Liz Vermeer shares her experience about her 5-day service trip to Abaco. Read her thoughts from each day of the trip and check out other Impact Stories at Stories – Impact Trips
If you know me, you have already laughed a little thinking the phrase that sums up my trip to Abaco is a part of a Christmas song. While I do love Christmas in general, I believe God started preparing my heart for what would happen on this trip 8 months ago. When I read the devotional last Advent season titled “Prepare Him Room,” I had already set some pieces in motion to get this trip on the books. My heart had been softening for years for this idea of a missions trip, but with this 24-day devotional, God lit my heart on fire for this trip, and I just knew that the experience of this trip was going to be life-changing!
Boarding the plane to Abaco 5 days ago, I expected to see devastation- Abaco had been pummeled by Hurricane Dorian for more than 2 days, then COVID hit, causing rebuilding to not even be an option for a time. I expected to see people half-clothed and homeless. I expected to be able to go out into the community and interact with these people and make a big difference. When we came into the city, we saw houses, malls, and churches in shambles, but we also saw many houses rebuilt, grocery stores, gas stations, and liquor stores. I immediately thought to myself, this isn’t that bad- what are we doing here?
After 5 days here, I can say without a doubt that we were preparing His room!
Camp Abaco, for one month in the summer, morphs into a summer sports camp for youth in the month of July. Being the first group back on campus, our first task was cleaning up the camp- it turns out youth in the Bahamas aren’t so different from youth in the US- they leave their dirty shirts and socks on the ground next to the basketball court, they throw their garbage wherever they feel like it and the break things and don’t tell anyone about it! (Sounds just like home 🤪). We spent our first day in Abaco making camp ready for the first IMPACT group of the fall to come. My favorite part about this cleanup was the problem-solving to get a broken flag flying again- and every time I walked out of my room in the morning, I saw that flag flying I felt ready for the new day.
Sunday morning, we got to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation and appreciate some Bahamian culture with snorkeling! It was my first time- I was anxious for a lot of things: whether that snorkel was going to do its job or not 😳, whether I was going to be able to keep up, and what I was going to see under that water. On the way to the rock- I didn’t see anything…and even when I got to the rock, I only saw a few big fish…until I slowed down a little bit and took time to look closely; all these little schools of fish that blended into the rock were swimming around…much larger fish would peek out from under rocks and slide back in…and there was the occasional starfish that lined the sandy bottom. When I slowed down and took a closer look, things weren’t as they seemed.
We went to a Church service, where the topic was Acts 4: the followers of the Way all gave so that everyone would have what they needed. Pastor Ryan spoke of all the ways we are called to steward all gifts God gives us, but especially to steward our money and our things when we see a need- that we should give in a way that makes us uncomfortable- that God will reward a cheerful giver. We left Church to deliver food. We spent time in a Haitian shantytown. These areas of town were those that you would look out the window and pass by. No one wants to enter these places-so many were sitting outside to get out of the heat in their homes, many of which didn’t have electricity or running water. Most people couldn’t speak English. I was so thankful for Pastor Ryan’s wife, Daniella, who could interpret for us! We listened to their stories, shared their tears, prayed over people we had never met, and gave them a grocery bag of food (A BIG thank you to my Pella friends who donated their extra cloth bags- they will be put to good use! Even the Buzz Lightyear one’s 😃). Their stories were gut-wrenching: mothers leaving their children in hopes of building a life and sending for them as soon as possible, people who truly want work but can’t find jobs, and people grieving deaths of loved ones countries away. The need in this small area was great and obvious. It would have been easy to overlook this space, just a little off the main road. When we stopped to look closer, we saw people, hurting, with dreams of something better and the need for a Savior just like us.
Day 3 saw us finishing up the preparations for the IMPACT group that would be coming to campus that afternoon. We were able to go out to the community that day to work on painting the Community Center that Many Hands has been working to help rebuild after the hurricane. We drove up to a group of boys hanging out under the shade of the stairs. Most of them left when we set up shop- except for one- JJ. JJ was out of school, he had 8 siblings, 2 of them were younger- he claimed he was a good big brother ☺️ He liked to play basketball and liked rap and gospel music. He was very polite and was willing to grab us whatever we asked for while we were painting the outdoor space. We painted trim inside for what seemed like forever…my arm and shoulders were so sore, but I couldn’t help but think about what uses we were preparing this room for. Tim shared what it would look like as a finished product and how it would allow space to start some programs, including tutoring and the first thousand days programs. The community would use it as well, for offices and meetings and a space to have local government affairs.
Our Tuesday sent us into the school preparing the library space with our new friends Sam and Lisa. It turns out this school didn’t even have a library prior to Hurricane Dorian, so this would be many of these children’s first experience ever with a library in 6 years of school. All those donated books were getting put to good use- Catie and I spent the day entering books into the database and looking up the grade level and Accelerated Reader points for each book (my girls will be happy to know they aren’t the only kids in the world who have to deal with AR). Sorting through these books brought back memories of times I read some of the same books to my own kids. While I didn’t see a child on campus that day, I couldn’t help but get excited for all the children that would be accessing that library- which had space for tutoring for math and reading too. Many students on the island didn’t go to school for 3 years due to the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian and COVID, so having access to books and a place to help catch up would be a safe space for them, preparing them for life.
Day 5 took us on a road trip to a farm. Tim told us of the couple who ran the farm and their son who would be starting college in the States soon. These people were learning ways to increase food production and used these fruits and vegetables to support the people of Abaco. They would also use some of their produce to help support the first thousand days programs. They were in the process of putting down the framework for a covered garden- and our job was to prepare the space for one of the covered gardens: to measure and place the stakes so that after hurricane season, they can put up the rest of the structure to help facilitate the growth of more food for the next growing season.
My trip to Abaco was not as I expected. I thought I would have one intense experience that would change the trajectory of my life! What I found was many small moments and small projects that allowed me to be a small part of something that would be life-changing for the people of Abaco. I found that rushing around to do all the things doesn’t allow you to really see people or their needs. Turns out, this trip wasn’t about me or my expectations…it was about the way God would use my 5 days in Abaco to prepare room to grow His kingdom, for His glory! These people didn’t need someone to rush down to try to save the day- they already have a Savior. These people needed someone who would listen to their stories and be the hands and feet of Jesus!
