Four Days

Four days can seem like an eternity. The thought of being "finished" on the worksite when we arrive Monday doesn't even cross our mind. But here we were Thursday afternoon, making the last rounds. Hugging kids, taking pictures, gathering supplies. It's not until then that the emotions start to hit - We really won't be back again. We may never see these kids again. But you have to just get on the bus and leave. You can't delay the inevitable. I have the tough job of herding the masses onto the bus and I hate it. It's no fun seeing this week end, but if we don't just go, we may never leave. Lots of promises are made about coming back next year. But we really can't predict where we will be. Who knows what the summer of 2015 will hold. The ride home is a quiet one. Lots of us are in deep thought wondering what the future will hold for our new friends. Where will they be in a year, two years, 10 years? How well will the bathroom and paint hold up when the hurricane force winds start up? But as we reflect on what we accomplished this week, it goes beyond the walls we painted, or the nails we hammered. It's in the bonds we've created with each other. The village kids will remember us. That's something we know for a fact. Their joy on Monday and their tears on Thursday tell us that. Just four short days that can change us and them forever.

Rob's blogging today

I've had the pleasure of spending a lot of time on this island with Dan over the last 10 years, and I don't think I've ever seen him have so little control over our week as he has this year. Bad weather, slips and falls, forgotten iPads so he can't write his own blog for the second time in a week. It's enough to make a leader feel a bit less leader-y. But as I wrote on the blog Sunday, God's plan for this week isn't usually the one we have when we set off to the airport on Saturday morning. This week has certainly been unorthodox so far, but we're still accomplishing our goals anyway, both the physical tasks and the spiritual ones. Our beach service tonight married our 30 hearts and the sunset with song, prayer and devotion. It was beautiful and awesome, in the original sense of the word. These moments are what make this trip so special. Dan and I are in a room with a few of the teens on the trip right now, telling stories and picking our favorite Wick (the discussion always ends in a three-way tie). They are full of energy, full of smiles, and full of love for God & for each other. This is why we're here. This is why I keep coming back. This is fellowship. Gotta go. This screen is standing between me and an incredibly impressive group of Woodsiders.

Beautiful Things

It typically takes a few days for the locals to join us on the worksite, whether to play or to work. But since we were in this location last year and last week, there's no awkward moments or hesitation. It was just like being home. On Monday, the local kids screeched when they saw some of the girls from last year. Some of the boys got right to work helping to put a coat of primer on the house we are painting. But yesterday, the group and the locals did something unique. As I was at the store getting the supplies we needed, no construction could be done. Our resident artist Colleen always brings her paints with her, looking for opportunities to turn trash into something beautiful. When I returned from the store run, I noticed a group of Woodsiders with paint all over themselves. Shirts, pants, hands, faces. Some of it was just mess. Some was purposeful. As I got closer to the commotion, I noticed something - it wasn't a paint fight, it was a paint party. The abandon car was totally covered in paint - color, designs, flowers, scripture, hearts. And it was done as a group: our kids and their kids, hand in hand. Taking something so broken and making it so beautiful is a nice summary of what we are doing here. Trying to fix things that are broken - not the houses, but the people. And not just the Bahamians, but us. We are all broken; sinners looking for grace. And by His grace we are made beautiful again. Like the abandoned car.

Who's Plan is it Anyway?

Here is Sunday's post (a day late) written by guest blogger Rob Engelsman, filling in for the sick one. A storm hit tonight at dinner time. Low booms of thunder scattered the darkening skies as we sat under the pavilion near the beach. The speed at which the storms here arrive, and the sheer volume of water that descends when they do, are both remarkable reminders of how little we truly control what goes on while we're here. We arrive every year with a plan, and leave every year having completed a plan, but the two plans are never similar. It's as if today's rain was God's way of laughing at our plans - a humorous "Oh, you wanted to do your will today? How about we try mine?" to help us get our priorities straight for the week ahead. In a lot of ways, our time here tends to pass like a Bahamian storm. With a group this size, we don't stand a chance of arriving quietly. The days turn into a whirlwind as we descend upon the island and spend a week trying to do as much as we can. Roofs, walls, the local children, each other. We want to impact it all, practically at once, and leave our mark before we're the ones leaving. What mark will we leave this week? And whose plan will we follow? One of these questions has an answer before we even start our work, but the other will tell us how much we've learned to listen to His plan by week's end.

M is for Monday and Mistakes

Usually, the first day of this trip is slow. The team is trying to find their place on the worksite. Do I want to paint, build, clean up, play with kids? Where do I fit in? And for a new member, it can be pretty overwhelming. There's also the matter of supplies. We need to make sure that the group has what they need to get working. So it's typically not until after lunch Monday that we can really get rolling. As the guy with the keys to the bus, most of the progress hinges on when I get back with said supplies. So when I returned after lunch, I was expecting a lot of people bored and waiting around. But to my surprise, there was a lot that got done. Raoul does a great job of giving us work that allows for a variety of skills. This week we are working on finishing Mr. Leo's bathroom, fixing a small section of roof and painting Miss Vilma's house across the street, and of course playing with the kids. We were moving pretty good, almost too good. Sometimes in our rush to get 'er done and finish the job, we overlook the little things and make mistakes. But it's in those mistakes that we are reminded that the physical impact that we make can be great, but it's not all that this trip is about. Yeah, we will need to redo the roof at Miss Vilma's, some of the scraping was subpar, and I forgot about a key component in building the roof of the bathroom. It's going to set us back in our attempt to complete them all by Friday, which is certainly frustrating. But in the midst of those frustrations, you could hear the laughter, the conversations, the prayers. These bonds being created between ourselves and the people in the village, that's what matters on this trip. Jesus wants us to build relationships with each other. Which are more important than the relationship we have with hammers and saws.

Back on track

The past two days have not been kind ones to me. After fighting through a case of the blahs on Thursday, I seemed to have caught a bug. For the past two nights, as I sat with my iPad ready to add to the blog, I couldn't muster the strength. Now that I have been commanded to stay at the hotel this morning (Sunday) and miss church by real wife and Bahamian wife, I have the opportunity to get a few updates done. Friday was a great day. The vision that we had for Mr. Leo's house has (almost) complete. We finished the porch/deck completely, got the foundation for the new bathroom set, and continued to clean up some of the brush/trash in his yard. We dodged a few raindrops along the way, but there was not way we were leaving his house until we got our work done. We then closed the week with the one last service. Our verse for the trip is from Luke 11:35 - "See to it then the light in you is not darkness." All week we spoke about how we need to seek the true light - Jesus - not the ones that come and go and lead to darkness. And as Christians, we need to be His light, shining on others and sharing His love, not promoting those things that lead us and others into darkness. I do believe that the group that arrived back at Woodside on Saturday are not the same people that they were last week. They experienced the love of Jesus. They shared the love of Jesus. They were a light for the people they worked with. They were His hands and feet. What an awesome week. Then Saturday came. We dropped off the group at the airport and headed to the laundromat. the 7 that were staying (4 interns, 2 two-weekers, and me) spent the hour getting our clothes clean. We barely squeezed it in before it was time to get the new group 30 from the airport. It was nice to see so many smiling faces, excited to be here for the week. But it was weird counting that high after only having 14 last week. And for the first time in our trip's history, we had a luggage issue. Karen's bag never made it here. Not sure what the issue was, but we are praying that it arrives to day. Thankfully, she was able to wear one of the girl's extra dresses for church. Once we got the room situation settled, the group headed to the pool and beach for some relaxation and getting to know you time. We had pizza at the pavilion, followed by some icebreakers and opening night activities. After trying to hold it together for those days, my body had had enough and I developed a fever. But God blessed me with great people that could help take the leadership role. I have total faith that whatever God's plan for me and the group this week will be a great one. So instead of feeling sorry for myself, I'm going to take this day to recover, get refreshed, and get ready to take on the challenges that He has laid before us.

Slow and Steady

The day started off wet. Torrential downpour wet while the leaders were having their morning coffee. As the skies opened up, we just shook our heads in disbelief and thought, "Not again!" But the rain stopped and we were blessed with a dry (except for a short afternoon pop up storm) day. The plan was to work as long as we could to make up for the lost time of the last two days. We were fired up to jump in and get moving. Until we got there. The place was a quagmire. Puddles everywhere. Mud all over. And the smell. Indescribable. The combination of the trash, septic tanks, and wet dirty dogs was enough to make someone sick. But we were there for a purpose and we weren't going to let Mr. Leo down. Quickly the team tried to break into their groups - porch, kids, and landscaping. But the kids weren't coming outside yet. The "yard" (I use that term loosely) was a soggy mess. That only left some remaining work on getting the roof on the porch. So the working was slow, which was very frustrating for a group like ours who typically gets a lot accomplished on these trips. Now each day before we leave for the site, I tell them that today is perfect because God made it. Whatever his plan is will come to be. But it's hard after three days to sell that to the kids when YOU are even having frustrations. We know that there has been a lot of progress growing closer to God this week. Our small group time, morning devotion, and beach service have all helped us strengthen our relationships with Jesus, so we know that Satan is getting mad. He's trying everything in his power to create that wedge between us and Him. All week we've talked about how we need to seek the light of Jesus so that we will remain out of the darkness. These down times are perfect opportunities for evil to step in. And to be honest, there were times today when you could see a few fractures in the group. Some not seeking work, but waiting to be told. Some falling back into selfish behaviors. Some anger and resentment about who's doing what. So after we finished what we could, it was decided it would be best if we left the rest of the work for tomorrow. Even though we're not satisfied with how far we've gotten on the worksite, the group needs to be reminded of how far they've come in their walk with Jesus. So the team decided that instead of the Friday God in Nature Day, we will head back to Mr. Leo's house to finish the work we had planned. We think that's a pretty good choice.

The Rain Sort of Stopped Us

Another day of rain. This time we weren't as lucky as yesterday. It rained hard. From 9 am to 1 pm. Every time that we were thinking, "This may be it," the skies would open up and force us back inside. We were all disappointed that the job at Mr. Leo's would have to wait, but we knew it was for the best. There was no way that we could work in that environment. So we made the best of our time by playing games. Lots of them. It started off with a round of Empire, a new staple. We then proceeded to our rainy day standby, Woodside Idol. Each small group had to create a song that incorporated their team name, God, and the Bahamas. We were able to secure two world famous judges, Raoul and Karen, plus the interns, to make the big decision. And the winner was..... The Juicy Leopards for their version of "Juicy" to the tune of "Fancy." There was still more time to kill so we whipped up a quick game of Pictionary. By 1 pm, the group was going stir crazy so we decided to call it a day. Too late and too wet to start working. But since the forecast was calling for clearing skies by 3 pm, we decided to use this opportunity for Port Night. It's always nice getting a little dressed up for an hour or so of shopping, ice cream, and fresh fruit smoothies. We capped the evening with most people's favorite part of the week, our beach service. Two of our youths gave moving testimonies, followed by some private time on the beach with God. It's a great time for quiet reflection about what has taken place so far on the trip, but to look forward to how it's going to be once we return home. With only two more days left on the island, many of the kids are starting to make the realization the their time here is growing short. All of the emotions of the week come crashing down on us like the waves of the ocean, and tonight allowed us to share, hug, cry, and laugh. You name, we felt it. But that is what's great about Wednesday. The group has grown into a family. One that genuinely loves one another, cares about one another. It's a great way to pull together for the last two days of work and fellowship. Pray for sunshine the next two days for us. We know that God has great plans for us no matter the weather, but it sure would be nice to see the sun again!

The Rain Can't Stop Us

During our morning devotion time, we spoke this morning about how awesome the day was yesterday. How everything went as planned and we were able to get so much accomplished. And then I read the scripture passage from 2 Corinthians 4:4. "The god of this age blinds the unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ..." Now even though we are believers, that doesn't stop the god of this age to try to blind us from Christ, to try to stop us from growing closer to him, to stop praising him. I shared that we have made the evil one angry with how well we jelled as a team and the progress we made. I warned that we needed to be on alert for his attempts to fracture the group and impede our progress. Well it came - all day. RAIN! Nothing can stop a mission project like rain. As soon as we got started on the roofing phase of the porch, the skies opened up. We attempted to work though it, hoping that it would let up, but no such luck. We left the materials out just in case, but we ended up only putting up a few 2 x 6 frame boards until we had to call it a day. And there's something about rain that keeps all the kids inside. Raoul has often made the joke that Bahamians are allergic to rain. Even when the rains periodically slowed to a drizzle or stopped, there were no kids to play with. That left 18 workers on one project - the yard. When we started the landscaping project yesterday, only a few people were in on it. They mostly wanted to bang nails on the deck. So today when the work required all of us to chop branches, pull weeds, and move brush and garbage, the mood of the group was not a good one. There were a few comments like "I want to do something else," and "When can we build the roof?" But with no other options, all of us went to work. It didn't take long for everyone to realize just how awesome the yard started to look, which in turn got us more excited to keep going. Over the next 5 hours, we cleared an approximately 50 x 50 foot space that hadn't been landscaped in well over 10 years. There were trees, bushes, grasses, weeds, and garbage all over the area. We not only had to chop and clear the debris, but we also had to move the large pile to the front curb so the garbage collectors could get it. And we did it the whole time while it rained. The very thing that could have divided the group and dashed our spirits was only helping us work harder and grow closer. The cool temps kept everyone refreshed. After the previous two days of pretty high temperatures, it was a relief to get a day like this. It also was beneficial for our traditional Tuesday Night Game - FLY SWATTER HOCKEY! This game is typically the highlight of the nightly games we play, and because of the day we had, the game was a pretty intense one. Usually we play a round robin tournament because of the number of small group teams we have, but since there were only two teams we played one longer game to decide the champs. After winning the first game of the week on Saturday night, the Juicy Leopards were on a five game losing streak to the Sinking Saints. (Ask the kids about how we come up the team names.) So tonight was the Leopards last chance for victory. After a hard fought first half and a tie score, the Leopards erupted for 5 second goals and won 6-3 to claim the Stanley Conch Trophy. As we wrapped up the night in small group, we shared how awesome our God is that he was able to help us persevere through the possible roadblocks, find a way to accomplish our goals, and give praise to Him all though the storms.

Let's get to work!

Finally - WE WORKED! It seemed like forever since we landed on Saturday, so waking up and putting on work clothes was very exciting for us today. But unfortunately, Monday's don't move very quickly. Even though we visited Mr. Leo's yesterday and saw what we were going to do, there was a lot of prep work yet to complete. We needed to load up the van with the necessary tools, and then head to the store to get the materials for the job. And then we need to get acclimated to the site - where will we put the water, the tool area, etc. After we establish that, it's time to break into jobs. Today's jobs were beginning the porch/deck, playing with the kids, and clearing debris and an overgrown area of bushes, trees, and weeds that will be used for the creation of garden beds. We're not talking about a few dandelions and some crabgrass. We're talking about Bahamas strength brush that's about 6 feet high. This was a job that was kind of thrown on us this morning, but it was a good one because there was always something to be done. When you think about the tools necessary for clearing this area, what comes to mind? Weedwhackers, pruning sheers, maybe a lawn mower? Not in the Bahamas. We use machetes. And boy was it fun! Talk about the ultimate stress reliever! And the good thing is, the area is so large we'll be working on this for a few more days. The other job is the construction of a porch and deck for Uncle Leo's house. Our team of teenage contractors devised a plan, created a shopping list, and got to work. By the end of the day, the 12 x 8 foot deck was complete and ready for the roof part of the porch to begin. We wrapped up a little early today due to the fact that we got further than we thought and didn't have the materials to continue the job. It felt so good to get dirty and sweaty! And we had a lot of fun as well. God has put us in a position this week, creating lasting bonds through these experiences. New friendships are forming, old ones are being renewed, and there is a clear fellowship among the team.

A Juicy Sunday

Today we had the privilege of hearing Raoul speak this morning at the New Life Christian Center. Since he is not affiliated with any particular church, this is the first sermon that we have been able to hear by him in all of our years here. And it was a good one. He was bringing the word today! The message today was about the role of the father in today's family. It definitely was interesting hearing a message delivered to a Bahamas audience. A few other things were interesting about today's service. It was our first truly authentic Bahamas style service. The music had a Caribbean flare, there was lots of clapping and moving, and it was LONG - over two and a half hours long. (It wouldn't have been bad if the chairs were more comfortable.) During the opening hour of songs and praise and worship, Pastor Simeon used an expression that we all found quite amusing. He said it was going to be a "Juicy Sunday!" Now we don't really know what he means by that, but it was something that stuck during the day. You could hear different people calling that out at random times throughout the day. After church we took a ride to the village to check out where we will be working this year. It was a time for reunions as Uncle Leo was there to greet us. Some of the kids came out as well to welcome us and play. We were able to see what jobs Raoul had planned for us - a porch and an addition to the house. It was just what we needed to whet our appetite for tomorrow's work day. After the visit and a short tour of past worksites, we headed back to the hotel for some beach and pool time (and for the first time in trip history, the tv was allowed to be on to see the World Cup final). Dinner, games, and our first small group devotion time wrapped up the evening. After these two days of getting to know you's and building friendships, we can't wait to get down and dirty!

14 is Just a Number

For the past few years, the groups that have come down to the Bahamas for this trip have been getting larger. So much so that last year we decided to break the trip into two weeks. Even by doing that, our numbers were still pretty large. So this morning as we waited at church for the team to arrive, it was pretty weird only having to count 14 orange shirts. That's the smallest group we've had since the original 16. All through the day it seemed that we were missing someone. For those who have been on past trips of 50 people, it seems pretty odd. And everything went much quicker today - from getting organized at church, the check-in lines at the airport, to passing food at dinner, initiation, etc. We were finished with all of the day one "have-to" activities so early, that we were able to play three rounds of "Empire" tonight. It was the least stressful first day yet. The group is getting along really well. There's a nice mix of young and old, veterans and newbies. We spent the afternoon at the beach and pool getting to know one another and sharing backgrounds. We are fortunate that tomorrow we will be attending a service where Raoul will be preaching. And we will spend the afternoon heading down to Uncle Leo's house to do a quick survey of the materials needed and to play with some of the kids. We were also able to meet up with our three missionaries who've been here for the past two weeks. They were so excited to see some familiar faces (and get some needed items from home). Even though we are only a team of 14, we know that God's plans are perfect for us, no matter the size.