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September 2006

“to say that she is flung down on her side in the waves, with her masts dipping into them, and that, springing up again, she rolls on the other side, until a heavy sea strikes her with the noise of a hundred great guns, and hurls her back – that she stops, and staggers, and shivers, as though stunned, and then, with a violent throbbing at her heart, darts onward like a monster goaded into madness, to be beaten down, and battered, and crushed, and leaped on by the angry sea – that thunder, lightening, hail and rain, and wind are all in fierce contention for mastery - that every plank has its groan, every nail its shriek, and every drop of water in the great ocean its howling voice – is nothing. To say that all is grand, and all appalling and horrible in the last degree is nothing.”

This is what Charles Dickens, (author of “A Christmas Carol” and “Oliver Twist”) penned after his voyage across the Atlantic on a steam powered boat in 1842. His imagery is quit accurate as to what it’s like to be on the seas when the winds are blowing. This has been the case here and our trip up the coast to help start a new work was postponed due to rough seas and high winds.

Overloading boats is common as there are few boats that run and many people wanting to travel. Foolishly and tragically a local boat over loaded with 15 people was swamped as the waves filled up the hull. One by one the passengers jumped out with hopes of swimming to shore. A member of our local police was first to jump in, as another swimmer approached him bobbing on the large swells, they were face to face but when the swell came back up, he was gone. His jacket and hat were later found along with some body parts. The last man to jump overboard was wearing a back pack full of food and as he entered the water, he quickly sank and was never seen again. All the other 13 passengers including a mother holding a baby survived the ordeal. Pray for the families of the deceased and may this incident be a reminder to us all that our days are numbered. Someday, and we know not when, we will be standing before our Lord giving account.

Today the seas have calmed down so we are again preparing to go up the coast tomorrow with hopes of getting a wharf built whereby a ship can unload house building supplies. Pray for this trip that the boats will perform well and the seas will cooperate. Also, pray for Joan and the girls as they will be here alone to hold the “fort.”

Because He said, “Go,”

Mark and Joan Reichman