The Windward Islands of Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten were conquered by the Dutch in the 17th century. The islands however were originally inhabited by the English, the Scottish, the Irish and Americans through grants from the Dutch West Indes Company and nearly half of the population spoke English.  While Dutch is the official language, and the dollar the common currency, everyone speaks English and as late 1986 nearly half of the population was white and Saba was known at the "white island" within the Netherlands Antilles.  Today the island host emigrants from China, the Philippines, various Hispanic countries, the United States and various European countries.  While English is the common language, it can be heard in a wide variety of dialects.

Saba, called the jewel of the emerald sea, is the smallest of the islands, being only 5 square miles in size and is dominated by its mountainous dormmate volcano.  The population is less than 2000 which included a medical school with several hundred students and faculty members.

The island is known for its diving and hiking trails and that is its primary tourists' attraction.  The island is divided by its northern end which possesses the smallest commercial airport in the world, with its 1300 ft. runway, mid-island called the Windwardside which contains the bulk of the commercial shopping and restaurants and hotels, and the Bottoms which is the capital and southern end of the island and host the government building (such as they are).  While the island is only 2 miles long, the road from the airport to the Bottoms is nearly 8 miles as the road winds its way over and around the mountainous terrain.

Saba is known for her magnificence display of small cottages of red, white, and green.  Red roofs, white walls and green storm shutters.  The small, often single-story homes are built up the sides of the mountain using the natural rock and stone for their foundations.

There are three Roman Catholic churches on the island with two Anglican churches, Christ Church in the Bottoms being the oldest structure on the island dating back to the 1770's and Holy Trinity which is located in Windwardside.  There was a time when both churches supported congregations of over 200, however today the combined congregation's number a couple of dozen, and the people hold services one week in the Bottoms at Christ Church and the next at Holy Trinity in Windwardside.

Both churches are fairly large and open air.  They are both stone structures with stained glass windows and high celling.  On Sunday mornings the church is filled with glorious music accompanied by the only organist on the island.  Saba has gone without a priest on a regular basis for several years.  Services will be led by a retired priest from one of the other islands or the archdeacon who will come from time to time.  The combined churches share the same problem with many of our small rural churches.  They cannot afford or actually need a full-time priest yet they want to receive the sacraments on a regular basis, They have lay lead Morning Prayer each week and occasionally one of the members will share a brief homily, however they are most welcoming of a visiting priest.  The church uses the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and there are very few changes.  We share the Revised Common Lectionary which allowed me to  look ahead at the selected lessons for each Sunday before travelling to Saba.

I heard of the need on Saba several months ago and after jumping through various hoops and contracts, I was invited to come for a ninety-day visit.  My first month is coming to an end and I can announce that attendance is picking up slowly, we are planning for a baptism, and we have encountered two or three young couples beginning to attend.

Everyone on the island is akin to one another; and being small obviously everyone knows everyone.  Many of the couples are biracial and unmarried.  This is even true of the Bishop's warden and past governor of the state.  During the course of a day, you may hear several different languages being spoken but even those that are English contain a foreign influence.  Everyone is friendly and the word is getting around that there is a craze Texan in town who is preaching at the Anglican churches on Sundays.

There is a large, three-bedroom rectory only feet away from Christ Church making walking to church easy.  However, the 1 mile trip to Windwardside involves nearly 10 minutes winding your way up the mountain side with one switch back after another.  While well maintained, all the roads are extremely narrow and stone-walled on either side making driving for a visitor a constant challenge.  There is no such thing a level ground on Saba.  Everything is either uphill or downhill.  Very few cars can avoid some kind of dint or ding.

Keep the people of Saba and the Netherland Antilles in your prayers as we still have several more weeks of storm season ahead.  They bring in the marines from other islands when there is a possible storm in the forecast and several marines were seen on the island last week, however to my knowledge we are safe for the moment.

Just thought I would let folks know where I was and what I'm doing.  My best to the folks back in the diocese.

Canon Morriss+