Meeting Travis and Yvonne; Whitehouse, Jamaica - Day 7

We start out early this morning for Kingston to meet Travis and Yvonne Stewart. Travis and Yvonne have been in Jamaica for a couple of years and have started a strong and growing youth ministry near Jamaica's rough capital city, Kingston. We connected with them online some time ago, I've read Yvonne's book - How to Succeed in Ministry - which is excellent, by the way - and when I reached out to them to tell them that we were going to be in the area, they welcomed us to come and meet them in person. We are excited about this connection and this day!

Linda wanted us to drive to Montego Bay and then down to Kingston which takes more than 4 hours, but we decide to go straight across the bottom of the island which only takes about 2 ½ hours.  The drive is great, the road is smooth and the mountain scenery is pretty. We stop at a pharmacy in a shopping mall at the bottom of Red Hill where Travis and Yvonne live to get a drink and find a bathroom.  As we walk up the stairs, there on the floor is a trail of five Jamaican pennies!  Now I know that we are on the right path.

We wind our way up the hill to their house which, with Yvonne’s directions, we find.  No problem, mon.  Travis greets us at the door with a hug where we are introduced to Yvonne, Pastor Victor, and his brother Garfield.  We chat for a couple minutes and then Pastor Victor and Garfield say that they need to leave.  They get up, walk over to us, and hand Bruce an envelope full of money!  We later learn that it was the entire collection from their Sunday service.  Wow, we are shocked and humbled. They tell us that they believe in what we are doing and want to support us from the beginning.  Then we stand around in a circle, hold hands, and they all pray for us.  Yvonne and Garfield speak in tongues.  I think that is the first time that I have ever witnessed or experienced that first hand.  And it was a prayer for me.  For us. To bless us. It was truly awe inspiring and intense.

After Victor and Garfield leave, Travis shows us around their huge house, we stand on the top floor looking out over Kingston and all the way to the ocean. Travis tells us the story of how they came to Jamaica, and how God gave them the house that we are standing in. Travis and Yvonne felt like they were being called to India.  Through a turn of events, they ended up in Jamaica. As they were packing up all their belongings in the US, Travis felt like God told him to take out the whirlpool tub that they had installed in their bathroom and take it along in the container.  Yvonne thought that it was a crazy idea.  Even though Travis thought that it sounded a little strange to him, too, he decided that since the idea was so clear and so strong, that he should just do it so he hauled the tub along.


When they finally got to Jamaica, they had no place to go. Travis, Yvonne, and their three boys lived in a hotel room for several months. Travis was beginning to feel like they had been homeless long enough.  One day he was looking in the paper and saw an advertisement for a house for sale that really stuck out to him.  He couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the place they should look at. After a couple of phone calls and getting directions, he piled his family in the car and told them that they were going to see their new place.

When they got out, he says that the grass was up to their waists.  The property was unfinished, unkempt, and uncared for.  They met the owner and began to walk around this huge house.  The seller chided with them about Travis being a pastor, and made it obvious with the things he said that he was not a Christian.

They wandered around on all four floors of the house, talking about how they could use all the different spaces.  As they entered the master bedroom, Travis got a funny feeling.  He walked around the corner and there in the master bathroom was two steps leading up to the place where a tub would go, and a hole just the size of their whirlpool tub that he had brought along.  He stood in amazement, and then called to Yvonne.  She walked through the bathroom door and gasped.  They knew right then that this would be their place.

After they had finished their tour, they started talking about the price.  They knew exactly how much money they had to offer, but the owner wanted much more.  Yvonne wrote down a number on a piece of paper and gave it to the seller.  He laughed, shook his head and said that there was no way he could accept such a low offer.  Travis told him to think about it and that he would call the seller back in three days time.  As they were leaving, Travis said, “In the meantime, we’ll pray for you.”

Two days later as Travis was on the docks talking with the workers and awaiting a shipment, he thought he felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket.  He looked and saw that in all the commotion he had missed several phone calls.  His phone rang again and he answered it.  It was the seller.  Travis told him that he sounded horrible.  The man said that everything had been going wrong and that he hadn’t slept since they had talked at the house.  He said, “Pastor Travis, I’ll take your offer.  Just please stop praying for me!”


After we walked around their complex and talked a little more, Yvonne made a nice lunch and we sat at the table and talked for another half hour until it was time for us to go.  We made some wonderful new friends that day and learned a lot from Travis and Yvonne about Jamaica, about ministry, and about God’s favor.  We left there very thankful, and full in more ways than one.

On the way home we stopped at the Coffee Factory where Blue Mountain and High Mountain coffee is roasted and packaged.  When we got there, they told us that it was too late to take a tour, but then the manager of the plant came out and offered to show us around.  He didn’t charge us and we even got a cup of coffee at the end.  I was in heaven!  It was really interesting to see how the whole process is done.  We bought a bag of coffee from the plant, and then walked next door to meet the lady in charge of exports to see if it is possible to purchase in bulk for future fundraising. We couldn’t talk to her but we got her card and contact information.

When we finally got back to Linda’s house, the electricity was out again as it had been many times during the week so I cut up some of the fruit that we had bought and shared it around so that we could all have something to eat.  We talked a little and Linda told us how they had gone to the store to get the flour and rice, had separated it in to bags, and gotten it ready to give away the next day.