Bahama Mission Update
October 24, 2002
We are getting this update report to you on the run. We just arrived back in the States and will leave in the morning for Tennessee. I will speak at the Bedford Church in Shelbyville, on Sunday morning and will meet with brethren from the West Seventh congregation in Colombia on Sunday Afternoon. We will be hosted by our son and daughter in law for the week-end. We have not seen them in more than a year, and they are expecting our first grandchild. (Bet you did not know I was that old!)
Lincoln Young made a trip to Tennessee and Arkansas to speak at a Mission Day and visit with three congregations that help him and send groups to Eleuthera each summer.
Ladies from Freeport went to Long Island for a retreat and really did help build up the group there. We were there Sunday and deeply impressed with the construction on the classrooms and restrooms. They work almost every Saturday and are doing a quality job. They have members who are doing the plumbing and electric as well as the construction.
Several men went from Nassau to Marsh Harbour and spent the long holiday week-end. They not only encouraged the members, but got out and invited folks to services. I understand that two of them did an outstanding job of preaching as well. They had 60 on Sunday morning. We are still in hopes that Drexel Major and family will be able to move back to Abaco to work with the Church. He had hoped to travel with the group after getting out of the hospital with more infection in the hip, but it was too early.
Freeport will have their Leadership Training Seminar later this month with Joseph Walsh of San Antonio Texas. This congregation will also host the Annual Mission Day at the end of November.
The first Annual Men's Meeting is on schedule for the 14th and 15th of November in Nassau. All men from the Island churches have been invited and plans are to have 4 hours of it broadcast on National Radio. I am to be the key-note speaker on Thursday night and Freeman Wiech from Miami will speak on Friday night. Each session will be followed by a panel. The theme is Leadership and Responsibility of Men.
Jack and Donna Steward are selling their plane and will not be able to spend as much time in the Bahamas as before. We are hopeful that they will be able to come down some and continue to be a part of this work in which they have labored for almost two decades.
We were able to provide Andrew Major with some Bibles and Drug Education material to use with his programs in Nassau and at the Central church. This was the last of my Bibles and I am going to have to have more money to meet the requests that keep coming in. Dinah and I drove up to Cooper's Town in north Abaco and gave them the last 100 that we had on Monday afternoon.
The trip to Exuma was only delayed by about two days because of the tropical depression that got stuck over Cuba before coming through the southern Bahamas. Danny and Melanie Guinn met us in Abaco with a large load of Bible Class Materials for children. We unloaded, and then loaded 1200 Bibles and Drug Education booklets back in both plans on Thursday afternoon. After lunch we visited with a number of people on the Island. Lilla Strachan has a heart blockage and will be in the States today to see about a cauterization. Our prayers are with her. She is really a fine woman and shows her love with great hospitality. Few people have visited Marsh Harbour and not eaten at her table! We feasted on Thursday night on "Lobster" given to us by one of my patients in my free Chiropractic Clinic. Wow what a perk!
Early Friday morning we got up, ate a power bar with coffee and flew over 200 miles south to Great Exuma. Danny had to throttle back to stay behind the Cherokee Six. We can carry a bigger load, but are much slower in flight. We started out at seventy-five hundred feet, but soon came down just over the water to give some relief to Melanie who had just had a root canal. There must have been an air pocket trapped. She suffered in pain all the rest of the week.
When we arrived in George Town and cleared Customs, we were greeted by Junior Strachan, and old friend who also sells the fuel. He kindly sent his men and tractor trailer out for the Bibles and stored them for us. Melanie had made arrangements for a rent car and a house. We got the car, drove 40 minutes south to the house and unloaded our bags. Then back to the airport to pick up the Bibles. Only one flat tire on the way, and we were that much farther behind schedule.
We needed to get to all 9 of the schools on the Island before classes were out! Using the airport cart for storage we would go to a school, make our delivery, take pictures, receive the thanks of students and teachers and then rush back for another load. Lunch was between schools and consisted of another power bar, and some dried fruit. We made it to 8 of the schools before the children were released. Each one wanted us to stay and speak, but we had to defer until next trip. We will bring down a different Drug Education Book next time. ( I have written three that have been published by Mission Printing in Arlington, Texas.)
We filled the car with gas and left Danny and Melanie to pick up some groceries to go with our fish filets for dinner. (Another gift from a patient.) Dinah and I went to see Basil McHarty the supertendent of Schools and a friend for more than 20 years. We left him a copy of what we had given the kids, and rushed over to the Commissioner's office. Commissioner Everett Hart has just moved down to Exuma from Abaco. I tried to make a brief courtesy call, but we had to sit down and talk about old times. The Commissioner is the chief Government Official on each Island. He is more like a Governor and a High Court Judge at the same time.
Protocol taken care of, we found Danny and Melanie near the Grocery Store, they were easy to spot. Somehow Americans stick out like sore thumbs.
We drove all the way down to the end of the Island, past where we were staying to William's Town and soon found the principal of the school at home. Mrs. Dean was delighted to get the Bibles and materials and disappointed that we did not get there in time to speak to the kids. We promised to return and plan more time when not delayed by the bad weather. Mr. McHarty tells us that the greatest social needs are Drug Education and teaching about Pre-marital Sex. 85% of the children in the Bahamas are born out of wedlock.
As the sun was setting, we made it back to the lovely house that Melanie had arranged for us. The owner, Erik from New York, had made an exception and let us rent for less than a week. Even the hotel on this Island insist that you stay a minimum of three days. The house is really nice and has central air. This gave our tired bodies a lift, and protected us from the misquotes that were swarming outside. Melanie prepared a great meal with grilled fish, Dinah and I did the dishes, and we did not have to be rocked to sleep.
Saturday, the ladies got stuff organized and Dinah swept and mopped, while Danny and I went back to the Airport to check the planes, visit with a couple of people, and hand out Bibles to the staff and Taxi drivers. We then went by the Resource Center and visited with Chris Kettel. This is where the group of College kids who came with Mike Gurganus had stayed this past summer. Mike and the group really made a good impression and were remembered by teachers and students at each school we visited. In addition to programs in he schools, they had painted a house for Chris. He has a great program of aid to those with critical needs. We still had a few Bibles left over, and stopped by the grocery store for a few more supplies. The owner was delighted to set these on the counter for anyone who wanted to pick one up.
Early Sunday morning we all climbed into our plane.(Danny had taken the back seats out of theirs to make room for Bibles.) and flew at 900 feet over to Long Island. Melanie was still having a lot of trouble with the tooth. We carried more Bibles for the folks there. Donald Burrows met us and drove us to the Church building. There was good crowd gathered. Danny read the scriptures and lead prayer, and I brought the lesson. We visited for some time at the building, took pictures of the new construction, and then back to Mama's house for a lovely meal and more visits. Late afternoon involved the flight back to Exuma, a circle at 300 feet around Erik"s house for Danny to take some aerial pictures, and then on to the airport. Again the joy of air-conditioning, kept us from bleeding to death from the swarms of mosquitoes. I had to give up jogging in the mornings as there was no place to get a blood transfusion!
Erik called from New York and talked to Melanie. She asked him for an address so that we could send a check for the house. His reply was that he had seen what we were doing and if we sent a check he would shred it and send it back. We were a taken back by his generosity, but very grateful. I bet you thought people from New York were not nice!
Early Monday morning we were back at the airport. Danny and Melanie went back to Ft. Myers and Dinah and I back to Abaco. Danny and Melanie were held up in Customs in Palm Beach for a while because Flight Service in Miami had not passed on the information about their arrival to Palm Beach. They finally let them go with a warning, but without the $5000 fine.
Back in Abaco, we checked on some sick folks, conducted a clinic, and drove to Cooper's Town up north to deliver Bibles. Lilla is still not doing well, and Janetta Lowe is back in the hospital in West Palm with her cancer. Our sympathy is expressed to Bill Miller in the sudden death of his youngest brother. He died with an asthma attack leaving a wife and two young children.
Thank you for your support and prayers.
david
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