I must admit I will miss the sound of the roosters and the cooing of the doves in the morning. Those doves always reminded me that the Holy Spirit was everywhere surrounding me. But in any case I will enjoy feeling entirely safe and at ease now when I'm home.

My commute will take me past a few big hotels, through downtown Nassau where the cruise ships stop, past my church (St. Matthew's Anglican), past the library, and onto the school. I haven't done it yet, but I'm anticipating that it will take about 30 minutes with the traffic. But the hour commute is well worth it!

The "upstairs" balcony

I feel that I'm in a much more sustainable situation now and looking forward to the new lifestyle. I was struck this morning in church by the passage, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." In some ways I think that I'm entering into a new season of comfort that I pray will be fruitful and a time to flourish.

My huge over sized bed

A nice little sofa in my room

The Allen's Coy pond right outside my room

My little license plate

Island Life

Kelly as "Luther" on Reformation Day

            The past week has gone by very well. I’m feeling much more settled and competent at school, and able to be flexible without too much stress. The kids are also much more settled and we’re not having nearly as many people acting out. We celebrated "Reformation Day" last week and my class all dressed up as people you changed the world. I dressed up as Ghandi (since I only have one costume, I wear it for every dress up occasion). We had a couple Queen Victorias, a Napoleon, a Florance Nightingale, a George Washington, and a Marie Antoinette. Kelly dressed up as monk in the fully brown monk's robe complete with a hood. I kept laughing at her the whole day...she looked ridiculous, but was just as serious and busy as ever in her robes.

            I spent the weekend again at the Allens. This weekend they put me to work staining their teak outdoor furniture, installing new smoke alarms, and putting a new fountain in their coy pond. They are still healthy people, but just getting a bit older, and having young blood around to lift things and do projects around the house seems to be a great blessing for them. I printed off some of my Waldwyck lectures and gave them to David. He loved them. I had really thought anyone down here would be in the least bit interested in cosmic liturgy, sacramental ontology, or theological aesthetics, but David sure is. So we had plenty of time to sit gazing out at the sea and muse about this or that. 

            Viki and I went out Saturday night to Mario’s Bowling Alley. It’s the newest thing apparently, it was packed with kids dressed to the nines. Viki’s sister in law and her husband were celbrating their 54^th anniversary, and rented out a private room with a few bowling lanes. I’m sure I was the youngest person there. It was full of very pleasant and very old people. I had a lovely time chatting with old ladies and working on my bowling game.

            I went with them to one of the big evangelical churches here called Calvary Bible Church. True to its name it your typical low church decorated in the late 1970’s style. David was invited to preach and he did a great job of it. He talked about the culture of death in the Bahamas, and how different it is to the culture of life in the Kingdom of God. I think he did a good job of shaking people up regarding the real state that the Bahamas is in right now.

            The search of a scooter continues. Marlene has been helping me, and today we went around to different stores and looked into the options. The price tag will be anywhere from $700-$2000. I’m praying and hoping that God will provide just the right scooter at the right price.

The Sultan of Monaco

 

            Things move slowly down here…for better and for worse. I guess it’s all part of island life.

Life on the Sea

I spent the weekend with the Allens, and of course had a fabulous time. Enjoyable conversations, home cooked meals, Saturday afternoon projects around the house, and the hanging out down at the local restaurant on the dock (you can look through the floorboards down into the turquoise water below you). David kept handing me the phone with whoever we was talking to, putting the person on the phone and myself in a somewhat awkward situation. "Here Charles, this is my friend Ben. He's a priest from Seattle." (David never lets the truth get in the way of a good story).

Different folk came floating into the Allens' house through the weekend. David is probably the most well-connected-extroverted person I've ever met. He loves people, loves telling stories, and loves to laugh. It seems like every ten minutes his mind is drawn to another person that comes to mind and he calls them up and chats it up with them.

David recently finished a book on Shame, and he gave me one of the draft versions to read. It's quite insightful and helpful. He's been digging out different writings I've done and has been encouraging me to write a book! We'll see if that happens. "Man, you're a great writer. I think some of your stuff could take off. I've got a publisher, so just put it together man! I'm thinking the name of your book should be The Beauty of Holiness. Yea, the beauty of holiness. Yea. yea." He makes me laugh.

The most shocking part of the weekend was when David suggested for the second time that I should move into their back guestroom. He said they got plenty of room, they enjoy me being around, and that they want to help out the school by giving me housing for free. I didn't have to think about it for too long. "Okay, yeah that sounds good." Viki agreed that she would be happy for me to move in. We kept talking about it over the weekend. It was decided that I would need to buy a scooter to make the 25 min commute, and let my landlord that I was moving out fairly soon. So I'm thinking I'll move out the beautiful beach house the second week of November!

"Check out this cool video Mr. Moore!"

This is the kind of music my students are into these days: Christian Rap.

I didn't even know people were still making Christian Rap!

Getting Out and About

Following my illness last week, I made a concerted effort to get out as much as I could this week.

On Saturday I went over for dinner at "Young David's" house on Sandyport, and had a fabulous feast with his family. Viki, his mom, came over and we all had a wonderful evening on the patio overlooking the harbor drinking wine and laughing at little baby Johnny dance to the music in the living room.

I went out to this hilarious concert on Sunday night to listen to this African American singer/preacher from Georgia or Texas at one of the nice hotels. I went with Mama Dorothy and Marlene, and enjoyed the very different cultural experience. The singer sang karaoke style to a CD of instrumental music. He kept telling stories about how he was friends with Opera and spent time with Presidents. It was all about how God brings us BIG blessing and makes us successful. And even though the concert was a benefit concert for the purchase of a new church organ for St. Barnabas Anglican Church, folks in the Bahamas are pretty into the 'bigger is better' approach to life.  I could never see this guy getting much of crowd in Seattle, but he certainly was a big hit down here!

Then on Monday night I went with Kari over to the opening service for the Anglican Synod at the Cathedral in town. A synod is basically a big meeting for all the Anglican pastors in the area to gather to meet, pray, discuss issues facing the church, and make a plan for the coming year. I have been to one other synod in Kenya, but the Bahamian Anglicans sure know how to do pomp and circumstance: everyone dressed to the nines, the governor general attending as a guest, three supreme court judges, and singers from all over the diocese. It was very enjoyable.

A few visiting judges at the Synod

A waitress in a wig!

Yesterday was "Literature Day" at school and everyone dressed up as a character from one of the novels we are reading. I dressed up as Toomai the elephant rider from The Jungle Book in my white punjabi suit. We also had Allen Breck from Kidnapped, a couple white seals from The Jungle Book, and a couple waitresses from Kidnapped. (It was somewhat lamentable that Classic literature doesn't have more memorable young female characters to be role models for young women. After reading three great classic books, the best character the girls in my class could find was a minor bit part of a waitress in Kidnapped!)

This week marks midterm of the semester, and so for some reason we have Thursday and Friday off from school. But no questions were made by my students who were excited to have a four day weekend!

Mi classe

Last night I went to an awards ceremony at Government House, the main estate for fancy government functions, for an award Kari received. I rode ol' Sweet'n Smooth through the front gate and the Defense Force guards dressed in pure white from head to toe, looked at me strangely (they probably don't see many white guys ride up to the gate on bicycles!) and directed me to a tree where I could lock up my bike. The award ceremony was only 20 minutes, a point that Kari was irate over the rest of the evening. "This is outrageous! 20 minutes? Who put this together? You can't have the recipients wait outside the room and call them in one at a time, and then have a prayer all about thanking God that the Governor General let us use his house! I'm going to write a letter to the director tomorrow demanding that we have another ceremony!" (Kari can over react now and then...) Nevertheless they had a nice reception afterward and I hung out most of the evening with Shavincia's (Kari's girlfriend) mom and chatted, while Kari "politic-ed" his way around the room and got his picture with all the other budding young politicians.

This weekend I'm going to be heading out to the east end of the island and enjoy some time with the Allens, which I'm looking forward to!

(This clip is of a high school senior sing one of my favorite hymns. She was a natural singer!)

A Rough Week

Life comes in seasons, good follows bad, bad follows good. This last week was the later.

Following a wonderful weekend with the Allens, this past week was one of the hardest. I came down with the stomach flu on Tuesday night, was bedridden all of Wednesday. I went back to work on Thursday and Friday but felt pretty lousy. School wasn't particularly smooth this week either: problems between parents and administration were heightened when school fees are due. We had parents coming in and creating a lot of drama. And though I thankfully wasn't directly involved, it creates an atmosphere of pressure. Kelly has been great about trying to buffer me from parents who are out of control, but she goes in great detail explaining it to me later.

We also had a student suspended for making jokes about niggers. It was a good teaching opportunity, since many of the other students didn't know what the word meant, but still not a very pleasant situation to deal with when recovering from the flu.

Other than that it was a very quite week of solitude. I'm trying to use this solitude for good, but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing! I'm praying that God would provide a little motor scooter for me here. It would really help me be more mobile around the island. No one drives over 35 mph here anyway, and it's relatively safe. It would be very nice to have some transportation to get around after dark (when it isn't safe to ride my bike any more) to have more of social life. The monotony of spending my evenings alone is starting to get to me.

However despite all the things that seem to be challenging, I continue to see glimpses of the potentially wonderful life one could have living in the Bahamas: the place is really very beautiful, the beaches gorgeous, the life laid back, and the weather wonderful all through the winter.  I love being near the ocean and being able to having nice walks along the surf by moonlight anytime I want! The big thing I miss the most right now are friends. No matter how beautiful a place you live in, its hard to enjoy alone. My friend Phil Tanaka has encouraged me to think of this time as a time to grow closer in intimacy with God. I've tried, but it's not an easy thing to learn. So I pray that I will increasingly live into the potential that exists here, and enjoy this place to the fullest.

A Whole New World

 This weekend I took a break from the crazed dogs, my tiny apartment, and my solitude and went to stay with David and Vicki Allen. They are the couple who have been inviting Marleen and I over on Sunday evenings for a Bible study, and they said last weekend, "Ben, why don't you come over to our house and relax and rest here." So I packed a little weekend bag and  rode ol' Sweet'n Smooth the 8 miles out to the Allen's home.

They have a beautiful house on the water...the kind of house in movies where people go when they make millions and retire on the beach.

I spent hours this weekend gazing out at the ocean. I read a little, took naps, and flipped through picture books I found on shelves around the house.

But the best part was spending time with the Allens. Vicki teaches English at the College of the Bahamas, and loves to talk about literature and ideas. She was good friends with Marni Keyes (a L'Abri worker in Boston) back in the olden days, and loves the intellectual life. She took me to a Shakespeare reading at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas on Friday, which was fabulous, and then to a musical drama on Sunday night at the same local theater I was at earlier in the week for a Midsummer Night's Dream. Vicki was so generous and pleasant to spend time with. She had hours of marking papers that she would disappear into her study to work on while I napped.

And David is a GREAT person. He's like a Christian Pablo Neruda...enjoying everything and everyone. He carries this aura of joy and pleasantness inside of him. He took me out to this little breakfast place on the beach where he treated me to a 'real Bahamian breakfast': boiled fish, grapefruit juice, 'johnny cake' (which is a kind of cornbread), and grits. He kept telling me how much he liked me and enjoyed me. Sometimes we would be talking to someone and then all of the sudden he would pick up his phone and call someone and after talking with them for a while he would hand me the phone and have me talk to the person. Then he get the phone back and he'd ask them if they knew any single girls that are looking for a handsome man. It was rather ridiculous. "You've got to find some Bahamian love man!" He would tell me.

A few times through the weekend David would sit me down overlooking the sea and we'd crack a beer and chat about all sorts of stuff. He kept saying, "Oh man, Ben, you Anglican priests sure know how to live! You're living well!" Then we would have a long laugh. "Ben, I had a professor at Yale, a Jesuit priest, Fr. Aden. Man, he would ride this big Cadillac around and smoke cigars. He'd tell me, 'David, when life is well: live well'. Ha ha ha, he'd say, 'When life is well: live well." David would then keep chuckling and slapping his knee.

David also teaches a Sunday school class at the 'emerging church' on the island, and does a top rate job. He used to teach Sunday school in Washington DC at 4th Presbyterian and packed it out. But here for some reason, people aren't as interested. It tops out at about 12 people. But I really appreciate how he facilitates the discussion and uncovers things in Scripture. He's always weaving quotes from different theologians or thinkers in whatever he's talking about. One morning we had a devotions together, which was beautiful. Reading, praying, and meditating on the Word on his waterfront patio.

David living life well on his boat.

This weekend I also got to meet 'young David', David and Vicki's son. He lives a couple minutes away from his parents with his wife and baby boy in a quaint little neighborhood (Sandyport) filled with ex-pats.  Canals twist through the homes, giving residents all a little plot of waterfront to tie up their boats. It was quite a remarkable place. 'Young David' is about 34, has a small law practice, and teaches at a public school. He loves ideas and talking about theology, but doesn't have many people on the island to talk to. So we had a wonderful time following various intellectual rabbit trails. I think we're both excited to spend more time together and strike up a friendship.   On Monday we had a holiday for Columbus Day (or what they call 'Discovery Day') and had the day off from school. I offered to clean the Allen's boat so that we could take it out later in the day. I spent that morning with a scrub brush and a hose cleaning the Lady Victoria.

We then took the boat out for a little excursion and anchored in the shallows where we swam and dove. The water was like turquoise crystal, but there weren't any fish or coral to look at. It was just SO good to be out on the water...'messing about in boats' as Ratty would say.

Needless to say I've returned to my apartment and school routine greatly refreshed!

Breakfast with David and Vicki on the patio

Field Trip to A Midsummer Night's Dream

 Luckily for us, it just happens that the same Shakespeare play that we are doing as a class is the same play that was playing last week at a local theater.

So I organized a field trip to take my class to the play to get some inspiration for our play. For many of the students it was their first play that they had ever been too!!!

The theater folk were real nice to us through the whole trip. They gave us a private tour backstage so that the kids could be on stage for a few minutes and see the scenery, the backdrop, and the props up close. And then they even let us go and say hello to the cast who were putting on their makeup and getting ready for the show.

The show itself was done very well. The play was set in the Bahamas in 1910. There were a few places where they talked about local aspects of the Bahamas through the play.

As we sat and watched the play, every time Hermia came on the stage, I could tell my Hermia was watching her every move. Every time Bottom or Puck did something funny, my little actors were paying very close attention. It was like they were projecting themselves into the characters on stage. They were totally and utterly enthralled. On the one hand they are now going to push themselves to be better actors, but it also means that they've got higher expectations for scenery and costumes (which I'm not so sure how I'm going to work out yet!).

Later that afternoon we had our own rehearsal, and my actors were like they were on fire with energy and enthusiasm. They have certainly caught the vision for what theater is all about!