What an incredible last day! We’ll be asking students to continue writing & sharing their testimonies about this trip through the blog. And please mark you calendars for this Wednesday night at UBC in the Fellowship Hall – as we will be having our Bahamas Youth Reflection Service at 7pm. Be blessed by the incredible experience of our youth! Thank you all for your support and prayers this week.

Sorry we didn’t get a blog up last night, but we had a late night. Yesterday, was another fun-filled and packed day. After breakfast we headed to the beach to do our morning devotions. Every student was challenged to spend 1 hour with God – reflecting on the week, enjoying nature, and seeking the presence of God during that time. Later in the day, many of the students shared about how special this morning time was.

The middle of the day was filled with finishing all of the painting of the Charthouse Feeding Center property. A group of people also washed a very dirty and very tall white school bus.  Raoul & Karen (our missionaries in the Bahamas) were so impressed at how it looked. They let us know how much they love UBC and the work our teams do around their property. Everyone worked hard to finish the tasks up until the last minute, when we got ready and headed back to the village for sports camp.

The time at sports camp flew by. We played basketball and baseball. The students were challenged before camp to initiate today and not wait for leaders to give them a job. Everyone responded, found kids and showed some serious LOVE! There were multiple basketball games going on, races, baseball activities, and even some gymnastics competitions. We are so excited to get to go back to sports camp this afternoon for one  last fun afternoon with the kids.

Our trip has really been great so far. As leaders, we have been so impressed with the UNITY (the devotion word of the day) the group shows. Thye include each other and include others. They work together as they serve God and serve others.

I feel more than blessed to be able to witness Jesus’ people  loving with their words and loving with their actions.

Join us in prayer for our last days today & tomorrow & for our travel tomorrow (5:15pm departure).

Today was a neat day. We woke up, did our devos, and went to have a delicious breakfast. We had egg quiche, with bacon and cheese.  And we yelled JESUS for every answer to every question ever! Then we went to a pre-school in the village. We played with the little kids and did our assembly show and we also listened to the kids singing the national anthem. We also sung, and danced to the songs we performed. It was really surprising to see a public school that teaches the Bible. We then had donuts and coffee and juices provided to us by the preschool.  After that we went to the playground to play with the kids. It was awesome how the kids just love us so much. Then when we left some of them were even crying.

We went back to the house and ate and then had some free time on our side. Afterwards, we went to the village and played on the basketball courts with the village kids. The neatest thing was when Franchesca preached to the kids and we got in the circle and taught the kids Philippians 4:13. We also taught them the song we made up for Colossians 3:12-17.

Then we came back to the house and had dinner. After, in our team debrief, we talked about God’s amazing, and unconditional love. We did something I have never done; we washed each others’ feet as an act of love. It was awesome! What I am looking forward to tomorrow is going to the beach and doing my devos, and playing basketball and baseball with the kids again. I’m also looking forward to Port Lucaya and spending time with each other as a team.  - Jenilice & Sebastian

In the morning we had an assembly, which was in front of 800 kids. It was an amazing experience seeing all those kids pray and dance with us during the worship. Even though we went to a public school all the kids prayed before we started and it was pretty cool that they allowed us to share the gospel because back home I don’t think that that could ever happen. At first all the kids were a bit timid, but once we started interacting with them and the music started playing it was so much fun. Even though we were only there for about half an hour it was hard leaving because the kids were so welcoming and they were affectionate with us even though they had just met us.

When we came back to the chart house we painted the fence, but it was a lot of fun because we were all stuck on Anthony’s riddle, which was impossible to solve until he gave us a hint. Afterwards, we went to the park and waited for the kids in the village to come join us to play baseball. It was so much fun being able to help the kids put on their gloves and teaching them how to throw the ball. Although it was hard for some of them they had a blast just spending time with us. Later on in the night when we had our debriefing, it was just an amazing time because we have all bonded in such a small amount of time and we’re starting to work as a whole instead of individuals. At times it doesn’t feel like a missions trip because everything we have been doing has been so much fun it does not even feel like work. Overall it was such a blessing to be apart of everything we did; there was not a moment that I did not enjoy! – Catherine

We spent the morning painting the front of the Charthouse, the curb, and helping Raul & Karen organize some of the clothes that have been donated by other churches. It’s awesome to finally see our painting work wrap up, and getting one step closer to seeing the finished product. It was also really fun to see everyone coming together and having a good time helping others.

After lunch, we loaded up on a bus and set out on a tour of the surrounding villages. It’s crazy to see how you have such a lively and growing area and just across the street its like a completely different world. Seeing that really opened our eyes to some realities we don’t get to see everyday back home. We also made a stop by the farm, and saw the work so many hands at UBC had done. We harvested the vegetables and got to try some of the freshest tomatoes, peppers, jalapenos, and broccoli we’ve ever had. Yes mom, we ate our vegetables!

When we came back to the Charthouse, we had a devotional. Today’s virtue was forgiveness, and we went around the table sharing stories. One of the ways we saw forgiveness was when we were acting kind of rowdy, and Anthony sat us down. We totally thought we were in trouble, but he said to us “I forgive you.” That was the last thing we expected, and it felt good to see how our leader practices the virtues that Jesus expects us to keep. It’s great to learn the little ways we can become more like Him. It was also great to see each person’s unique stories of forgiving & being forgiven. It really is an example of how we can practice this when we leave the island.

During devotion, we took communion. But it was very different from the way we do it at church! We took the bread and dipped in the drink. We read our bibles and some of talked to God. It was eye opening and it brought us back to the reason God brought us here, which is to serve Christ and to show the Bahamians of his forgiveness and love, and the price he paid just for them!

We miss you guys back home and we thank you for your prayers.

- Elizabeth, Natalie, Trevor

Today was a good day. We went to Bahamian church. It was different than UBC, but exciting – very exciting. It was a little bit long, but we were able to eat with the people in the church afterwards. After church, we came back for lunch. Then we began work on the Charthouse property. We painted the bottom floor walls and container yellow and touched up paint on the house. After that we enjoyed a cold late afternoon on the beach. The sand was very white, and the water was cold but we still went in it. It was a nice way to end our day. You can see some of the day in our photos below.

Today our focus word was kindness (Ephesians 4:32)! The people at church really showed us kindness today by serving us food. We were able to show kindness to the people we interacted with in church. We also met the other missions’ team from Georgia and were able to show kindness to them.

This week we are looking forward to helping others and leading people to Jesus. We are hoping to learn more about Jesus too. Hello to our families! – Bobby & Rex, 11^th Graders

Our Bahamas Youth Team (half of the team pictured above, along with our missionaries to the Bahamas) is headed out tomorrow morning. The flight leaves at 10:00am and we are set to arrive in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island at 10:45am.Keep us in your prayers as we travel by plane… We are thankful that you will be supporting our trip in this way.

Please take some time to share encouraging words or prayers with our team through the form below and check our blog throughout the week for daily updates.