Justin Cox
Mission Tripping in the Bahamas: A Retrospective
One of the perks of my job is that I get to travel all over the place in service for others. This is the biggest focus of our youth ministry since God has called us to do just that (check out Matthew 25). Last week I was able to travel with our 11th and 12th grade team to Eluthera Island, Bahamas to work with Bahamas Methodist Habitat.
BMH is located in the James Cistern settlement in Central Eluthera and is home to around 300 of the 12,000 Elutheran residents. My team of 22 were split into three groups and spread out around Central Eluthera to work on different projects. My group stayed at the camp to build and install hurricane shutters there. My team of ten built 26 shutters for thirteen windows and were able to install them on five windows before the week ran out.
While the work that we did is important, BMH stresses community involvement as an equal part of the work experience. Each afternoon after a long day of work we were taken to a different beach in the area to cool off and talk to locals and tourists alike. This gave us the opportunity to see the beauty of the area while relaxing after a day’s work. My favorite of the beaches we visited was Rainbow Bay. It was about as picturesque a place as you can imagine. In the evenings we participated in different community-building events including a three hour long sixth grade graduation ceremony at the James Cistern Primary School.
One interesting experience to note is the morning I almost died. Myself and a few others were given the opportunity to go cliff diving at a remote spot near Rainbow Bay. The cliff was a beautiful 45 foot tall coral-limestore face on the Atlantic side of the island. The problem came when I blacked out upon entering the water. Those watching said I entered the water fine so I don’t really know what happened, perhaps my knees were forced into my chest. After about four or five seconds of being out I woke up completely disoriented and hearing nothing but the crashing waves. A second or so later I realized I was in the Bahamas and in the ocean and I needed to start swimming. It was about then I noticed everyone I was with was yelling at me to see if I was alright. While I was alive and well I was in a lot of pain and really seemed to tweak my back, which is still pretty sore. Needless to say I wont be jumping off anymore cliffs anytime soon.
All in all it was a great trip which showed me just how blessed I am to be able to travel to a place like that to do work for those that need it. The organization is wonderful and I’d recommend them to anyone planning a mission trip or voluntourism vacation. The next step is to continue the mission here in town and to remember the blessings God has provided me.