The Inontime Impact Team is made up of staff, and friends of employees from the logistics company. Inontime has been an established transportation and warehousing company for over 20 years. They operate on the important biblical principles of stewardship and community, and understand the value of Impact Trips for their people.
In this first blog, the team shares the unexpected adventure they had over the last two days with travel delays and unexpected changes.
Wednesday by Trey Vredevoogd
What was supposed to be day one for team Inontime in the field, turned out to be a much larger adventure. Day one, we woke up still stuck in Atlanta eager to get to Abaco and get working. This eagerness turned into worry for the second day in a row when the team had more air travel problems. We landed in Nassau, scheduled to take off for Abaco with about an hour to spare, but the flight we thought we were booked on was overbooked, so only 10/12 could make the trip. This was such a defeating feeling for the whole team. We were so close to finally getting to Abaco, but once again, it just didn’t work out. Don’t feel too bad for the two who missed the fight because they ended up staying in Nassau at and all-inclusive resort. They said it was the cheapest one on the island, but a resort is a resort. 🙂
Luckily God has got his hand in all things, including this. When the team members who made it to the island finally landed, we headed right to a church for G2 with the local kids. I personally was tired and had to fake my energy right away to play with the kids, but that quickly changed. Being able to play soccer, football, or gaga ball with the kids quickly filled me with joy. We forgot about all the issues from that morning and the day before and were just in the moment.
The kids were also shockingly accepting right away of us! I feel like, as a middle or high schooler, I was not as chatty to strangers and really didn’t interact with them as much as we did. Right away, it was evident that they were respectful to all of the adults and had a heart for Jesus and wanted to learn more. Five of them actually gave their life to Jesus the week before which was warming to the heart.
After a short time playing with the kids, we sat in on a message about faith. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. It is not only having the knowledge of the Bible and what it says but also having the conviction to do what it says. This is the case in the good times and the bad. This was a great reminder after a long day.
It is easy to praise God in the good times, but what do you do in the bad? When the whole team can’t make the plane, do you blame Him, or do you trust that His plan is perfect and everything is going to be okay? This whole experience reminded me of an old Sunday school lesson about why we don’t get everything we want (or think we want). We may ask God for patience, but we will not get it right away. Rather, we are placed in opportunities to work on our patience. At the end of the day, we made it, and are eager to get started!
Thursday
by Sarah and Tom DePas
What a day!!! We had the blessing of helping the local high school agriculture teacher see the start of a dream actually occur today. His name is Mr. Sanchez, and he is originally from Cuba (his wife and daughter still live there). We learned there is a teacher shortage in Abaco, so there are teachers from different places.
First, let me give you a picture of the high school… There are approximately 500 students. The students are made of kids native to the Bahamas, but there are also a fair number of Haitian refugees- those kids speak only Creole, and they do not know any English. Most of the teachers only know English. The Haitian kids are able to learn English in two months- and it isn’t the teachers teaching them- it’s the other students. What a great way to show Jesus- teach your new friend how to understand the language all around you.
The students in the public schools wear uniforms, the administrator told us they want the kids all in uniforms because they are called to love each one equally. They do not want one kid to feel different than the other.
Ok, back to Mr. Sanchez. His dream is to teach the students how to grow a garden and take care of chickens and pigs. However, he needs a fenced area to do this. Picture limestone rock, an overgrown jungle/forest, a lack of tools, and a sketchy plan, and then insert the Michigan Many Hands team.
Nine guys and one lady had the blessing to work with Mr. Sanchez and start his fence. It was hard work since everything was limestone. We had shovels, and pickaxes, and luckily got two electric jackhammers. We were hot, sweaty, and sore but had a blast. We have four teenage boys in our group, and not one of them complained the whole day, they were right there with the adult guys using jackhammers, etc. We got eight metal fence post holes dug 24 inches deep into the limestone, set, and concrete poured. Just getting to the area where we were working was quite a walk. Getting enough electric cords to run the jackhammers was a feat in itself. Mr. Sanchez was so grateful, he told us thank you so many times. We hope that we shared Jesus today and helped to put a dream into reality.
Imagine living somewhere where there is a 95% import rate- yes, 95% of everything you eat and need has to be imported, and the taxes on these imports are so very high. It costs so much to get fruits and veggies that most don’t have them.
Our team assisting Mr. Sanchez in this fence is helping teach kids how to grow their own produce, care for chickens, and learn to be self-sustaining. We have all heard the quote: “You can feed a man for a day if you give him a fish, or you can feed him for life if you teach him to fish.” We were able to help Mr. Sanchez teach children for many, many years to come how to be self-sustaining.
Check back for more blogs from the Inontime Team as they serve over the next week!
