Chantal Can't Stop Us!!

One of the concerns I always have is the threat of a tropical storm or hurricane. Only once - our first year - did anything remotely get close. So when Tropical Storm Chantal started brewing, I was a little worried. As of Wednesday, the forecast had Chantal pretty much slamming Freeport this afternoon, which caused me, and I'm sure many of you, some mild heart palpitations. Fortunately, the storm moved off to the east of us and we were out of a direct hit. As this morning approached, we were looking forward to a great day of fun and excitement for our first day on the island. We arrived to the airport in the knick of time, because as we were checking in, the line behind us exploded! We gathered at our gate with almost an hour to relax and began to get to know each other. Well that hour became over 2, as we soon found out one of the flight attendants was ill and they needed to find a replacement. Not a problem if the first replacement showed up, but he was AWOL and they called on a second. She arrived shortly after 11 am, and we finally took off around 11:30. During the flight, the veterans shared stories about the first day's activities and how warm the ocean water is and how hot the sun is. But as the plane descended, we all noticed something that we haven't seen before - rain. Not just a passing storm cloud, but an overall rainstorm. Nothing but gray skies all around. Remnants of Chantal were hanging around and we were on the fringes of it. It let up a few times so we headed down to the beach and pool, but then the skies opened up again. We were a bit defeated because it looked like the storm would last and a few of our first night activities would have to be postponed, but as we ate dinner in the pavilion, the clouds disappeared and the sun began to shine. The icebreakers and first few games were on!! We were divided into our small groups/teams to come up with names and create team flags based on the bandanas we were given. Merica's Missionaries - Craig, Deb, Dani, Scott, Kelsey, Jenn. Cherry Bombs - Lizzie, Julie, Sarah, Cyrus, Jacki, Dan. The Awesome Arks - Jeff, Trish, Leah, Ryan, Jess, Ali. Team We Will Not Hide Our Faith - Kate, Warren, Carrie, James, Ellen, Cam. We wrapped the night up with a killer game of Dizzy Izzy Bat Race on the beach. A few people almost ended up in the ocean, but most just ended up in the sand. Considering what could have happened today, we think it was the perfect start to the week.