Bahama Mission Update
November 30, 2007

First, my apologies for hitting the wrong button last report and sending you a mailing list with the Update. Chalk it off to old age! We have been busy with many activities including getting help to some of our Islands that are still in bad shape from Tropical Storm/Hurricane Noel. Clean up will be a long time in coming to many of the areas. Some settlements are still cut off from each other by high water on the roads. The money we have received has been of help in getting some of our members back in their homes. The bad news is that water was chest and neck high or higher in hundreds of homes. The good news is that the water was fresh and not sea water. It is still a mess, but much easier to clean up. We express deep appreciation to Don Yelton and the Whites Ferry Road Relief Ministries for jumping in quickly with a $5000 contribution. We received a total of $7000 including the contributions from Pecos, Texas and West Broward, in Ft. Lauderdale. This money was used quickly. We still have more work that needs to be done, and if you would like to help, funds can be sent to Gulf Coast in Ft. Myers at the address at the bottom of this report. WFR Relief Ministries has been helping us in the Bahamas since Hurricane Andrew in the early 90's. We would encourage congregations who want to help with Relief all over the world to make contributions to them.

WFR Relief Ministries
3201 N. Seventh Street
West Monroe, La. 71291.

We just returned from the Annual Mission Day sponsored by the Freeport congregation. This was the ninth year. The Freeport Church pays the way of local preachers to come from the Family Islands and make reports and be a part of future planning. We spent a couple of hours on Saturday night in brain-storming and developing a number of practical attainable goals for the coming year. Almost two hundred gathered Sunday for about 7 hours of reports, worship and fellowship. The Freeport ladies again outdid themselves in providing food for the entire group.

The key-note speaker was Brother Bill Davis from the Sylvania Heights congregation in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. He had a wonderful lesson following this year's theme, "The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength", Neh. 8:10. Brother Davis came to Florida from the Nashville and was not really familiar with the Islands. His contact with the Freeport Church was by accident. He was going to Nassau, and had appointments and hotel reservations. He flew to Freeport, expecting to get a car and drive to Nassau! Needless to say, he did not drive to Nassau and spent his time with the Freeport Church. We are delighted that they invited him back for Mission Day. This reminded me of an event in 1960 when we were preparing to move to Africa. One elderly gentleman in a country congregation asked, "How you going to get to Africa? You going to drive?".

We also enjoyed getting to be with Dick and Beverly Parker again. They spent a quarter of a century in the Islands working in Freeport, Eleuthera, and Abaco. We are delighted that their health has improved. I was happy to present them with New Bibles as an expression of our collective appreciation for their long years of service. We also met Russ and Shawna Gann from Medford, Oregon. Their congregation sent them down to do some survey work. This congregation had made a contribution to the work in Exuma and this time they traveled to Rock Sound, Eleuthera to visit with Lincoln Young. Who ever booked them failed to check with Lincoln, and he did not arrive back from Freeport until about the time they were scheduled to leave. So they spent two days in Rock Sound before he got back to the Island. He had arranged to have someone pick them up at the airport. Somehow they missed their ride and took a taxi. Anyway they did get to spend a little time with Lincoln and see some of the work.

We were able to visit with representives from each Island congregation. I gave free copies of the South Florida Lectures book to 10 of our 20 men who are preaching in the Islands. These were donated by the Elders of the Palm Beach Lakes Church in West Palm Beach, Florida.The new book by Christopher and Denny Curry, "A History of the Churches of Christ in the Bahamas", was unveiled at Mission Day. This 232 page book is an unvarnished account of the struggles and victories of the Church in the Islands. I have asked Brother Miller to send me a box of them and will in time have them available if some of you are interested. The book sells for $20 to defray the expenses of publishing in small lots.

Dinah was also able to distribute more copies of "Footprints of the Faithful", CD. This is an outstanding series of 188 lessons for Children all on the one CD. This has been well received by all who have used it. We are most thankful for the hundreds of hours of study and preparations by the authors to provide this 4 year curriculum that takes young people through the whole Bible. The great value in the Islands is that we do not have to haul hundreds of pounds of Bible Class materials into distant areas. Teachers can print off copies of the lessons and the handwork and have them in a timely manner. We obtained a copy last year from one of the authors and have made copies that are used in many areas.

This week there were three baptisms that we know about. Crissy Burrows was baptized Sunday morning in Freeport, and early in the week, two young men (Erick Pierre and Daniel Loussaint) were baptized in Abaco. There are many studies in progress all over the Islands. Many of these are an ongoing effort by those who were involved in the "Fishers of Men" Program last summer. We carried several boxes of Bibles donated by the Youth at Longmire Road in Conroe, Texas to give as gifts and reminders to the new converts.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Checks can be made to:

Att: David Caskey-Mission, c/o Gulf Coast Church of Christ
9550 Ben C. Pratt/Six Mile Cypress Parkway
Ft. Myers, Florida 33966.

david

Bahama Mission Home Page
http://www.flyingpreacher.com/
Mission Contact: David Caskey

Webmaster: Jerry Pickup
http://www.jpickup.com/