A Month. WOW!

Well, It's been a month since I've posted last, and much has happened since.

I spent a week in Orange at Sudbury Baptist Church in Jamaica with a great team including my sister, Leigh, and other familiar faces from Topeka Bible Church. Then I had the opportunity to go back to Minnesota and volunteer at Trout Lake Camps and spend time with Greg. Before returning to Jamaica, I was reenergized at home in the Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul area) with some (not as many as I would've liked!) friends and the fam. On July 31st, I flew into Kingston, Jamaica to prepare for another week. That Saturday, another group arrived from Minnesota, Texas, and Canada. We traveled to Saint Ann's Bay and had a busy week of serving. Currently, I am up on the outskirts of the Jamaican Blue Mountains in a tiny town called Kellits. Our team consists of individual participants from New Jersey, New York, and Virginia, and a group from Minnesota. I am savoring these last few days in Jamaica, as I fly home this Friday, the 15th, though I am ready to be home.

Here are a few experiences I've had since I've written last:

JULY 26-31

Blessed to be a Blessing

Between scheduled ministries, there was a 30 minute break or so before the next activity. A few of us walked down the road to a small shack that sells snacks, cold drinks, and other various odds and ends. Maria, one of the student participants from Topeka, told me about a woman who was there the day before that had asked them to pray for her blind and sick grandmother. They didn't end up having time that day, so Maria asked if we could do it then. We found a local woman who knew where she lived, and she led us a little ways through the palm and mango trees to her house. As we approached, the woman told us to go on in. We walked hesitantly through the open door into a room of 5 Jamaican people who barely acknowleged our presence. We were quiet. They were engrossed in prayer. We bowed our heads and as we listened, we realized they were praying for us. Tears came to my closed eyes as I was humbled by such a blessing. We had come to pray for them, and they were already praying for us!

These Jamaican brothers and sisters happen to meet every Tuesday to pray together. It was an honor to join them that one.

Jason

One of our Jamaican cooks at Sudbury Baptist has a son named Jason. We could not have gotten through the week very well without him. He was a security guard, child controller, food server, cleaner, keeper of the locks, and friend. He arrived around 5:00AM most mornings and didn't leave until all of us were in bed safe and sound and he had locked the doors. Throughout the day, he jumped in wherever needed. He was everywhere. If there was any potential problem or issue, we would find him, and he was usually already on top of it. He is one of the hardest workers I've been around. He is an amazing servant with incredible character. He loves the Lord.

He is 18 years old.

I teased him one day about being superman, and he said humbly that he just serves where it's needed. I told him that he has to make sure to get what he needs, too, rest and not get burnt out. He said that he knows that if he works hard for the Lord, God will meet his needs and give him strength.

Jason is rare. He is rare by general standards of 18 year old males, and he is especially rare in Jamaica.

The first week I was here, at Burchell Baptist Church, there was an attendance board on the back wall. It read, "Females: 108. Males: 30."

Male leadership is lacking.

The churches in Jamaica are organized in circuits. This means that 1 reverend is in charge of anywhere from 3 to 8 churches. He preaches at a different one of these churches every Sunday. Generally, the women lead, because no one else will. There aren't enough pastors.

In Jamaica, around 1 in 10 households have a male father-figure living there. 80% of children are born out of wedlock.

During dinnertime one day, a little girl named Ebony snuck up next to me and was eying my plate of food. I asked her if she was hungry. She said yes. I asked her when she eats dinner. She said, "When my mom gets home from work, she feeds us." I asked what time that was, and she said, "between 11:00 and midnight." I asked her when the last time she ate was, and she said, "When my mom gets home." I thought she had misunderstood me, so I rephrased the question; "When do you eat during the day?" She replied matter-of-factly, "I don't eat during the day." I asked her more questions and discovered that after a 15 hour shift each day, Ebony's mother comes home and then prepares the one meal of the day for her children. I gave Ebony some food.

Children such as Ebony are common in Jamaica and make VBS interesting. Kids show up whenever they want to. It's hard to send them home when it's time, because not many are picked up by an adult. I have spent a lot of my time helping with vacation Bible schools with a baby on my hip that I took from the arms of an older sibling as young as 4 that was in charge of babysitting all day while their single mom has to be at work.

Daycare isn't affordable or available for many people in Jamaica. During the summer, neighborhood kids raise each other. During the school year, teachers do.

Jason wants to be a teacher.

He did a training program for a school year, and loved it. All he has to do now is go to college and get licensed, but he doesn't have the funds. In the meantime, he is working a little, spending a lot of time at the church, and being the male role model for many of the kids in his community.

I am praying for the Lord to continue to work through, equip, and encourage Jason. I am also praying about finding a way to fundraise or contribute in some way to Jason's college fund. If you think about it, pray for Jason, Ebony, and male leadership. If it's on your heart to do even more, let me know.

AUGUST 2-8

Jessica

During VBS the first day, I was making the rounds, doing the usual, making sure everything was going fairly smooth, and filling in where needed. The team for this church hadn't expected teenagers to show up to VBS, so I decided to go check on how that class was going. Jeff, the youth pastor, and one female student, Jessica, were surrounded by almost 30 Jamaican teenagers. They were listening intently as Jessica shared her testimony.

Jessica and her younger sister, who was also on the trip, had grown up in a non-Christian household. Their life was fairly normal. This went on until Jessica was about 13. Then one day her dad dragged her into the kitchen by her ankles and beat her repeatedly until her sister got their mom. Jessica lost all respect and trust she had for her dad and decided she hated him. This hatred increased the next few years as her dad continued to beat her regularly until he couldn't any longer.

He couldn't any longer because of two degenerative diseases in the frontal lobe of his brain and in his muscles.

While her dad was suffering from these diseases, her sister started going to youth group with a friend. Then her mom started going to church, gave her life to the Lord, and decided to be baptized.

Jessica was furious. How could her mom, a strong, independent woman, go to some figment 'thing' to lean on? Even if God was real, how could she turn to someone who had allowed such horrific things to happen? Jessica was thinking of pursuing a degree in evolution studies someday, and didn't understand her family.

She went to church for her mom's baptism, only because it was important to her mom for her to be there. She was surprised that Christians could be normal and the initial barrier between Jessica and church attendance was broken. She began going to youth group with her sister. Through time, she was softened. A conversation with a Christian teacher from school prompted her to give her life to the Lord.

As I sat there, listening, I was blessed to hear of such a dramatic transformation. Jeff opened it up to the group and asked if they had any testimonies they'd like to share. Nobody shared. He asked if there was anything God had done in their lives that they'd like to share. Nothing. He tried to rephrase the question for even broader answers, but it was like pulling teeth. Desperate, he finally decided to split up guys and girls. He took the guys, and left Jessica and I with the girls.

We opened it up for questions.

One girl asked Jessica if she was able to forgive her dad yet. she explained that it was very hard, but God allowed her to.......2 weeks ago--the day before her dad died!!!

Many other heavy questions followed, such as, 'How do we know God created the world?' or, 'If God is good, why does He let bad things happen?,' 'How do we know the Bible is true?,' and 'How can we hear God's voice?' It led to a pretty good discussion, and later, Jessica helped lead one of the girls to Christ!

I was encouraged. My encouragement was accompanied by amazement when I discovered that Jessica had given her life to the Lord only 3 weeks or so prior to coming on the trip!!!

I was telling Bethany, Jeff's wife, about how it went, and she was so blessed that Jessica was able to answer some of the very questions that she herself was asking only weeks before!

Jessica was on fire. She decided to be baptized in the ocean off the shores of Ocho Rios, Jamaica on Thursday. It was beautiful. I was honored to witness it. I cried. She laughed as she splashed up fresh from the bright water. God is good.