Bahamas Team - Dale

All Saints Blessings

First, I would like to give all praise and glory to the Lord, Who’s love and care we were blessed to witness first hand this past week. 

I want to also thank all of you for your gracious support and prayers for our travels.

You need to know this morning that GOD IS GOOD, and His people are strong, and His love still endures. Amen!

“All Saints Camp” in Nassau Bahamas first began as a leper colony. It is now an AIDS/HIV camp that houses about 20 or so residents that are either HIV positive or suffer from some other sever infirmity.  

The residents at All Saints are completely quarantined from the general population. They have little more than a 6x8 room with a small bed and very well wore clothes on their backs. Yet, they possess the most unbelievable spirit, and sense of worth that I have ever seen. They would never ask for anything, for they know with certainty that the Lord provides for their needs Our very presence there is undisputable proof.     

Our team was there with a large youth group from the Cincinnati area. Together, we worked to start the rebuilding of the camp, board by board, so that each resident will, eventually, have clean, sound housing with sewage and running water.

But, even more important, we were there to minister. We were there to talk, to listen, to pray, to laugh and cry with the residents. These are real people, God’s children, no different than you and I save for their afflictions.      

This was a PEOPLE first mission trip with a building secondary. Many of the youth helped to feed and groom the patients. Some cannot eat or drink on their own. Many are incontinent and require assistance. Some are blind and lame. We spent some time each day talking with them and listen to their stories and getting to know them and them, us.

It was a delight each morning to see Patrick, a stroke victim, waiting at the top of the hill for our arrival with a big smile and his loving charm. Even though he could barely speak, it was very obvious that nothing would suit him more than to grab a hammer and dive in, but his bent and broken body would not allow it.       

Vincent is blind, a stoke victim and has AIDS, but is also a strong man of God. I have heard few give a more moving testimony.

As you can see from the slides and photos, if it were not for Next Step Ministries the residents of All Saints would have even less. It is our prayer this day that these pictures and our testimonies might in some way allow all of you to see the need, and to understand that YOU can make a difference in people’s lives. Yes, you can! But!!!  Yes…. there is a but. But we can only make a difference by getting up and stepping out of the comfort that we are so used to. And putting our faith into action.  This is your call.

Will you answer?

Thank you! God bless.

   

Dale Hammond

Bahamas Team  

Bahamas Team - Pam

In my previous blog entry, I mentioned that my prayer was for God to rip my world apart and break my heart for what breaks His.  Well, in the words of Ms. Moxey at Camp, “Sho’ Nuff!”  God did just that and what a tremendous blessing it was all week.  
We served with a youth group from Wyoming, Ohio.  They were a wonderful group of teens that ranged in age from 14 to 20.  Their leaders were amazing and gracious as well.  The Next Step staff was outstanding.  They worked very hard to make everything come together for all of us and even when obstacles came up like no water, and no gas for the stove and no Internet – they adapted and made everything work out.  Our God is awesome!!  
We all worked very hard at camp and actually finished all the projects ahead of schedule.  When we first arrived, there were pillars for the houses to be built on and that was it.  Teams filled in the dirt back around the pillars and built the floor frame and floor joists, painted the plywood flooring and installed that.  We did this for a two-resident home and a four-resident home.  In addition, another team used machetes and cleared away brush and trees around the camp, as a security fence needs to be installed.  These residents don’t have much at all and, yet, people try to steal from them.  Another team dug holes in the ground (using a jackhammer) to be able to put in 6x6 poles to rerun the electrical wires.  Concrete was hand-mixed for those holes by using wheel barrels full of rock, sand and 100lb bags of concrete and buckets of water.  Teams used shovels to mix the cement slowly to make sure it was the right consistency.  

While all of this work was going on, we were all encouraged to go meet and talk and visit with the residents.  This was the absolute best part!  The work was challenging and rewarding –but visiting was the true blessing.  We thought we were going there to bless them, and we received it back ten fold!  Ms. Moxey has been at the camp for a very long time – John says that she’s been there long before he started going there in 1999.  Using another one of her catch phrases, “I’ve been here umpteen years!”  Another resident, Patrick, greeted us each day and tried his best to help us out even though he is partially paralyzed from enduring strokes.  He was always joyful and was just so happy to be around us and to be included.  He prayed with us daily as we gathered in a circle, held hands and prayed each day before we began the work.  Vincent, who is blind, but blessed with such insight, sold us “Goombay Punch” and other sodas as well as joined our lunch devotions and prayed with us.  The Holy Spirit was definitely present and flowed through him as he would share and pray with us.  So many other residents were just happy to see us there and thankful for our service.  Garvin is an amazing person, and we got to witness the biggest smile I’ve ever seen.  
My personal favorite (if that’s possible in a place like All Saints Camp) has to be Lillian.  I brought her a pair of slippers and was able to personally deliver them to her with her lunch and her eyes lit up, and she just repeatedly thanked me.  From there she trusted me enough to take her key and unlock her door for her later that day – which is a big deal as again, everything they have is in their tiny room.  Thursday was the icing on the cake, though.  We visited her and told her how beautiful she was and how lovely her family was – 3 daughters, 2 sons and 20 grandchildren!!  Her smiles and laughter were so intoxicating. I’ve never previously felt God’s love showering over me as much as I did that day.  Definitely one of the best weeks of my life!  
Following God’s will for me to go on this trip has definitely opened my heart and mind to know that the mission field (no matter it’s location) is where I want to be and I will WILLINGLY go wherever it is He sends me next.


Pam
Bahamas Team

Bahamas Team - John

Okay, we are back from the Bahamas and my prayer before leaving was that I would keep my mouth shut and let this team hear, feel, smell, touch, love and be loved like I have been since the year 1999 when I first began going to the All Saints Camp. I think the Lord made me successful in this regard and yet, it was like it was brand new all over again.  

The All Saints Camp is an old Leper Colony that now houses those with HIV and full blown AIDS as well as a few with major other health issues. Often times, the residents when found with these ailments are loaded in the car and taken to the camp and usually dumped at the front gate with whatever items they can carry, and seldom see relatives, family or loved ones again. Their existence is meager at best, with little to call their own.  They live in a room that is about ten foot by ten foot, most are bedridden or have trouble walking or even using a wheel chair. Their breakfast, lunch and dinner (usually a PB&J or Tuna Fish sandwich) is brought to them, and they are helped with their personal hygiene and diaper changes and bed baths. Yet with so very little, they give so much of themselves and most offer no complaints, only praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. One of our team told me on our return that the first night she was glad to be back home, yet felt so guilty that she could eat a filling hot meal, take a warm bath and lay in a comfortable bed (none of which the camp residents have).  

There are so many highlights to this trip that a book could not contain them, however, a few stand out. One is Miss Moxey who by her own admission has been at the camp for umpteen years and I know for a fact that she has been there since 1999 as that was when I first met her. She is a joy with a capital J. When I took a few of our people down to meet her (the first day at the camp), she greeted everyone with a warm friendly smile and words of praise to our Lord. She let us read Scripture to her and ask her about the pictures of family she had on the wall. Then, there was Patrick who can walk (with difficulty) and is partially paralyzed on the right side due to one of many strokes he has had due to his HIV/AIDS condition. He was always at the top of the hill with a great big smile and welcome as we came up in our school bus. He watched us close as we began building, and when we let him use our hammer to pound in a nail, you would have thought that someone had just given him a million dollars.  Patrick was also invited to join us in morning prayer before we began work and to join us during our lunch devotions, you could see that he knew we both loved him and cared for him. 

We stayed at a retreat that was run by Next Step Ministries (.com, if you want to go to the website). They have a staff of interns that take care of: the week coordination, job site management, cooking, devotions and worship. I know that when our Lord hears the name Next Step, or Heather, Rebecca, Craig, Maple, Kaylee, Travis, Jesus or Audrey that He smiles. We thank the Father for them all.  There were days we had no water at the camp, no gas for cooking, no cooking spray for the pancakes on the griddle and at times no air conditioning, yet this staff worked around it, making the best of a sometimes bad situation.  We had confidence in them from the moment they met us at the airport and that confidence only increased with every hour that passed.  I hope and pray to get Tom C, Justin J, Pam R, and one of our senior youth down there before this summer season is over.  This trip  allowed us to meet 26 people from a church in Wyoming (suburb of Cincinnati) Ohio.  One of the girls, Alex, came with her mother as her mother was not okay with her working at an HIV/AIDS camp.  That changed real quick, and I would look for her return next year.  This group was one of the best groups I have ever met. Their leaders taught us much, and we could see their investment in their youth and their youth's devotion to our Lord. 

I will stop now only because of space and the fear of boring you by going on too long. I pray that you will invest yourself in our Lords Kingdom and do as Jesus said, GO!  And what you do for the least of these you do also for Me.

We will be planning the Summer 2013 Bahamas trip very soon, get your passport and get ready to experience God showing up everyday in everyway.  You will be changed, I guarantee it.  

Love and Prayers…john hartley 

missions team chair

Bahamas Team

Praying for the Bahamas Team - Pam

This is my first out-of-country mission trip and technically only my second mission trip ever (the first being the Steppin' Stone road trip on 5/5/12).  I think I've blown up John Hartley's email box with all of my questions about what to bring, when and where we are leaving from, what can we bring for the Camp, what else, etc.  I'm a "planner" and a list person.  This is how I stay focused and organized at my job and it overflows into the rest of my life.  This is good, though.  I'm "ready" from the perspective that my suitcase is packed (under the maximum weight of 50lbs - per the scale at Publix) and all my lists have been checked as completed.  So, one would think that I am prepared for this trip - or at least it looks good on paper.  

This is where Pam stops and God takes over.  My prayer is that God will open my eyes to truly see the world and these people we are going to serve and serve with.  I pray that He will clean my ears out to hear the needs, concerns, prayers and praises of this trip.  Mostly, I pray for our Lord to just rip wide-open my Heart for what hurts His.  I want to feel their needs and feel their joys.  I want to identify with each person I come in contact with.  I live in such a "bubble" here.  I have a great job, a nice apartment, food, clothes, a car, money, great friends and a wonderful church family.  I have no idea what it will be like there, but I know it's not going to be the nice, neat little box that I currently call Pam's world.  I want God to take my world apart and bring me into the world He wants me to serve in the name of my Savior Jesus Christ.  
The song that's been on my heart recently is "Worlds Apart" by Jars of Clay.  All I want is for Him to "...take my world apart, I am on my knees...".  To bring this full-circle right to where it started...it started with John Hartley at the Faith Promise Rally handing out a piece of chalk and telling us all to go home and draw a circle around ourselves with that chalk and think about Isaiah 6:8:  "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!".  What's left of that chalk and that passage are hanging on my bulletin board at home. 




Pam Rosky
Bahamas Team Member

Praying for the Bahamas Team - John

Having been to the Bahamas' on mission trips several times since the year 2000, it is with great anticipation that I return after a few years absence. I am excited to take a team down that has not been on this type of mission field before.  Of course, all the residents at All Saints Camp where we are going to serve are either HIV positive or have full blown aids.  In the Bahamas, if you are found to have this type of condition, you are taken to a camp like this and left with whatever you may have been able to take.  You may or may not see your family or relatives again.  The camp is just up the hill from the constant reminder for those who have aids - a local cemetery.  We are going on this trip from first to serve our Lord who in His Word says go.  We are also going so that we can get more of our members into the mission field (it is the one thing that will cause us as Christians and our church to grow). We also want to see if this is something we want our youth to be part of in the future and lastly, to look at the mission itself to see if it is something we want to support as part of our missions program.  Please be in prayer for our hearts and minds to be open to our Lord's will and direction and that we would honor Him in all we do, say and think.  
The two missionaries, Tim and Felicia, we have known since the year 2000 when I all went down on a short term mission trip with them and did so again for the next few years.  Tim and Felicia listened to God, sold all they had, solicited support and went there full time as missionaries.  To watch Tim feed Garvin, who can not feed himself or to watch Felicia fix one of the ladies hair (she used to have her own hair salon) is really seeing God's people doing for what our Lord calls the least of these.  I know our Lord will use the folks going down to recruit others to come join us as we hope. We are praying to make all our trips annual trips just with many different folks going each time.  There is no reason that everyone at NBCC can not go into the mission field for a short time. God has something for each of us to do, all we have to do is GO.
  


John Hartley
Bahamas Team Member
Missions Team Chair