Trip Summary

Trip Dates: December 11-18, 2016

Home Port: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Ship: ms Nieuw Amsterdam
Ports: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Georgetown, Cayman Islands; Cozumel, Mexico; Key West, Florida
Number on Trip: 41
Speaker: Nyse Collins

Missions Report

December 11, 2016 found a group of 40 people from around the country joined together for the Center for Youth Evangelism’s 9th Cruise with a Mission in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Nyse Collins and Nadine Joseph-Collins joined the 2016 cruise and shared daily worship thoughts. Nyse and Nadine guided us in a spiritual journey of becoming “A Whole New Me”. An approach to having a healthy lifestyle begining with discovering who we are thru the Bible and making good choices in all areas of our life and health. Jennifer Patterson, a young adult who attended the trip, commented “The topics were completely relevant, informational, and contextual. The speakers were personable and approachable. I learned much from them.” Edward Teh, one of our cruise veterans commented, “Nyse and Nadine were a blessing to us all. A lot of people are searching for Spiritual things to take home with them, but they added an element of practical things one can apply to one’s own life.”

During the missions aspect of the trip cruisers were offered diverse opportunities. Mission ports included Georgetown, Cayman Islands, Cozumel, Mexico and Key West, Florida. Options at port included are detailed below

Georgetown, Cayman Islands
Port Coordinator: Laura Becker

Site 1: Bonaventure Boy’s Home: Grounds clean-up.
Site 2: Francis Bodden Girls’ and Boys’ Home: Grounds clean-up and sand and paint the top part of the stair rail.
Site 3:NCVO Day Care and Thrift Shop: Assist daycare workers with children at NCVO’s Miss Nadine’s Pre-school and help organizing the Thrift Shop
Site 4: Cayman Academy: Anti-bullying seminars and reorganize different rooms at the school.
Site 5: Humane Society: Walk dogs and care for them.

Cozumel, Mexico
Port Coordinator: Vern Byrd

Site 1: New Jerusalem SDA Church – Stucco on side walls, paint in Children’s Sabbath School Room and front of church.
Site 2: Sister María’s home – Build a firepit, put roof over firepit and one other room, clean front yard
Site 3: 08 North Cozumel District Seventh-Day Adventist Church: Lead out on children’s evening program during the church’s evangelistic campaign.

Key West, Florida
Port Coordinator: Pr. Manny Ojeda

Site 1: Key West Port: Prepare care packages for homeless shelter


Our Speaker

1310

Nyse Collins

A familiar verse and a familiar Bible song, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6: 8, NIV) Words that have been the watchwords of my life throughout ministry.

It is an approach I’m still learning to adopt from my early years in University. Before getting into literature evangelism, medical evangelism and now SanareLife, a healthly lifestyle consultancy, I was dedicated to playing football. I also had a passion for animals and wanted to be an environmentalist traveling the world to save animals and forests. With these two passions though, I prayed and asked God to direct me in His service in whatever way I could. And He led me to the work I now do, still able to travel the world, not to directly save animals and forests, but to educate and encourage people to live healthier lifestyles which will still play apart in saving animals and our environments. What a great idea God, to do your work and still grant the desire of my heart.

The road has not been easy. There have been many challenges and setbacks, many things to fight and overcome, but God never said it would have been easy. He just promised grace enough to keep going. I have learnt over the years that all God required of me was a willing heart; one that trusted Him with my life, career, body, mind and spirit. Essentially, God wanted all of me. He was not content with parts and through the years, I came to understand that I am not my own. I understood, and still work in understanding, that every aspect of my life belongs to Him. He wants it all!

Because of my answer to His call “here I am send me”, and my pledge to go wherever He sends, God has shown me an effective way to do His work. That is, to use a combined comprehensive approach to teaching about health: physical, mental and spiritual, as a way to genuinely help people. As a result of sharing with people this encouraging message, He made a way for me to start a health ministry called NyseLife back in 2006, now called SanareLife Inc. He also opened doors to me, both near locally and far globally, to present the health message of truth and simplicity in an encouraging non-judgmental manner, like Jesus would share.

Part of that global mission was God opening the doors for a program on 3ABN called “A Taste of Paradise.” The program continues in its 9th season to air daily to millions the message that God has given to us. A more far-reaching impact than I could have ever imagined.

My preparation for ministry however came via literature evangelism, which is where a person went door-to-door selling Christian literature. I did that all the way in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For years, I worked along with colleagues spearheading the Publishing Ministries Department of Ontario Conference training young persons to do the same. It was a good challenging work; nothing like the Bible belt of the southern states; because you find it all there; Hinduism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Atheism; all the “ism’s” as one person put it. It was really a blessing learning how to dialogue with all these different religious perspectives about God, and prepared me more effectively for greater work. I was forced to find common ground with each person, while at the same time, find ways to point to the One true God.

It was during that process of training university students during one summer that I met a young St. Lucian lady who had come from her school in Trinidad, to work for a student scholarship. She had a passion for working for God as well and had committed her life in dedication to His service. We remained friends over the years, and 13 years later, God, through His own divine will and leading has ordered our steps to become a team for Him in getting married.

Because ministry is our lives, even on our way to Europe and the Middle East for our honeymoon, we decided to work for God and presented at a youth retreat in England. There, we met many wonderful youths who were searching to learn how they can glorify God in all they do. We had the opportunity to meet and minister to one young lady who had mentioned that she loves the Lord but was tired. Tired of being involved in church ministry, tired of studying for medical school, tired of taking care of her body and her family. She wanted to give up. Because of here tiredness, she revealed that she had not been attending church as much anymore; her grades were declining, and she started to have problems with her health. We were able to encourage and guide her back to God and His original plan for her in Jeremiah 29:11.

Through lots of open honest prayer, encouragement and through the reading of God promises relating to her struggles, she focused on developing good habits one at a time to glorify God. We were so happy when she recently informed us that she has renewed her walk with God and was back on the right track with her life, church, school, and her health. God has also opened the door for ministry in her life because she too had incorporated the simple passage in Isaiah 6:8. “Here I am, Send Me”

This is just the beginning of what God can do for us when we dedicate our lives to Him in His service. It matters not where we are, or what work we do, we can be part of His mission. So, let us join together to be equipped on this cruise, and have some fun working for God!

In His Service,

Nyse Collins


Worship Sessions

Session 1: Monday 12: Discovering Me

In this presentation cruisers were encouraged to see themselves the way God sees them. By examining the basic tenets of self-esteem and identifying crises that many people face in a changing world, seeing and valuing ourselves the way God sees us is critical to discovering ‘a whole new me’.

Session 2: Tuesday 13: Physical Me

The Bible tells us that our bodies are God’s temples. During this presentation cruisers were able to examine the importance of caring for the body for God’s glory. The importance of rest, exercise, time outdoors, sleep, food, diet and nutrition were incorporated sincel all lend well to developing a physical body that houses the ‘whole new me’ concept.

Session 3: Wednesday 14: Mental Me

The purpose of this presentation was to encourage cruises to ‘mind their mind’ since “Sickness of the mind prevails everywhere. Nine tenths of the diseases from which men suffer haver their foundation here” (Ellen White, Counsels on Health, 324.2). In order to experience a whole new us, we need to have a new mind.

Session 4: Friday 16 (AM): Social Me

This presentation focused on the importance of good social support. It addressed the importance of inviting God to lead in choosing friends and establishing intimate relationships, selecting a spouse and Biblical counsel of managing one’s sexuality.

Session 5: Friday 16 (PM): Spiritual Me

The spiritual aspect of health is important. In this presentation we focused on how people can work on developing the habit of praying everyday as a means to ensure that the ‘whole new me’ is directed and sustained by God.

Session 6: Sabbath 17: The Whole New Me

This presentation culminated the journey of discovering ourselves the way God sees us. It consolidated the working together of the mental, social, physical and spiritual healths to be able to experience the whole new me.


Break-Out Presentations

In 2016 we had 3 break-out presentations led out by Nyse Collins. Cruisers participated by doing a quick “How healthy is your lifestyle” Assessment, giving them a bird’s eye view into where they stood in general in their overall health. Cruisers were also encouraged to set 1 goal to work on for the next 24 days.


Leadership Team

 

Pastor Ron Whitehead

Executive Producer

Rabel Ortiz

Director

Anthony Mohr

Small Group Coordinator/Breakouts Coordinator

James Ho

Assistant Director/Photo Coordinator

Sue Young

Office Administration

Vern Byrd

Missions Director/Operations Manager

Jeremy Satnik

Onboard A/V Coordinator

Aristede Dukes

Onboard Emcee

Teresa Schaetzka

Co-Director

Christine Marshall

Hospitality Coordinator

Ron Herr

Finance Manager

Downloads

Download your copy of the group photo here.


Sponsors

Center for Youth EvangelismLake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists