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A Cruise That Joined Crews from Two WWME Secretariats

Dick & Diane Baumbach

Nassau, The Bahamas – What can only be described as a life giving, spirit-filled, incredibly special experience occurred here recently when a group of Worldwide Marriage Encounter couples from the United States went on a cruise to The Bahamas and met, dialogued, and shared with a group of WWME couples from the Nassau area.

In all 19 WWME couples from Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Illinois cruised aboard the Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas from Port Canaveral, Florida to The Bahamas for a three night, four day excursion.

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The American Cruise Contingent on the first night of Bahamas cruise

Meeting and welcoming the USA couples were 9 couples from The Bahamas who came by cars and their personal boats to, what turned out to be, an extraordinary meeting held at St. Benedict’s Hall in Nassau.

One of the highlights of the group meeting was the cutting of a section of the WWME of Central Florida piece of the African cloth made for Worldwide Marriage Encounter so that the couples in The Bahamas could have a direct connection to the rest of the WWME family.

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Couples gather in the Bahamas with African cloth just prior to cutting cloth to give piece of Central Florida cloth to Bahamian couples.

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The cutting is complete and the Bahamas now has a part of the African cloth made for WWME.

Another major highlight of the meeting was the open sharings by couples from both countries concerning the commitment to the WWME mission and vision.

One American woman said she never saw herself as a missionary until she sat in at the presentation, 10 & 10, and open sharing. A Bahamian couple said they were overwhelmed that they were being reached out to by couples from another country.

One extremely poignant moment came when a Bahamian gentleman walked up to the just cut up piece of African cloth and with misty eyes kept rubbing his hand over the country of Tanzania. When asked why he was connecting in that way with the cloth he whispered “The old people.” Later, it was determined that’s where he traced his heritage hundreds of years earlier.

Other highlights of the four-day, three-night cruise included an opening get-together party held in one of the ship’s lounges, and a farewell get-together also held in a lounge aboard the ship.

The specially created name tags, which were worn throughout the weekend by the couples, caught the attention of many other cruise passenger couples who asked often what the WWME symbol stood for. The question provided many opportunities to invite and recruit others to attend upcoming weekends.

Summing up the results of the seafaring adventure, one couple remarked, “We never thought that going on a cruise would allow us to touch so many lives and to connect with other WWME couples from another country. It’s truly amazing how the Weekend gives us a bond with others who wish to live a radical lifestyle.”

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