Bahama Mission Update
November 19, 2002
I have not had time or opportunity to sit down and let you know what has been going on the past few weeks. I made the trip to visit with the Bedford congregation in Shelbyville, Tn. and then had a meeting with brethren from the West 7th Church in Colombia. We are looking for them to send a small group of adults and older teens to help in the Bahamas in the Summer of 2003. We had a nice short visit with our son and daughter-in-law. We just found out on our return yesterday that the first grandchild on both sides of the family will be a girl.
Dinah and I flew out to Abaco, where I changed the oil and did a 50 hour check on the plane. We visited with a number of the brethren there, did some banking for Lincoln, and loaded supplies to fly to Eleuthera to be with him over the weekend. We attended a birthday party with one of the Abaco families who has adopted us, and rejoiced with Greta that we finally got the phone repaired again. It was only out 8 weeks this time. We had hoped to get in done by January when the Sarvers return.We are ahead of schedule if it stays on!
Dinah and I worked on the finishing touches to the inside of the building in Rock Sound, and spent time planning the final assault on the exterior. This building was put together long before there was a code. I put lights in the rest room outer area. Does not sound hard, except that you can not cut the power to that area of the building. It makes you work with wires like a brain surgeon. I would jump a foot every time the phone rang, much to the amusement of Dinah and Lincoln. We enjoyed sharing worship with the congregation and had a delightful time of fellowship. We made a long list for the next trip.
We returned to Florida and drove to Ft. Lauderdale to enjoy a fine meal and to have fellowship with the Jordan's and Biddings (Two of the elders at West Broward). They had also invited Henry and Elva Respess who spend some winter time in Florida. Henry and Elva have become our good friends and have supported a number of special projects in the Islands. They have visited several of the congregations while traveling on their yacht. Henry gave me a check before we left to finish the outside work at Rock Sound. We and Lincoln are most thankful.
Dinah and I bought the 5 gallon cans of roofing mastic and loaded them in the plane with other needed supplies. The cans of mastic weigh between 70 and 80 lbs each and we needed enough to cover 2000 square feet. I flew the plane back to Abaco to clear customs and make arrangements for the week-end funeral for sister Jeanette Lowe who had died in the hospital in Florida after a long struggle with cancer. It took several days to get the paper work done to export her body, and the funeral was set for Sunday afternoon to allow time for family and friends to come from other Islands. Her only daughter is expecting the first grandchild next month. That bought special sadness to all who knew and loved her.
I flew down to Rock Sound and Lincoln met me with a truck. We unloaded the "flying pickup" and got everything to the building. Lincoln had gotten all of the trees trimmed away from the building and finished most of the plaster work on the outside. I added the final lights inside, put up a special bulletin board which goes with Dinah's "Lighthouse" piece. The bulletin board will be called "Let your light so shine..." Lincoln and Dinah get creative and I get a lot of extra jobs! I had brought by electric plane and after some time got all of the doors to close, pictures added to the bulletin board, caps on all holes in the walls where power lines come through and a number of extra little jobs that Lincoln kept adding as we went along. I did get cleaned up in time to share a wonderful period of Bible Study with the congregation that evening. They did not seem ready to stop after an hour and a half, but I was tired!
Lincoln and I left Rock Sound on Thursday morning for Nassau and the first "Manpower" gathering of men from the Islands. This effort was well advertised on National Radio and T.V. 7500 special invitations where handed out with tracts in the capital city. Arrangements were made to broadcast the 4 hours on National Radio. We were met at the airport by one of Lincolns sisters. She laughed when I described how we came in the plane.( Me flying and Lincoln sitting in the back seat like a celebrity in a stretch Limo. ) We were taken to Lincoln's family home, where we called Franklin Simmons. I also made a call to Dr. Marlene Sawyer to see if she could put a cap back on my teeth. I was delighted when she answered her cell phone, but sorry to hear she was in Abaco attending a wedding. Not to worry. She gave me the number of her partner, a periodonitics specialist. I waited 15 minutes as instructed. By now it was noon. His receptionist said he could not see me until 2:00 p.m. Wow, my cousin Johnny in Crockett, Texas requires about a month advance notice. Frankie and I had a lunch of conch salad and after 30 minutes, Dr. Clark had me straight as we say in the Bahamas. The afternoon was spent visiting, planning, and studying for the evening session. I spoke for only 51 minutes on God's Role for Men in the Church and then we served with others on an hour panel with questions from audience. I was able to deliver copies of my Dad's last book to preachers and teachers. Many of them stayed up very late reading, and called me the next day with appreciation. A period of fellowship and refreshments brought the long day to a close. I enjoyed a restful night in the home of Franklin and Sharon. I did get Franklin in trouble when I asked their youngest son ( 6 years old) a question he could not answer after he had sung some songs and listed all the books of the Bible. When he did not know the answer, he tapped Franklin with "Dad you did not teach me that!" Franklin was a student of mine and spent a lot of time as a young man in Abaco in the early 80's helpping me when we first started.
Bad weather loomed on the horizon. Frankie and Brother Miller and I enjoyed a Bahamian breakfast of boiled fish and grits and then picked up Lincoln for the trip back to Eleuthera and then on to Abaco. Brother Miller updated us on the Caribbean Lectureship to be held in Nassau next year. He had just returned from a planning session in Puerto Rico. We had to miss the last night of the conference. Lincoln's mom reminded us that it was better to miss one night and be safe than to miss all the nights of the future. Larry met us at the Rock Sound airport and I made it back to Abaco before the sunset.
Saturday morning the plane with Jeanette's body arrived and she lay in state all day and evening at the building. Franklin came in on Saturday afternoon to help me with the funeral and to preach on Sunday morning. The weather turned bad as predicted. Frankie had great lessons Sunday morning in both his class and sermon. A quick lunch with Bernice (me) and Lilla (Frankie) and we were off to the larger auditorium for the funeral. It was the largest I have seen in Abaco. There were a lot of folks from other Islands as well as two members of Parliament. She had touched a lot of lives with her faith and courage. Franklin and Leonard Edgecombe helped me with the committal service at the building then just we and the pallbearers went to the cemetery for a prayer and the burial.
Frankie left on Bahamas Air Sunday afternoon and I preached Sunday night. I made great use all week of the new digital camera given to me by Terri Hursey in Ft. Lauderdale.(Thank you Terri!) I am now upgrading my slide show of the Islands to have in Freeport next Sunday morning for the Missions Sunday. Dinah has been working on the signs for the building in Rock Sound after the painting, and has made new covers for the communion table. We have a long list to load in the plane before leaving in a day or so. I also need to change the oil in the plane before we leave Abaco for Freeport on the week-end.
Thank you for your support and prayers.
david
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David Caskey
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Jerry Pickup
http://www.jpickup.com/
