Let me tell the story of the entire trip by summarizing Richard Schlitt’s speech at a church at the end of the trip.

We arrived with $5,000 with the sole intent of pouring the slab for the new school. Before work started the forward team had already spoken at local churches on the Island.  On Monday we finished the slab and that would have been the end of our money, but we learned that denotations were pouring in from all over the Island. At least $10,000 was raised and we would have money for the wood to frame the walls on Tuesday.

During our work Tuesday we learned that the number was more like $27,000 and we would be able to put up the roof trusses Wednesday. Wednesday we learned that contributions continued to come in and we would be able to continue for the next few days. By Friday over $80,000 had arrived. This was enough to complete the project. Our team was on the roof Friday when a man stepped up and volunteered to put the roof on if the building could be named after the Nun that started the program for the children of special needs. It turned out that he was a contractor that had completed school only because she had helped and believed in him. It was agreed that the building would be named after her and other locals had stepped and would complete the inside over the next few weeks.

The kids had a free day to go snorkeling. We left amazed and in wonderment over the way the week had transpired. We were blessed.

Year after year, one of the most treasured experiences takes place almost every morning on the Island. People get up before sunrise and walk the half mile to the beach and watch the sunrise over the ocean. How this is any different then any other sunrise is impossible to explain, but we have pictures.

In 2006 we were asked to put a new roof on the old two story building. We repaired the rotten areas and re-roofed the building. At the same time we built the back stairs for the new two story building.

In 2007 we built, painted and installed new shutters for the new two story building and started on the old two story building.

In 2008 we painted the old building also, built painted and installed the rest of the shutters.

In 2009 we had a mission of 20 people 10 less than the 30 + we had on the other mission trips. The goal was to build a new building. We brought the architect John Schlitt with us, but we were unable to finalize plans on what they wanted built and where. It was decided that we would leave it for the next year and make some needed improvements around the facility. In the old two story building we added a wall to make two smaller class rooms from one big one complete with fire rated doors. We installed shelves in a classroom in the new two story building. Repaired a storage shed, and made a screened in planting building out back. The planting building is a nursery where children learn about planting and growing food.

2010 would be the first year that I was not a member of the Piper flight club and would not be able to fly the club aircraft over to the Islands. As things have a way of working out on these Bahamas trips, my cousin was flying down with her husband in their Cherokee Lance airplane and were looking for someone that had made the trip to fly with them. I jumped at the chance to fly a high performance, complex aircraft to the Islands.

The big project this year was to add an addition to the building we built in 2006 that will be used as a teaching workshop for the students. This project was going to require an extensive amount of carpentry tools. Many of the tools we had left in the past years had gone missing. So the youth Minister Richard Schlitt, the General Contractor John Vetter, my cousin Don Lindsey and I went to Home Depot and purchased 2K in tools and fasteners. But how would we transport them to Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas? We pulled out the middle two seats of the Lance and proceeded to load it with: four persons with luggage, a brand new full size table saw with legs (in the box), boxes of nails, nail guns and hoses, hammers, cordless drill, power cords, and bags of small items like chalk boxes, framing squares, pencils and the like. The Lance is truly a great work horse of an aircraft. We arrived in Abaco without a hitch.

Then things got interesting. Every year we stay at St, Simons Church in Treasure Cay. But this year there, when we arrived, there was no one to greet us and all buildings were locked. Add to that the electrical power was out and all cell service was down on the Island for days.

Wednesday we poured cement while simultaneously started installing the roof rafters. Things did not get any easier Thursday but by working Friday morning we managed to install the roof and dry in the exterior walls before we went on our fun day Friday afternoon. The addition on the new building was the big project for this year, but as in every year, there were many other smaller projects that were just as important completed. Eight of them were:

• A team cut a two separate two foot by eight foot opening to improve the ventilation through the class rooms.
• The fence around the parking lot was repaired, and the gate was completely rebuilt.
• A rotten area of 2nd floor outside deck was removed and replaced.
• There was extensive clean up around the grounds
• A classroom floor was scrapped by 6 missionaries by hand over 3 days and then repainted.
• The green house was repaired
• Windows were reworked.
• A comprehensive inventory of all donated tools and supplies was conducted.

In addition, the youth group always made the rounds from classroom to class room singing and discussing life issues with the children.