As we walked onto Cooper’s Island, the site of the US base in Bermuda, now abandoned, and talked about the work to be done and the beauty of the Island, I had to confess I was feeling pretty exhausted.

After a weekend in Vernon, a week in the office in Toronto and then four long days on the Island I was needing a day off and a good rest. When you come to such a beautiful place such as this it is easy to assume that it will be invigorating, or at least fun! And if you’re watching from afar it would be understandable to think that you were missiong out or at least we were lucky.

And yes we are indeed fortunate. And yes we did enjoy our time there. And yes we did have a bit of time to enjoy the weather. And yes I would do it again.

At the same time there was work to be done and a schedule to keep – no chance to be able to stay an extra hour or two. No we had a window of time and that was it.

The scenery is lovely and of course as an island there are lots of boats, large and small around. We saw a few large yachts with helicopters on the back deck – and we wondered if they were owned by any Russians? Maybe a deal can be had on a yacht right now.

The roads are narrow and like any good British heritage land, it has walls everywhere. This was our walk down from the holiday house we stayed in, and as you see no sidewalk! How do you know if someone is coming as you edge out of your driveway? A mirror.

The houses are all brightly painted and they have white limestone roofs which aid in the collection of rain water to provide fresh water for the property. Every house has a septic tank and a water tank.

The signs of the British culture are everywhere but none less than the telephone booth – not all like this but a few are left.

One morning we took the ferry across to the other end of the island where we were holding our meetings. It was lovely to be out on the water and looking back on the shoreline you really could see the beauty of the Island.

This is a beautiful place with challenging issues socially, economically and morally as the influence of a secular world no longer is held offshore – technology has aided even the most remote parts of the world to see the best and worst of the world.

The work of TSA in Bermuda goes on and part of our work last week was to see how we can strengthen that work so that we can be a transforming influence. Here is one of our buildings that has an iconic individual associated with it. Major Albert Benjamin, MBE established the work here and led it for many years.

On one of our evenings, we were able to gather with the officers of the island. They have been isolated from each other during the pandemic and this was their first gathering in over two years in such a way. We had a bonfire and supper in one of the lovely coves on the island. It was a bit breezy and cool but the fire and company made it a great evening.

Kudos to Wendy who organized the trip and our schedule! She works hard in her role.