Bahama Mission Update
December 13, 2002
Dinah and I wish you and your family a very happy holiday season. We will most likely spend the time in the Bahamas-weather permitting. We are excited about our first granddaughter to be. Jason and Lori are expecting April 20. My dad is in an Alzheimer's home in Arlington, and Mom is able to continue working with Mission Printing and visit with him twice a day. Dinah is in St. Louis checking on her mom and attending her brother's wedding. This is our wedding anniversary. So much for personal notes.
The past few days have been busy as usual. We got out reports, Dinah has painted 3 new signs for the Eleuthera building. Jerry Pickup has updated the web page, and we have a few more changes to make this week. Please keep Jerry in your prayers. He spent a week in the hospital and still faces more tests. He is a very special friend and not only furnishes the web page, but also is the Web Master.In Marsh Harbour we conducted several clinics, serviced the plane, obtained and are preparing two new doors to replace the rotting ones on the building, loaded materials for Eleuthera and went down to spend some time with Lincoln. We hung the two signs Dinah had finished, the third will go next trip. Lincoln has the mastic on the roof, and we were able to repair the P.A system. I delivered the wonderful tray that was custom made by the men in Houston, only to discover that it was 7 inches too high. I had to fly it back to a machine shop to be cut down, and will redeliver on my next trip to Eleuthera. It will be a great help to Lincoln when we get it working. A lady in Wynn, Arkansas, donated a talking program for Lincoln. He had checked the requirements on the web before she ordered it, but they did not tell him that his computer is too old to make it work. He really needs a new computer! If any of you want to do something nice for someone for the holidays, donations will be accepted!
Saturday morning, Lincoln and I flew to Nassau. We were met at the airport by his sister and taken to the family home.One of his sisters had prepared chicken souse, so we had a great Bahamian breakfast at mid-morning. Brother Andrew Major came for me and we spent the rest of the day visiting with people and inviting them to the special day on Sunday. Andrew is tireless. We arrived at his apartment later in the evening. Bonnie had prepared the guest room for me and had a wonderful dinner waiting. Frankie Simmons came over after dinner, and got Bonnie on e-mail. He and his youngest son polished off the scraps and we had a great visit and planning session.
Sunday morning we were up early and off to the building by 7a.m. I set up the projector donated by Wynn ,Arkansas, and prepared my PowerPoint slide show for the Bible Class hour.The theme for the special day was,"Life, Joy and Service Beyond Your Limitations" based on II Corinthians 12:9-10. Lincoln preached an outstanding sermon. It was made more emotional as he brought his condition and that of Drexel Major to light. Drexel led the closing prayer and I almost lost it, when they passed each other in the aisle with their wheelchairs.These are two men of great faith. Drexel is doing much better and now has a job working for the Boy Scouts in the National Office in Nassau.
Services were over about 2 p.m. we rush home for another one of Bonnie Majors great meals, and finished in time to hear the first of two national re-broadcasts of the Manpower program from a couple of weeks ago. We had two hours Sunday and two more next Sunday in prime time. We were back at the building a little after 5p.m. and visited with brethren from the Southwestern congregation who are using the central building temporarily. Highbury Park turned out their services for the evening and came over to support the special day. I preached for just one hour on Service Beyond Your Limitations, and we visited until around 11:00 p.m.
We were up early again and Andrew beat most of the traffic in taking me to Lincoln's family home so that we could catch a ride to the airport with his sister Dorothy who works there. Andrew was off to spend the day teaching school. (This is the way he supports his preaching habit!) We cleared customs with the plane, filed a flight plan and flew Lincoln back to Eleuthera. I had taken a seat out of the plane to make room for his folding wheelchair. He sat in his usual place by the back door and looked very much like his new nickname, "Limo Man".
I made it back to Abaco ahead of the weather front, and spent the afternoon at a machine shop getting Lincoln's tray cut down. It was then to the clinic and a late supper with John Roberts. I preached his wife's funeral in August. I had planned to return to Florida to pick up more supplies, but was halted by bad weather. They had between 6 and 8 inches of rain and a lot of flooding. I visited with folks, got some things ready for the Sarvers to arrive January 2, and did a house blessing. A House Blessing is an old Bahamian custom of gathering the family before they move into a new house and having a prayer. I was delayed out over the ocean for about 30 minutes flying back to Florida the next day due to fog that was late in clearing. Now we are reloading the plane with Drug Education materials, an old computer I have gotten going for Frank Saver to have in Abaco, updating my slide presentation, updating the Web page, and sending this report. I will get new spark plugs for the plane this morning and get them changed before returning. The up to date slide show has been very well received in all of the congregations as we visit. This puts faces with names in the various Island churches and allows people to know who they are praying for.
I just heard that the Church in Crockett, Texas sent a check for $500 to buy additional Bibles. We are out, and this is deeply appreciated.
Thank you for your support and prayers. May God continue to give the increase as we enter a new year.
david
Bahama Mission Home Page
http://www.flyingpreacher.com/
Mission Contact
David Caskey
Webmaster
Jerry Pickup
http://www.jpickup.com/
