It's been a while . . .

by Abraham "Abe" McIntyre

KP, Andre, myself, and the whole Patmos group (28 strong) left Inagua last Friday, October 3rd after another very hard and very hot week of serving the families of Inagua. We left Emily Bagwell, our long term volunteer, in charge and there to keep things rolling with our other volunteers.

Our BMH staff flew back to Nassau for the Bahamas Conference of the Methodist Church’s new church year celebration (our parent ministry of which we are one of five outreach ministries of). We were blessed with a Friday night and a Saturday morning seminar on Servant Leadership, a Saturday night grand celebration of our outgoing BCMC conference executives and a beautiful consecration and installation service of our new conference staff. During the new President’s, Rev. Bill Higgs, inaugural address, he recognized and thanked BMH publically for all the work that we have been able to accomplish and the lives we have changed…I now pass his thanks and remarks on to you for the parts that each of you have played in BMH’s history and most recently in the response to Hurricane Ike.

I ended up being in Nassau all week because of meetings, flight schedules, broken avionics on the Royal Bahamas Defense Force plane and a leadership class I have begun but here is the week in review.

Chet Lowe, Thomas Cartwright and the Patmos crew rebuilding Mr. Cartwright's home.

Sunday: The Men of Faith crew from Eleuthera and Ormond Beach, FL finished re-shingling the Methodist Church roof. I am told it looks outstanding. Angel Flights dropped off volunteers Josh Shapiro and Herman Small.

Monday: Men of Faith team left and Freddie Ferguson arrived from James’ Cistern (JC), EL. He is the Congregational Board Chairperson at the BMH home church, JC Wesley Methodist Church. Emily, Bryan, Josh and Herman begin work on the oldest person’s home in Inagua, Mrs. Inez Faulquerson. She was in her home for the storm but has been in Freeport since, and is now making her plans to come back home because after three days of hot work on her roof, it is now safe to come home. Her son George, who had been helping, said that if his daddy, “walked down the hill from his grave he wouldn’t even recognize the street because of the damage” but his momma will be, “ecstatic when she arrives home to see her roof looking so good”.

Work begins by Men of Faith at the Methodist Church.

We had a meeting Monday with Commander Stephen Russell to thank him for all his good work at directing NEMA and we gave him some suggestions so that BMH can partner with them more effectively in the future. It was a very positive meeting.

Tuesday: Work continued on Mrs. Faulquerson’s home, which by the way is 94 years young.

Wednesday: KP and Andre returned to Inagua from Nassau and immediately began working on Gloria Scavellia’s home that, until they arrived, still had not been touched even though almost half her roof had been blown off.

Thursday: The Patmos group began Thomas Cartwright’s roof last week, Men of Faith felted it last Thursday, and BMH finished it off today at sunset! True teamwork!

Friday: Freddie headed back to EL and work continued on all homes. I was scheduled to fly down to Inagua on the Defense Force plane and was all loaded up and ready to go shoot a TV segment but the avionics didn’t want to work so the trip was postponed; as was my delivery of 45 lbs. of fresh fruit and vegetables, a case of Vita Malt and barrel of KFC. But God worked a miracle and I was able to get them shipped down on Bahamas Air, and it all arrived! A true miracle…well they still haven’t seen the KFC but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

Saturday: Walter Penn’s home was finalized by KP and Andre as well as they lent a helping hand at Matthew Town’s CBC, Chris Pinder’s home. Josh and Herman got their tour of the island complete with flamingos and lots of shells. Josh celebrated his birthday by blowing out a lit match in a homemade piece of bread. Happy Birthday Josh!

Sunday: Andre is on call to preach tomorrow, Bill Shivers, Angel Flights Coordinator and Bahamas Habitat Board Member will be flying Josh and Herman out and delivering two more Georgia peaches Traci and Barbara, and rest will be had by all to get ready for our last week in Inagua.

Our Last Week and Future Plans:
This is it, one more week in Matthew Town, Inagua. We will be flying out next Friday, October 17th to move back to Eleuthera. We will then host a volunteer group from Macedonia UMC, Cary, NC at Camp Symonette and get ready for our next Hurricane Relief mission to Grand Turk.

If you would like to join us in Turks and Caicos it is not too late. Our tentative plan is to fly down on Sunday, November 2nd and begin work Monday. We do not have an established time frame yet, we are waiting to hear back from their government, but we are hoping for at least three weeks of volunteers and possibly more.

Please let us know asap if you or your crew are willing to come serve with us.

Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement! The blessings continue to flow!

Peace and Love.
Abe

To donate to the Bahamas Methodist Habitat and its relief work click on the following address:

http://www.bahamashabitat.org/wordpress/?page_id=81