final packing

Today was the day when we worked on packing everything into suitcases to take with us on the plane or to get checked once we get to the airport. We were all buisy, but we were able to get everything all packed up and organized. we have been blessed with such good attitudes of the members so far for the planning process of the trip. We also practiced telling our testimonies to a group of people today. This is something that as a member of the team we will need to do, so it is important that we become comfortable with it before we leave the country. Although this put many of us out of our comfort zone, it was a great exercise, as well as a great way to learn more about the people in our team. Please pray that these positive attitudes carry along with us as we fly out early sunday morning. Today was officially our last planning day, so we will not see eachother as a group until we show up bright and early to catch our flight. Our flight information for the entire trip is as follows (we will be flying US airways both ways) :

Carrier/Flight         Date                       Departure                        Arrival         

US /963                  09 Jan                    IND 7:00 a.m.                  CLT 8:45 a.m.

US/1053                 09 Jan                    CLT 9:45 a.m.                  NAS 12:07 p.m.

US/1672                 15 Jan                    NAS 12:00 noon              DCA 2:32 p.m.

US/3431                 15 Jan                    DCA 6:35 p.m.                 IND 8:23 p.m.

The following is a tentative schedule for each of our days that we will be in the Bahamas:

Monday - Thursday			Friday
Time	Event		Time	Event
6:00 am	Rise and Shine		7:00 am	Rise and Shine
7:15 am	Breakfast		8:30 am	Breakfast
8:00 am	Devotions - mandatory		9:30 am	Devotions – mandatory
8:30 am	Leave for Sites		10:00 am	Activities – To be determined
3:30 pm 4:00 pm	Return to Hotel – Education Return to Hotel – Nursing		1:00 pm	Lunch – Place to be determined
5:30 pm	Supper - mandatory		2:30 pm	Activities – To be determined
6:30 – 8 pm	Free time		6:00 pm	Supper – mandatory
8:00 pm	Debriefing – mandatory		7 – 10 pm	Free time and packing
8:30 – 10:00 pm	Organizing for tomorrow – mandatory		10:00 pm	Devotions – mandatory
10:00 pm	Devotions – mandatory		11:00 pm	Lights out!
11:00 pm	Lights out!
			Saturday
			7:30 am	Rise and shine
			8:30 am	Breakfast
			9:00 am	Devotions
			9:20 am	Leave hotel for airport
			10:00 am	Check-in at airport

Here are some more pictures of everyone working hard to get everything organized and packed as efficiently as possible.

vacation bible school planning

Today we all met as one big group again. We worked on separating and organizing everything  that we need for Vacation Bible School. We will be doing a carnival theme with the kids and having them visit different stations where they can play games to win prizes while they learn about God. We also worked on perfecting the skill of balloon animal making so that we can make them for the children in the medical clinic while they are waiting or for the kids at school. We are also going to be making the wordless bracelets with the children, which is a good way to share the gospel as well as give them something that they can wear to remind them of what it means. Tomorrow is our big "packing" day where we will be putting everything into suitcases and hoping that they weigh less than 50 lbs :) Working together for this past week has been a great opportunity for everyone to get to know each other and feel comfortable around each other even those we may not have known before this week. The following are pictures of our preparations that we were working on today. Lots of stickers, balloons, bubbles and FUN :)

preparation day 2

Today we separated into two groups, the people that would be going into the schools and the people who would be working the medical clinic at the church. The nursing students separated and took inventory of all of the medications and supplies that we will be bringing with us and put them into airport regulation zip lock bags for easy transport. Once we arrive in The Bahamas we will separate the medications down even more to a form that is more appropriate to hand out to the patients in the clinic. The group that will be working in the schools worked on preparing the crafts and materials that they will need to bring to help minister to the students in the schools as well as the materials that we will need to put together the vacation Bible school that we will be holding in the church. This is a very exciting time for everyone as we are getting together all of the final preparations to leave in less than a week. Please continue to pray for good health of the team members as well as safe travels on Sunday. :)

Preparations

The team met today for the first time as a whole group. We went over a lot of background information that we need to help make our trip to the Bahamas as successful as possible. Room assignments were made as well as devotion sign ups. The students were presented with information about the culture of the Bahamas as well as the Haitian people we will be serving while we are there. We are asking for the support of our friends and family during this time spent in preparation for our trip through your prayer. This trip will be completely meaningless unless we have the strength of the Lord with us along the trip. Tomorrow we will be separating into our specialties to go over what types of tasks we will be completing while there.
Please feel free to follow along with this blog as we travel to the Bahamas to share the good news of God's love with his people. Pictures will be posted as we go along so that everyone can see what we are up to as well as a quick summary of what we have done that day.