Missionaries to the Beaches of Barbados

Well, on this mission trip there’s no construction work on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. So, what’s a team of Americans in Barbados to do when there’s no scaffolding to put up and blocks to lay?

Head to the beach!

But not right away. After Fruit Loops we had an extended worship with the team. Tom and Lisa Kaiser shared some stories and lessons from their recent trip to Guyana. It was challenging on many fronts as they faced issues related people in leadership roles actually leading, team unity, sickness, and spiritual warfare. It’s good for us all to be reminded about cushy we have it in the northwest suburbs of Chicago….

OK, now we head to the beach.

It’s about a half hour trip over roads that make Illinois’ look smooth as glass. The water was Caribbean blue, warmer than the Pacific, with edges of sand that’s a reddish white (from the coral). Turns out Barbados is an island of coral, which has a side benefit of naturally purifying water so we can safely drink tap water.

Barrett and I had a blast snorkeling. It was his first time ever. We took a boat to a location some 300 yards or so offshore where a number of sunken boats were just under the surface. For 30 minutes we snorkeled hand-in-hand over these coral-laden boats that are close enough to you that you feel like you can touch them (the bottom is about 40 feet around there but masts and other portions of the boats would extend closer). One boat had a part that came high enough that Barrett was able to touch it with his flipper.

Here’s a picture of the snorkelers with Grandpa.


Barrett was ready to stay in the water once we got back so we snorkeled off the beach to a tethered water trampoline and an iceberg (think “inflatable climbing wall”). After climbing and pushing each other off, we eventually headed to the beach to relax with the team.

Here’s a picture of the team.


We’re heading out for some authentic local food tonight. So far we’ve both been adventurous with the menu offerings and expect the same to be true tonight.

A fun afternoon of memories, for sure!