Here's a good word for the day

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Busy busy day

Whew, today was definitely hump day. Several sites are on their way to wrapping up their projects. I led my first ever roofing crew and completed our roof! I've been on MANY roofs, but never led that kind of crew myself. I was very proud of our group as they worked very hard! Most of our other projects will be finished up by lunch tomorrow, just in time for our excursion 1/2 day. Tomorrow we will visit the glass bottom bridge, Gregory Town, and another beach we haven't seen yet. We're excited.

Part of our crew made it back from Grand Bahamas. It was a good trip and great to see a system work. The Bahama's Conference of the Methodist Church called and asked Bahamas Methodist Habitat to come, and within 24 hours they were there. Amazing.

Sorry no photos tonight, I'm just too tired. It's been a great week. Please continue to pray for us as we have a two more days and one is a VERY long day of travel.

Peace, Marc

Tuesday

Another great day! The tornado relief crew left early this morning on two tiny planes headed for Grand Bahamas. I got a text from Pastor Darryll and he said they made it safely and would let us know more later.

All of our crews continued their work and several are beginning to wrap up smaller projects. Several crews have BIG projects and they extra help will be much appreciated. Here are a few more photos, enjoy.

Morning high-five

Kristin & Ashley, sisters from Concord UMC

Water cistern crew

David Maulick is a BEAST!

Concrete Crew

Team to Grand Bahama

Believe it or not, part of our team is leaving in the morning to go help those effected by the tornado damage Grand Bahama Island. Please remember them in your prayers. They will return to Eleuthera on Thursday. Those going are Darryll Rasnake, Robert Bedwell, Linda Nachtrab, Logan McNeil, Derek Ehrnschwender, William Tugwell, Laura Tugwell, Chris McCabe, and Zach Shaw. Just so you know, most parents are on the trip and approved. We have been in communication with other parents and everyone is up to speed and glad to help out.

Snorkeling Video

Thanks to William Tugwell for this amazing snorkeling video.

Monday!

First of all, there were tornadoes on Grand Bahamas...NOT on Eleuthera. Several people died during the storm, please keep them in your prayers. Methodist Habitat is leaving here and visiting the damage to see what they might do. I love this organization!

Today was our first full work day. It was a great day. Several crews are working on roofs, some are working on the community medical clinic, some are working on a youth center, and I'm not sure what else. It was hot today, but breezy...so not to bad. We have some sun burns, but are demanding that everyone slather up regularly. We ended our work day with some time at the beach. Many went snorkeling and it was great. Hopefully you can join us in the future.

Robert's roofing crew, who'd a thunk it?

Marc on a roof. HA!

William teaching Will.

Pastor Darryll at work

A little beach time

Palm Sunday - Worship & Parade

Palm Sunday has been a busy day. We went to worship this morning at Wesley Memorial Methodist Church. Wesley Memorial is in "James Cistern" settlement. That is also where our camp is located. After worship a group hiked to the Atlantic side of the island, and others sat and read in the breezeway. About 2:30 in the afternoon we took part in the community parade. The parade consited of every church in James Cistern marching through town with each other and ending up at the center of the settlement for a combined worship time. See the video posted below. It was LOTS of fun. Enjoy the photos and the video.

Children and youth choir at Wesley Memorial

Palm Sunday Donkey Ride

Wesley Memorial joins the parade

HOSANNA!

Travel Day

Saturday was our travel day. We started at 1:30 AM in Knoxville, TN and finally arrived in Eleuthera about 5:30 PM. One group had to fly into the southern air strip and catch a taxi to the camp. The first taxi driver wanted $1000.00 to give the group a ride. HA! Finally they found a driver who was much more reasonably priced; however, there was no place in the can for all the luggage. So it had to go in top. Next problem, no rope or tie-downs. So, all the guys removed their belts and used them to secure the luggage. Now that ingenuity.

Here are a few shots of our travel day, more photos can be found on Marc's facebook site.

Card game in Atlanta

Welcoming band in Nassau

Really LONG lay-over in Nassau

Fruit of Eleuthera after a long day

We made it to Atlanta with hours to spare.

Post shift

Just so you know, all the post before this one are "pre-trip" posts and were to inform the team of important information. From here on the posts are about our actual trip, what we're doing, and hopefully photos for you to enjoy. If the internet service at our camp cooperates, we will try to post every night. So check back often and share the site with others.