Time seems to fly faster as you get older. Dinah and I made a trip to Phoenix Az. to visit with friends and supporters over the New Year's holiday. We got back to a much warmer Bahamas with a heavy schedule. Two of our congregations are working on their buildings and trying to get them to look nice again after the past hurricanes. Lincoln is making a lot of progress in Rock Sound and Long Island has a work day every Saturday. Dinah has done a lot of work on new signs and flower arrangements to augment their hard work. The results are gratifying. The Long Island building is near the ocean and almost always gets flooded when a storm passes. I have done the annual on the plane and will go in today for my flight physical. We did spend a delightful day with the brethren in Clewiston, Florida. This small congregation has had a great influence on others as well as having given support to our work over many years.They gave $400 in special contributions that Sunday. Winter visitors have been exposed to the Bahama work as they come south to warm up.
The Church in Freeport closed out the year with 27 baptisms, and have had one more this month. They recently committed $500 a month to the work in Exuma and Steve McQueen.This is to help replace some $1500 in lost support. Dinah and I will be in Freeport February 15-19th. Supporters and good friends from Pecos, Texas will also be there.
Lilla Straughn has spent some time in the hospital in Nassau and had a pacemaker implanted. She was released just a couple of days ago and hopes to be back in Abaco soon.She is the oldest member in Abaco and is known for her hospitality and faithfulness. The Sarvers arrived safely and will be working in Marsh Harbour until March 22. There was a good fellowship on Friday night to welcome them with about 40 in attendance. I spent a couple of days working on our little car and van so that they would have the van to drive during their period of outreach. There was one baptism in Abaco this past week Whitson Cajuste was introduced to the Church by Anna Nichols.
Dinah and I took some of the seats out of the plane to allow us to carry two fake trees and a flower arrangement, pedestal and sign to Long Island. We made a 5 hour stop in Exuma for fuel and a visit with the McQueens. We were delighted to meet a new Canadian family. Kelly is a faithful member from Toronto( he arrived with a letter of introduction from the elders) his wife Anne-Marie attends with him and has been very supportive of the radio program along with her mother in Canada. Anne-Marie has roots in Exuma. Her mother moved to Canada to go to College and married a Canadian. Anne-Marie has always wanted to move "home". We have great hopes that she soon will become a member. Dinah and I took them to lunch along with Steve and Suzette and were very impressed. Kelly is already a great asset to the work. To those not versed in starting congregations in the Islands, the work in Exuma may seem slow. However, the ground work being laid is solid and we are on schedule. Steve and Suzette are very committed and we hope in time to have a place to worship of our own. Dinah and I will be back down there in a few days to deliver WBS materials and more Bibles. The McQueen children are excelling in school. The youngest daughter has 4.0 grade point average and won the Island spelling bee. She will go to Nassau to compete in the National meet. Steve was having trouble getting enough money to continue the radio program at the present rate. Instead of cutting back on programs, the owner of the station cut the rate in half. The program is getting great reviews on the Island.
We left Exuma for Long Island and arrived about 2 miles behind the Bahamas Air flight from Nassau. Thirteen members from Highbury Park including all three elders paid their own way to spend a week-end with the Church in Long Island. We are always impressed with the Members of the Highbury congregation. We had visited with Shane Miller in Exuma who was there for a meeting with the Prime Minister. Shane is the new Registrar General for the Bahamas. Much like our Attorney General. Greg Williams was with the group in Long Island. He has been a Member of Parliament and a former junior cabinet member. I sat Sunday evening by Marie Neely who is a soloist with the National Chorus and amazed me with her range in singing. Other members of the group were business men and women and a lawyer with the justice department. Over the years we have reached into all areas of Bahamian society. Judy Burrows took us to the building to unload the van with our cargo and we worked until later in the afternoon. We had a great reunion on Friday evening with homemade pea soup and a long pow wow in sister Burrows kitchen. Dinah wore herself out playing with the children who are always delighted to see her again. We began at 7 am Saturday with a devotional, coffee and corn cakes, and a work day. We dug holes in the coral rock (jack hammer) for the new sign Dinah had painted after the other was blown away in a Hurricane. She refreshed the other two signs and placed the trees and flower arrangement to complement the new walls, floor,and chairs in the building. Some of the men went fishing in the afternoon and we spent Saturday evening in the home of sister Darvelle with a fish fry (cooked on an open fire outside) and a big pot of crab and rice. 40 were in attendance on Sunday morning. Some of their regular people were away and sick. They have been having about 33 without visitors. All of the elders spoke and we were treated to a sit down meal by the Nassau group at a cafe about 25 miles from the building. This was the only place that would open on Sunday afternoon for us. Dinah and I made the long bus runs to give the local people a break. Highbury also presented a check for almost $2200 to help with the building repairs. Brother Hastie spoke on Sunday night. He said that it was impossible for a tall elder on a long Island to deliver a short sermon! Bill Miller related a baptism the week before of a young man who had found World Bible School on the internet and studied with someone from Philadelphia. Bill Miller and one of the preachers from Highbury Park studied with the Erik and baptized him. Bill said that he was the first ever to thank him for studying with him and helping him to become a Christian. We left Monday morning for Cat Island.
The Deveaux's had a hard year in 2006. Sister Deveaux was in Nassau in and out of the hospital for over 4 months. Brother Deveaux had gone completely blind. He was taken to Cuba for surgery and now with the aid of glasses can see some. (John was one of a few Bahamians given a free trip and medical services in pay back from Cuba's killing 4 Defense Force members who were trying to stop Cubans from poaching lobster in Bahamian Waters. Cuba called an airstrike and sunk the "Flamingo".) He can not see to read, but did recognize us. We got to the airport just at a plane landed to remove the body of a tourist who had died the night before. We had great visit with the Deveaux's before flying on the Eleuthera to have lunch with Lincoln. We are still searching for a family who works to move to both Cat Island and San Salvador.
Lincoln had the van sitting at the airport for us and he and Tony met us for lunch. We had several boxes of materials for him including a new speaking program for his computer donated by brethren in Ft. Myers, Florida. Lincoln had just baptized Roberta Mackey who was not deterred by the cold weather and ocean. She told Lincoln she did not care if it was freezing. We got back to the airport for the trip to Abaco later in the afternoon.
The next days were spent working on cars and vans and visiting with the many sick people in Abaco who have been friends over the years. The muffler and tailpipe pipe on the little car had fallen off on the way to the airport and knocked the back fender off as well. We are loading the plane for the next trip which will include, Abaco, Exuma, Long Island, Cat Island, Eleuthera and Freeport. It looks like the back seats may have to stay out for a while.
We are thankful for your support and prayers. Checks can be made to Bahama Mission Church of Christ, and sent:
Att: David Caskey-Mission, c/o Gulf Coast Church of Christ
3825 McGregor Blvd.
Ft. Myers, Florida 33901.
david
Bahama Mission Home Page
http://www.flyingpreacher.com/
Mission Contact
David Caskey
Webmaster
Jerry Pickup
http://www.jpickup.com/
