November 10,
2017
On Friday morning the Estrada
family graciously offered us their car to drive around and get errands done – a
haircut and swimshorts for Lucas, flip-flops for Benjamin, etc. Then in the afternoon Dave and Villaney went to work and the rest
of us canoed/kayaked out to an island.
We are beginning to realize the
entire North Carolina Coast has “outer banks” of sand. We paddled from their dock due East. Many times the water was so shallow we could
push ourselves along with the paddle. We
arrived at the island and found a group of men camping and fishing for the
weekend. The kids attempted to fish, and
one of the gentleman graciously helped them – but no luck… There were huge waves on the East side of the
island while the west side was more of a bay.
We paddled back at sunset and enjoyed welcoming the Sabbath
together.
Villaney told his testimony. He
grew up in the hills of an indigenous village in Mexico. When his father was a child, Adventist
missionaries came to their village. There
were some in the village who didn’t want a new religion coming in and they went
out to meet the pastor and kill him. It
was a several day journey in by horse and they surrounded him and lifted their
guns to shoot, but not a single gun would shoot. Then the horses they were riding started
rearing up and using their hooves to scatter these men away. Thus the gospel message came strong to this
village when the people saw the power of the true God. Villaney said while Mexico is supposedly
catholic – in reality it is catholic and pagan combined. The indigenous people kept their idolatrous
ways, but just combined in with Catholicism.
There are still chickens that are sacrificed to the saints now, instead
of the gods. There is a saint called the
saint of the dead who they sell their lives to in exchange for this saint
giving them riches, fame, etc. When
Villaney was a very small boy he became deathly ill. His parents, knowing it was a 3 day journey
out of the village knew their son would only live if God spared his life. They told God that if he spared their son’s
life, they would raise him as a missionary for the Lord. When Villaney grew up he knew God was real
and Adventism was correct, but he did not want to follow it; he wanted to
rebel. But he didn’t want his parents to
see their sons actions and he didn’t want to break their hearts, so he left
home at about 15 and went to Mexico City.
But he found that life wasn’t exciting enough for him there either. So he journeyed up north and decided to go
illegally into the U.S. After crossing the border he was caught and returned
and he continued this multiple times – each time getting a little bit further
into America before he finally made it in.
He then lived under bridges and attempted to get jobs, but quickly
discovered he couldn’t get a job while being under the age of 18 so he lied and
told people he was 18. He traveled much
of America sometimes by hopping trains. After
a few years of miserable living, he decided to come back to the Lord. He was living in Atlanta Georgia. There he met his wife and they were married
and had 2 children. Villaney has been
here 20 years illegally. He has
attempted to become a legal immigrant for years, but it has been
challenging. He lives with the guilt of
coming illegally into the U.S., and yet if he goes back to Mexico with his
family after living in the U.S. this many years, he does not have a safe
future. The cartel in Mexico is always
looking for people who have lived in the U.S. who they can take their children
or wives hostage and demand money. He
personal knows of several people who have died because of this. God has worked a miracle and Villaney and Ana
have received paperwork saying they will get a VISA to live here in the U.S.
this year. They are praising the
Lord!
November 11,
2017
Sabbath morning we went out to
the dock to see a space shuttle that was launching out of Virginia. It was freezing cold! We were rewarded with the sight of dolphins
but at the last second the space shuttle was canceled because a small airplane
flew into the restricted zone. So it was
rescheduled for tomorrow morning. After
eating a scrumpcious rice and beans breakfast we went to Sabbath School and
church in Wilmington. Our family sang
special music. Dave saw Bob Oheffernon –
a gentleman who used to live in the Monroe area when Dave was just a kid. The people there were very friendly. We then came back to the Estrada family’s
home for lunch of rice and beans and flan for dessert. It was delicious. We went to some friends of theirs – he was a
Captain in the Navy for 36 years and during his last years was Captain of the
USS Carolina. He and his wife are
elderly and living at home alone. We
played and sang them some music which they enjoyed and were in tears. We then headed an hour away to a Spanish
church where the school performed some special music. That evening Ana shared her testimony. She was born in the Andes mountains in Peru
and was daughter of a SDA Pastor. She is
so grateful for how God brought her and her husband together and have provided
for them all through these years. We
said goodbye to our friends that evening – a sad goodbye as we enjoy them so
very much! We stepped on the scale and
found Ana’s good home cooking food had fattened us all up in just a couple
days!
November 12,
2017
We awoke shortly before 5am to
make the 4 hour drive south to Charleston, SC for the activities of the
day. We stopped along the road at 7:15
am hoping to see the shuttle take off.
We were watching the NASA live video and saw it go off, but it was too
cloudy to see it up in the sky unfortunately…. Bummer! We arrived at Patriot Point, Charleston,
SC. Here we took a ferry to Fort Sumter
which is in the middle of the harbor.
Fort Sumter was made in the early 1800’s by hauling large rocks out into
the middle of the harbor. A 3 story
fort with 5 points like a star was
constructed to protect Charleston from
naval attack. After S. Carolina
receded from the Union, they demanded that the Union release all forts in the
area. The Union would not release Fort
Sumter. The confederates launched an
attack for over 30 hours from the surrounding forts in the harbor with cannons
and mortars. The fort was just about
completely demolished and the men’s quarters caught on fire so the Union
surrendered the fort. The confederate
then built it up and also the U.S. modernized in in WW II with larger cannons and a cement structure in the
middle.
Next we visited 3 ships at
Patriot’s point: USS Yorktown (WWII aircraft carrier), USS Laffey (WWII
destroyer), and USS Clamagore (Submarine in use from 1945-1975). The aircraft carriers and the aircraft they
carry sure has changed! Patriot’s Point
also had a Vietnam war area with boats, jeeps, bunkers, and helicopters. Once again we were reminded on how vicious
war is. I am thankful we are living in a
relative time of peace and that none of my family has experienced such
life-and-death situations. I found it an
oxymoron that the hippies at that time had rallies and called the soldiers baby
killers when in fact, the Bible says “Take the log out of your own eye before
you attempt to take the sliver out of someone else’s eye,” when their free love
and pro-life moment resulted in over 60 million abortions in the U.S. alone
since 1973. How easy it is to call out
the sin of another, without seeing our actions as sinful.
We drove to another port in town
and saw the Confederate’s Hunley – the first submarine to successfully sink a
ship. However, it never returned to
shore and was discovered in Charleston harbor in 1995 and brought up in
2000. It sits in a special tank of
liquid to help dissolve the cementation on the outside and inside of the
submarine from it being underwater for all these years. There are many theories and mysteries as to
why they did not return to shore, but basically they could only travel at 2
knots with a crankshaft and so required cooperation of tides. They could also very easily be sunk by too
big of waves or being hit.
November
13, 2017
We drove through Savannah, GA
this morning. There were old beautiful
buildings all throughout and beautiful parks.
There are trees lining the streets with grey Spanish moss hanging down. It is a beautiful sight!
We then drove to St. Augustine,
Florida – the oldest city in America and founded by the Spanish in 1565. We walked through the Old City Gates, saw the
0 mile marker for the trail to California, walked through the old cobblestone
street, a 200+ft. cross beside the beautiful harbor, and the catholic church Cathedral
Basilica of St. Augustine. We decided to
leave our educational trip behind for a little bit an enjoy being a tourist
which we haven’t really done yet. We ate
tripadvisor’s 2nd best pizza in the U.S. – we rated it as best… We found some yummy vegan icecream... and we found a Spanish bakery which had sweet
potato turnovers (closest thing to platjenda we are used to eating every fall
at home.)
Probably the biggest highlight
and educational activity with the “Castillo.”
Castle translated into English – but basically a fort. Out of all the forts we have seen so far
(which has been a lot!) it was by far the coolest fort we have seen so
far. First of all it is the only one
with a mote, draw bridge, and sliding door.
It is the most impregnable fort we have seen in the U.S. Second of all it’s walls are close to 20 feet
thick and made of seashell and sand that has hardened which means when a mortor
or bomb hit it, instead of cracking and breaking, it just absorbs it – bests
illustrated by the way a block of cheese absorbs a knife stab. The design, a square with diamonds hanging
out on both sides allowed for all angles to be covered by multiple
cannons. It also had a lot of rooms with
storage so they withstand a siege. This
fort never transferred hands because of a battle or siege – only through
treaties.
We learned some interesting
history about Florida. It was colonized
by the Spanish. They then lost it in a war with England. During the American revolution the Spaniards
helped the English and thus at the end of the war were given Florida as
payment. Later the U.S. purchased
Florida from Spain due to all the challenges of the border. During these multiple transitions there were
many Spanish families who moved back and forth between Cuba and Florida
depending on if the Spanish owned Florida.
There was a large population of
bums begging on St. George St. As a
family we have been discussing this from time to time. I have come to the idea of abiding by the
Bible verse “He who does not work does not eat.” I know this sounds really harsh, and I have
only come to it in the last year. I am
more than happy to help people who want help getting a better life, but I don’t
feel it wise to give cash or handouts when it is enabling them to continue a
destructive life. If one of my children
decided to be a bum on the street I would hope that nobody would help them so
they would decide to come to the Lord, get a job, and make things right with
their family/church and use them as resources so there is accountability. Anyways, with that being said we passed a 23yo
girl who was 8 mo. pregnant. This kept
really bothering Serenity so we went back and sat down and had a talk with her
for awhile. Her situation is so
sad. Serenity was able to see the young
lady’s choices were keeping her on the street, but Serenity was in tears
thinking about the future of the innocent child. The lady has another 3yo and said she has
been living with her grandfather for the last year – but we weren’t sure that
was a true story. The girl was smoking,
obviously under the influence of drugs, and could have had free housing but
wasn’t willing to give up her dog she had been given a few weeks earlier. It is terrible to see how Satan is enslaving
so many, yet they choose it by choice and aren’t willing to live a different
kind of life. He must gloat, while God
weeps…
November
14, 2017
Tuesday we went to NASA at Kennedy
Space Center. We saw so many HUGE
things! We drove around and saw launch
pads, the vehicle that carries the rockets to the launchpads, the special TN
river rock they drive on to get there, and some alligators and wild
turkey. One of the most amazing sites we
saw was the largest 1 story building in America that is 1/3 of the height of
Sear’s tower in NYC where they put together the rockets. Doors come off on the side all the way from
the top to the bottom that allow the rocket to come out of the side of the
building. Words can’t adequately
describe it! We saw lots of rockets, the
Atlantis, and many other NASA creations.
While we have heard in the news that NASA’s space program was shut down –
that is not correct. In reality, they
are allowing private corporations such as Boeing and SpaceX to take over
supplies and people to the space station so that they can focus on deep
space. They are building and
experimenting and expect to send people to Mars in the next 20 years. Meanwhile, Boeing and SpaceX expect within
about a year to offer tickets for an orbit around earth at a price of $250,000
per person. They say the view is worth
it!
I learned about the history of
NASA – it began when Russia was launching spacecraft and people in space and
America was worried they were going to be attacked and so they decided to catch
up and pass them. I had always thought
NASA was about science – but even it was founded on war! Since that time, it has evolved into a way to
attempt to discover where we (life) came from (evolution not creation), find another
place humans can live, and discover how to stop a meteorite from hitting earth
and causing humanity to go extinct. I
have a much cheaper solution for all of this – GOD. God made us – we don’t need to find another
planet because God will destroy this planet when he comes soon and will
recreate it perfect – and no meteorite will cause us to go extinct. I wonder how much this revelation with save
us in taxes!?!?!
A quote seen there was “The
rocket will free man from his remaining chains, the chains of gravity which
still tie him to this planet. It will open
to him the gates of heaven.” If we only realized the truth – The grace of
God will free man from his many chains, the chains of sin which still tie him
to this planet. The grace of God will
open to him the gates of heaven.”
But all that beside – it was
amazing to see all of the beautiful pictures of space and to think of what God
has prepared for us to travel for free someday soon. It is amazing to get a tiny glimpse of just
how huge our God and His universe is.
November
15, 2017
Last night it rained and poured
so hard! Fortunately we had the slides
in the RV so there was no water leakage. Also we are thanking the Lord again
for his protection. Levi awoke in the
middle of the night to a robbery that had occurred to the vehicle beside
us. God has truly had a hedge around us
every day.
Wednesday morning we woke early and began to
drive. Eventhough we got up early, it
took 4 hours to drive 50 miles through the Miami area. We couldn’t believe it! Also there were accidents everywhere – and I
mean everywhere. One of the things we
have been working on in our family is being courteous and patient with each
other – to allow others to go first – to look for opportunities to serve others
by giving favor and the best spot to others.
It was reinforced in my mind today why it is important to teach this
lesson to our children – because that is exactly where there were accidents all
over! The people in the area will not
let someone merge into their lane – they drive side-by-side fighting over
lanes. Dave and I had never seen such a
thing! It was as though they were small
children playing cars and fighting! Dave
had to be very patient and push himself into lanes also – because truly people
will not let you in. God watched over us
– a truck mirror hit our mirror. We
heard a big thunk, but the truck kept going and we didn’t have any damage
miraculously.
We finally arrived in the keys of Florida
shortly before noon. (the islands to the
south of Florida mainland that are in a string and connected by bridge.) We were
shocked at the devastation! Hurricane
Irma went through 2 month ago, but there is still debris everywhere. The further south the worse it was. There are entire lots of land completely
demolished that have been cleared. There
are gigantic piles of trash beside the highway that goes the entire 60 miles of
the keys. They are working on chipping
up the downed trees into wood chips that they can spread back out. The garbage is piled in gigantic piles. There are entire motorhomes, trailers, and boat
alongside the road that are demolished.
There are tarps on the roofs of many homes and many homes can still be
seen that are uninhabitable. Most of the
beaches and state parks are closed. We
went to one that was open, but only a tiny section was open, basically
rendering the park unusable. In many
parts you can tell the waves completed covered and pounded the islands. Anything in their way was devastated.
As we drove to the southernmost point, Key
West, we saw more and more boats beached like whales that will never sail
again. It is sad to see how one storm
can cause so much damage. I am reminded
that our treasures must be stored above where no storm or person can damage
them or steal them away from us. What on
earth can one day be a beautiful luxurious life can the next day be all
gone. Yet if we store our treasures in
heaven it will get better and better and then last for eternity. Guaranteed high paying investment!
Once concern we had in regards
to Key West, was parking. There is a
city ordinance that prohibits any RV from being parked in their city – on the
streets, in their parking lots, etc. We
called the local SDA Church, but none of them had or new of a place we could
park. We called RV parks, and the
cheapest we could find was $145 for one night – and that is just bare rate to
park our RV. Then we would also have to
wake up early the next morning and catch a taxi to the ferry before 7am. We drove into town and started driving down
these small streets. Dave said “People
are staring at us – it’s as though they have never seen an RV before.” I said, “No, it’s that they have never seen
an RV in downtown Key West – they can’t believe you are brave enough to drive
down here!” Dave is an amazingly skilled
and careful driver though. He did great.
We found a private lot and asked him if we could park there. For $60 he let us park there for the today
and tomorrow while we are gone. Praise
the Lord! God is so very good! He is truly watching out for us every step of
the way.
We had some fun today too –
stopped at a marina and fed turpin by hand – check out the video and pictures
for that. We also walked the beach and
saw a manta ray jump out of the water and go back in and we saw trumpet fish
around two of the docks. It was pretty
rainy today thought but the cloud formations were beautiful to watch.
NEW
CREATURE IN CHRIST
Have you ever had a memory in
your mind from when you were young, and then you somehow get a chance to
revisit that experience, and find it to be totally different? Coming to Key West is that way for me… The last time I was here was 1999. I loved it.
In my mind I had all these fond memories of the fun time. This time – I see sin – gobs of it –
everywhere – I feel uncomfortable. It
shows me how God has changed me into a new creature in the last 18 years. The things I once found fun, are now
repulsive. The things I once found
beautiful, are ugly, and the things I once found boring, I find thrilling. God is so very good to take our hearts, if we
will give them to Him, and write upon them new laws, new joys, and new
values. Thinking back of who I was those
years ago, I give God thanks and glory for working this new fruit in my
life. I think of where I would be
without him, and I wouldn’t be alive let alone healthy. God truly has saved me from myself and my
destructive ways of life and given me a new life and a new purpose that fills
my heart with joy.
November
16, 2017
Thursday was Dave’s
birthday! 48 years old…. He says another 7 years now and he will be a
Senior for discounts…. Lol. We could use
the discount part – but not sure about the senior part.
We awoke early and went to the
ferry where we traveled at 30mph for 2.5 hours to Dry Tortugas National Park
also known as Fort Jefferson National Park.
These are the islands that are truly on the tip of Florida and only
accessible by boat. The waves were rough
– the locals say they have been rough since Hurricane Irma 2 months ago. We had 12 foot waves at the worst part. Most everyone took Dramamine (medicine for
motion-sickness). One by one people
began to throw up though. The attendants
were walking through the aisle non-stop passing out water, gingerale, puking
bags, tissues, etc. My family all stayed
put, but the last half hour I went to the back of the boat outside to make sure
I didn’t join the pukers. But then there
was a whole crowd back there puking too - but at least I could get some fresh air. We arrived on the island and toured the Fort. It was amazing! It was beautiful! This was truly a tropical island paradise!
These islands were named Las
Tortugas – the turtles. When Ponce de
Leon discovered them his men caught over 200 turtles to eat. Turtles meant feasting for a long time
because the sailors could put a turtle on the deck of their ship upside down,
spray it with salt water a few times a day, and the turtle would survive a
month providing fresh meat even when out
to sea. We were told turtle meat is very
tasty, uh, I don’t care to try…. They are
too cute… but as the guide pointed out all animals are cute! Later the Americans renamed them Dry Tortugas
– because there is no fresh water on
them and so you better have hauled enough fresh water with you for as long as
you plan to stay or get stuck there.
The story of the fort was
fascinating. I mean – it is the
strongest fort every built by the US and the 3rd largest fort. Why?
Out here in the middle of the ocean?
As we have learned, the Atlantic Coast is full of shallow sandbars
causing lots of ship wrecks. It is
difficult to find passageway. In the
keys, the boats must all go around Tortugas.
Also, right off the island, there is a 2 foot wide deep harbor which is
the only harbor available for big beats during storms. During the 1800’s the US that because it didn’t
have a navy fleet strong enough to protect its country or go against the
British and French fleets, they would take care of that by installing forts to
protect their mainland. Many ships
bearing goods passed through the Gulf Stream at the Tortugas traveling between
the US states in the gulf to the East Coast and to Europe. So they built this gigantic fort. Now the process must have been insane because
there are 16 million bricks – not to mention all the concrete to hold them
together and concrete poured for other structures. All supplies were brought by wooden sailboats
that would take days to arrive and then need to be offloaded by hand and used
in the construction. It seems insane to
me what they went to – but because they were out in the middle of nowhere they
wanted a fort that could withstand battle for 1 year while waiting to be
resupplied and helped. They made
it! There was only one force they didn’t
account for…. Weather… But then again,
considering how old it is it has held up remarkable! 40 feet of the mote wall collapsed in
Hurricane Irma two months ago. I spoke
with my friend Addie’s husband, Scott, who used to fly seaplanes for tourists
to Tortugas. He said that one year when
there was a big storm over a million birds came and landed in the fort seeking
shelter. That sure would have been a
sight to see! Unfortunately we couldn’t
see anything snorkeling because the waves are too big, stirring up the sand,
and making the water too murky. Also,
the coral reef took a pounding – there was washed up pieces of coral reef all
over the island. One foreigner went
snorkeling and found a giant lobster and brought it back to shore – what he did was illegal – but I
figured I would take advantage of it and get a good picture! The guy was bleeding and had battle wounds
from fighting with this lobster to pull him out of his cave.
We arrived safely back at our
motorhome, went by the store to pick up some pumpkin pie and vegan ice cream
for Dave’s birthday, and we hit the road for a long night of driving to get off
the island and keep up with our schedule.
November
17, 2017
Friday is our day scheduled for
Everglade National Park. We started by taking an airboat ride into the
Everglades. We saw lots of alligators on
shore by where we were to leave. Just to
clarify, all the alligators we saw are real and completely wild except the baby
alligator you will see that the boys held.
We were able to see a lot of little fish by the dock also – some looked
like the little fish you buy at a pet store for your fish tank. We also saw a variety of beautiful wading
birds. We learned that the Everglades
are made from the slowest flowing river that comes out of central Florida and
into the ocean. This water moves at a
very slow pace, seemingly not at all, and thick grasses and other vegetation
grow in it. It was fun sailing over the
water and plants in an air powered boat.
We learned the Everglades are the only place in the world where both
alligators and crocodiles reside together – but there are very few
crocodiles. The alligators are very lazy
and only eat about once per week. They
simply lay totally still with their mouth open and wait for something to come
into their mouth. Then, with 2,000
pounds of pressure their jaw locks down.
They lay out in the sun because their body must stay above 80 degrees to
digest their food. The reason they open
their mouths is to cool their body down because they have no sweat glands. Baby alligators stay with their mother for
about the first 2 years as she attempts to protect them from their other
alligator family members, birds, and fish.
Baby alligators are like French fries in the Everglades. Out of about 60 eggs the mother lays, only 1
alligator usually makes it to adulthood.
We were able to see in the wild some baby alligators about a foot
long. On our airboat tour we also saw 2
large soft-shelled turtles. There is
also a large python snake population in the Everglades – although they are not
native. What has happened in Florida is
over the years exotic pet owners who have gotten tired of their pets have let
them go into the wild and because of Florida’s tropical warm weather, many of
these animals have survived. We saw one newspaper article of a guy who came out
of his house and there was a 20ft. Python in his yard. He discovered this Python had been living
under his house for several years.
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