UBC Bahamas Mission Update 2

The last few days have been very busy for the UBC Missions Group. On Sunday we attended a local Bahamian church called New Life Worship Center, Pastored by Simeon Outten. During the service, we spent over an hour lifting our voices to God, singing many of the same hymns we sing back home. The service was held in a small recording studio that was filled with people and had excellent acoustics. We could feel the music echoing inside our hearts, it was so overwhelmingly beautiful. In fact, I could not distinguish my own voice from the sea of voices giving praise to God. The sermon came from Luke 1:28-33 and was about overcoming fear, which corresponded miraculously with Jose’s devotional that evening. The congregation interacted constantly with pastor Simeon throughout the service, shouting out their prayers, agreements, and opinions. No one was shy to lift there hands for the glory of God.

We spent Sunday afternoon making goody bags and wrapping over 160 gifts for the children of Freeport. Emily and Rebekah made sure no present was without a bow, and Dylan made sure all the gifts were placed in the right spot.

The night concluded with another excellent devotion led by Jose and worship led by Pilar. Jose also shared a miraculous story with us about his experience at church that morning. At church he had felt led to tithe $20.00, but he had chosen to tithe less. Immediately he felt God convicting him about the blessings he had lost by not tithing. He then asked God, for another opportunity to give $20.00. Deep down he knew that the offering plate never comes around twice in one service but he begged God for a second chance to be obedient. Towards the end of the service, Pastor Simeon’s wife came to the pulpit and reminded him that he had forgotten to ask for donations to their church building fund, which he usually requested right after the tithe offering. Pastor Simeon told us later that he almost put off asking for the offering until the following week, but God changed his mind. Pastor Simeon asked for the offering giving Jose the opportunity to give what God had asked him too and to receive the blessings God promised him. In addition, Pastor Simeon says he has never received so much money in a collection! Both men have been greatly blessed for obeying God!

On Monday we watered and weeded the garden. It was a team effort, all of us pulling weeds amongst the cabbages and tomatoes. The kids found some interesting creepy crawlers and our weeding was occasionally interrupted by a loud “eew!”  That afternoon we had our first drama practice. It was fun to watch the children recite their lines and try on their costumes. We also fixed and built new tables for the Feeding Center. All of us girls even learned how to use a drill! That evening after devotions, Natalia and Sharein led everyone in a P90x workout. We are certainly a health conscious missions group.

Today, we began our day by jogging around the neighborhood. Peter named it the UBC Run Club. The running club began on our first day in the Bahamas with just Sharein and Pilar, but today we had 9 members! After we had all showered, we consumed the Bahamian grits Karen had prepared for us. Yumm!

After, we drove out to the 9 acre plot of land owned by Raoul and Karen. Their vision is to turn this land into a farm and fish pond called “God’s Garden.” Once we arrived, we put our weeding experience from the previous day to good use and began pulling out weeds while Jose, Emily, and Dylan watered the vegetables already growing there. After we finished, we held a prayer walk. Led by Peter and Raoul, we walked around the plot of cleared land each saying our own little prayer for God’s hand to touch this land and to make it fruitful enough to feed the people of Freeport. We also prayed that the dirt sent by UBC would clear through customs so that they could plant more seeds in the plot. While we were there we also collected the first harvest from God’s Garden: cayenne peppers!

On the way back to the mission we stopped and picked out conch shells from the piles of conchs discarded by fisherman. They eat so much conch in the Bahamas that they use the discarded shells to make pavement! Unfortunately, discarded conch shells have a terrible smell! Once we arrived at the mission, we held a full dress rehearsal for the Christmas pageant. Lourdes, Crystal and Natalia coached the children on their lines and dressed them up in their costumes. Meanwhile, Jose and Kattia built two more tables and Karen cooked our turkeys. Peter’s job was to carve the cooked turkeys. During rehearsal, the tantalizing smell of turkey wafted up from the kitchen below. Miraculously, our prayers about the containerof dirt were answered, and after the rehearsal it arrived at the mission for inspection! Abigail and Kattia came up with the idea to make a work bench for Marlin, the man helping the Armbristers at the mission who has a talent for woodwork and makes many beautiful sculptures which he sells to local tourist shops. Marlin was very appreciative of his new workbench!

Please pray for our Christmas Program . God bless and see you all soon!