Tuesday/Wednesday

A happy heart makes the face cheerful. - Proverbs 15:13

I always reach a point in these blogs where I feel like I'm listing off the details of what we did throughout the day while trying to decide if I'm talking to those of you who have been here, those of you who haven't been here, those of you that I've never met and anybody else that may find themselves reading these blogs. The idea of not knowing which audience to write to makes it hard to explain anything without losing the passion behind it. As a result, from now on, I'll be writing as a journal. I'll write about the things I saw, heard and felt while trying to give a little background information on people and places for those of you that haven't experienced it for yourself.

Tuesday morning we woke up and I shared a devotional from Matthew 6:19-34. I briefly mentioned in a previous blog that I've been having a really hard time with all of the need. I realized that this time it's more difficult because I feel like I should be able to help them as the facilitator. As an intern, I felt like there was still a possibility if I just asked Mr. Dusty and could leave it up to him... this time, my hope has been dwindling. Reading this scripture reminded me that there's no reason to worry. Not only is it not up to me, but God's providing for them and will continue to do so whether I'm a part of it or not. The worry I'd had started dwindling and the hope began to rise for these people.

I spent Tuesday morning with Aaron in St. Ann's doing some grocery shopping for our meals the rest of the week. The prices of groceries have gone up drastically and we've been dining on a budget. Lots of inexpensive chicken this week! After shopping in the grocery store and picking up veggies in the market, we stopped by Juicy Patty to grab lunch for everybody. The team came back for lunch and I was still emotional from having so much on my mind so I headed to the beach for some alone time. Words can't really explain how it felt to know that nobody really knew where I was but nobody was looking for me and I had a chance to walk up and down the beach for hours praying about everything that's been happening here this week. I also can't stop thinking about what can be done to make my life in Arizona as fulfilling and joy-filled as my life here. I know it's all a part of my life, and there shouldn't be any "either/or" but it's not as easy as it sounds. I feel like every time I go back I fall into the same routine with the same lack of enthusiasm just waiting to be on my next mission trip... almost as if I'm searching for something that may be right in front of me. When I walked away I felt like I had a clear head and a new heart ready to go on with the week.

Wednesday was hands-down one of the most amazing days of my life.... which is a bold statement. I had nothing to do in town and was able to join the team at the worksite. They initially thought they'd finish the house Tuesday afternoon but there were a few little things left to be done on Wednesday morning. When we arrived at the site, I couldn't believe how great it looked! If you haven't seen the pictures, it's right next to the house she's moving out of and looks like a mansion with it's 10' ceilings. I had a meeting scheduled with Cynthia at the community center so as soon as we arrived I went with my brother & Gregory towards the community center. Along the way, Daphne saw us and joined the walk. Almost as soon as we met up with her she had us wait so she could run inside and grab something. She came out of the house holding two heart-shaped pillows she'd sewn for me! Being here and seeing how people treat the ones they love compared to what I see at home is devastating. Here, people give until it hurts, no matter how much they have. Generally speaking, we in the states have a sense of greed and independence that creates a lack of community. The Jamaican people we work with have such a sense of community and "whats mine is yours, we survive together" attitude.

When we were on our way down to the community center, we went to walk through the graveyard and Cynthia was there. If anybody was following my blog's over the summer, Cynthia's husband was very sick. I never realized how bad it was but her husband passed away in October. She was standing next to his grave when we saw her. Aside from feeling like I wish I knew what to say, it was sooo good to see her. She is one of the most admirable people I've ever known. The love she has for those students is like nothing I've seen. She has always done everything she can to fight for her kids and it's always amazed me. She has never once asked for anything for herself- ONLY for the students or the school and I know that she isn't being paid. Cynthia, one of the teachers, Daphne, Brett, Gregory and I sat and talked for almost an hour. It started with Cynthia telling me about everything that's gone on at the school. After that it was just catching up and talking as friends. It was really neat to have my brother there to get to know these people that I hold so close to my heart. When it was time for us to walk back to the house-building site, we made plans to meet Thursday morning to bring gifts to the school. On the way back up to the site, we stopped at Daphne's house where she let us inside and showed us everything on her shelves. She had trinket after trinket that she's collected over the years as well as shelf after shelf full of beanie babies.

Daphne and I finally had a chance to sit down and talk about the sponsorship program and what we can do to make it more organized so the sponsors will have the picture and biography for the student they're sponsoring. Daphne does all of the sewing of the uniforms and what I didn't realize before is how much she loves children. She was telling me about how she always walks through town before school starts and hands out pencils and school supplies to the kids who don't have any. It's funny how you can know somebody for so long and not know how much you have in common. We've decided that Daphne is going to determine the highest need for the sponsorships (as Uncle does with the need for houses and food), have the teacher's provide pictures and she'll pay the school directly. I'm excited to be in touch with Daphne more frequently as we work together with this program. She's one of the most kind-hearted women I know and I trust her 100% with any decisions that are made while we're away. I walked away from that meeting feeling like my heart was overflowing with excitement.

We made our way back up to the house where everything was completed. Everybody was playing with kids, talking with new friends and enjoying the gorgeous view. It was neat to sit there and spend time with everybody. Gregory and I got into a "poker" match for what seemed like 4 hours. Poker is a game the little kids play where you latch hands with somebody and stick your index finger out. The goal is to poke the other person with your index finger before they poke you. I was allowed to use 2 hands and still had a 0% chance of winning but it was a good workout and kept us laughing for a while. I'm pretty sure Heather was videotaping it so depending on how embarrassing it is, there may be video to follow. I also had the opportunity to spend some time talking to Marlene for a little while. She is a truly amazing woman and I feel blessed to know her. She does domestic work for a family in the area and saves up all of her money to send her kids to boarding school. She has 4 kids (I think I'd said 5 in a previous post) and 2 of them are currently in boarding school while 2 are in primary school. Two of her kids were staying with her aunt because of the conditions of her house and as soon as we finished the house, she'd be getting them back. When my dad was finished painting the second coat in the house, we gathered everybody to give Marlene her finished house. We had a big circle full of our team and the team of Jamaican's that had gathered to help throughout the week. We all prayed for Marlene, the house, the kids and the neighborhood. I don't think anybody walked away with dry eyes. Butch had been asking the team all week if the team would go pray for a sick old woman down by his house so we headed there.

We walked into the house where we found Melvis wrapped in a blanket waiting. I asked if I could sit next to her and if the team could pray for her and she looked at me in an "are you insane" kind of way and said "I could never have too much prayer!" We all circled around Melvis and prayed for her health and comfort. I don't know her story or even what she is sick with but I know she'd appreciate prayers from anybody.

We decided to walk back from Steertown which is always an adventure. I love walking through the town and seeing everybody look at us like we're aliens from another planet while the kids are all chanting "white people, white people!" I love seeing the culture and interaction between the people on the streets. It's about a 20 minute walk and by the time we reach home, my cheeks hurt from smiling. We stayed home long enough to have lunch and left shortly after for the grocery store to buy food for our food basket. It was hands-down the most entertaining shopping experience of my life. I gave the team the challenge of finding the items on the list without my help. The team split up the list and divided into teams of 3- Dave, Brian, Mike vs Heather, Joey, Brett. They also had the challenge of staying under budget with the raised prices. Watching Dave, Brian and Mike was like watching boys trying to do dishes in a dorm room their freshman year of college. Finding a loaf of bread was like finding a needle in a haystack- I decided to help them by taking the "heavy dough" unsliced bread out of the cart and replacing it with regular sliced bread! After paying and being J1000 under budget, we went to the market to pick up the veggies and stopped by the community center for a chicken- when it was all said and done they stayed J200 under budget. Food baskets are my favorite thing we do throughout the week and it was even more of a blessing after getting to know Marlene this week. We delivered the groceries, prayed with her one last time & headed back to the villas for a relaxing afternoon. Our debrief meetings have been so inspirational in revealing how God's been working on each of us so individually this week and it's been amazing to see the growth within the group.



As promised, I'll include some Daveisms to make Marsha proud:

"Ranch is to salad as sugar is to toast"

"Wait, what's wrong with saying women are supposed to work in the kitchen...?"

"I just realized I have to be packed by Saturday and I don't know how to do it myself."