We are officially on our way. We met Monday morning at State Line Church at 7:00am. People were a little concerned about how the rest of the trip was going to be when they learned that Adrienne and I were the first ones they and ready to go. If you know us, you know why that is funny. (and understandable) We took a group photo, loaded our luggage in Mark's truck, Preacher Kris said a prayer for us, we loaded the bus and off we went. 

We flew out of Charlotte airport so we had a short ride. We got to the airport in plenty of time to make our 10:40am departure time. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then waited at our gate. I was actually surprised with how quickly check in and security went at the airport. I will have to say that I am confident that this is in large part due to the great planning and preparation of our Youth Pastor Ray and our Minister of Music Michelle. 

Some of the kids have never been o a plane before and were a little nervous. My son Noah seemed to be taking to it quite well. However, Noah is a bit of a daredevil so this was a cake walk for him. 

Dylan was more like the rest of them. He said he wasn't nervous or concerned, but his face spoke much differently lol.

Austin was fine with the flying except for his ears seemed to be popping every time our altitude change one foot. lol. Tiffany was VERY nervous but she did AWESOME. The takeoff was the worst part for her I think, but after that she settled in nicely. 

 

   The flight was short and we were on the ground in the Bahamas in just under a couple of hours and getting through immigration was a breeze. We loaded our bus and took off to pick up the other group.

This US ship was pulling out if the Bahamas port when we got there. Very cool. 

The other group came in via cruise ship. They had a fifteen hour drive to get to Florida and then a six hour ride on the ship to get to the Bahamas. I'm quite thankful we were able to fly. We got their luggage loaded on the bus and off we went to Sea Grape Bahamas!

The bus was quite packed and the air conditioning was about as useful as 3" fan blowing hot air. Not a fun ride.

Everyone was happy to get to the church in Sea Grape. 

When we arrived we had a short team meeting and went over introductions and house rules.The area you see in the above photo would also serve as our sleeping quarters as well as dining area.

(above) command center. This was where everyone kept their computers and such. 

(below) after our meetings and our orientation, several of us went for a walk to check out the area. Enjoy the pictures. 

Sanctuary 

A look down the street in front of the sanctuary

Men's showers :-)  for real

!

Back of the church. The kitchen is through the door on the right. 

Kitchen

The locals are super friendly and glad to see us. 

 

 

There was a bay about a mile away that we walked to for about ten minutes. Lots of Konk shells.

Oil ship in the bay

Sea Urchin's were everywhere. 

This is a local Catholic Church. It was built like this on purpose but they didn't know why. It's a crazy looking structure for sure.

 

We walked back to our church adn hung out for a while before dinner.

Dinner was fantastic! We had barbecue ribs, mac&cheese, and mixed veggies. After dinner we concluded the day with a message and some praise music. I will upload videos when I can. 

The Wifi signal is only strong in select areas so it takes a while to upload. For example, the pictures you just saw took about three hours to load, so video will take even longer. If it's too much, I may just stick to pictures and do video when we return. 

Until next time. 

God bless,

JM and SLBC