Family Mellmann

Trinity Baptist School has a long-standing tradition of having a Junior/Senior Banquet at the end of the school year.  The old tradition was that the junior class (and their parents) would plan, design, and execute a banquet to honor the seniors.  There were themes, props, skits and stories, slideshows, and often a speaker, and of course, a lovely meal. The tradition has changed in recent years, but the end  result is still the same; honor and celebrate the senior class for their successful completion of high school.  Tonight was the night for the banquet. This is the graduating class of 2019.  Patrick, Alex, Ian, and James.  The juniors (2) and seniors (4) of Trinity. In town for the end-of-year festivities, Linda Peacock attended the evening.  Mrs. Peacock was Patrick's first teacher when he started attending Trinity, and she saw him through the first (somewhat challenging) three years as he transitioned from public school to the more rigor...

Today is our last graduation practice.  Next time it will be for real.

Graduation practice #1 The Trinity Baptist School Class of 2019

They made it!  Some of them have more facial hair than when they left, and they look a little...wrinkled, but not bad for a midnight arrival.  And they're home. A couple of families came to get their guys, but the rest of them (3 of the 4 seniors, 1 of the 2 juniors, and the pastor who accompanied them) were stuck riding home with me (Boston MA to Williston VT).  The pastor stuck it out for the first couple hours of the drive, but eventually even he fell asleep.  Meanwhile, the boys were long gone. We arrived back at the school at 4:00 AM and by 4:15 Patrick and I were home and crawling into our own beds.  Tonight we will celebrate with a dinner out and hopefully hear some of the stories of their trip.

Today the boys come home from their journey to Dominica.  They have worked hard, met new people, served a missionary family and their community, and experienced a culture very different from their own. Patrick sent me this picture from his last morning on the island; a glorious display of color during sunrise.  Not a bad send off as they pack for their journey home.

It's their last full day in Dominica; tomorrow the boys begin their journey home.  After working all morning they had an opportunity to do some shopping at a Dominican market.   In the evening, the best place to hang out is the balcony of the Cornelius home where the boys enjoy the "cool" breeze off the ocean and some evening conversation.

The boys have been working really hard.  It's nearly 90F and sunny most of the time, yet they have rebuilt a home destroyed by hurricane, and reconstructed the yard, and they have dug through soil and rock to cut out this space where a building expansion will go.  All that dirt and rock has to go somewhere so Patrick has been on wheelbarrow duty hauling dirt. They do get time to relax and cool off.  Here, they found one of Dominica's black sand beaches to cool their toes and make their mark.  The black sand is a reminder of Dominica's volcanic origins.

 This is the couple hosting the Trinity boys.  They are missionaries Tony and Martha Cornelius.  Tony is the senior pastor of a church and they have lived on Dominica for twenty-five years. In between working and trying to cool off in the shade or some waterway, the boys get to meet local people and experience island life and culture.  They met a young man who, armed with a spear and goggles, brought in his lobster dinner.  Like many Caribbean islands, the people of Dominica are generally poor and live off the land for many things.  Mangos and bananas are plentiful here (Patrick reports that the mangos are amazing) and there is some farming.  While we consider lobster to be a luxury dinner, here they are as commonplace as crayfish in the bayou.

Sunday - church service with their host family (missionaries).  That's  Patrick's left shoulder there on the right edge of the picture.  There wasn't much reported on today's activities, but it did involve playing in the ocean.  I'm guessing they will go back to work tomorrow.