with the strength God supplies

All has been quiet on the blog front lately.  That's due simply to the fact that the Buntings are serving in an "all hands on deck" kind of way these days.  Church life slows a bit over the summer as we close off care groups, youth meetings, and ladies' meetings for the summer vacation.  But due to the number of visitors we've personally been hosting lately, our pace has not slowed but rather increased.  Last week the girls and I (Kristin) were serving out at Adventure Learning Camp, making breakfast and dinner each day for the 40 or so mission team campers.  Tim Seeley, a new member of our church here, took over as director of the camp back in January.  When we had their family over for dinner some weeks ago, they mentioned that Mindy (Tim's wife) would be in the U.S. during the first official week of camp season.  I couldn't imagine Tim doing all that cooking, serving, and running the camp alone...so I volunteered our girls and myself to help!  What a blessing it was!  In fact, the girls have all been slightly down since Saturday when we ended our one week serving there.  They are begging to go back asap, and I will try to get us back in the kitchen there next week after our current guest, my brother Neal, is safely back home in Atlanta. 

Each morning, we were on the road by 6:15AM, eagerly anticipating the work of preparing and serving the new people we were meeting, as well as old friends.  My college bestie, roommate and maid of honor, Becca Deming, her husband (also our college friend) Kevin, and their church group from Holly Springs, NC made up 11 of our 40 or so campers last week.  I can't even say how wonderful it was to reconnect with these friends.  When we first saw them at the camp, Becca wrapped me up in a big hug and shed tears, telling her church group, "This is one of my favorite people in the whole world."  I cried along with her.  We enjoyed our week immensely, even though physically we were beat!  Cooking with gas in a hot Bahamian climate is nothing to laugh at, folks!  To cool off, we'd stick our heads in the freezer for a few minutes or joke about hopping into the industrial-sized refrigerator.  On Thursday, my prince on a white horse came as we were preparing dinner, announcing, "I come bearing electrolytes!"  Keith swept in to rescue the girls, Tim and I from dehydration.  I kissed him and said, "This is why I married you!" 

Other highlights to last week at camp were getting to connect with another new addition to the camp and our church here, Jen Rogers.  Jen recently moved back here from Denver, CO, where she was a member of a Sovereign Grace Church.  12 or more years ago, Jen was here in Nassau working in the same place...at Adventure Learning Center, on a short term mission.  Now she's back, creating curriculum for the Adventure Learning Center, in accordance with their mission to educate Bahamian children about the wonders of God's Creation while presenting the gospel.  More info. on the Center can be found here: www.alcbahamas.org

I have some pictures I need to round up...then I will add them to this post.  If you are a young adult interested in a short-term mission project involving children and the outdoors, please consider coming to see us and serving at Adventure Learning Center.  It is such a unique place!