We began the day with some sad news from home as we learned that our dear friend Todd Lurtey had passed away last night after a long battle with cancer. We have been praying for Todd (who is 16) and the Lurtey family for quite some time, and our hearts were all very heavy in being away while hearing this news. Many tears were shed, and we spent some time in prayer for this dear family. We love you Mr. and Mrs. Lurtey, and we will continue to pray for God's grace and presence for you in this time.
Today was our first day to do some sightseeing on the beautiful island of Antigua. We packed our lunches and set off for a day of fun in the sun. We visited English harbor which is one of the more historic venues on the island. While there, we sampled a "beef patty" and a "pineapple turnover." Both were delicious! The team had a great time walking around the Nelson's dockyard and looking through some of the museums and artifacts.
We then headed up to Shirley heights which is an absolutely breathtaking view of English harbor. It was wonderful to see the beauty of God's creation with the harbor beautifully painted on the landscape of the vast Atlantic ocean beyond Antigua. God is so good and as we looked upon His creation, we really saw the "heavens declaring God's glory" in the beauty of what we were seeing. The team then saw an information video about Antigua and some of the history in how the country was founded. The country is relatively young as they gained their independance from England in 1981 and formed their own nation.
After visitng a few more lookouts we headed back to the house and changed for some time at the beach. We truly had a wonderful day in weather as the sun was shining and a light breeze kept the temperature relatively cool. Tonight, we wanted to treat our team and our missionaries to a special treat. We had dinner at OJ's restaurant which is located on the beach. We watched a beautiful sunset while we waited for our food. As I was walking on the beach letting the water wash over my san-filled feet, my thoughts again went to the Lurtey family. The words to the old song, "just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven, of touching a hand and finding it God's, of waking in glory and finding it home" began to fill my mind. As tears filled my eyes I began to pray again that the "God of all Comfort" would be especially gracious to the Lurtey family. Please continue to pray for them.
As we ate our food, some of the team members were a little daring in their food selections. The award of the night went to Kaitlyn Unruh in getting a Red Snapper fish (and it came out completely whole!!! Head and all!!). The food was delicious and we had a wonderful time hangin out together and fellowshiping with the missionaries. As we got back to our rooms, we had team devotions where Angel shared her testimony of how she came to Christ and how God is in control of our everyday situations. How fitting, considering our day.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to attending church at Grace Baptist church where we will be doing some singing and leading children's church. Our team members are very excited about the opportunity to get some interaction with some of the kids and be able to worship with other believers. It certainly was a long day but ultimately a wonderful break for the team to be able to rest and recoup for another week. God is so good!
For God's Glory,
Jonny Gamet
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