The Gold Standard

Article By Eric Pilgrim, Editor

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Chaplain faces tempest of challenges
on mission trip to Dominica.

What started as a calm one-week missionary trip to the Caribbean for a half dozen members of the Fort Knox community turned into an epic journey none will soon forget.

Led by Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Mackberth Williams, senior chaplain at the Main Post Chapel, the group of five military retirees and Williams set off for the Caribbean Aug. 29 to help others.

The original idea came from (Col.) David VanderJagt, the Fort Knox U.S. Army Garrison chaplain, who had led a group of youth on a mission trip to Haiti in March. That trip inspired Williams to sponsor his own missionary trip with members of his congregation.

“Being a chaplain for over 28 years, I’d never done a mission trip with my chapel, until now.”

Photo from Chaplain (LTC) Williams

Picture of Mission Team the day they arrived at Dominica.

After careful consideration of possible locations, Williams selected what he considered to be the perfect destination: Dominica.

Photo from Chaplain (LTC) Williams

Their accomodations in Dominica sat near the Atlantic Ocean.

Williams said he chose the island for several reasons, which included good accommodations like a campsite and hotels with Wi-Fi, a minimal cost for affordability to those going, and a place that wasn’t touristy.

“We wanted to focus on ministry,” Williams said.

He put out the call among congregants to join him. His plan was to focus ministry efforts on helping the Kalenago.

Also known as Island Caribs, the Kalenago are an indigenous people in the Lesser Antilles Caribbean, a string of islands spanning from the Virgin Islands in the north to Trinidad in the south. Dominica sits in the middle, between Montserrat and Martinique.

“I knew of that group because when I was in college at 17 years, I was sent there to start a church,” said Williams. “It’s a place I’ve been going to on-and-off each year since, so with the relationship and accommodations, that was the perfect place to go.”

Five members answered the call. The group included an 80-year-old, a 76-year-old, one aged 74, one 67 and a young-un at 54.

“Our focus was ministering to the community,” said Williams.

The ministry opportunities involved home visits, sharing of their faith, assisting children by purchasing school supplies, and sponsoring a community project – all new experiences for the group.

“None of them had ever been on a mission trip before,” said Williams. “That was one of the attractions. They wanted to see what it was like, but they also wanted to share. They knew that they wanted to share their faith with someone from a different background, a different community.”

Williams said they timed the trip to arrive in Dominica on that Tuesday and get involved in a special evangelistic crusade that was set to run each night from Wednesday through Friday, culminating on Sunday. That was the plan.

Courtesy Photo

Chaplain (LTC) Mackberth Williams and five others from his congregation from Fort Knox minister to church members from Bataca Church of the Nazarene in the Kalenago Territory in Domina during a special crusade week.

They flew to Puerto Rico without a hitch.

“We were on the plane taxing to Dominica and the pilot said, ‘I’m sorry, we have engine troubles, so we gotta go back,’” said Williams. “So we went back.

“They transferred us to another aircraft,” he continued. “We got on the aircraft, taxing and ready to take off. The pilot came back on and said, ‘I’m sorry, folks. We can’t go to Dominica because it’s dark, and we cannot fly into Dominica when it’s dark.’”

Dominica is very mountainous. Because of potential dangers of crashing into the mountains in low to no visibility, the airline they had booked did not have the authority to land at night.

The group was forced to stay the night in Puerto Rico and catch the first flight out the next morning.

Wasting no time, they jumped back into their plan to minister to people in Dominica. Each night of the crusade went well and they reached large crowds. Williams said the people were very receptive to all their efforts.

On the following Tuesday, when it was time to fly out of Dominica and head back to Fort Knox, they received news they weren’t expecting.

“The night before, (Hurricane) Irma began to rage,” Williams said. “We went to the airport, excited, ready to go, and we were the only ones at the airport.”

Airport officials had cancelled all flights leaving the island. Williams and his group didn’t get the word. “That’s how we knew the flight was cancelled.”

Shortly after they arrived back to the mission house where they were staying, the hurricane intensified.

“It was the Tuesday night they were planning to evacuate us to a safer location in the basement of the church,” said Williams. “But for some reason it shifted, and we were okay at the mission house. It didn’t get as boisterous as they thought it would, so we all hunkered down there.”

They spent half a day on the Wednesday feverishly trying to get rebooked for a flight out. The airline locked them in for a flight out on the Friday. Irma had other ideas.

“She spun around and hit us again,” said Williams. “We hunkered down that Friday, again. In the meantime, all the reports were coming in with people wondering how we were doing.”

It would be another day before they could finally fly out and head back to the States. Williams said there are images of Hurricane Irma he will never forget.

Courtesy Photo

Members of the missionary team pose for a photo with a chaplain from Puerto Rico (left) on their way back home.

“That whole ocean began to just roar like a hundred lions. The roaring was so intense, you could have heard it for miles,” said Williams. “It felt like the ocean was just going to come and swallow you up because it was such a powerful noise all through the night.”

Photo from Chaplain (LTC) Williams

Final group picture taken at the Louisville airport.

He said the group also took away some powerful lessons.

“God can use you at any age,” said Williams.

“They got to do some meaningful ministry at their age, in another country, with people they had never met or never heard of, or never known. Although the culture and the music was very different for them, it was very inspiring.“

That was the real impact.”