As Summer Fades

It is Sunday night and the base is calm and quiet apart from the usual stirrings of nocturnal critters. They must have a lot to say having been silenced earlier by the wonderful storm that took over these hills in the afternoon. The rain must have lasted at least 3 hours; constant heavy wet drops with the occasional torrential downpour, which was always either followed or preceded by a deafening thunderous clap and sometimes a flash of white light. It was very romantic. I enjoyed it.

The last of the summer teams went home last Monday and YWAM Mobay is taking time off for a week before we start preparing for the next phase. Most of the Jamaican staff have gone home and some are leaving tomorrow. My plans for the week include rest, reading, prayer, and a visit to an orphanage or two. Oh yes, and my friend Cynthia (the lady I met at a church in town last year) is coming for lunch on Wednesday.

Please continue to pray for the upcoming DTS. We had our first meeting this past week. So far there are 4 of us staffing the school and something like 28 students coming! Please also pray that God would give me vision in being here. I know, I know, I can't know everything about His purposes but I'm slowly sorting things out in my head and I'm confident that clarity will come. I need to be more diligent in listening to Him, so feel free to keep me accountable and ask me how I've been doing with that. Thanks.

Highlights of weeks gone by:

WhiteHouse

This is a little fishing village near the airport known for having an abundance of children, drug trafficking (cocaine, I think, is the main one), and obviously fishing. I accompanied one of the teams to WhiteHouse a couple of weeks ago to hang out with the kids in the churchyard. There isn't an actual church building, it's a cement slab on sand with a little unused shelter-type structure at one end. If you're facing the shelter, the endless blue sea is to your right. The kids dragged chairs and benches from a nearby cluster of houses/shanties to sit on while we sang with them, told stories, and played games. I didn't participate very actively because I had my arms full.

Shortly after we arrived, I spotted 3 little boys timidly walking toward us from a small, weathered seaside house. As the one in front caught my eye (tattered clothes, no shoes), he stopped and smiled as he began to turn back slowly. I walked over, introduced myself and invited the 3 of them over to the churchyard. I picked up the boy who had smiled at me and the other kids told me his name is Sutee, though no one knew how to spell it. Sutee held on to me for the entire duration of our visit, making no attempt to free himself from my arms and I wanted to bring him home with me. He was pretty expressionless the whole time and I wondered if he might have hearing problems because he wouldn't respond even when I spoke his name into his ear and he didn't flinch when a plane took off across the street but then again, these kids are used to that noise. A lady from the village told me his mother is gone to work all day which probably means from dawn until dark and I wondered how seldom he gets held and what he eats and what he does all day. There was mention of his grandmother being around. I would like to meet her next time I'm in WhiteHouse. We could certainly pray for the family and perhaps there are some needs we could help them meet.

A fight broke out on the street right beside us while we were there, one guy was yelling and beating another with the flat side of a large kitchen knife. Thankfully, they moved down the street and eventually stopped. No one got stabbed but my heart and mind were racing for a few mintues as we tried to keep the kids from watching. Later, one of the men walked right through the churchyard, knife in hand, as we were playing a game and a lady from the village scolded him for doing so. He threatened her as he walked away and the whole incident didn't seem to affect the kids much. It disturbed me that this is reality for these children. It made me glad that Jesus came and that because of Him, even this reality is not hopeless. It made me think that there is much work to be done. Jesus saves in an instant, and relationships take time.

Kingston & Blue Mountain

On August 12th, I headed to Kingston with my friend Michael and Marion (dts director) to sort out my work permit stuff. I had to wait in line-ups and sign papers at three different locations but thank God, it all went smoothly and I now have an official work permit so everything's "kriss," as they say in Jamaica.

The following day, some people from the base met Michael and I downtown for a last-minute trip to Blue Mountain. We got the phone call the day before in the immigration office that there was an opportunity to go and we were so delighted. I found it amusing that I have never been so unprepared for a hike before: no matches, no knife, no sleeping bag... Nevertheless, we had an amazing trip. Drove up as far as we could on this narrow, windy mountain road full of potholes, hairpin turns, and ridiculous inclines and then hiked about 2 km to the ranger's station where we "slept" until 2:30. It was one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever done and the first one I've done in moonlight. At certain clearings we could see the soft glow of the hillside villages/coffee plantations against the dark shadows of the mountains and the shimmering lights of Kingston farther off in the distance. The lights above were even more spectacular; I did not want to stop star-gazing.

It took us just shy of 3 hours to reach the peak and we made it in time for sunrise. They say that on a clear morning you can see all the way to Cuba. We had some clouds but I didn't mind because they complemented the hues from the waking sun.

Thanks for reading, I feel like you listened.

Until next time,
em

Cliff Jumping

Today is Jamaica's Independence Day and after community worship this morning I was graciously given the day off. I lead worship with my guitar and 2 people sang with me. I generally feel rather inadequate to lead worship but they asked me to lead and it actually went well and I'm thankful for that.

I'm also thankful to have had the day off today because I've got a long week ahead, working through until next Monday. I didn't realize how tired I was until I went back to my apartment this morning and fell asleep for something like 2 hours.

I started reading a book on the history of Jamaica...actually, I've only read the title so far but I've been carrying it around and I plan to open it soon. So far, what I know is that slavery and piracy go back a long way here and have a lot to do with current issues/problems in the nation.

Speaking of pirates, Captain Morgan used to be leutenant governer in Jamaica at some point in time and I don't think that's something they say just to amuse tourists. I learned that in Negril (northwestern tip of the island). The Stoner family (who've been here for a few years) took me to Negril yesterday; it took a little over an hour to get there by car. Negril boasts over 10km of white sandy beaches but we didn't go to any of them because it was super crowded due to independence celebrations. So we went to this place called Pirates' Cave which is aparantly a place where pirates used to hide-out or something like that. It's a popular place to go cliff jumping. There's a 35ft drop into the ocean which is plenty enough for me considering that I am afraid of heights and jumping. I didn't think I would do it but I was feeling kind of old that morning and I wanted to be adventurous. Besides, Andrew said that he would jump if I jump and he's 12.

So Kenny (Mr. Stoner) jumped first and then Andrew jumped and I was terrified, glued to the cliff. The longer I stared at the water the further away it appeared. There were some Jamaican dudes there who get tourists to pay them to do back flips off of trees into the water and one of them came up to me and said, "Okay, girl. I count to three and then you jump." I told him not to count but he did and I froze. So Kenny and Andrew came to jump a second a time and then I was still terrified and the dude asked me what I am so afraid of and I said, "Dying." And he said, "You no a gonna die girl. Maybe if you jump offa dat tree you might die but from here, some people dem knock out but if you do, I a gonna jump in an' save you. I am de lifeguard." I wanted to run away but I also really wanted to jump because I don't like being afraid of things and when would I get the chance to go again?

It took about a total of ten minutes before I mustered up the courage to do it but I finally committed and lept off the cliff. All I remember is a lot of blue and then a surge of warm salt water rushing up my nose. Apart from the water in my nose, it was a blast and I jumped again twice. Danny jumped after me with hardly any hesitation and some of the bystanders looked over the edge in disbelief because she's only 9. I was impressed.

The best part is that you get to swim to cave in which there's a ladder and then some steps that lead back up to the bar at the top of the cliff. They warn you though, not to go into the wrong cave because the one on the left leads to some lady's house and her dogs will attack you if you go there.

So that was my adventure in Negril. The kids listened to an Adventures in Odessy story on the way home and I actually thought it was kind of funny and I didn't feel old anymore.

I hope you're having a good day.

Peace & blessings,
em =0)