Groups > Christian By Choice

you're welcome ed!! i don't know when i will come off this high, but i hope it's not anytime soon. ha! i have so much catching up to do and feel that really i should only be in prayer all the time for all the needs i saw over there - and all the needs i see here in our little group. Our Father is working everywhere, all over this world. He is amazing and cares so much about each one of us. He has not forgotten one single person. His heart is moved by our struggles. I think this is one of the most important things i have learned.

also, that while language barriers are real, they are no match for the Holy Spirit. oh no, they are not!

we passed out sandwiches to homeless people one morning, because we had a lot of them left. one of the men took my friend, carolyn's hand and kissed it, thanking her. i will never get that image out of my head.

See you are all prayed up to overflowing. See you are praising and joyful. See you are blessed. See He has refreshed your love and strengthened your faith. See you have fresh testimony to pass along. Praising God, our Father for a wonderful mission experience.

And welcome home to luxuries such as deordorant on demand an a/c.

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hello! i am back. got home at about midnight. i am exhausted but full of God's love and feeling very blessed. my heart has opened up a bit wider. we had a great trip. so much, so much, so much. my heart is still in jamaica. i will write more but am still processing and digesting. so much. i love you all. God is good. Praise the Lord. or, as the pastor preached so powerfully on sunday: God is ABLE.

Woot!

Thank You, Lord, for a safe journey. Thank You for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon Rose and those who she gathered with. Praise belongs to You, Lord for the cherished hearts of the little ones there which were filled with Your love and confirmation that you are Father God to the orphan and widow. Bless and refresh, Rose now as she returns to her homeland everyday living. Thank You, God for the continuance of the past week in spreading Good News and in touching lives. May You be glorified! Not hearing from Cinder the past few days, this is my prayer for her also, Lord, through Christ Jesus who grants us us His peace. Amen

Amen!

and thank you, ed, for that beautiful prayer. it touches me deep.

and so, let me try to share a little with you (sorry if it is rambling and disjointed!):

despite the fact i keep as clean as i can at the children's home by using baby wipes (we had no running water for 5 of the 7 days), and spent time in a river and the caribbean on monday, when i soaked in the bath today, the water was brown by the time i got done!

on the day i decided i could not stand my dirty hair any longer, i took a bucket down the hill to the outside faucet at the cistern. one of the girls saw me and offered to wash my hair. it was wonderful! the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and i was blessed by her gentle ministering to me!

and now, i have finally eaten something and feel a bit more 'here' than there, but still kind of neither here nor there. i can understand cinder's seclusion--there is a lot to process, and she has jet lag to contend with.

we had small travel challenges--the young woman with no passport was detained in charlotte on our way down and they were refusing to let her on the plane--even tho she cleared customs in albany,ny. 5 of us stood out there with her, as her father raged to me on the cell phone, and the airline personnel refused to make eye contact with us. finally they called a supervisor who informed them she could, indeed, fly on to jamaica. but it was touch and go and the plane waited for all of us who were out there with her.

we got to jamaica with no problem and went through the usual rigamorole getting through customs--we carry large bags packed with craft supplies, books, schoool supplies, clothes, treats, etc, and the customs people made many of us completely unpack every last little box of crayons. i had a large duffel that i was made to unpack, while explaining to them the stuff was for orphans, it was donated to the church, it was not for re-sale, etc etc, as the woman rummaged through the stuff. we had some purple ball point pens and she made me explain them. she said, 'purple? i need blue."

she was doing a little shopping, i guess.

finally we got through all that and found our friend peat, who drives us every year. we drive for over 5 hours to the children's home. we made a stop at the grocery in ocho rios to buy supplies to make popcorn for the kids, and i was hassled by a mentally ill woman who had bad teeth and smelled like pee. she got right in my face and said 'i am begging here, i am begging' and she was quite aggressive and scary and a local woman came and told her to go away. when i thanked the woman she told me the crazy one would have taken off all her clothes eventually to get me to give her money. i am afraid my fear got the better of me and all i wanted to do was flee. she followed me for quite some time so i went back to the bus. where a drunk man came out of the marketplace where people have stalls selling crafts and souveniers and whatnot and he got in my face also and was quite aggressive. i stood my ground with him and responded quite directly to him and he didnt like that, but he suddenly turned his attention to someone else. i decided to seek the shelter of the bus after that, where we still sat for quite some time while our group leader tried to get a cell phone to work. that stop made us quite late for the orphanage (we got there at 10pm jamaica time, 11 pm EDT, and we had been traveling since 4:30 that morning) and i got car sick on the way up. the roads are very very twisty and windy and bumpy and i was ready to puke and was deciding what the puke in when finally i just asked peat to stop the bus. i got out and sat on a step and all i could smell was dog pee and bus exhaust--this is reality, not island resort fantasy--but being still for a few moments helped. peat offered to get some 151 proof white rum for me at a tiny 'bar' nearby but i declined. (you need to understand that many of the shops and gathering places are little more than 6 pieces of plywood nailed together to make 4 walls, a roof, and a counter.) he talked nicely to me and told me how to focus my eyes on the road and we were very close to the orphanage by then. it was with great relief that i got off the bus and greeted and hugged and held all my young friends, and made new friends too.

my dear morris came and found me and his eyes were shining. he was shy when i hugged him. i asked him if he had been drumming, and he replied, 'sunday. when you leaving?'

i told him later on sunday. it turned out that kevin had taken morris under his wing as i had asked him to and was teaching him drumming and that morris would be playing during sunday worship. he was so excited, and so were we.

i really felt that this trip was more about renewing and nurturing relationships. i became close to new children. and got to know others who are familiar to me better. i got to renew friendships with some of the adults there--miss bev the cook, miss mitchell the director, and mr day who does carpentry work and preaches the word and truth of God with such eloquence. it is not an uncommon thing in jamaica to say, 'hey! how are you?', and be told in reply, 'i am blessed'.

to be continued......

Welcome home Rosie Glad your back missed ya.

thanks, nancy. it's nice to be missed. i hope all is well with you!