Grand Cayman

Upon arriving at the airport of Grand Cayman after a beautiful Caribbean flight the mood was quickly changed. The immigration officer’s eyebrows rose as he saw the empty space on our immigration form. The space for the address where we would stay in Cayman...
Like many other countries on our itinerary, Grand Cayman was again another pioneering country. The immigration officers stood up and called Gerrie (our leader) into a room to question him. As he was being questioned we met a South African husband and wife who helped us to get an address of a place where we could stay. Finally we got through the border, then we realized that the couple was already gone and we took a bus to the nearest cheap hotel. There we sat for five hours in front of the hotel that we couldn’t afford- with a mountain of baggage next to us. As we prayed, phoned around and browsed the internet for more affordable accommodation we got a few awkward stares from rich tourists passing by. The time passed by and at eight o clock the night we still had no idea where we would stay. Sleeping on the street or sleeping in our tents was not an option, because it was against the law. Linel (our other leader) felt led by God to go speak to a man sitting at a bar. He turned out to be another South African and he kindly offered to book us into the hotel for a night. We were overwhelmed with joy! The next morning the search for accommodation continued and after a few hours we were quite dismayed. We knew that God sent us there and provided the previous night, but we still had to fight against our ‘’oh so humanly’’ doubt. At just the right time, Arthur got hold of a real estate agent from South Africa. She connected us to a lady named Erna. Miss Erna said that we could hire a house from her for two weeks. It would cost us less to hire the house than to stay in the hotel for two nights. When we arrived at the house with the real estate agent we were astonished to see the big and beautiful house. It had three bathrooms and three bedrooms. We as Global Challenge students normally stay in hostels with one or two rooms which we share with other people. What a blessing this house was!
Later that afternoon we met Miss Erna Jane. It turned out that we were the first people to stay in that house since hurricane Ivan hit it and Miss Erna did some big restoration work after a water leak. She has been praying for a group like us to come and stay in her house for a long time. She was also the missionary leader of her church. We told her our whole story and we realized what a divine appointment it was to be connected with Miss Erna Jane. Praise God!


Miss Erna Jane arranged for us to go on a tour of the Island.

Grand Cayman is a beautiful piece of flatland surrounded by coral reef and clear blue waters. ‘It feels a lot like America& rsquo; is a remark that was made by many of us. One thing that you find in abundance in Grand Cayman is chickens and iguanas (this is not the endangered blue iguana, which is only found in the Caymans, but the green iguana which was recently introduced to the Caymans). As food was very expensive, Arthur and I started to set chicken traps. The first chicken we caught had a few small chicks so we had to let it go. Happily we caught two more chickens and prepared them for the team. The first chicken was as hard as rubber so we cooked the second one much longer. One day we decided to get more variety on our menu. We went out and caught a big iguana! Girls were running into the house so that they would not have to see the butchering of the iguana. Arthur and I were happy to get a big piece of meat and also that we could help the country with the extermination of this unwanted alien species. To all of our surprise the iguana tasted even better than the chicken and all the girls who were in protest of the killing of the iguana and Miss Erna enjoyed some of the iguana.


A green iguana...

I met a neighbor called Joseph who gave me a lot of tips on how to catch more chickens. One afternoon, as Arthur and I were trying to catch chickens, Joseph and a friend pulled up in front of our house. When they opened the boot of the car we were astonished. They brought us boxes and boxes of frozen chickens, cold drinks, rice, oil and spices. This was truly a gift from God. We didn’t know how to thank them except by prayer. We are still today, almost two months later, eating of the rice and spices we received.  Miss Erna connected us to the Boatswain Presbyterian church and also many ministry opportunities. We could help a lady to take out rotted cupboards and to clean her house that was damaged by Hurricane Ivan. Hurricane Ivan did a lot of damage all over the island and many people lost their homes. Still today there are remains all over the island from its destruction. We also had the opportunity to visit schools and through dramas and games we could share the gospel with them. Then we also led an Easter service at a church which included our new dance, drama and sermons. The night was a lot of fun and the people were really touched by it.


We are busy cleaning the lady’s house which was hit by the hurricane.

The time in Cayman Island I again experienced God’s providence in such a visible way. At the end of our stay we left with more money than what we had to spend in the country. This really helped with the finances that we still need for the second half of this year. I also experienced the love and care of the church through the many Christians we met. This was a great example of how Jesus’ bride (the church) should look after one another. Miss Erna Jane will always be the person I will remember from Grand Cayman.  She still calls us from time to time and she is currently planning a fundraiser for our team. She is like a mother to our team. 

Some friendly youngsters we met at a fellow Christian’s house whose birthday we attended.

Grand Cayman was a faith building experience for me and I hope that this encourages you to firstly trust God to provide, and secondly, to realize when He provides. We are currently in Germany and all is well with our team.

Thank you for your support.

My email address is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.