Greetings from sunny St. Croix our wonderful family, friends and followers of Sail and Serve!

Since leaving Marco Island on September 27^th we’ve sailed 1500 Nautical Miles and visited some 25 islands off the gulf coast of Florida, in the Florida Keys, The Berry and Exuma Islands of the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. In other words, we are still novices, rookies, still wet behind the ears, just barely out of training camp. We don’t even know if we’ve made the team yet!

This we do know, however, our God is an awesome God;  His mercies are new every morning and His grace is sufficient for us, His power is made perfect in our weakness. I saw with my own eyes, my sweet and delicate wife on the second night watch in 25-30 knot winds with 8-10 foot confused seas, straining against the helm, the boat heeling dramatically. We were at least 40 NM from any shoreline and an occasional unruly wave would trespass our cockpit with buckets of water, usually straight to the face. When I came up to relieve her and asked how she was holding up I was surprised by the joyful lilt in her voice. “Great,” she said.

She had been worshipping the Lord you see, and He had met her there in that challenging place and not only given her the strength to endure it, but to thrive in the midst of it. It was a moment I will never forget. It is though just one of a great many snap shots of God’s great faithfulness on this amazing journey I could share with you. As the morning light rose over those troubled seas at dawn we finally made the shoreline of Little Inauga Island, at the southern-most tip of the The Bahamas, and anchored there in the lee of the island in still and tranquil turquoise waters with world class snorkeling just off our bow, miles and miles of pristine white sand beaches, and for three days we saw not  a soul nor even another boat but only an occasional airplane far overhead to alert us we were not utterly alone on the planet.

It would require a small book to begin to accurately articulate all that has transpired since our last letter, but I’ll try to provide a brief sample of glimpses so you can at least get a feel for some of what we’ve experienced. After leaving Key West at dusk and being fired upon by a pirate boat (with tourists as crew) with a very loud cannon, we took a leisurely pace through the Keys visiting a number of beautiful and historic places such as Indian Key  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Key_Historic_State_Park and Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park http://www.floridastateparks.org/lignumvitaekey/ . These spots and others like them make wonderful destinations for field trips, making the home schooling history and science lessons really come alive. At times, as we made our way North and East up through the Keys, we had whole pods of dolphins come escort us in the crystal clear waters where you can see the bottom even in 75-100 ft. Once two swam right under our bow close enough that when the bow dipped and they rose I could nearly touch a fin as I lay on the deck and stretched my arm down.

Josh has undergone the unfortunate development of becoming a teenaged boy; an act for which I’ve punished him sternly at times. For his sixteenth birthday, on October 25^th , however,  we wanted to do something special to celebrate and show him how much we love and value him. We were moored in Biscayne Bay just south of Miami and had not spent a single night off the boat since late June. With the help of a web-site that uses occupancy numbers to set lower prices I found a very nice hotel in Coral Gables at a very low price and Josh got to spend the day in hog heaven with free wifi (so he could play computer games with friends back home) a lovely swimming pool for an afternoon swim and then a nice meal at Panera Bread nearby on the “Miracle Mile.” Although this was splurging for us we wanted to make Josh’s sixteenth a special memory and show him how much he means to us.

On October 29^th we had an uneventful (the best kind) crossing of the gulf stream to the Bimini Islands in the Bahamas and sailed through the first night to reach Chub Cay in the Berry Islands, where we cleared customs. We had many wonderful experiences in the Bahamas, which encompass more than 700 islands and 180,000 square miles of ocean. We felt so privileged to see these magical waters from the unique perspective one gets from a sailboat. We especially enjoyed the Exuma Chain which many claim are the best cruising grounds in the world. We could have spent a month at Waderick Wells and The Exuma Land and Sea Park alone: http://www.exumapark.org/ or, for that matter, with the swimming pigs at Big Majors Spot off Staniel Cay. That’s right swimming pigs. Go ahead look it up. I’ll wait…

Oh here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh87n0TXcgw

It is precisely because of these particular pigs that we do not say “When pigs swim.” We also got to snorkel through the cave called Thunderball Grotto, made famous by the James Bond movie Thunderball. Josh even did a little movie of his own with the GoPro camera we’d gotten for Christmas last year jumping off the 20 ft. cliff on the east end of the tiny isle where Thunderball Grotto is located. We spent several days in lovely Georgetown before three long legs to reach St. Croix. Not only is it a beautiful place but the last good place to provision for the long stretches of open water going south. Although we’d not seen a single dolphin in the Bahamas one came to us here and for at least two and a half hours swam circles around our boat. First he swam clockwise in fairly tight circles for about an hour and a half, then counter-clockwise. I know it probably will sound a little sappy to some, but it seemed to me that God was sending us a message. I felt He was saying, “you are encircled. My presence goes with you, surrounds you, and the prayers of the saints encircle you.” I could not resist the urge to get in the water and snorkel with this beautiful creature though I feared my presence could drive him away. Rather than flee, he came closer, sometimes swimming right up behind and nearly startling me. He came back the next day and both Gabriella and I got to swim with him and get some good video shots with the GoPro camera. 

From Georgetown we sailed 223 NM to the aforementioned Little Inagua Island,

then 180 NM to Luperon in the Dominican Republic and finally over 400 non-stop from there to Christiansted, St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Although we had pretty good weather for our entire one month journey from Miami we could easily discern why this stretch of waters and route is called “The Thorny Path” i.e. because the trade winds come out of the S.E. which is precisely the direction one needs to go to get to the Virgin Islands from Florida. Therefore you are steadily “beating to windward,” which means sailing into wind and waves and at times making painfully slow forward progress while tacking back and forth through the eye of the wind. For instance, our first four hours out of Luperon en route to St. Croix we sailed 17 NM but made only 7 or forward progress. We prayed for the islands we visited on the way here, gave away some Gideons Bibles and got a good tasted of the different cultures, political and socio-economic situations of these places so we can pray more specifically and intelligently. In the Bahamas we were struck by how many of the men loitered aimlessly on the streets (especially in Georgetown) while the women worked and in Luperon the lack of churches. Please join us in praying that the men of the Bahamas would take their proper role as the spiritual leaders in their homes and in the community and that as they do so God would meet them and bless their beautiful country and that he would be glorified through them.

In Luperon, Dominican Republic we saw a man walking a massive hog down main-street our first day ashore. A few days later I watched as a young bull trotted down the same street with nary an eyebrow raised but only an old hound coming out to loudly register his disapproval and that same day a rooster poking around in the market where we bought most of our vegetables. Though these images are indelibly marked in my memory bank the vision most clearly etched will forever be of young Robison who worked at a store we frequented. He had given me a ride on the store’s motorcycle to the gas station to fill our diesel tanks. His English was pretty good so we developed an agreement that he’d speak English and I would reply in Spanish. When we got back to the dock where our dingy was I gave him some Pesos for his trouble, but told him I had something of far greater value I wanted to give him. As I handed him that little blue Gideons testament his whole face lit up. He rode off still smiling, and the next day I had the added joy of seeing him at work in the little store, standing at the counter with his new bible in hand. He had written his name on the first page and in clear, well- formed letters had spelled out John 3:16. “That’s a good one he said,” pointing to the verse. I nearly wept right there standing before him. What joy to think such a simple act could have such an impact. Please pray together with us for Robison. Pray also that many new churches would be planted in Luperon and that the Dominican Republic would turn whole-heartedly back to God.

Prayer Requests:

1.       Unity and increased closeness in our marriage. Any undertaking of this sort is bound to put stresses on the covenant of marriage. The enemy would like nothing more than to divide us as we struggle in different ways through the conflicts and challenges. Pray with us that by God’s grace our union would instead be made stronger.

2.       Wisdom, direction and daily guidance for the parenting of and education our children. That we would love, nurture, teach and discipline as our Heavenly Father does.

3.       Support and provision.  Our recent mechanical issues depleted our already meager kitty. Please pray with us for new prayer and support partners. Thanks so much to those of you who already support our ministry!

4.       Last but most importantly, that God would be glorified through all that we do, His purposes fully accomplished and His body edified, encouraged and richly blessed through our efforts and the ongoing impact of this ministry which He planted the seeds for over a decade ago.

I want to leave you with these thoughts from Look Unto Me, the wonderful devotions of Charles Spurgeon that I look forward to each morning. Although we’ve been able to apply the wisdom here both literally and figuratively, I’ve no doubt that with little effort you will be able to find application in your own life for the poignant metaphor he so skillfully evokes here:

“Untested faith may be real faith, but no doubt it will be ‘little faith’ (Matt 6:30) and will likely remain stunted in its growth as long as it has no trials. Faith never prospers better than when everything comes against it, for storms are its trainers and lighting its illuminators. When calm reigns on the sea, you can spread your ship’s sails if you wish, but she will not move toward the desired harbor, for when the ocean slumbers the the ship’s keel sleeps as well. Yet when the winds begin to howl and waves begin to rise, the ship  may rock from side to side, her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sails, but it is only then she makes great headway toward her desired haven.”