Bahama Mission Update
September 27, 2008

This has been a busy month, and I still remember that it is September ! I must be improving over last month. We have had a time for Hurricanes and Tropical Storms. Hanna did not develop as much as expected, but still hammered the southern Islands, and had winds clocked at 115 mph through the Abacos. Structural damage was minimal with mostly roofing shingles and foliage. The flooding was pretty extensive. There was deep standing water over the airport in Marsh Harbour and in many homes in areas. Ike did a lot of damage in the southern Bahamas. One Island had 80% of it's homes destroyed or damaged. Again it hit the southern Islands. We will remember Ike for this trip through the Gulf and into Galveston and Houston. Our hearts go out to those still trying to find places to live and reeling from their losses. Haiti and the city of Gonaives was flooded and the rush still continues to get food and water into this city. I have been in touch with Alex Altidor from Ft. Lauderdale who was in Haiti when Ike passed by. His pictures and stories are heart wrenching. Alex has family in Gonaives and preached for some years about 32 miles away. He moved out after thugs threatened his family. We are thankful to the Church in Auburn, Alabama for a special contribution to allow us to help some of the brethren in the Bahamas. The damage was not as widespread as Galveston, but it is hard to explain that to a widow and her children who were flooded and lost all their food supply!

On a different subject, we have had a number of baptisms in recent weeks and have enjoyed giving Bibles to the new brothers and sisters.The baptisms that I know of were in Abaco, Eleuthera and Freeport. I am sure there were others too. Our continued thanks to the young men and women at Longmire Road in Conroe, Texas for their gifts over the past 3 years, and to the Park Plaza congregation in Tulsa for their recent contribution to this cause. A family at Palm Beach Lakes in West Palm Beach has been supplying the Bibles for new converts in Marsh Harbour. I presented a Bible to Jaimie Hunt in Rock Sound, Eleuthera last Sunday. Jaimie is a 17 year old outstanding High School student. He read scripture in the service Sunday. Lincoln Young has his e-mail rigged up and working again. If you do not get his reports and would like to, contact me, and I will forward them to you. His Dragon Speaking ( it types while he speaks) program is not perfect, but makes it so much better in writing his reports than typing with his tongue. I had him sign Jaimie's Bible Sunday and noted that he did it with the pen in his teeth. His signature was easier to read than mine.

The men in Abaco are hosting a Men's Retreat at a youth camp just out of Marsh Harbour October 10 through 12. A number of the Islands will have men attending as well as some from Florida. We start on Friday with a Fish Fry on the beach and continue through Sunday morning when all will drive into town to worship in Marsh Harbour. I will start the lessons on Friday night as a number of us will speak 15 minutes each on the Theme of Putting on the Whole Armour of God.

Lincoln Young had his 41st Birthday on September 19th. He had never had a party. He was one of 16 children and parties were not in the budget. Dinah and I had planned a few years back to surprise him, but 8 hurricanes in two years brought the effort to a halt. This year the congregation in Rock Sound and many of the people in the town planned a party and a Day of Honor for Lincoln. In his men's Challenge Meeting last week, they told him that he was not preaching Sunday morning, that they would take care of the service. They contacted me about flying down from Abaco and preaching about Honoring One Another. The weather was good and Dinah and I made our plans. I called Lincoln on the satellite phone and told him that we had not seen him in some time, and were thinking about flying down Sunday morning. He invited me to speak. I did not tell him that I had already been contacted. Dinah and I were picked up at the airport by Lincoln's sister in law. She, his sister Tamika,( She also has the same form of MS) his mom and two nephews had flown over from Nassau to be with him on Friday for his birthday. When we got to the house, one of the ladies asked me to try and get him out of the house. I walked to the building with Lincoln riding in his chair. The ladies of the congregation swarmed his house and decorated and brought in food. There was a large crowd at the worship period. We honored this special man as we gave honor to the Master. After services everyone visited for a short time and then headed for his house. Cars were parked at a distance and about 75 of us stayed inside to surprise him. He was overwhelmed when he drove his wheelchair into the living room. There was food, tributes, cards and gifts. People from the town continued to drop by even after we left to fly back to Abaco.

Our phone in Abaco has been out since Hanna, and we came to appreciate having the satellite phone more than ever. Our continued appreciation to the friends in Pecos, Texas for this great tool that allows us to check weather and stay in touch with the outside world. We were also very busy this past week or so in running my clinics. Like the economy in the United States, the economy in the Bahamas is hurting, and free clinics have a great appeal.

One activity of note is Dinah's progress in learning to land the Piper. She had landed the Cessna some years back, but had not shown much interest in the bigger heavier plane. I think she took a look at my age and physical condition and decided it was time to learn. ha. She took notes, did her home work, and did a great job of landing Sunday morning in Rock Sound. She does this from the right seat as she says if something happened to me she would never be able to throw me in the back and change seats. She will continue to practice in the future until she gets very comfortable at the controls.

There are many things that happen with hurricanes that are seldom mentioned. The Islands are infested with flying tree roaches. They are seldom seen and stay outside until the weather threatens them. Hanna brought infestations into homes in Abaco. These roaches are the largest I have ever seen. They are between 2 and 3 inches long. Our little room upstairs was loaded with them when we got in the other day. I began to spray and used almost a full gallon. They are big and do not die easily. Over the next few days we killed more than 40 and did not see any after that. When we left the room we set off some bug bombs and hope it took care of the rest of them. The whole episode gave Dinah an opportunity to exercise her scream reflexes.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers over the years. 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/