Greetings,

I (Estela) cannot believe that summer is already over and that, earlier this week, the streets were full of children with their beautiful and colorful uniforms going back to school.  Unfortunately, the schools have had to close down again due to the threat of three major storms headed our way.  Today we have experienced quite a bit of heavy winds and drizzle as Tropical Storm Hanna has been passing by just to the east of the Bahamas.  Of much greater concern is Hurricane Ike -- currently a very dangerous category 4 storm -- that is expected to hit us sometime between Monday and Tuesday of next week.  Not to be left out, Tropical Storm Josephine is also in the pipeline but, so far, seems to be struggling to build up momentum.  Right now, we're just trying to take it one storm at a time!

This summer was a very busy and exciting time for us.  During late May and the first half of June, I had the opportunity to speak at the annual American Baptist Women's conferences in Wyoming and Colorado.  At the same time, I was able to visit a number of individual churches in both states as well as spend time with my in-laws in Denver.

During the last week of July, we held our second annual Vacation Bible School at Emmaus Baptist Church.  We were blessed to host a team of six wonderful women from True Life Baptist Church in Denver who came to Nassau to assist with this year's VBS.  While here at Emmaus, they worked in partnership with local volunteers to conduct a week long program that served over fifty children and youth, two of whom made decisions for Christ.  More importantly, seeds were sown in the lives of many young people whom we will continue to minister to through our Sunday school and after-school program during the upcoming school year.  We were also pleasantly surprised to find that approximately one-third of the children who participated in this year's VBS were Bahamian, a small but important step towards overcoming some of the racial and ethnic tensions present between Haitians and Bahamians in our neighborhood.

Finally, two weeks ago we distributed school supplies to the Sunday school children at Emmaus Baptist Church that were donated by the children from Crossroads Baptist Church in Denver.  It was a great joy for me to see the faces of the children as we gave out much needed items for the upcoming school year and shared with them the photos and letters from the children who donated them.  We are thankful for all of the children who participated in this project by taking money from their allowances or doing extra chores so they could buy and contribute school supplies to the Haitian children here in the Bahamas.  And, of course, we are also thankful for their parents and Sunday school teachers who challenged them to support this project.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Pray for the safety of those of us in the Bahamas and the neighboring Turks and Caicos as Hurricane Ike continues to head our way.

Pray for those affected by Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricanes Fay and Gustav and the relief efforts currently underway in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Turks and Caicos, and the Gulf Coast of the U.S.

Pray for us as we prepare to begin our after-school program in mid-September.

Praise God for our supporting churches in Colorado, Wyoming, and elsewhere in the United States who continue to make our ministry possible.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT:

You can support our ministry by sending a check designated for "the ongoing support of Dan and Estela Schweissing in the Bahamas" to:

American Baptist International Ministries

c/o Missionary Partnership Teams

P.O. Box 851

Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851

You can also donate at online at

http://www.internationalministries.org/missionary/daniel_and_estela_schweissing

THANK YOU!

As always, we greatly appreciate your continued prayers and financial support, both of which make our ministry possible.

Serving Christ in the Bahamas,

Estela (and Daniel) Schweissing