From feeding children at CAPS to helping with a building addition at Kirk of the Pines and meeting the amazing servant hearts at Gedeon Farms, read about the Pella Christian Winterim IMPACT team’s impactful and inspiring day connecting with the local community in Abaco.
We started off our day with a beautiful sunrise and headed off to Central Abaco Primary School (CAPS) to help feed the children at the school. We were able to build relationships and just be fully present with the kids before they headed into school for the day. Once all of the kids were in their respective classrooms, we all dispersed throughout the school.
Some of the team helped serve breakfast (grits and tuna) and some were able to build even deeper relationships with kids and they showed us their classrooms. There may have even been a few piggyback rides!
After we wrapped up school we headed to Kirk of the Pines, where we split up into several different groups and did everything from dirt-work to painting and trying to help make the addition to the church ready to be used in just a few short weeks.
As the church continues to grow, it was apparent that they needed more space for Bible studies, youth groups and just anything with a little more space. We had a wonderful nacho bar for lunch and just had some great conversations with Pastor Barrett and his wife Carrie.
The afternoon took us to a new destination, Gedeon Farms. After several attempts of locating the right road to turn into, we were able to meet Mr. Ti Gedeon and Brenda and to see the massive amount of crops that he and his wife have been able to create.
On the farm they grow everything from eggplant to corn and watermelon and spicy peppers. Several members of our team even had the courage to taste a few of the spicy peppers and they agreed that they were HOT!
We learned that Brenda spends six days a week selling the produce from the farm in downtown Abaco to the locals. Mr. Gedeon was more than gracious in showing us around the farm and even loaded up our van with cabbage, eggs and many other crops to take with us when we left. It was truly amazing to see a servant heart at work from both of these hardworking individuals.
As our day finished up, we spent some time out in the ocean, enjoying our last few days here at Camp Abaco. It has been a wonderful trip with a lot of work but also a lot of interaction with the locals and learning about their culture and daily struggles. We sincerely hope that we have been as much of a blessing to the community as they have been to our group.
— Jessa
