Monthly Archives: May 2012

The first-ever Senior Go! mission trip has come to an end.  After arriving at the LC campus last night around 1:00 a.m., we saw every senior head home safely with family.  We, ourselves, were able to finally reunite with Ray and sleep in our own beds.

It was a wonderful week with this class.  I am so thankful for the chaperones.  They were a perfect fit for this team!  The Lord knew we needed Diane along with all of the bug bites and “baracuda” teeth in the sole of our feet!  Thank you Sandy, for your spiritual wisdom and planning expertise.  It was a privilege serving next to you.  To Megan and Dave, thank you for your devotional series and your time investment with these seniors.  I know that many were impacted by your love for God and for others this week.  To Jen, my amazing and beautiful wife.  So, now we know that we can serve alongside each other, not just here but in more challenging conditions elsewhere.  I had so much fun serving with you and want to do this again!

I also want to thank the Camp Bahamas staff and director, Richard Albury.  They truly “walk the walk”.  Their love for us and the Bahamian people is my new standard for love within Christianity (apart from Christ, of course).  I have yet to meet a group of believers who were this sincere in their faith.

I am also so very proud of this team.  The seniors handled change very well and treated each other with a high level of respect and love.  It wasn’t perfect, but no trip ever is.  They worked hard with every task given them and were flexible when the weather conditions made it impossible to do anything productive.  It was such a privilege to work with this team and to see these seniors grow and be challenged.  I know that the lessons learned on this trip will remain with them for a long time.

Thanks, again, to each of you for your prayers and support.  This trip would not have been possible without each of you!  Also, a big thanks to Cindy Layton and Rick Bernhardt who did so much behind the scenes in the shaping and detailing of this trip.  And to the many parents who organized transportation, fundraisers, sent out support letters and prayed a TON for this week – Thank you!!!

A special thanks to Jen Felty, who was co-advisor of this class during their time in high school.  Even though she was not able to travel with us, we know that her prayers and love were with us.  She has poured so much of herself into this class and the fruit of that labor was very evident in the attitudes of the seniors during this week.  Thanks Mrs. Felty!  This trip would have been lacking without your input, commitment and love for this team.

Finally, to the Class of 2012 – may you recognize that you have been so richly blessed with the love and support of so many and by the opportunity to do something as special as this past week.  Never stop thanking God for what He has done.  I pray that these lessons last a lifetime and forever change your perspective on God, ministry and the world outside our borders.  I love you all.

No longer in paradise.  Home.  – Eric

Eric just texted that they’ve left BWI (11pm).

Parents – Estimated time for us to pick up our kids is 12:45am.

We are scheduled to board in an hour for our 4:30 p.m. flight from Nassau to Charlotte.

We have safely arrived in Nassau, checked our bags all the way to Baltimore (Lord willing), gone through Customs and Immigration and are waiting near our gate.  Several students are catching some Z’s, while others are exploring the shops and food courts.  It’s kind’ve funny that the Nassau Airport is the only “touristy” place we’ve been to this week, so some are getting their souvenirs here.  =)

I’ll try to post again to confirm our flight time from Nassau to Charlotte.  Once in Charlotte, we will need to move fairly quick to get our connecting flight to BWI, so I’ll call Betsy to let everyone know our status.  Thanks!

We’re still in paradise!  Eric

Alex diving into the Ocean Hole while Brandon awaits his turn.

Praise the Lord!  The sun came out today and it brought an elevated sense of joy with the class.  Dave and I paddled out with a number of the boys (Nate, Zach;, Drew, Alex and Jordan) to Windermere Island to watch the sunrise around 6:00 a.m.  The sunrise wasn’t much, but it was a great morning to paddle.  After breakfast, Nicholas (Camp staff and our bus driver) took us to three very cool places.  The first was the Ocean Hole, which is truly a wonder of the world.  It is a salt water lake in the middle of the island (near Rock Sound) and is full of fish, turtles and ocean life, but has no bottom.  Evidently, Jacques Cousteau was a resident of Eleuthera and dove to 280+ feet, but did not reach the floor.  They know that it is connected to the ocean (they poured a dye into the hole and it later was visible off shore, but no one knows the connection.  Anyway, there are 15-25 foot ledges around the outside, so you can jump into the water with no fear of hitting bottom… pretty cool!  We had a blast and I got some great video of your fearless seniors.

Maci and Matt strolling through the Banyan Tree.

After the Ocean Hole, we visited the Banyan Tree, which was amazing.  I’ll try to upload a photo very soon.  Lots of Biblical lessons from this one, particularly from John 15 and abiding in Christ.  Following a short visit to the Banyan Tree, we went to North Palmetto Point to eat lunch at Tippy’s Restaurant.  Located right on the beach, you can have a wonderful lunch, then walk right into the water to snorkel at some very cool coral reefs just off-shore.  The pink sands were subtle in the partly cloudy conditions, but visible nonetheless.  A number of students were able to snorkel and see some pretty neat fish and a lobster.  After spending a couple hours at Tippy’s, we ventured back to Camp to enjoy the sun for a little while longer. 

Rachel getting ready to snorkel at Tippy’s. When the sun came out the sand looked light pink!

Before dinner, Sandy went through the Immigration and Customs paperwork with the entire group and reviewed our flight plan for tomorrow.  After dinner, I had a wrap-up devotional (kind’ve) and then we went to finish packing tonight.  As I type this, I believe some people are being thrown into the ocean.  End of week chaos.  Where are my chaperones???  =)

Our flight leaves Rock Sound around 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, so we are loading up the bus and leaving Camp around 6;15 a.m.  We have a longer layover in Nassau, but we have proven that we can handle delays with quality fun and conversation.  I hope to keep you all posted as much as possible for our journey home.  Hopefully, I’ll regain cell phone coverage once we land in Charlotte.

Love you all and thank you so much for your prayers and support!  This has been an amazing week with an amazing class and it wouldn’t have been possible without each of you.  See you tomorrow!

One last time from paradise.  Eric

Congratulations to the All-Camp Kemps Champions of 2012 – Alex Hurst and Kate Weaver!  Alex and Kate rolled through the double-elimination tournament with ease.  “I knew that we would win,” said Hurst after hoisting the Kemps trophy sponsored by Goombay Punch.  “We’ve been working hard all week on our signs, so our non-verbals are pretty solid.” 

Weaver, the more competitive of the two, said the elation from beating the competition is profound.  “I thrive on publicly humiliating my peers in Kemps.  It’s what I live for.”  Other notable competitors were Maci Hurst and Eric Lewis, who tried to use fashion comments as their sign, which resulted in their quick two-loss exit after two rounds.  “I really thought it was a sound strategy,” said Lewis, “because Maci tends to talk about fashion all the time, so I didn’t think anyone would notice.  I guess we should have went with the ‘Songs from the 90’s’ angle.”  Maci added, “Yeah, it was weird to hear Mr. Lewis talk about clothing so much… I had no idea what he was talking about.”

Brandon Groff and Matt Kachel were the surprise team of the night, angrily and spitefully advancing to the consolation finals.  “We didn’t want to be here,” said Kachel.  “I hate this game, too, ” said Groff.  They seemed to be united in the fact that it made people more angry that they kept winning. 

The stakes are high in paradise.  Eric

Editor’s Note: the author may have taken some liberties in the writing of this article.  It’s late.

Well, today was a washout.  The rain has been steady all day and at times, very heavy.  So, we took an hour or two to finish the painting project in the gym, a few did some cleaning in the dining hall and cabins, but the rain has stifled our plans.   We had hoped to go to the elementary school in Tarpum Bay during their recess, but they even closed early due to the heavy rains!   About half the group went to Berts to buy more machetes and food and some tried to do some kayaking out in the bay (you’re wet anyway, so what’s it matter???), but then there was some thunder and lightning so we had to come back.  Of course, we wanted to get more done around the Camp and spend more time with the local children, but God has other things for us.  Maybe the class bonding time during these rain delays is exactly what He wanted for us.

I have been very proud of the seniors and how they have entertained themselves without technology.  A lot of card-playing and talking and opening coconuts with machetes.  We are planning a Kemps tourney tonight and ice cream sundaes after dinner (Kemps will be forced family fun!). 

Pray for a break in the rain tomorrow as we hope to go to Tippy’s (a local restaurant) for lunch.  Tippy’s is right on the beach (real pink sand!) with some decent snorkelling.  So, you can eat, swim, snorkel all at the same place!  Pretty cool, but it won’t happen if we have another rainy day like today.  If that happens, then we may load up the bus and play tourist at a few spots around the island.  Tomorrow night is our final evening together and I have some things planned with the entire group.  More on that later.

From a rainy paradise.  Eric

Dave climbing a coconut palm tree today.

When you are trying to break open a coconut with a machete, you have to slowly pick away at the outer skin, which takes time.  Then, after you peel away the outer skin, you have to work on the hard coconut shell.  This, again, takes time.  But, you finally get to the white flesh inside and the coconut water.  Coconut water and actual coconut flesh is not that sweet.  Of course, we are used to the sweetened coconut products back home, but a real coconut, just cut down from a tree in a nearby park (our chaperone Dave Glerum has amazing tree climbing abilities – up to 20 feet!) isn’t all that sweet.  But, it is still very good!  And, just to give a few parents a “heads up” that their son may be bringing home a machete in their check bag.  Just felt like I wanted to let you know…  =)

As with coconuts, sometimes we can be difficult nuts to crack sometimes – teenagers too.  But, by God’s grace, the Spirit slowly works His way into our hears, like only He can and begins to make life-change.  I do believe that life-change is slowly occurring in the lives of our seniors.  Trips like this tend to lower everyone’s guard, so the real ministry can begin.  Sometimes, with a group of Christian school students, it is difficult to make any progress while at school.  The right words to say and the right way to act in the bubble is well-rehearsed at times and creates a veneer of Christianity.  Here, away from the lockers and classrooms and the “bubble”, all of us are more open, more transparent with each other and with God.  It’s good.  This week has been very good.  I am proud of how the students have worked hard and how they respected each other and the leaders.  They have rarely complained about the tasks given them and have done it to the best of their abilities. 

a coconut

As far as our schedule today, we finally saw the sun again!  Yay.  It rained a bit this morning, but nothing like yesterday.  We had two work groups during the day – one did trash clean-up at the paintball field and the majority were in the gym painting.  We will probably finish our step of the painting process tomorrow.  (By the way, the five-gallon can of paint that we are using cost the Camp – $250!!!  Welcome to the Bahamas where there are no Home Depots or Walmarts and everything has to be shipped in.  This explains why no one throws anything away down here… they cannot afford to!)  We then loaded up the bus and went to a park in Tarpum Bay, but no local kids came.  It was drizzling a little, so we played volleyball and basketball with our own group and then headed back to camp.  Coming back early did give us more time to play in the water.  A large group went kayaking out to Wooster Island (yep, we named it) and went snorkelling.  There’s not much to see.  There is some coral and fish, but not much.  The water was cold (relatively speaking), so we all came back.  Now, we are about to eat dinner and have some group time tonight. 

Tomorrow is our last work day and Saturday is our free day.  Pray that we continue to have good attitudes and finish well. 

From paradise.  Eric.