Week 1

The 1st group arrived Saturday, the 14th, worn from travel, hot because they were in Jamaica, but curious, excited, and ready for the time ahead. There were 24 of them; 10 from Galatia Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville, NC, and 14 from Gospel Baptist Church of Greensboro, NC. The majority of the group was over 40 years old, a good chunk was between the ages of 11 and 16, and a handful were in their early 20s.

The plan for the first night was to get them settled in at Burchell Baptist Church, take them to see Canterbury, where they would do a service project, have dinner, do our orientation meeting, then hang out and go to bed. Not long after the group got there, Brittany pulled Josh, a fellow leader, and I aside and informed us that there had just been a shooting in Canterbury and it wasn't a good time to take the group.

Canterbury is a community in a valley-like location made up of tiny homes and shacks lived in by the poor and governed by the drug dealers. No roads go there. There is a bridge over a drain that leads to stairs down to broken walls that read, "Leave us alone" among other explicit threats written in graffiti along the small entrance to Canterbury. Rough-looking men who incessantly have lit joints on their lips stand by with arms crossed firmly, watching who comes in and who goes out. The dirt ground is littered with trash. Canterbury has been on CNN numerous times for crimes, murders, and gunfights. It is known Jamaica-wide as a place NOT to go.

Reverend Thomas, of Burchell Baptist Church, has already been showing God's love to Canterbury for a while now. He has wanted others of his congregation to join him in reaching out to this community, but many have been too afraid. If he couldn't count on people in his own congregation, he took advantage of our group.

So 2 days after a shooting, 28 Americans walked into Canterbury and started repairing an old community center that had suffered neglect, food damage, and termites. As we unloaded the supplies, some of the roughest looking guys of Canterbury jumped in to help. Not everyone was needed there, so a few of us walked around with Dottie, a member of Burchell and resident of Canterbury, and invited people to VBS, visited and prayed for the elderly, and picked up trash.

We found out about a man named Keri (alias: "Toupac") who had been shot through the chest a while back and was alive but paralyzed from the waist down. His house (shack, really) had been set on fire by some guys who had issues with him, and it was in need of repair. Those of us that couldn't be of much help at the community center helped him. Many of us got a chance to talk with him. He is full of bitterness because of his life; his dad's throat was slit in his sleep when Keri was a baby and his mom died of aids when he was 15.

Every other person we met had a family member or close friend that had been shot or stabbed to death. Children walked around in bare feet on ground littered with broken liquor bottles. Most of the men walking around among us were drinking or smoking; it wasn't cigarettes or cigars.

But as we showed people that our expectation of and reaction to them didn't call for fear or judgement, we saw hearts soften. The rough-looking men with smoke constantly masking their faces worked alongside us. During the last day, these men weren't smoking as much and even tried to be discreet about it; we could see their faces better and they had more smiles. They still stood by and watched who came in and who went out, but they told us it was to protect us and show support for us; they appreciated what we were doing. They told us that our women could walk around by ourselves if we wanted to and be safe--they'd make sure of it. Many of the kids came to VBS. Keri said he didn't understand why we were helping him and didn't "have words" to thank us. On Sunday he attended the service at Burchell Baptist Church.

Last week, there was talk of a blockade being put up for Canterbury to be separated further from its surroundings. That's not being talked about anymore.

While the hearts of those at Canterbury were softened, our hearts were broken. Normally, we have 3 full days of intentional service ministry, then our group has a free day to debrief, go to the beach, and just explore the country they've been serving in. Our group wanted to go back to Canterbury, put the finishing touches on the community center, and spend a few more hours with the people there for their free day. The 11 through 16 year-olds were moved to pool all of their spending money together and buy food for the people of Canterbury. All of the comments and processing we heard was beautiful. God does so much in the willing heart.

He is doing so much in my heart as well.

I have so much more I want to write about, but I have SUCH limited internet access and TIME. Week 2 is almost over and I barely touched on week 1. I will do my best to encourage you and share the experiences of God's power and love that I've had here. I hope all is well. Keep in touch and let me know what I can pray for.


Things that would be great to have prayer for on my end includes wrapping up this week, preparing for the next, having wisdom in leadership decisions, maintaining energy, a sense of wonder, and more motivation to invest in and love others.