This morning we went to church at the community center with Richard and Nicola. We got there early so that we could help set up. We had a wonderful worship service together, and then, once again, Nicola and several of the church ladies prepared us some lunch. We ate and fellowshipped with our Jamaican friends. They have been so generous to us.
After lunch we brought in all the of the clothes and shoes that we had brought along. We had planned a community outreach clothing distribution for this afternoon. We organized the clothes by men’s, women’s, and children’s sizes, and laid out all the shoes in rows on the stage. People came in to the community center and sat in the chairs, waiting patiently. One by one they filed by, taking only what they needed. We helped them pick things out, until the last article of clothing was gone. It was very orderly and organized. And people were very thankful. We reflected on how different this was than what we had experienced in Whitehouse.
As we were cleaning up and getting ready to leave, Maxine came over to me and said that she hadn’t gotten any shoes. We had been praying for Maxine all week because she had been having some problems with her feet, had a lot of pain, and it was hard for her to walk. I felt really badly as Maxine had been such a friend and help to us this week. I explained to her that I was sorry, but all of the shoes were gone. I asked her what size she wore and told her that maybe I could send some back for her from home. She said that she needed a size 10. That’s a big shoe for a woman. Who wears a size 10?
We finished putting all the chairs away and locking up the building. When we opened up the vans, there was one suitcase on the floor that had been forgotten under one of the seats. How could we have missed that? I opened it up. Guess what was inside? Yes, it was full of nothing but women’s size 10 shoes! Expensive, cushiony, brand new shoes with all the support that Maxine would need for the foot troubles that she was having. God knew her need. And He helped us very specifically to fill it.
After we left the community center in the afternoon, we went back to change clothes. We had a few hours before we needed to be back in the center of town to meet Pastors Richard and Nicola. Since it was Sunday, we were going to join along with them on their weekly street evangelism.
The kids had been wanting to have some free time to swim in the ocean. There are several places at the hotel where it is possible to jump off of the deck in to the water . There is a ladder down into the ocean and steps to climb out. Some of the kids wanted to jump off the 30 foot high lighthouse into the water. So, we watched as they took turns jumping. All of the brave ones jumped in. They had a blast. I took pictures. This girl isn’t jumping from 30 feet high. But I’m glad that they could have fun.
After they were all sufficiently tired, we changed clothes and made our way back in to town. The kids were a little apprehensive about what we were going to be doing. We met up with Richard and Nicola, and several others from the church. We passed out some gospel tracts that I had brought along and Richard gave us instructions about how to talk to people. We split up into groups and wandered around for about an hour. A lot of great discussions were started. Bruce and I were really impressed at how the kids walked right up to people, shared with them about Jesus, and invited them to church. We heard so many stories about how people don’t have the right clothes to wear to church, or how they had sinned during the week so didn’t feel like they are worthy to go in to the church building. It just breaks my heart. These people desperately need to understand God’s grace!
We turned up a street to get out of the bustle of downtown. When we got to the top of the hill, there was a soccer field. Several of the girls in our group are soccer players, so they ran over and started kicking balls around with the Jamaican kids. We struck up a conversation with a gal who said that she had been meaning to come back to church. She said that she had been invited to church before and had attended Word to Life church in the past but hadn’t come recently. She looked over at Bruce and I, pointed to us and smiled. “You,” she said. “You invited me to come to church a year ago!” Yes, we had talked to this same lady on the street last year on a hot Sunday evening. We invited her to church. When it was time to leave, she hugged us. “I’ll be in church next Sunday,” she promised.
When it was starting to get dark, we went back to our vans. Normally she is not open on Sundays, but Miss Connie had opened up her restaurant especially for our group tonight. Jenny’s Restaurant is a country joint but with Jamaican food named after Connie's mom. Nicola and Ms. Pat were there to help. Miss Connie served us a wonderful meal complete with sorrel or beet juice, a first for many on the trip. It was a really fun evening for us.
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