Mission Trip 2007 - Partners in the Caribbean

Everything went smoothly for our departure. It was a very emotional time for many of the team as we left the hotel. We arrived to the airport and made our way through the ticket counter, three levels of security, immigration and U.S. Customs all before making our way to the departure lounge. The flight from the Bahamas to Ft. Lauderdale is not a long one, only about an hour. After arriving in Ft. Lauderdale we discovered that our flight to Detroit had been delayed. So we sat around the airport for about 6 hours before leaving. Many of the team noticed that they felt more like they were out of the country while in the Ft. Lauderdale airport then they were while in the Bahamas (this was because of the amount of people speaking Spanish). We finally made our way to Detroit and found many friends and family waiting for us there. We gathered our luggage and loaded the bus for the hour and a half ride home.

This was an amazing trip and I am so thankful for your prayers. There is so much that I would like to say but I am going to wait for another week. I want to encourage you to make sure you are in attendance at Solid Rock Baptist Church on Sunday, July 22 to hear personal stories and experiences as well as see some video highlights of the trip.

I'll see you then. (This will be the last blog entry for our mission trip to the Bahamas).

Thursday, July 12, 2007
There were a total of 2 souls saved today as a result of our ministry!!! This brings our weekly total to 85 souls added to the Kingdom!!! Praise God!!!

Today started out as one of the more frustrating days on our journey. We had prepared for our team to do the Redeemer drama again early this morning at Rawson Park which is downtown Nassau (the same place where we performed a couple days ago). However, as we were setting up our sound system and preparing for ministry a sergeant for the local police force showed up and asked for our written consent to use the public square. We had oral permission from the Minister of Tourism but nothing in writing so we were not allowed to perform the drama. This put a major problem in our plans for the day. Basically it canceled out any major public ministry today. So we split our group into three areas ... one carried the sound system (75 pounds) back to the hotel and met up one last time with the other teams leaving for the airport ... another team stayed in the area and wrapped up some more souvenir shopping ... and another group went on a little more sight seeing (the Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle).

We met back at the hotel for lunch at 1:00 pm (today we had sloppy joes and chips again). It was at this time that we said goodbye to Sheryl as she left a day before the rest of the group. At lunch I announced our plans for the rest of the day which had been a surprise to our team up until then. At 2:00 pm we met our taxi van for a ride to Cabbage Beach. This is considered by most to be the best beaches in the Bahamas. And it was .. it was amazingly beautiful. Crystal blue waters and white sand beaches.

After we all got our sunburns at the beach we made our way back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Our dinner tonight was a special treat for the team. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe of the Bahamas. We chose there for a couple reasons ... there are not any other American restaurants on the island (other than fast food and we wanted to do better than that) ... and because it is similar to the name of our youth ministry (Solid Rock Cafe). This was a great treat for all of our team. Everyone enjoyed getting to order their own food rather than having all their food arranged for them. (The desserts were the best part!)

Well our trip is basically over. We had our exit orientation after we got back from dinner. We are ready to get through customs tomorrow. One bit of good news is that the Bahamas and the USA have arranged for all Americans to go through USA customs while still in the Bahamas so we will be able to get out of the Detroit airport earlier than expected. We should be back to the church in Burton somewhere between 8:30 pm and 10:00 pm.

This has been an amazing trip. It has been very impacting for me personally and I know it has been for our entire team. I don't want to talk for anyone else because I want you to hear it from them. I have been getting harassed from the team here because they tell me that they can't tell their friends and family anything because you already know everything. I chose to do this blog because I wanted you to experience this mission trip with us. I know there is no real way for that to happen in this manner, but I pray that you have been impacted as much as possible. I can't wait for you to hear personal stories from your own family and friends. God has been good!!! Make plans to be in church this Sunday and especially next Sunday, July 22 as we have our mission celebration service.

Pray for us as we travel home tomorrow. It will be a long day of travel, but I know most are very ready to be home. There are a few that would rather stay, but I am not going to say who those are (I can tell you it is not me. I have had a great time but I can't wait to see my beautiful wife, Stacy, my best buddy Ryan and my little angel Emma.)

There really aren't any ministry pictures for today, but here are some of our final pictures of our trip.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007
There were a total of 25 souls saved today as a result of our ministry!!!

We got to sleep in a little this morning compared to the last few days. We met for devotions at 8:30 am with the national youth pastor that has been with us all week. After devotions we left for ministry. Most of our team went out to a park close to the church we are working with to begin canvassing the area with door-to-door evangelism and inviting people to church tonight. It was pretty obvious that our whole team was pretty exhausted. Time is definitely catching up with us. Brian and I left with a man we just met and hired to drive us to a lumber yard to pick up supplies for a building project at the church. Brian and John Campbell worked all day building shelves and a desk area to help the church with a new room. This building project is what our VBS penny drive will pay for in a few weeks. This is how VBS is "partnering in the Caribbean."

For lunch today we had our simplest meal ... turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches with chips and water and oreo-type cookies. Not bad. After lunch we got to experience a little bit of Bahamas history by visiting the largest fort in the Bahamas, Fort Charlotte. (Click here for a little history of Fort Charlotte). I thought it was pretty cool, I don't think the teenagers thought much of it. One interesting fact is that the fort was built in anticipation of Napoleon and the French attacking and that never happened, so an entire fort was built and no cannon ball has ever been fired in battle.

After the fort experience most of the group made their way back to the hotel to take naps, some swam and I think a few may have made their way across the street to go to the beach. I was in my room preparing to speak tonight at the open-air church service in the park.

For dinner we had a repeat meal from our first night, peas (beans) and rice with BBQ chicken wings and Bahamian Mac and Cheese. The chickens must be pretty small on the island because there is not a whole lot of meat on a wing. It tasted good, though.

After dinner we loaded up the bus and made our way to the park where we were inviting people to come earlier. The park is called Mother Pratt Park. We set up our sound system and began announcing that we would be having a service with a live performance, face painting, candy, and free prizes. After a little while people really started to show up. This park is a short distance from the church we have been working with all week. We gathered everyone together and asked them to sit on the benches on one end of the basketball court. After a few songs I challenged everyone there from Luke 15. I was speaking not only to the Bahamians but also the team from the States. After I wrapped in (in about 10 minutes if you can believe it) our drama team performed the Redeemer once again. After the drama Rick our host missionary "drew the net" and prayed. He then encouraged our team to continue talking with those present. By the time the night was over there were 25 souls added to the Kingdom. We also had face painting, balloons and gave out lots of free prizes.

Reflection time tonight was emotional because it was the last time the entire team will be together. The group from Texas and Florida both will be leaving tomorrow at noon. Our team will be out doing ministry when they leave so tonight will really be the last time we spend together. There were two girls stood tonight during reflection confirming a call to full-time ministry as a result of this trip. God is good!

Tomorrow will be another busy day. We will wake up early and begin ministry early. Our team will be returning to the Rawson Square where we were a couple days ago. It will be a intense morning, especially if it is hot (it is hot here every day). After lunch tomorrow we are rewarding the group by heading to what many consider the nicest beach in the Bahamas. Continue to pray for us, especially in the morning as we begin to wrap up our ministry time on this trip.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007
There were a total of 16 souls saved today as a result of our ministry!!!

Our day began early today if you count sitting up last night to watch fireworks. They were supposed to start at 12:01 am but like most things on the island they were a little casual and laid back. The fireworks started around 12:30 am and lasted about 15 minutes. We were literally right underneath them. It looked like you could reach out and touch them. They were huge and beautiful. Many said they were the best fireworks they had ever seen. The Bahamians take much pride in their country. They have only been an independent commonwealth for 34 years. I wish our country could take so much pride in their country.

We woke up early this morning for what will possibly be the adventure of a lifetime for some. We made our way to a local marina and boarded a boat to make our way out about 30 minutes into the ocean to a pretty large reef. It was here that we snorkeled for a couple hours. It was amazing to see this aspect of God's creation up close and personal. Some chose to purchase a bag of fish food for $1.00 and feed the fish by hand. I of course just made sure I was swimming around these people so I could see the many different fish up close and personal. I felt like I was in the TV while watching Finding Nemo. The number of fish and the amount of different types of fish was incredible. My favorite was the rainbow fish because of the popular children's story. We had a couple of people purchase underwater cameras so I am looking forward to seeing their pictures. I also purchased a DVD that was recorded of our team during the experience. I just watched a good portion of it and it was very good. Here is the link to the company that sent us out ... http://www.bahamadivers.com.

After our snorkeling adventure we were all very wore out. We had hamburgers and french fries for lunch today. After lunch we was our souvenir shopping time at the "straw market". I had to restrain a few girls from buying too many purses (parent's you can probably figure out who I am talking about). Most of the group enjoyed this experience of bartering and "negotiating" the price. Brian and I went to the Pirates of Nassau museum (http://www.pirates-of-nassau.com) so I could videotape a few things for our Vacation Bible School that starts in just a couple weeks. From looking at most everyone's souvenirs and gifts I am sure you will all be pleased.

For dinner we had a good Thanksgiving type dinner of turkey, potatoes and gravy and corn. After dinner we walked down the street to where we went a couple nights ago for the Junkanoo festival. This time we went down with a different purpose. God opened a door for us (after a little "negotiating") and we were given permission to perform the Redeemer drama on the main street of where this festival was still going on. With this being a national holiday (Independence Day) many people were in this area. Many of them were preparing to party and do things they shouldn't. Tonight I felt like we did as Jesus would do ... go to where the sinners are. While we were there we performed the drama three different times. After each time people were saved. There were a total of 16 by the end of the night. God is good! This was a good experience for our team because we got to share our excitement and passion with the other groups. Before leaving the hotel I partnered everyone up with another individual that would be their evangelism partner for the night. Most of them were with people from another church. It was a good night.

Reflection time again was a special time. Our host missionary asked the question, "how many have led someone to Christ for the first time in your life during this week?" There were seven individuals raise their hands ... four from our group! God is good. I hope we can bottle up this excitement and passion and bring it home with us.

Continue to pray for us. Tomorrow is going to be a long and intense day. Today was our "fun" day and tomorrow we are back to a hard day of work. We will have a few different groups doing different things tomorrow so I will catch you up on those things tomorrow night.

Below are a few pictures of our day. I know there are not as many as usual, but I want to leave a little for surprise.

Monday, July 9, 2007
There were a total of 33 souls saved today as a result of our ministry!!!

God is so good! Today was an incredible day. It was without a doubt our most labor intensive day, but it was by far our most fruitful day. I want to share with you all that God has done today, but this will have to be short because in just a few minutes the country of the Bahamas will officially begin celebrating their independence with an hour long firework display that our team will get to enjoy together. Tonight you will get the basics, which are still amazing.

After breakfast our group split from the other two groups and headed to the downtown area of Nassau. We set up our sound system directly across from the Parliament House (which is the Bahamas version of the White House without the Prime Minister living in it). I worked our team HARD for a little over two hours. It was the hottest it has been since we have been here. Our drama team performed the Redeemer drama 6 times. While they were performing the rest of the team scattered around talking to those watching explaining what was happening. It was amazing to see people stepping way out of their comfort zone to share the gospel. By the end of our time we were able to lead 21 people to the Lord.

After we made our way back to the hotel we had lunch. For lunch we had good ol' American hot dogs and chips. The only problem was they were not Kogel. We managed to survive. Shortly after lunch as one of our planned free time activities we headed up the island a little ways and caught a water taxi to Paradise Island which is home to the Atlantis Resort. This is the nicest resort anywhere in the Bahamas (and probably the entire Caribbean). Our entire team was pretty amazed at the size, scope, and luxury of this hotel resort. We took a large group picture of the entire team and then spent a few minutes just walking around. We got to see a 10 foot manna ray in one of their large aquariums.

For dinner we had Bahamian style pork chops and rice. Again a very good meal. After dinner we made our way to a park close to the church we have been helping. There were a few playing basketball when we arrived, but after we started playing music through our sound system and publicly announcing we had candy, balloons, face painting and a performance several people started to show up. Again it was so encouraging to me to see many use their simple abilities such as making balloon animals or painting on faces and honor God. We also performed the drama twice and I had the opportunity to explain it publicly. By the time we left the park there were another 12 people that had prepared their souls for eternity. Again, God is good.

Reflection time was another emotional time for me. Most of our group began to open up and share of their experience so far. God worked not only through our team today, He worked on our team today! It was very revealing on how much God is working in that not a single person mentioned what they experienced at Atlantis (the best this world has to offer). Everyone was moved that God would choose to use them. Chelsea shared how she was able to lead someone to Christ for the first time in her life. Sheryl opened up about personal struggles in evangelism and then how God allowed here to lead nine people to the Lord today. Stephanie expressed disappointment because she spent so much time talking to one person and yet he refused to receive Christ. Many others opened up their hearts tonight as well. Tears role down my eyes as I type this. God has been so good to us on this trip. I only wish our entire church could be here and experience it. I can't wait for you to hear personally what God has done.

Below are more pictures from today's activities. I usually only try to add 10 pictures but so much happened today I had to add a few more. Pray for us as we have a very busy day planned again tomorrow. I will update you more then. Right now I am going to go and celebrate with the Bahamians (I will be good, I promise). Stacy I love you.

Sunday, July 8, 2007
I will warn you up front, time has caught up with me and this may be shorter tonight. Plus as a reminder, I do these late at night and no one proofreads them so you will have to forgive any typos.

Today was church day. We were actually allowed to sleep in a little this morning. We met to leave for church at 9:25 am. After arriving, we saw again how casual the island culture is. Sunday School is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am, we started around 10:15 am and I don't think anyone else from the church showed up until around 10:30 am. We got to hear from Pastor Tim Gunter from School. Church was supposed to begin at 11:00 and we started about 11:10 I believe. There were a few that we had invited yesterday show up this morning. It was encouraging to see those few. My new friend Ben that I asked you to pray for did not show up. Please continue to pray for him as well as everyone on the island. As I mentioned this culture is filled with "religious" people because the Bible is still a text book in the public schools, but only a few truly understand what having a relationship with Jesus Christ is all about. Our drama team was allowed to perform the Redeemer drama for the first time this morning. They did a great job, actually brought a few to tears. Our host missionary preached on escaping from the prisons of life, especially the prison of discouragement and difficulties. There was one person this morning that rededicated their life to Christ.

Church services here generally last about two hours. So we made it back to the hotel around 1:30 for lunch. For lunch we had tons of white rice, Bahamian potato salad and BBQ chicken wings. Again, a very good meal. This afternoon was the largest amount of free time we have had so far (actually it will be the largest amount all week). We took advantage of the "day of rest". Most of our team found our way to the beach for some fun in the sun. Some were simply laying out but most were playing in the water. A couple people from another group let us borrow their snorkel set so we passed those around looking at the tropical fish in the area. (I didn't find Nemo yet, that will be on Tuesday on our snorkeling expedition). Others played chicken in the water and others just floated around. Most people eventually made their way back to their rooms in the afternoon for their Sunday afternoon nap.

We met back in the hotel lobby at 6:25 to go to church tonight. Church started at 7:00 which means really about 7:15 pm. The national pastor preached tonight and did a good job. His message was on the excellency of Christ from Philippians 3. After church we spent time with our new Bahamian friends and our new friends from the other churches.

We made it back to the hotel about 9:30 pm for dinner. Tonight was probably our groups favorite dinner ... Domino's pizza and pop. We did not have our normal time of reflection on the beach tonight since we spent a lot of time at church today. Tomorrow will be a very busy day. We will be splitting from the other groups and I am taking our team downtown Nassau tomorrow. Our drama team will be performing several times in the morning while the others will be helping to draw crowds and pass out tracts. We will be doing the drama in front of the Parliament House (what would be our White House), port authority and other busy areas. I told our team tonight that after the drama we would have someone share the meaning of the drama and share the gospel to those that watch the drama. I also told them that I would not be the one sharing the gospel, nor would it be any of the other adults. We are going to have the students do that. Please pray for them and pray that our time will be fruitful.

Below are some more pictures. Some are from today and some are from our door-to-door trips yesterday. I am also sending messages from some of our team that wrote out things for me to pass along. Everyone is doing fine. We did encourage everyone to call home if they have not done that yet. If you are interested to see the website for the hotel we are staying at, click here. This is the nicest hotel that I have stayed at during a mission trip. Here is the link to the welcome video that was shown in church this morning at Solid Rock. Click here!

Billy - I love you forever and ever and always.
Courtney - I miss you and love you Vanilla.
Kerri - I miss you and love you Lenny.
LaShell - Thank you for everything. Miss you.
Kimberly - Thanks for cleaning the church for us this weekend. Miss ya.
Christal - Hi Hunny. I have been sleeping every night with buttercup and missing you. Luv.

Dear Mom, Dad, and I guess Katie 101 JK,
I love you and miss you all! Tell bear I said hi :) and Steph says hi and to have her bed ready and room clean for when she returns to the United States of America! LOL. Stephanie just spit all over herself and Renee doesn't have a key to her room ... ha ha ... but we do. LOL. Stephanie needs a drink so she needs to stop writing this letter. I love ya all!
P.S. Katie and Christal, I would love a souvenir from China when I get back. Thank you and good night.
Brooke Johns and Stephanie Judith

Hey Hey Mom, Dad, Ryan and Bella :)
The Bahamas is so beautiful, but amazingly hot!! So far the trip has been terrific, but I will save all the stories for when I get back. Please keep us in your prayers throughout the rest of the week, and also pray that God will take away all our fear so that we will be able to share the gospel with others!! I love you all so much and I miss ya's. Bring me back something French.
- Steph -

Stacy, Ryan, Emma and Baby
I miss you guys more than you will ever know. Emma, be a good girl, Ryan make good choices as the "man of the house" and Stacy know that the Bahamas just aren't that romantic without you here with me.

Saturday, July 7, 2007
There were a total of 9 salvations today as a result of our ministry. Praise God!!!

Today was another full day! We met early for our official Bahamian orientation at 8:30 am. If anyone tries to tell you that I was late for this meeting, it was not my fault, but we can discuss that one later. Basically the orientation covered most all the "rules" of the week from host missionary. Most everything had already been covered so nothing real new. We left around 9:30 am from our hotel to head to the primary church we are working with, Freedom Baptist Church. Our main agenda today was focused on literally going door to door in neighborhoods surrounding the church for evangelism and invitations to church tomorrow. The three churches working together this week combined and then separated into seven different groups to cover more area faster. We left the church around 10:00 am. It was such an encouragement to me to see so many from our group really come out of their shells and go way beyond their comfort zone to begin talking to and witnessing to these Bahamian people. I can't wait for you to hear their testimonies on their experience today. It was during this time that Renee Dockery and her group had the opportunity to lead six people to the Lord. She expressed later that this was well beyond her comfort zone, but felt the Lord really leading her along. I broke our buddy rule and was walking along by myself as I was trying to capture the moment in photography of as many different groups as possible. God still opened several doors for me to talk with several men. God allowed me to lead two men to the Lord. They went from broken to rejoicing during our conversation. It was an incredible privilege for me to have a small part. When I left I told them that I would probably not see them again this side of heaven, but that we would have a good time catching up once we get there.

We met back at the church a little after noon for lunch. Today we at Bahamian style sloppy joes, basically sloppy joe with a major kick to it. Remember I mentioned that everything here is spicy. Emily and Chrissy also brought me conch fritters to try that they picked up at a Daiquiri stand (yes we are drinking Daiquiris, but don't worry they are virgin). I will admit I was a little nervous about my conch fritters, but I actually really liked it. Basically it was a good southern hush puppy with small chunks of a fish (or snail actually) named conch. (Here is a link to a description, which kind of scared me after I read it ... http://www.foodreference.com/html/artconch.html). (Here is a recipe I found for conch fritters as well ... http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Conch-Fritters/Detail.aspx).

After lunch we went back out to do more canvasing. This time with more of a purpose of simply inviting people to church in the morning. I got involved in a conversation with one man that was slightly intoxicated, OK he was drunk. He was standing outside a liquor store when we began talking. I talked him into trading me his beer for a Sprite I had just purchased at the super market (grocery store). Don't worry, I didn't drink it. He told me he was a Christian and knew he wasn't living like he should. So he began right then being a witness (yes he was still drunk, which made things interesting). Everyone that came near he was talking to. He actually convinced a couple other guys to trade me their beer cans for a Sprite. After they would give me their cans I would pour the beer out. I thought one guy was going to have a heart attack while I was pouring out his beer. Long story short, he promised me that he would be at church and would sit by me in the morning. So when you get this pray for a gentlemen named Ben that he will actually make it to church tomorrow.

We got back to the church around 2:30 pm and made our way back to the hotel. After getting to the hotel we video taped the welcome that hopefully will be able to be shown in church tomorrow. Tomorrow night I will provide the link so you can watch it from here. It was a huge pain trying to get it to work right. The church's video camera still is not working at all. It is very frustrating. Our host missionary, Rick, is letting me borrow his personal video camera for the rest of our trip so that is an answer to prayer. In the afternoon our group had free time. Some spent time swimming in the ocean. Some spent time swimming in one of the two pools here at the hotel. And others spent time sleeping. I got to work on the video stuff. I am thankful for the internet access at our hotel, but it is very sporadic.

We had dinner at 6:00 pm. Tonight we had multi-colored pasta, meatballs and corn. Again, the pasta had a little kick but it was all very good. We definitely are not going hungry on this trip. Our plan after dinner was to walk down the street from the hotel about 1/2 mile to a festival going on called Junkunoo. I don't know if I mentioned it yet or not, but this Tuesday the Bahamas will celebrate their Independence Day. It will be their 34th year of independence from England. This country takes much pride in their country. The Junkunoo festival is the beginning of a week long celebration. On Monday night (Tuesday morning) at 12:01 pm there will be an hour long firework display that is supposed to be amazing. Anyway, we spent about an hour at this festival before things got carried away after dark. I learned this festival is really a celebration of the freedom from slavery. In its beginning, the Bahamas islands were a staging area for slaves being shipped over from Africa to America. That is why today many (really almost all) Bahamians are black. While we were at the festival I negotiated with a "performer" to sing happy birthday to Brooke. Today is her 15 birthday. This "performer" thought I was Brooke's father (which I took offense at, I am no where nearly as old as Ken Martin). So my new nickname from Brooke is pastor daddy.

We met again at 9:30 pm for our time of reflection on the beach. Again, this was a very moving time for me personally to hear from those within our group. God is doing an awesome work within our team. Some are recognizing how good we really have it in the States, others are amazed that God would use them to spread His love. I am very proud of our team. Today was a long, hard, very hot day. I think everyone of us are at least a little sunburned after today. I have not heard a single complaint about the heat, hard work, or even the food. My prayer was that our group would move beyond the "tourist" stage of our trip quickly and move into the "missionary" stage. We are not there yet, but we are closer than I thought we would be.

Most are already in bed as I type this. It is actually 1:07 am right now. We meet at 9:15 am tomorrow to ride to church together. Our drama team is performing the Redeemer drama for the first time tomorrow. Pray that God uses them to minister effectively. We have a few others who will be working in a Jr. Church program as well. After church is free time (since it is the day of rest, right) then back to evening church. Please continue to pray for our group. Spirits are high right now. To my knowledge no one is extremely homesick yet (don't be offended that is a good thing, I have led trips where we had people willing to pay thousands of dollars to leave after the first day because they were so homesick). There is a good spirit of unity with our group and we are getting along well with the other groups. Typically, the next few days are a little rougher on most mission trips. It is a transition time from the high adrenaline of getting here to the reality of the heat and long days of ministry. We will push through this transition, but please pray for us.

More pictures for your viewing pleasure (sorry I temporarily misplaced my memory card with most of the pictures from the door-to-door time, I will post those tomorrow) ...

Friday, July 6, 2007
Well, we got about as much out of a 24 hour period as possible. The entire team met at the church around 12:30 am to prepare to take off. We made photocopies of passports and made sure we had medical release forms organized. We loaded the bus and left for Detroit around 1:30am. You gotta love driving in the bus with a governor that doesn't allow you to go over 62 mph. We still made it to the Detroit Metro airport with no traffic and no delays. We actually made it there a little too early. We arrived about 3:15 am and there was no one even working at the ticket counter. We waited until 4:00 am for the workers to take care of us. We all were able to check in no problem and made it through security with ease. There are some definite benefits to be the first flight out, no lines at all. By the time we made it to our gate we had a couple hours to spare. This is when time really caught up on everyone. There were more than one that found a little comfy spot to take a little nap.

We were all able to sit close on the plane ride to Ft. Lauderdale. The ride was extremely smooth with no turbulence at all. To be honest I don't remember much of the trip because this is when I found time to sleep for about an hour. The trip went by quickly. After arriving in Ft. Lauderdale our team split two ways. One group caught another flight right away to Nassau while another group had a longer layover in Ft. Lauderdale. Many were shocked at the short flight to Nassau since it was completely over the ocean the entire flight. The larger team landed in Nassau at 12:00 pm and we made it through immigration and customs no problem at all. (I had a little talk with the customs officer and he let the entire team go through very quickly). Our host missionary, Rick Shueshler, met us outside the baggage claim where we all loaded (I mean crammed) into two taxi vans and "survived" our ride across town to our hotel. We got to the hotel around 1:00 pm. The negative to that was check-in officially isn't until 4:00 pm. Our team walked about half a mile to a McDonald's for lunch as Rick was working on getting us into our rooms early. We learned something right away about the island culture while at McDonald's ... they are very laid back and casual. In our rush, rush culture in the states we are used to walking in a place like McDonald's and having our food ready for us in seconds. Not so here on the island. The lines weren't really that long but it took about 30 minutes for us to all get our food. No one complained, but it was a learning experience. We made our way back to the hotel around 2:30 but the rooms still weren't ready (they were waiting on pillow cases to be cleaned to put back on the beds, I finally told them we could survive without pillow cases). We finally made it to our rooms a little after 3:00 and had some down time until dinner at 6:00 pm.

For dinner we got to experience our first Bahamian style meal. I enjoyed it, I know some didn't. It was the staple black beans and rice with BBQ chicken and mac and cheese (Bahamian style mac and cheese). The rest of our team met up with us for dinner at 6:00 pm. They had a cultural experience of their own during their four hour layover at the Ft. Lauderdale airport. They learned that more people there spoke Spanish then English. We were also able to meet the two other churches that will be serving with us during the week while we were at dinner. One church is Banana Bay Baptist outside Orlando, FL. This church is pastored by Cindy Gilmer's brother-in-law. He and his wife along with their two sons and two other ladies from there church are here. The other church is from San Angelo, TX. There are 12 teens and their youth pastor and wife.

After dinner we made our way to a youth service at Freedom Baptist Church. This is our host missionaries newest church plant on the island. Our emphasis during our time here will be in helping this church get up and going. The youth service lasted about two hours. Our team worked alongside the nationals in building relationships with the kids and playing the games along with them. I had the great fortune of being thrown up on by a little Bahamian girl during one of the games. Yes I did say throw up, as in vomit. All for the cause of Christ though, right? The host missionary also drove me and Tim Gunter, pastor of Banana Bay Baptist, around part of the island and showed us where some of his other works are and some places where he would like to start some new works. The new youth pastor (a national that has 40 siblings) spoke at the end of the youth service and not only challenged the kids, but also those from our group.

We left the church a little after 9:00 pm and made our way back to the hotel. We were allowed a few minutes in our room before we met in the lobby of the hotel to go across the street to the beach for a time of worship and reflection. It is nice to walk across the street and and walk into the ocean (we can see it from our hotel balcony). This was a special time as many from our group already began to open up publicly and share how God has already begun to move in their lives.

After our time at the beach we made our way back to our rooms and now here I am typing this blog at 11:30 pm. I will go to the lobby in a few minutes and upload this so you can read it. Again, I say, we got about all we could out of 24 hours. We have our group devotions in the morning at 8:30 and know we will have a full day of ministry working hard to get all we can to come to church on Sunday.

I am sure I speak for everyone when I say that I am glad we are finally here. God has already been working and I am looking forward to seeing what all He will do over the next few days. Please pray that our time here will be both fruitful and fulfilling. Also, if you would pray that I don't throw our church's video camera into the ocean. I just got it back from Best Buy shortly before we left because it hadn't been working. They assured us that the problem was fixed and everything was good. We have been videotaping since we left the church but for no apparent reason it is not working again. It has the same problem it had when I took it to Best Buy a month ago. I know the video isn't the most important thing, but I really want to be able to capture as much of this experience as possible to share with everyone. Plus I was planning on video taping quite a bit for our Vacation Bible School over the next few days. So please pray for this specific thing.

Click on the pictures below to see a little of our experience. After you view the larger picture you will have to hit the "back" button on your browser to get back to this page.

Friday, June 8, 2007
There is much excitement in the air. We are counting down the days until we board the plane (before the crack of dawn) on Friday, July 6. The entire team has been working hard to raise the last bit of money needed for the trip. This past week we received our T-shirts that we will be wearing on the way down and on the way back. We also received the prayer bands we will be distributing. The drama team is working hard on getting the cues down, others are practicing making balloon animals and still others are working on whatever Charlotte and Sheryl tell them to work on. This Sunday is going to be an exciting day as the trip will be highlighted some during the church service. The church will also be receiving a special love offering for everyone going on the trip. I'll post more later as we get closer.

What are we doing again?	Bye Sheryl, we will miss you!	Straw market	The Queen's Staircase
Our team at Cabbage Beach	That is the ocean, not a pool	Getting ready to eat at Hard Rock Cafe	Cameron a little confused
Look at that dessert. They didn't share either.	Being silly	They are too sad to leave.	Our team at Hard Rock Cafe.

Door-to- door invitation	Working on the shelves	Tunnel system inside the Fort Charlotte	On top of Fort Charlotte	A view of Nassau from atop Fort Charlotte
Me speaking to group at park	Redeemer drama at park	Kyle sharing his faith	Hi-five John	Getting ready to pass out prizes
Balloon time, John was popular again	Charlie gets in the fun with the balloons	Chelsea sharing a prize	Some of Steph's new friends	Our last reflection time as a complete group

Independence Day Fireworks	Snorkeling in the middle of the ocean	How we handle the "bad" ones
Celebrating on the beach	Redeemer drama at festival	Meeting Jesus for the first time

Redeemer drama downtown	Steph explaining drama	John explaining drama	Sheryl explaining drama
Kyle explaining drama	Outside hotel room (does this look like a postcard or what)	Atlantis Resort from our boat taxi	Entire team in front of Atlantis Resort
Manna ray in Atlantis	Taking a break	This is why we came!!!	Renee wants to bring her home
Ricky sharing his balloons	John was a very popular balloon designer	Brooke finally gave up her balloon hat (this girl got saved tonight)	Look at all the balloons

Heading out for door-to-door	Door-to-door	Sheryl inviting people to church	Door-to-door	Pastor Majors of Freedom Baptist Church
Renee and Emily leading in the American National Anthem	Performing the Redeemer drama	Host missionary, Rick Shuessler	Jr. Church	Chrissy hoping for her Prince Charming

Door-to-door	Renee witnessing (this lady received Christ today)	Our group on the beach	Right outside our hotel	John and John jumping in
Kaylee with a new friend	Pastor with the birthday girl	Special song for the birthday girl	Some at Junkanuu with their Daiquiris

Our team getting ready to leave	Did you realize Sheryl does sleep	Almost there, that is Nassau	Cramming on the bus	Youth service, the man in the middle is Darren the Youth Pastor
Steph with a new friend	Charlie and Chelsea looking on	John and John cheering their team on	Renee and Sheryl trying to stay awake, it was a long day	Reflection time on the beach