The Final Update

Tyler, Tim, Kyle, Max, A.J., Kent, Aaron, Jenna, Bethany, Shelby, Heather, Heather, Asya, Taelor, Alyssa, Hallie, Millie, Sarah, Jessica, Stephanie, Cortni, Savannah, Micaiah, Bekah, Kristen, Emily, Morgan, Sara, Katherine, Tom, Jill and Kyle, (aka Larry Bird)

I'm sitting here, in the Liberty University Bookstore parking lot, after just sending off the last two of our team members. Standing here and watching the last of our team drive away brought a lot of emotions, a smile, a couple of tears (probably because of Sara, even though she isn't here, she's made me tear up more times than I can count in the last 24 hours,) a sense of relief and then a slight feeling of panic.

The smile came because of all of the memories that hit me at once. Watching all of the students drive up for training camp, the utter panic and excitement that I saw on your faces as you checked in at Training Camp was priceless, it's even more entertaining now that I know you all. Tyler curling up on the bus floor to talk with Sara, Katherine, Tom and me in the middle of the night on our bus ride home. Max and Sara and the Milky Way. Millie marching around with her measuring tape and supervisor voice. Clearing brush that first day and realizing just how much work was cut out for us. Zip lining even though I wasn't supposed to and knowing that y'all would keep my secret. Trying to do a head count while everyone's running through the airport. Watching Sara debate whether she wanted to jump into a bottomless hole or just avoid the experience altogether. Listening to the testimonies and the prayers of our family. Sprinting for food when the Texas team of sharks nearly took out our dinner. Listening to the guys sing the songs that they wrote. Watching Sara and Morgan bond over their dish washing experience. That first bus ride to the camp. Sitting on the rock path with Sara and crying with laughter over her wipe outs. Watching everyone come out from the cabins to have devotions during our GL meetings in the morning. And so many more!

The tears came because I realized just how much all of you have become a part of my life and have changed me in so many ways. I love the fact that anyone could sit anywhere at dinner and be a part of whatever group was sitting there. I will miss the hugs that I got every morning as you all stumbled into the main cabin, half asleep. Knowing that no matter what happened during the day, everyone was there for each other was such a strange but great experience. I'd never bonded with a such a large group of people in such a deep way in such a short time. I remember looking at Morgan on Day #4 and saying, "I've only seen teams bond like this at the very end of a trip, what's it going to look like when we get home?" And I can truly say, I never expected us to be this close. We really are a family.

The sense of relief came when I realized that we all made it home, in one piece :) Through the scorpions, roofing, brush burning, bus riding and exhaustion, we have successfully made it back to the States. I am so proud of you all for being so strong and willing to do whatever we asked you to do. To the fire bugs of our trip, you know who you are, thank you for not going up in flames. To A.J., we will never let you live the zip line down. To all of the team members who went through weird rashes, 85 million bug bites, sprained ankles and heat exhaustion, thank you for taking everything with laughter. To Tim, I still want to know if that was sun poisoning or a concrete burn :)

The feeling of panic came and went in one brief second. I've been preparing for this trip for over a year now,  praying about what trip to go on, meeting the leaders of our team, going through training, praying for you all, packing and dragging myself up to Lynchburg at some crazy hour to prepare for Training Camp. I can honestly say, this has been one of the best experiences of my life, partially because of the work that we did and what we accomplished, but mostly because of who you all are and how much we have grown. 


I cannot wait to see what the Lord does in your lives over the next few years! Stay strong throughout your next year of high school or college, whichever you are going into. You just made it through three intense weeks of construction work in a foreign country! All it takes to make it through each day is a lot of prayer and help from the Lord, and the knowledge that you have 32 new family members that will drop anything to help you no matter what is going on. 


I love you all so much! 


Brittany

Update #6

The team lost power and Internet a few days ago. The power came back the following day and the Internet was fixed this afternoon. Everyone is doing well!

Update #5

Friday night and Saturday were the team's official days to tour the island and experience the culture. The group visited Ocean Hole, a water hole in the center of the island that is rumored to have no bottom. Team members were given the opportunity to dive into the ocean hole and play around in the water.

"The ocean hole was amazing, it's really hard to think that there's this huge hole with no bottom and yet, you just float in there like it was a pool," team member Heather Amberg said. 

After spending an hour or so at the hole, the team moved on to another local landmark, the Banyan Tree. This tree is extremely well known on the island for its size and its sprawling branches.

"It was a large continual tree which spreads, someone said, over half a mile," Team Leader Kyle Alexander said. 

"Xtreme Impact enjoyed climbing and enjoying the surroundings. It would be the perfect place for a wonderful tree house, even adults would enjoy it," Team Leader Jill Alexander said. 

The team then ate lunch at a local restaurant called "Tippy's" and spent the rest of the afternoon snorkeling in the crystal clear waters surrounding the island. The team members were given the chance to observe sea life, such as coral, fish, sea sponges and jelly fish, in their natural habitats. 

"I was snorkeling out to the reef and saw a 5-6 foot sting ray coming from my left side," team member A.J. Taylor said. "So I watched it swim toward me, about 10 feet underneath me. As it started getting closer to me, it started swimming up, straight toward me. So, I turned around and swam really fast, it was awesome," 

The day ended with the arrival of a new missions team from Tennessee. This new team has blended better with the XI team than the one that left Friday evening. 


*Photo taken by Denaj 

Update #4

The team has spent the past week working at The Property (where Camp Bahamas will be moving to within the next year, Lord willing) and sending a team of eight to Ingrim's Inn to help out with serving meals to the campers.

We have had several minor injuries in the past few days, there have been a couple of sprains and colds. The team has really pulled together and encouraged those who are having a difficult time.


The team has continued to visit parks to do VBS with the local children. These visits have been at the top of the favorite experiences for many of the team members. 

"I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to VBS," Stephanie Tripodi said. "We get the chance to be the hands and feet of Jesus and show the kids that someone does care about them and in that, tell them that Jesus loves them as well. Seeing the joy in their eyes and hearing their laughter has been worth the whole trip for me."

Team Update #3

The team just returned to the cabins after attending and participating in a local church service. After holding a time of worship, the church gave the team the opportunity to lead several worship songs, perform a drama and share a testimony.

"I thought it was really interesting how they really got into their worship and they had their own separate groups to go up and sing," team member Hallie Tripler said. "It wasn't just the same group."

Team members A.J. Taylor and Shelby Uhler led a short time of worship before the drama team performed the "Bring Me to Life" drama that they had learned during Training Camp.

"The skit is about a person who is constantly rejecting God and trying to do things on her own," group leader Sara Golden said. "She tries to do all these things and ends up with all this baggage. It gets too much for her and she eventually gives into the love of God and the freedom he supplies." 

The team members really enjoyed watching their fellow believers worship along even when they couldn't understand the language. The part of the service with the most impact for many of the XI team members was the reaction of the congregation during the skit which presented the gospel.

"The guy behind me kept saying, 'That's Jesus!' and he got really excited and he kept translating the words on the cards to the people around him," Hallie said. "Then in the end he said, 'Jesus is waiting for her, Jesus is waiting for her, he wants her!' And he understood what we were saying with the skit."

Group leader Tom Kodel followed the drama with his testimony and a short message in which he presented the gospel and encouraged the believers in their faith.

"It was a real honor to speak to the church and to the community of Palm Metto this morning," Tom said. "Being able to share my life and the word of God with people is always exciting for me and is something I just can't get enough of. I was so blown away by the kindness of the people at the church and the way they received us openly. It was awesome to see them being blessed by us and us by them. Being able to join in with them in worship was with out a doubt life-changing." 

*pictures taken by Shelby Uhler

Team Update #2

It's been one week since everyone arrived at Liberty for Training Camp.  Although plans have changed slightly in what the group is doing during their time here, everyone is doing very well and enjoying the work they are doing here in the Bahamas.

"Every day a group of about seven go to Ingrim's Inn, the old motel where all the campers are housed, to work the kitchen, the snack bar and the other odd jobs around the camp," Tyler Milton wrote to his parents. "Then the rest of the group stays at the Property, the collection of cabins where all the missionaries stay, to work on construction, laundry, painting and stuff like that."

The team members are taking turns visiting Ingrim's Inn, where they have the chance to observe the campers as they go through their day at Camp Bahamas.

"The kids are like really excited about being there and they were really excited about worshiping. It made me  feel bad for Christians in the States because we get spoon fed everything, even worship music," A.J. said. "You don't really get passionate like they do." 

The team has been extremely patient as the plans for the days have been changing on a regular basis. Everyone has been incredibly good with helping wherever there is a need without a complaint, regardless of what they are asked to do.

"So far, I haven't really had anyone really complaining whenever I've asked them to do something," group leader Morgan Leeper said. 

The team has spent the last few days working on projects around the camp and going to Vacation Bible School (VBS) to play with some of the local kids.

Each boy was a good sport and allowed six and seven year old little girls to use face paint on them.

"I thought it was funny, I was a pretty girl. They changed my name to Kyla," Kyle Wendel said. "When I got home I tried washing it off in the ocean for a half hour and in the shower and it still didn't come off." 

When asked if he would do it over again, Kyle hesitated slightly before smiling and saying yes.

Kristen Kinker began interacting with a seven year old girl named Alicia at the park that the team went to visit yesterday afternoon. After asking about family, friends and where she went to church, Kristen began to ask Alicia some questions about the gospel.

"She seemed to know the right answers when I would ask her these questions. So, I asked her if she had ever prayed, just confessing what she believed to God and inviting Jesus into her life and her heart, and she said no," Kristen said. "So, the Holy Spirit just pushed on my heart to go back to her and ask her if she wanted to pray. And she said yes, so right then ad there we prayed together and even though she's young, at least that seed was planted. Because I know in my own testimony I was 'saved' when I was 8 but that seed was planted and later on I really understood what that meant." 

Today is the teams day of resting after running full speed ahead since Training Camp began on Saturday. The team leaders gave everyone the chance to sleep in a little bit, although most of the team woke up early out of habit. Team members are enjoying some time hanging out and relaxing over breakfast and having devotions out on the beach. The rest of the day will include cleaning out the cabins we are staying in and then some team building games out on the beach. 

(Team members not in the picture were working at the camp when it was taken)

Picture taken by Shelby Uhler

Team Bahamas Days 1 and 2

The XI Bahamas team arrived Monday night at Camp Bahamas after a long day of travel.

The team loaded up on a bus to travel to Ronald Reagan National Airport around 11 p.m. Saturday night after going through a full day of Training Camp. After about 19 hours of travel, the team moved into a row of small, colorful cabins on the beach.

On Tuesday, the team was split into four groups and given maintenance jobs to do around the camp. The teams cleared and burned brush from the front of the property, organized tool sheds, tackled mountains of laundry, cleaned up the camp gym and worked in the camp kitchen. One of the teams went to serve meals to the campers at the main dining hall. 

"It looked like it (collecting and burning the brush) was going to be a really difficult job, but with all of us working so diligently, it got done a lot quicker than we expected," Tyler Milton said. 

The team spent some time in the water between jobs. Several team members paired up and explored the area in kayaks while others played water games. While they enjoyed the break, every team member expressed a desire to return to the jobs that they had been working on.

"Even in our down time we still wanted to get the job done," Tyler Milton said.

The evening ended with a team devotional, which included several students sharing their testimonies and what the Lord has been teaching them on the trip so far.

Wednesdaywas spent doing more projects around the camp and then spending time with the local children at a park. The children were thrilled to have the chance to play kickball, basketball and other games with the team. Several of the team members made balloon animals for the younger children.

Dinner has just finished and the team is cleaning up after a long day before heading out to the beach for a bonfire.

Everyone is doing very well and they all say hello to their families!

*The following pictures were taken by Shelby Uhler