Caribbean Mission Trip

Dear Friends,

5000 Spanish and 1000 English tracts were distributed at 2 Mexico cities, 1 Belize city and 1 Guatemala City within an 8 hour period each. Reception was very good and many sincere conversation resulted. Many T-shirts, bags and Bibles were given away. The team consisted of Gary & Rebecca, Lester, Robin, Louisa & Ann. The "Billboard" was parked directly in front of the Tampa Florida boat terminal for 1 week, and all ships leaving or entering the port terminal had an obvious view, along with all traffic, including buses, taxis and all other street traffic. (For 1 total week) God provided this exceptional parking place for anyone using the terminal to see the "Billboard" on or off the ship. The ship contained about 1600 passengers and about 600 crew. The team entered the ship on Sunday 11/15/09 and were sternly chastised by a senior Officer on Tuesday 11/17/09 for passing out tracts on the ship. The officer said: "we are ready to deal with you" and suggested that we would be dropped off at the next port if we continue. We obeyed his authority.

Many passengers would again see the team passing out tracts in the towns as they conducted their tours. Many crew members came to us asking questions about the message on the t-shirts we were wearing. The head cook gathered together about 10 of his fellow employees and we had a 11:30 PM Bible study with them in a room that they arranged. I believe most had a church background as the question was raised: why didn't the church tell this to us? When we finally returned to port in Tampa Florida, the mission team was the 1st to disembark so as to continue to pass out tracts to the ship passengers as they left. We were immediately told to stop by a terminal employee. We then talked to a police officer, who said that we may continue if we did not obstruct foot traffic. We continued to pass out tracts while our van was being loaded (slowly for over an hour) directly at terminal exit point where all passengers, buses, taxis and passengers saw the message on the van. The "billboard" was then parked about 75 feet from the exit point.

The trip from Delaware to Florida was over 1100 miles one way, and we faced several mechanical problems with still 700 miles to go. Arrival time was a factor. We wondered if God was ending the mission trip since an oil leak situation could be terminal. We prayed about the situation and prayed that God's Will be done. God did test us, and he permitted the problem to be found and dealt with, so that we could continue. The end result of the team effort was exceptionally successful. Many Tracts distributions and conversations resulted, and team members feel that God blessed this trip, and he opened many doors that seemed to be a problem. We were interviewed by two television stations and one radio station, both on the street while passing out tracts and at station headquarters. We would all like to thank Gary & Rebecca for putting this wonderful mission trip together.

To God Be The Glory.