One thing that I can say about being on this island is, whether we're here for a year, or because of financial difficulties, have to return, we are learning qualities that we never would have had to learn in Memphis.
This email will be a little detailed.
I normally wouldn't go so much into detail about this, but I think that it will serve a purpose. It will serve to show you that "not on bread alone does man live"...
So back home, I, of course, worked at St. Francis hospital. I simply sat in my office, and interpreted Spanish for pregnant mothers, which rarely took much effort. True, there were many many insanely busy days, but for the most part the job was very easy.
That job paid $18/hr.
Needless to say, Candace and I could buy a lot of nice stuff. We didn't, but we could have...trust me, we calculated ahead of time what we
could've done.
This does have an application, don't worry...be patient.
Here, we have nothing...but "sustenance and covering". For the first time in my life, savings are something that don't exist. There are 3 of us...we are in another country...it's scary at times.
Well here comes Jehovah. Be patient.
So I told you about the job on Nevis, right? Well, we get ready for the trip, and we see bad news. Our rent money from back home posts on a Sunday, and the mortgage is to come out the next day.
So this overdrafts our account by $313.
Imagine logging in to your bank and seeing this:
Checking:
-$313 (yeah, it was red. Made it scarier)
Savings: $ .97 (yes, that's 97 cents)
I freaked...kinda.
So I'm like, "
psshh...I'm goin on this job. Now, the rooms are taken care of, but don't ask how we're gonna eat. Looks like we're gonna be eating like ghetto Israelites again, Jalyn!"
So we get to the hotel, and Donna, the receptionist, takes us to our rooms.
Here's ours (yes...the WHOLE thing):
And here's David and Priscilla's
So of course, we're super excited about the rooms, which you'll see on the videos.
But things that are nice are always better when they're free, right? Much.
It's early in the morning...and we're starving. Candace asks, "so what do you wanna do for breakfast?"
Me: "no idea".
We have no money.
So we get ready to eat breakfast, and I ask Richie, "hey, I'd like to get a photo of the food, so should I wait until someone orders and then get it?
In my mind I have no idea how that is gonna happen, because there were a total of like 9 guests at the plantation.
He says, "no problem, just order...it's on me".
Me thinking: "hmmmmm...I think Jehovah's repeating the first class airplane thingie"...
Oh, this is what we had:
Needless to say, Jalyn was pleased.
Oh, Richie also gave us free drinks and pizza.
Us at bar with Richie
Rum punch with grated nutmeg
Richie preparing oven baked pizza
This was breakfast from this morning...our last day at the hotel. Also free.
We also ate at this restaurant that was on Food Network's "The Best thing I ever Ate".
It's called Golden Rock Cafe, and they had this Goat cheese burger with caramelized onions that was to die for!!!
Oh, and here's inside our room at the Hermitage...
So let me tell you the craziest part about this...
Remember when I mentioned my job at St. Francis? Well even with such a well paying job, we couldn't have afforded to come here.
So now, it's worse! Not only is my checking account negative, but I have less than a dollar in my savings account, but yet, Jehovah takes me on a trip??!!! FOR FREE???
The only things we paid for were the ferry to Nevis (like $40 for the 3 of us--roundtrip), and the burgers ($12).
EVERYTHING ELSE (food at Hermitage, drinks, breakfast, lunch, dinner) was included. David knows a lot about scotch, and he said that some of the bottles of scotch that we had were $40 on their own.
Each plate of food on the menu was like $15US or more.
So this is the thing...if Richie had offered me money, how much would I have charged him?
Well when you count both days of shooting, I shot photos for about 3 hrs total...3 hours.
Well for only 3 hours, I wouldn't have charged him more than $700. I mean it's such an easy job, and I don't wanna try to get paid what I'd get back home.
Ok...but what did I end up getting?
Well, I'm thinking that when we arrive...actually I "know" that when we arrive, Richie is gonna put us in his cheapest rooms, the Garden rooms, which would've been $180 per night as you see below in blue. Wouldn't most hotels put you in their cheapest room? Come on now.
Richie puts us in the Luxury Cottages...look at the price (in gold).
| Rates per night | Apr 15 - Aug 31 | Sept 1 - Dec 14 | Dec 15 - Apr 14 |
|---|
| Garden | $150 | $180 | $255 |
| Hillside | $180 | $200 | $275 |
| Deluxe | $270 | $320 | $425 |
| Luxury Cottages | $340 | $365 | $555 |
| The Yellow Manor House | $835 | $835 | $835 |
So for 2 nights, that's $730. But we had 2 rooms.
$1460...
Plus food...at least $150
Plus drinks...about $350 (includes a NICE bottle of wine)
$1960...
I got a $2000 trip for doing work that took 3 hours...and was able to take friends.
Candace and I had NOTHING...and Jehovah still took care of us..
Lesson?
I have a family of 3...and have nothing. Yet, Jehovah gives us what we need for THAT day.
Is it always what we like? Hmmm...what's the JW way to say "no" very forcefully?
This is my point, there's a unique kind of faith that we're gonna need to get through the Great Tribulation. We can have NO doubts that Jehovah will take care of us.
I did NOT have that kind of faith in Memphis. Did I have faith, of course. But I had never been down to $0 with a family of 3 either.
This is training for us to STOP BEING ANXIOUS.
This is training...
1 Pet 5:10
When the Great Trib breaks out, those that are just "getting by" in their worship to Jehovah will have a very very tough time...
With Jehovah's help and traning...we plan to be ready.
btw...if you wanna see like 10% of the photos I did for Richie, click below
99% of these are unedited.
