Greetings from Spanish Wells! For the last couple of weeks we have been “suffering for Jesus” in the Bahamas… :)  

I LOVE MY WIFE!

This trip has coincided with our 28th wedding anniversary! It’s been an extra blessing to be here in this “paradise” at this time and to reflect a little bit more than usual on how good God has been to us in our marriage and in our family. 28 years and Amy still loves me! Now that’s a miracle! We met in Junior High and we had no idea what tremendous blessings God would pour out on us in the coming years. I love Amy more now than I did when we were married back in 1996. I thank God for the amazing wife that He’s entrusted me with and I pray that He would continue to help me to try to love her as Christ loves the church. 

MINISTRY

I was asked to preach a few messages to the assembly here on the island…. so I’ve been preaching nearly every day for the past twenty days…. It seems that the Lord has really used the sermons. The other night, after bringing a gospel message, there was a work of conviction in many hearts and since that moment I’ve had several searching conversations with broken individuals…. There were even some tourists that we met on the beach who ended up coming to listen to some of the messages and now seem to be genuinely seeking the Lord! Please pray that Jesus would continue to work in their lives. 

ISLAND LIFE

The Bahamas is an amazing place! Coconut palm trees line the beautiful white sand beaches. The water is a stunning blueish turquoise color. The ocean is teaming with dolphins, tarpon, sea turtles, lobsters, sharks and a myriad of colorful fish…. On this particular island the majority of Bahamians are white….. but they speak kinda like black Jamaicans…. I can’t quite figure out how to explain it. I want to say it’s kinda like ebonics with a British accent…. But that’s not quite right… All I know is that I LOVE the way they talk :) Amazing people! It’s been a tremendous blessing to have this experience and to be able to do evangelism and preach Gods word in a place like this. We are so thankful to our great and gracious God!

The culture here is fascinating… the people are very friendly. It’s almost like going back eighty years in time to a small town in the American Bible Belt. It’s a very Christianese culture where almost everyone goes to church (this by no means, signifies that everyone is a true Christian). The assembly has a full blown choir that sings a few specials every Sunday morning and every Sunday night. They all dress very formally and there are church services nearly every night of the week. There’s zero crime. Most people don’t lock their doors. The population is only about 1500 people, so everyone knows each other and waves to one another as they drive by. The main vehicle here is a golf cart, and they drive on the wrong side of the road, which takes some getting used to :) Some people don’t even have a house address… just a reference like “next to such and such a land marker” 

The people are very laid back and yet they’re hard workers. There’s a-lot of money to be made by those that are willing to apply themselves. Most of the island families own a sea-worthy boat and use it in one of the two main industries which are lobster fishing and tourism…. Because of the tourism and the remoteness of the islands it’s an expensive place to live! Everything cost about twice as much as it does in the Midwest!

NEXT UP

Tomorrow we head back to Dubuque.  We will be going from a balmy 80F to a bone chilling 2F :)…. I love the extremes! Gonna be fun to go for a jog outside! …. Once we’re back in Iowa I’ll be preaching a few times over the Holidays and then on January 5th we’ll fly to Peru! We can’t wait to be back doing evangelism and discipleship in our jungle villages for the next several months. This year we have the privilege of taking three young men from the Midwest with us (Chase Gartin, Jacob Blomquist and Peter Costello). It will be fun to see how the Lord works in their lives as they experience missionary life in Peru. Please pray for us as we invest in them and in the lives of the Peruvians that we love so dearly. We hope to attempt great things for our great God and His great Son and His great cause! 

Missions quote for the day: “One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed…. We have adopted the convenient theory that the Bible is a Book to be explained, whereas first and foremost it is a Book to be believed (and after that to be obeyed).” 

- Leonard Ravenhill

Micah for the Tutttles