Forty years ago this day we celebrated our first anniversary on Bonaire. What a difference! The population was about half what it is now, and there were no condos, only one hotel, and fewer houses. It also was much dryer at that time. Although Bonaire is outside the hurricane belt and only has a 2% annual risk of being seriously impacted (the last one was in 1999 and passed 150 miles to the north), recent hurricanes, although passing far to the north, have caused more rain here and less wind. Also, diving, wind surfing and sailing were not as popular then. Fishermen could still live by the sea and live from their catch of the day, by eating it or selling it. Now those fishermen can no longer afford the taxes

of a “seaside home”, poor as it was, and have had to move inland. They are nearly extinct on this island. I must say we miss the old, slower, quieter lifestyle. Yes, we can buy most things in the grocery store. There is always meat. We don’t have to wait for a boat from Venezuela for some bananas, or flank steak or wait for someone to butcher a pig or goat for fresh meat. We can even buy apples for about a dollar an apple.

Yesterday, I worked in the office and fielded a few calls and sent a few people on their way when they were looking for Dutch Radio. I also went through some old photos and tried to identify faces from the past, to label them for the archives. That is interesting and brings back lots of memories. A lot of time has passed and a lot of people have been touched by the broadcasts of TWR (Trans World Radio).

Last week we heard about our Cuba broadcast. The pastor who is doing the programs keeps a map on his wall and adds pins to the areas he hears from. There was one valley he had heard nothing from and was thinking that for some reason the signal did not get in there. Then one day a person from this valley showed up at his office. He was not the only one listening. There were many in that valley listening. The pastor gave the man some literature and Bibles and he went on his way. The man began writing the pastor and when someone was able to visit the valley, discovered that this man had kept all the communication with the radio pastor, filed on shelves along with other literature sent by the pastor. There were several groups of believers who used this as their library and would come to the man’s house and study the letters and any other material he had. They also listened to TWR together. Many groups of believers were formed in this valley where, at first, no one was thought to listen. Radio still goes where no man has been to spread the Gospel. PRAY for TWR as it continues to rightly divide the Word and teach those who have no other teacher and reach those who may not have other opportunities to hear.

Yesterday, after work, I was not feeling up to our usual swim as I have been fighting a nasty cold. We did go down to the ‘beach’ (no sand) and took pictures of a beautiful sunset. Then we went by a Chinese restaurant and ordered takeout. It was very good and we thoroughly enjoyed it. When we walked into the house, Larry had picked some very pretty flowers from the yard and had a beautiful bouquet setting on the table. It

was a special evening, but I was feeling so sick, I went to bed right after dinner. I didn’t wake up until around 5:30 this morning. I think I feel a little better because of the sleep.

NOTE — To see a bigger (and in some cases, expanded) version of any of the images in this blog, just double click on the one you want to see.

Sunday we were up and off to the little International Bible Church, which meets in a local school. The building is quite ordinary for this climate. All ceramic tile floors and a tin roof. The windows are louvered glass panes, a number are missing and there are no screens. In the foyer of the school, the roof is elevated and open around the sides. The bathrooms are in this area as well as some offices. On Sunday morning, we have tea, coffee, juice and cookies in this big area.

They have a very nice keyboard and an accomplished pianist to play it. She played her own arrangement for the offering. It was very nice. Last week we had guitars, but this week they were missing. We sang the old fashioned way, from the hymnal. The chairs are chairs that the people have purchased or just brought from home. All the chairs there were filled. I think I heard them say that they have around 40 attenders. Not sure how many members. It varies some because of the tourists.

During the service we had the pleasure of the usual little mourning dove walking through, looking for crumbs. This Sunday, we had a little extra entertainment as a large iguana decided to jump from a nearby tree onto the roof. Now keep in mind that it is only a tin roof. What a noise, as that iguana landed and then slithered down the slope of the roof. Not sure if he stayed on the roof or slid completely off, but he did cause a stir. Even the locals were snickering! It was very noisy! There was also the loud trill of a tree frog off and on during the service. Sounded similar to the cicadas in Indiana.

For lunch we ate at a little restaurant by the sea that we used to frequent in the ‘old days’. Quite disappointing. Of course it had changed hands and the food offerings were quite different. No local food at all. Very unremarkable in flavor or offerings, except possibly for conch fritters. We were eating there for our anniversary dinner. I hope Larry takes pity on me and we go to a better place for our anniversary :-).

The afternoon was just a lazy Sunday afternoon. Naps, and a little reading and puttering. Later we went to the transmitter site to watch the transmitter go on the air, so Larry could take readings. Then home for our usual swim.

Today I thought that you might like to take a tour through our home. It is quite average and nothing too impressive. The most interesting part is probably the bathroom. The tank for the toilet is up high and one has to push a button to make it flush.. sometimes it needs pushed more than once before it decides to flush! Also you can see that we have only a shower. It has a faucet down low for filling buckets for mopping, washing sandy feet, etc. All the faucets have one temperature of water and that is a cool warm. It feels cold first thing in the morning. Invigorating!!

All the rooms have nice big ceiling fans like the one in our bedroom. We have one dresser (that’s all we need for 6 weeks), a bed with only a sheet for cover (that’s plenty in this heat!), and up by the ceiling is an airconditioner we use at night. I took a picture of the front and back because it is a little different than an American air-co.
Our dining room is sufficient as is the living room. Notice the louvered windows and tile floors everywhere.

The kitchen holds a rusty refrigerator, that looks better on the inside than the outside. We have a microwave that does what it needs and a toaster oven that I have not tried out yet as well as a gas stove. The burners on the stove work, but I haven’t used the oven. Probably won’t unless it is necessary.

The laundry room is off the kitchen and through the carport. It has a hot water heater that is not working, a dryer that is not working and nice new washing machine that works very well.

In the backyard is the solar dryer. I had clothes on the line yesterday, but not when I took the picture.

And this is the car we drive. So far so good. I have not killed it yet, but am waiting to do so. It has been a long time since I have driven a stick shift.

Tomorrow, I will try to take a walk through town and put up pictures of that. I am sure you will be interested to see a picture of a ‘dremple’.

NOTE — To see a bigger (and in some cases, expanded) version of any of the photos in this blog, just double click on the one you want to see.

Added note — The house that we are living in has three bedrooms.

We attended prayer time and devotions this morning and then I did a few things in the office while Larry did some computer work and studied the transmitter specs. While at the office, a man from customs arrived to have some papers signed. He mentioned his son attends a youth outreach that meets in one of the studios TWR no longer needs. That youth group has changed the hearts of severak young people and their families. One such person was a young man who spent his time robbing tourists. He had some issues with his father and through this outreach, came to know his Heavenly Father and then amends were made with his earthly father.

After taking Larry to the site, I went to the store and bought a few things. I had forgotten my bags, so picked up a box in the store for my purchases. Then I decided that it was time to do a load of laundry and clean house a bit. The washing machine is much like a simple one in the States. It just drains out on the ground, although there is a big plastic tub to catch the water. Unfortunately the tub has a drain hole in it but no plug. It is good here, where they distill all the water from the sea, to be as conservative as possible with water. The tub is to be used to catch the water for recycling. We used to use it to wash another load or to water the plants. Usually the soapy water on the plants, the rinse for the second load. It helped quite a bit with the water bill. So now I need to see if I can get another tub, or at least make the water not run right by the house. I used the ‘green’ dryer outside… the wind and sun. The gas dryer doesn’t work, but right now there is enough wind to dry things fairly quickly.
While my clothes were washing, I swept the floor and decided to work on an area where the ceramic tiles are discolored. I did manage to lighten the discoloration quite a bit, but will keep working on it while I am here. I took a before picture so I could compare the progress. I also damp mopped the house. They have a very big and heavy rag mop. I can’t squeeze it very well. I think I should have packed my steam mop!

I also tried to clean a couple of screens by brushing them and covered myself with salty dust. I thought it would help the outlook and air flow.. Then I walked around the yard

and took a few pictures of the plants around the house and a picture of a very big blue head lizard.

I went to pick Larry up at the transmitter site and whizzed right by my turn. Amazing how fast 25mph seems here! I then

took a different route and did not get lost.

We came home and had nasi goering, that I made, for dinner and then went for our evening swim. Larry took a few pictures of the sun that daily drops into the sea.

VIRGINIA

Not a very eventful day.  I sat in the office and worked on some cards.  Joe has some pictures he wants us to go through, but not sure I know many of the people. Will have Larry help me with that off and on.  He will probably know more that I do.

In our prayer time this morning we were encouraged by how the Lord is working in this area of the world.  Churches begun because of the broadcasts of TWR.  People hearing who have never heard. ‘Pastors’ who were saved through the broadcasts using the correspondence with the pastor on the radio, as well as literature that is included to form a library for the new converts.  Their only method of learning besides the radio.

After Larry picked me up, we ate a light supper and went for our usual swim and watched the sun plop into the ocean.  Tomorrow it will pop out of the ocean on the other side of the island. 🙂

LARRY
After devotions this morning and rather than making two trips to the transmitter site, I spent the morning at the office/studio answering emails and studying the manual for the Nautel 100,000-watt transmitter.  I was planning on checking out the spare PA module that was suspected to have a problem and wanted to be more familiar with its operation before tackling any repair.

We came back to the guest house for a dinner of leftover curried chicken, rice, and bananas. I then took Virginia back to the office and went to the transmitter site.  First I wanted to verify that the suspect module was actually faulty.  This was done by removing one good module and noting that the power dropped about 7kw.  I then installed the suspect module and noted the power only dropped about 4kw when it was removed.  This definitely confirmed there was a problem.

While the transmitter was already turned on it was switched to the nondirectional pattern (it also has a north pattern to the Carribean or south pattern to South America) and it was noted the output power showed 105kw.  Last night the log showed that the transmitter had cut back power to 80kw for much of the early morning because the power had reached the max limit of 107kw.  Therefore we decided to reduce the 105kw to 103kw to see if we could avoid the cut back of power.

After returning the transmitter to remote operation so it could be controlled by the automation, I opened the PA module up.  I quickly observed that one of the four main 20 amp fuses was different than the other three.  An ohmmeter test showed that it was blown and none of the others were.  I looked for a spare fuse and found none.  Checked at Newark Electronics (~$24 each) and DigiKey (~$21 each), then decided to check Alan Sales [www.alan-sales.com] and found that they had six in stock at $6.90 each.  An order will likely be placed tomorrow.  Because the fuse was blown and it was different than the rest, I am guessing that this is at least the second time this fuse has blown and that I had better check further to see it there is a faulty device(s) that might be the cause. Something to do tomorrow.

Came back to the office at 4:30 to pick up Virginia.  I shared with Joe Barker my observations and we discussed the things required for me to take over sole monitoring of the transmitter while it is broadcasting from 5:30pm to 8:30am.  I had been given a cell phone that will ring, if there is a problem, and now I have a list of codes to help determine what is wrong and other codes to try to correct the problem remotely via the cell phone.  Joe wants to lend me a laptop that will show what is happening at a glance and allow corrective action by pushing a button on the computer screen.  The laptop can also show a log of the sequence of events which the phone can not do.

We came ‘home’ for a light dinner then went for our evening swim.