Missions Team Blog
Friday, July 10th – DAY 1
Welcome from the Bahamas. We made it here safe and sound.
Pastor Craig did very well with the flight and wanted to thank everyone for
their prayers.
The day started with a very early 3am departure from the church with a very tired and burnt Pastor Randy as our driver. We arrived at Detroit Metro and boarded the plane for Ft. Lauderdale with no problems. It was a relatively quiet flight as most people tried catching some zzzzz’s
We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale a bit ahead of schedule and by
this time we were all feeling the excitement of almost being at our
destination. The flight to Nassau was a short 32 minutes and we touched down in
the Bahamas at 11:30am.
Rick met us at the airport and got us settled into the
hotel. While the girls caught some rays some of the guys decided to dive right
in.
After orientation and pizza dinner with Rick we headed out
to spread the word of God and of the 3on3 Basketball Tournament that we are
sponsoring tomorrow at the park. We mingled with thousands of locals that were
celebrating their independence day and handed out invitations to the tournament
as well as tracks and copies of the Romans Bible.
It was a very long but exciting first day and we looking
forward to a good night’s sleep as we prepare for a very important day tomorrow.
Please continue to pray for your missions team as well as the local Bohemians that they will open their hearts and minds to Jesus Christ.
Total Salvations: 1
Praise God!!
Saturday, July 11th – DAY 2 (a.k.a. Paul’s Birthday)
The day started with an interesting breakfast provided by
the hotel. Then off to devotions Rick’s penthouse suite (LOL) on the fifth
floor of the hotel. We watched a video by Rob Bell, Rick’s new style of
devotions.
We split into 2 groups because all 16 of us cannot fit into
the small van and headed to Jubilee Gardens Park. We helped host a 3on3
basketball tournament and Rick told his “’tried by fire” story where 4 people
were saved and started a personal relationship with the Lord.
Stephanie and her team of locals placed second in the
tournament.
We experienced our first taste of the bohemian cuisine of chicken wings, rice, and spicy mac and cheese.
Went to another park after dinner and performed the drama for the first time. We had a lot of fun playing basketball, face painting, balloon animals and just hanging out with the locals.
Total Salvations today: 11
Grand Total: 12
Praise God!!
Sunday, July 12th – DAY 3
Today we went to Freedom Baptist Church. We had a
crowd of about 20 people but we definitely felt the presence of God.
PC preached his "Match Point" message about serving God and we performed the drama for the members of the church.
We met up with the other team from Florida and ate lunch at
KFC and then headed back to the hotel for a long break.
Here is a picture of the group from Community Baptist Church in Sabastian, FL
Everyone was excited to see the familiar faces that showed
up at Noelle's house for the video chat. It really meant a lot to those
who got a chance to see their loved ones.
(For those family members who were not able to participate in the video chat
please contact Noelle Bohms and she will try to work out a time for you to
contact your family member.)
After dinner we went to the Fish Fry area and performed the drama 4 times on the street corner. This was a God thing because when we showed up there was a lot of loud music playing and we were not going to be heard but God lead us to the street corner anyway and as soon as we started the drama, the music seemed to go quiet. There were over 350 people that gathered to watch the performances and a lot of seeds were planted tonight in addition to the 3 souls that were saved.
Please pray for us tomorrow as we begin our door-to-door ministry. This type of ministry is brand new to some and is out of a lot of people's comfort zone. Please pray that people's hearts will be open to receiving God's plan of salvation.
Total Salvations today: 3
Grand Total: 15
Praise God!!
Monday, July 13th – DAY 4
Today we canvassed the neighborhoods around "Mother Pratt" park and invited people to the park later that night. The door-to-door experience was very new for a lot of us but our team stepped up to the challenge and won 10 souls to the Lord. We met a lot of interesting people and passed out tracks and John/Romans Bibles to as many people as we could during the day.
After lunch at Wendy's and some free time in the afternoon, we headed back to Mother Pratt park around 7pm. We performed the drama 2 times that night for about 75 people that showed up to the park and at least 20 more people accepted Christ. What an amazing night it was.
Total Salvations today: 30
Grand Total: 45
Praise God!!
Tuesday, July 14th – DAY 5
Today we canvassed the neighborhoods around "Claire Ridge Park" park and invited people to the park later tonight. This neighborhood had a lot of French speaking people which added an element of difficulty to our ministry. Lesa, Brooke, and I (Paul) met a Christian blind man today named Sam. His story really touched us and we spent some time sharing our faith with him. The thing that stuck out the most to us was this man did not have a way to read the bible. So, we got his name and address so that we could send him a bible on CD when we get back home. However, where we ate at Wendy's today there was a mall next door with a Christian Book Store. We went there and bought him the entire King James bible on CD and presented it to him after lunch. That was the best feeling being able to give him a way to hear God's word.
Total Salvations today: 26
Grand Total: 71
Praise God!!
Here are some messages from other team members
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From Stephanie.
*Lil prayer request for ya all back home..
Please pray for a man by the name of Daniel. He believes there's no hope for him and no reason why God would love him now with the past that he has had. You could just see the sadness in his eyes of how much he is truly searching and in need of God. Dave Friddell and I had the opportunity to speak to him today and share the Love that God has for him and that it doesn't matter about his past, but about how God forgives us, accepts us, and truly wants us to become a child of His as long we ourselves, ask and accept His free gift of salvation. So if you would please pray for this man. We are hoping he comes out tonight to our park ministry so we get a chance to speak to him some more. Thanks! Miss ya all (:
From Brooke
Hey Guys, just wanted to say hello to all my family and friends and wanted to ask you to keep us in your prayers because sometimes we can become discouraged by people asking unanswerable questions( for example: Where is heaven?) and we try to answer as best as we can and explain how its all about faith and believing in Christ but they want answers NOW. So please be praying and even though I have been here before, this trip is incredibly different and we have many different struggles to deal with and are group is adjusting very well. Lastly, I would like to say hello to my mom, dad, katie, grandma, and my whole church family i miss you all and love you. Also I just want to thank Paul for all the hard work he has been putting into our blog and even though we work hard and sweat all day long he still strives to do the blog and do it with perfection. Thank You Paul ( ; We Love You <3
From PC
Let me start by saying Hello to Renee, Brittany and Kyle I miss you and love you all. I miss my church family as well. God has certainly taken me out of my comfort zone this week and I will certainly come home changed. I want to thank God for our team they are representing Christ and Solid Rock well. We are so thankful for the many people that have come to Christ this week. Too God be the GLORY! Thank you so much for your prayers! We look forward to seeing you all again soon! Remember to be in the place where God can bless you!
From Mark
It is great to see how God is working with the team and the people of Nassau! God is at work. While doing door to door ministry the last two days, we found people who were firmly grounded in the faith! God does have his prayer warriors everywhere! It is a great privilege to serve along the great warriors to reach those in need of our Savior Jesus. Ben and I miss Betsy, Bianca, Roma, Rubia, and Josiah.
From Ben
Hello family and Solid Rockers! God has been at work down here in Nassau. We still need prayer!! Thank you for everyone who was an encouragement. I love you guys and can't wait to see you Friday!! God Bless.
From Dave
It is awesome how the Lord is working through and around us! I have talked with a wonderful lady that is planning to do a Mission Trip to Fort Lauderdale!! She is a wonderful lady and was a joy to talk to and was so excited to "give back" for the Lord! She works locally for the Lord but was going to travel to be faithful to the mission to spread God's word. I have also talked to a couple of very troubled gentlemen that I can only hope we planted some seed that will be harvested by the Lord in his own time. The trip is stretching me and taking me to a new understanding and willingness to serve -- also if I keep eating like this some other things might be a little stretched too! Love to my family and look forward to being home! Best wishes to all and will see you soon!
From Sheldon
I wanted to start by saying Hi to everyone back home and thank you for your prayers while we have been out spreading Gods Word. God has truly had his hand on the people of this country. They seem to know who God is but tend to blame there past and use it as an excuse not to accept him. They say things like "God will never forgive me for what I have done" We have been in contact with alot of different people and have been sharing our best friend with them. The Island is absolutely incredible! I wish I could bring a little back for everyone. Continue to pray that we will be able to keep the momentum going and continue to work as a team. I wanted to say Hi to Crystal, Makayla, and Megan and let you know that I miss you very much and Love you more than you will ever know! Cant wait to see all of you again on Sunday
Wednesday, July 15th – DAY 6
What a fun day today was! We woke up early to go snorkeling and what an adventure we had. They took us to a site of a sunken ship where we got to see all sorts of marine life. Some of us even got an up close look at a very deadly lion fish. It was just amazing seeing God’s creation from a whole new perspective under the sea.
The afternoon was our day for shopping at the straw market. There were lots of interesting people and a sales tactics going on there. However, we managed to get our family’s gifts and had some fun bartering the prices with the merchants. Lesa even managed to get a purse for $10 and lead the guy selling it to her to the Lord. AMEN!!
Last night we performed the drama for the last time on the island. L This park was packed with basketball players and it was difficult getting their attention but we managed to see a lot of people saved. Even though this was our last time performing the drama here, the ministry has inspired us to ask the question, why can’t we do this at home? We are fired up and can’t wait to bring that message home to our parks.
I am sorry that I have not posted many pictures the last couple of days. Rick is keeping us very busy. Here is a link to Kodak Gallery where I have posted a bunch of pictures from the last few days. Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=3nocgxxl.cnnjoxid&x=0&y=lcgysd&localeid=en_US
Thursday, July 16th – DAY 7
We started out the day with our door-to-door ministry, however, it quickly turned into a real blessing. We got hooked up with a school that was running a free daycare and there were about 60 kids there. While Lesa and Sheldon ran back to the hotel with Rick to get our drama clothes, PC and the rest of us sang songs with the kids. We performed the drama and a few souls were saved. One other God thing that came out of that encounter was the principle of that school and another school has asked Rick to come and teach the bible to the kids. So that chance encounter could lead to many lives being saved and more doors to open throughout the public school system on the island.
The rest of the day was spent having fun on the beach and visiting Atlantis. (Pictures to come).
Friday, July 17th – DAY 8
As much as we enjoyed our stay it is time to go home today. We are all excited to see our families and friends, see you soon!!
Everyone made it home safely even with the devil did everything he could do delay our flight. Thank you all for the prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the people of the Bahamas as there is a lot of work left to be done there.
Click here to see more pictures
Click here for link to our
host missionaries website.
Click here for
links to previous missions trip to Bahamas (2007)
