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Thursday 8 May 2014

The Black Eye

After graduating from Bible College in 1968, I worked in a Parts Warehouse for farm machinery to earn money for a mission trip to the West Indies.  A friend of mine from Barbados, Wayne (a fellow classmate) invited me to join him on the island of St. Lucia to assist a Canadian missionary in building a church in Castries, the capital city. We helped with the construction during the day and participated in open-air street services and other church activities during the evening.

St. Lucia is a lush tropical island and I enjoyed the months I spent there.  Upon arrival, our first task was to find a place to live.  We did not have a large budget but we finally chose a two bedroom, semi-furnished flat located on the Morne high above Castries.  It was owned by Cable and Wireless of Great Britain  and many of the tenants were from there working temporarily on the Island.  We did not have a vehicle and except for the occasional 'drop' (native slang for a ride,) we hiked up and down the mountain.  I lost 30 lbs. and never felt better in my life.
 
The building was a former prison.  The walls were made of cement blocks two feet thick resulting in rooms that were delightfully cool in the tropical heat.  The windows retained their bars so the windows could be left wide open day and night without the fear of a break in not that we had much of value to be stolen.  Our place became the place to retreat to when living in the town was unbearably hot and many visitors passing through to minister on the island stayed with us.
 
The only drawback to the flat was a dog, owned by one of the tenants, that occasionally barked all night. One evening after coming home after a hard day of activities, I went to bed very tired.  That night I dreamed that I was being attacked by a rabid German shepherd dog.  Just as the dog in the dream leaped at me, I sat bolt-upright in bed hearing a noise outside my bedroom window. Thinking it might be the dog from upstairs,  I jumped out of bed to turn on the light and investigate. I always kept my bedroom door halfway ajar and since the light switch was beside the door, in the darkness I ran headlong into the edge of the door.  The next morning I had a tremendous 'shiner' that caused a great sensation for those who saw it.  Wayne asked, "What happened?" and he laughed when I told him.  It was easier explaining to the missionary what had happened than it was to the workers at the church site and the church members.  They decided that Wayne and I had a fight and they could not be convinced otherwise.