(Today y’all have a special treat! This is a guest post by one of the short-term ministry team members from Young Meadows Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, AL. Be encouraged as Nancy shares all about the trip! – Sean)
The Lord does things that make no ‘sense’ to us – but in his perfect will and in our obedience to Him – those things serve to bring honor and glory to HIM and to further his kingdom.
The Lord gathered together a ‘unique’ group of folks to travel to and serve in the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) mission on Turks & Caicos.
Our leader for the trip was the CEF Area Director for the North Caribbean – Sean Miller. Sean lived on Turks & Caicos and in St. Kitts & Nevis with his wife and children. Sean has recruited and gathered together a national board for CEF Turks & Caicos and is walking with them as they do the “hoop-jumping” behaviors needed to become an incorporated non-profit organization on the island.
Senior Pastor Jay Joye of YMPCA was our spiritual leader for this trip
Lin & Sandra – Lin is a retired Insurance agent and Sandra is a retired teacher. Sandra was the Mama for our group – Sandra saw that everyone got a hot breakfast each day.
Sandra was the creative member of the group – always thinking ahead and going the extra mile to ensure our little group and our bigger groups of children we were serving were accommodated and blessed.
Lin & Sandra were led to bring two of their grandchildren with them on this trip, it is their intention to take each grandchild to serve on a foreign mission trip, just like they did with their children when they were teenagers. Lin was the game leader for the older group of children and Sandra was the Memory Verse leader for the older children.
Lin & Sandra’s grandchildren are Cole and Lani
Cole is a delightful senior in High School – who is doing dual enrollment in college at this time – he led the music for the younger group of children at our Bible Clubs, as well as, led the music for our opening assembly times in the mornings. Cole is sharp and funny and a joy to be around.
Lani is in high school. Lani is our ‘compassionate friend’ to everyone, she was the first to find a child friend in our Bible Club and she was the magnet that drew our ‘Younger Children’ group together each afternoon. Lani worked with Cole on the Music for the younger children and she worked on the craft projects for each session.
Bert & Grant are a father and son, dynamic duo. Bert was a true blessing to me, as he showed me and encouraged me to “OWN” the Bible story I was going to share with the younger children in our Bible Clubs.
Bert was the “Bible Story Teller” for the older group of children in the Bible Clubs and Grant was the song leader for the older group of children.
Bree left her 3-year-old daughter, with grandmother, and joined our band of Merry Bible club missionaries. Bree was a great asset to our Younger Children’s Bible Club as she shared the Memory Verse with the children
Our Youngest member was Lili – 11 years old chronologically – but 24 + in heart and spirit and servanthood. Lili is kind and loving and patient and delights in serving younger children. I know her heart and the love of the Lord she has and shares, and I was thrilled to be able to ask her parents if she could dip her toes into the world of “Foreign Missions” with me on this trip. I rejoiced when they said “YES”
Lili lead the games in the younger children’s Bible Club group.
And I rounded out our crew of missionaries, Nancy.
Eleven individuals – extremely diverse in age, place in life, and Christian walk – but the Lord gathered us together to serve His people on the island of Providenciales and through his Grace – we served.
Our theme for our Bible Club this week on the island is “JESUS brings JOY TO THE WORLD” ; a couple of weeks prior to our departure, the LORD (His ways are amazing) brought to my attention that a 25 – Day Advent Devotion by John Piper could be had in bulk quantities for only .99 cent each!
Look at the timing of this whole thing – we were going during Thanksgiving Week, to share Joy to the World with the Children – while God was leading us to share Joy to the World with the adults we met through an Advent Devotional study – and on top of that – when I called to get the booklets – they were on back order at the distribution center – and the back order was filled and arrived in the mail on Thursday – the day before we drove to Atlanta to catch our plane – God has a timetable – that is perfect.
Time in our van was GREAT – the folks in the back continued to sweat – constantly asking for more air – the person riding shotgun – had extremely high anxiety and stress– as Sean drove on the ‘wrong’ side of the road – there were no traffic lights on the island – the go around traffic circles were scary and it always seemed that we were a second or two away from an accident –
The only one in the van who had any sense of where we were or where we were going was Sean. Sean was a great narrator of everything T&CI – Provo Island.
SUNDAY MORNING
Early worship church service was delightful – the worship music led by Devon; the challenge by Caldon to get tickets to watch the movie “Overcomer” – the assistant Pastor; the sermon by Jay. This time of worship was so filling and so good – I’m blessed to have had this experience.
After lunch, Sean drives us to and through our ministry venues – we stop and pray at the schools we will serve.
MONDAY MORNING
Assembly time was fun with the BEST Institute – Sean welcomed everyone, Cole played his guitar, we used the children to hold up the words of the songs and to help us by shaking the Jingle Bells while we sang our signature song to the tune of Jingle Bells.
We were then off to our 1st CEF Bible Club at Enid Capron Primary School!
This was our Mission – to present CEF’s “Jesus Brings Joy to the World” Bible Club to the children of Provo – and we were finally ready to start. We had planned, prepared, purchased trinket things to enhance the lessons, rehearsed, built props – practiced timing and transitions and prayed about this mission and now we were going to minister to the children.
Monday Night with the CEF National Board
We drove to Dr. Afolabi’s home where our social event with the CEF TCI National Board was being hosted. And it was a full-fledged feast with every good and delectable thing imaginable – including fried Conch from Mr. Groupers. It was a delightful evening of fun, fellowship and food, and in everyone’s opinion it ended too soon. Each member of our crew found interesting new friends and learned about life in the Islands. It was a sweet time with sweet friends.
TUESDAY MORNING
Sean picks us up to go to Oseta Jolly Primary School
The principal welcomes us and gives the microphone to Sean. The mutual respect and love between the school and Sean is extremely evident. They give him a certificate of Appreciation for his work with CEF in this school.
Jay was given opportunity to share Jesus with the group and to invite them back to Bible Club this afternoon.
Jay had the privilege of leading a child to the loving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior!
Wednesday Morning
We are off to the most beautifully named institution for nurturing children that I could possibly think of, “Precious Treasures” International School
If I lived on Provo I would want my children and my grandchildren in a school called Precious Treasures; the name of the school speaks volumes for the attitude of the staff and administration towards the students.
Morning assembly was wonderful, we shared our Christmas Bells songs with the school and they shared their upcoming Holiday concert selections with us. Jay spoke to the school and Sean reminded the older children, that his daughter had been one of their classmates just a few years ago.
Off then to Ianthe Pratt Primary School. A great way to start our last Bible club on the island.
Immediately after dinner we headed down the road to Jericho Baptist church for Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting.
THURSDAY MORNING
We then headed to the airport! Too many details to share, precious time together, precious Sean for sharing his love for these islands and more so, his love for the people of these islands. Is there any more difficult Mission to serve, than physically removed from your mission field – while serving your mission population with your heart and soul?
Until next time – God Bless and keep TCI.
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