The first glimpse of the coffin of Pastor Myles Munroe came at 1:21 p.m. yesterday, when it was carried off the SkyBahamas SAAB 340 aircraft that landed at Lynden Pindling International Airport less than half an hour earlier.
It was draped in gold cloth and placed gently into a waiting hearse as Munroe's family, friends, Bahamas Faith Ministries International (BFMI) church members and many others looked on.
Some, including members of the media, wiped away tears at the site.
It was the final flight of the renowned religious leader, who was killed in a plane crash in Freeport on November 9.
"The church and the nation have lost a giant of a man, a great soldier and there's a void that is left in our country and we pray that God will help us to continue the work that Dr. Myles started," said Bahamas Christian Council President Dr. Ranford Patterson, who added that he was also close to Pastor Richard Pinder, one of the crash victims.
Outside the security gate at the airport, a crowd had gathered holding a large Bahamian flag, some of them sobbing.
Prior to the plane's landing, a team of men from BFMI wearing dark suits and somber gazes walked onto the tarmac.
They formed a circle and prayed silently before escorting the hearses briefly. Some of their cheeks were damp from their tears; one of them handed a news reporter a piece of tissue.
When the plane's door opened, prior to the coffins coming off, several men who had accompanied the bodies back to Nassau stepped off: Grand Bahama Minister Dr. Michael Darville; Senator Kwasi Thompson; former Minister Zhivargo Laing and Freeman and Kenny Lockhart, brothers of Ruth Ann Munroe, Pastor Myles' wife, who died in the crash.
It was a mission none of them would have envisioned days earlier.
"It was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had in my life," Laing said.
"Not in my wildest imagination would I have imagined that I would have accompanied Pastor Myles and Pastor Ruth back to Nassau, their remains lying in caskets. It was challenging to reflect on that the entire time of the journey."
Moments after Myles Munroe's coffin was placed in hearse number 16, his wife's coffin was taken off the aircraft and placed into a second hearse, number 18.
Ruth's coffin was draped in aqua cloth.
The flag colors on the coffins were symbolic of their love of country.
Minutes later, the two hearses pulled next to each other, a reminder that the two remained side by side in death, as they had in life.
Not long after, three more coffins were placed into waiting hearses.
They carried the bodies of Pastor Richard Pinder; pilot Stanley Thurston and first officer Frahkan Cooper. Their bodies arrived aboard a Flamingo Air Beechcraft 99.
The hearses crawled along the tarmac, stopping in front of a Bahamasair hangar for a few minutes, not far from where the families sat.
The Munroe children, Myles "Chairo" Munroe Jr. and Charisa Munroe, silently wiped away tears.
Their aunt, Sheena Pinder, Pastor Pinder's widow and Ruth's sister, also sat quietly with her children Richard Jr. and Talia.
'Thank you for being born'
Seated nearby was Richard Demeritte, who was one of Myles Munroe's closest friends.
"This is the most difficult period for me since I lost my own son back in 1992," Demeritte told The Nassau Guardian.
"Over the last few days, my body has been numbed. I can't think straight. [I spoke] to Dr. Munroe every blessed day.
"No matter where he was in the world, he would call around 12 or 1 o'clock at night and we would speak every night about all matters.
"I just missed being a part of this fatal flight because I was scheduled to be on it and we spoke at 1 o'clock and he asked me to go over the program [for the Global Leadership Summit], which I did, and organize the protocol.
"And then I said to him, 'I'm not going to travel'. And then he asked 'Why not?'. I said 'Because I am paying attention to the little words in my head not to travel'.
"He said to me 'But you [have] to go. I need you with me'. I didn't respond to him, but I went to my computer and I sent him an email and I explained to him why, I wanted him to be fully aware I wasn't traveling.
"My heart wasn't there. My mind wasn't there. I was uncomfortable. I always get these premonitions of things and that's what it is."
As he sat watching his dearest friend's coffin carried off the aircraft, Demeritte clutched a letter written to him by Munroe.
"I am proud to call you friend, brother, colleague, partner and close confidant," Munroe wrote.
"And I appreciate your friendship and companionship over the past 20 years. Even though I have associated with millions around the world, only a few I have allowed into my personal circle.
"And the standards and criteria for that relationship are high. You are one of the few I would call a friend.
"In many ways, you have taken the place of my brother who died a few years ago, who was like my twin. It seems as if God knew I needed another brother. Thank you for being born."
Demeritte admitted he is "still in denial" more than a week after the tragedy.
"As I remember Myles, I can only see a young, strong, outstanding, focused individual who knew exactly where he was headed and what needed to be done," he said.
"It's going to take a long time for me to get a real feeling of this. It is very difficult."
Watching the scene with tears in his eyes, Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells said he had to be there for Pastor Munroe's arrival.
"When someone has poured into your life the way Pastor Myles has poured into my life, and indeed the life of many persons, we can now look at who are doing substantive things in the Bahamian society; it is a way to kind of pay a special tribute to him and to really say what he meant," Wells said.
House Speaker Dr. Kendal Major stood with the men who waited to silently salute the hearses as they passed.
"Although we bleed, we don't bleed in vain because we know the bleeding will stop and we will pick up where we left off and carry the vision on," said Major, a member of BFMI.
"I am comforted that the vision will carry on. It must be because the seeds have been planted and we are the better because of it."
Major added, "Today I am feeling hopeful, but I am feeling the weight of the magnitude of what he has meant to me and our country.
"I have shed tears daily and now to stand here and watch the solemn remains to be taken off the plane and brought for the family and world to see, we want to make sure it is given its greatest dignity for posterity and in recognizing that the Bahamian people know and accept him as the son and the conscience of the nation."
Also seated in the hangar was Dave Burrows, BFMI's new senior pastor, who was having a birthday like no other.
As opposed to celebrating with his family at lunch or at some other special event, Burrows, like many others, spent the day in mourning.
"We have been like brothers over the last 30 years," Burrows said of Munroe and Pinder, not long after their hearses pulled off.
"We have traveled together, we have worked together. We shared so many moments together. It's a difficult process right now."
He added, "In everything we have to be strong, and although it happens to be happening on my birthday, I realize that in everything we have to give thanks and in everything we must move on, and we must realize that, in every situation, God is for us. So we have to find the good in every situation and find strength, no matter what's going on."
Burrows then got into one of the vehicles in the convoy that escorted the Munroes' bodies, as well as Pinder's body and Cooper's body to Bethel Brothers funeral home.
Thurston's body was taken to Restview Memorial.
Diego De Santiago's remains were cremated and collected by his family. The Colorado resident considered the Munroes his spiritual parents.
The bodies of Radel and Lavard Parks, who were recently installed BFMI youth pastors, and the body of their son, Johannan, were still in Freeport yesterday as they had not yet been released to be returned to Nassau.
A special salute is also expected to be paid to the Parks family at LPIA when the bodies are returned.
Radel Parks was pregnant with the couple's second child.
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