Monday:
Today we are going to paint a homeless shelter that the church owns. We have never been to see this place and I haven’t really planned this day, so I’m not sure what to expect. Richard meets us at our hotel, we stop to pick up Ms. Pat, and then we make another stop at the hardware store on the outskirts of town to pick up the paint. As the story begins to unfold, we learn that this house used to belong to Ms. Pat. She was attacked there and stabbed multiple times, and her husband was brutally murdered. She couldn’t live there anymore, so she moved in to the hotel to take care of Mr. Allen and she gave the house to church. It is being used as a place to stay for a couple of men who are trying to get back on their feet.
We wind our way down the dirt path, around the corner, and through the bush. We get out and walk down the lane to a nice little house on stilts with a broken front gate. Neighbors come out of their homes to watch our parade. Certainly they have never seen such a procession back here.
We brought paint brushes along in our suitcases and have collected some plastic jugs during the week to pour paint in to share around. We try to get organized as to who will be where. We are going to paint the outside of the house and two of the rooms inside. The taller ones of us will paint up high, the shorter ones will get the lower places. With 18 of us, you would think the job should go quickly.
The first thing that we find is that there is no ladder. It’s going to be hard to get the top of the outside without any way to reach up there, especially since the house is up on concrete stilts. Richard and Phil find some boards under the house, find a few nails here and there, and create a make shift hammer. Voila, a ladder! At least one person can paint the high places. Until Phil puts Andrew on his shoulders. Now we have two ladders. Smart kids.
The paint is oil based and super sticky. It’s messy and does not go on easily. But after an hour and a half, much of the work is done. We have run out of paint and decide to clean up and go.
At one point Bruce and I stand back in the middle of the painting and watch the kids laughing, working together, and having great time just a few short days since we came together as a team. It’s been really fun to watch this group gel as a unit, not just becoming friends, but truly becoming a team.
They have worked very hard this week, and now we want to give the kids one more fun experience. We leave the house around lunchtime and head off to find the place where Nick and Phil got lunch the day that we picked up the rest of the team from Montego Bay. It’s a roadside stand kind of place. We order and take our food on down to the Negril lighthouse where we eat on the ocean side. Then we take them to the famous Rick’s Café to watch the cliff jumpers.
A few of us jump from the low platform into the ocean. Nick is brave and jumps from the second to the highest platform. We have fun watching the Jamaicans performing acrobatics into the water from 50 or 60 feet up. Sometimes I can hardly watch. I don’t want to see someone get hurt.
After a couple of hours at Rick’s, we go back to the hotel and all get in the pool. It’s dark and late and the kids are mostly quiet. Finally, I say what everyone is thinking. We have to pack and up and leave in the morning. But no one is ready to go home. This place has started to feel like home and these people have become like family. As I look around, several of the girls are crying. Even the guys are visibly sad to be leaving. More than a few tears are shed.
In the weeks before coming on this trip, I prayed every day for each person that would join us, that we would make a difference in Jamaica, that our group would have a special bond, and that each person’s faith would be strengthened. I prayed for the Jamaicans we'd meet, and for direction in meeting the specific needs of the locals. And I prayed specifically that God would show Himself to Bruce and me to let us know we were following the right path.
God answered my prayers in ways I never expected. We had an amazing week together in Jamaica, each one of us grew, had our faith strengthened, and we learned a lot. We developed a special bond during our time together. We knew we met some needs and touched some lives just like we were supposed to, but our lives were touched even more than we could ever have imagined. God showed us things that we could have never dreamed of.
We left two simple tetherball poles, some ladies size 10 shoes, a little girl’s swimsuit. We came home with important lessons we will never forget.
Before we left the island we were already planning our next trip back to Jamaica. Now, thanks to a ball on a string, Bruce and I know for certain that this is the place that God wants us to be, and we continue to plan for Journey Home Jamaica. God was with us every step of the way and showed Himself to us more than once during our week in Jamaica. I prayed for Him to show up. And did He ever. In many ways He didn’t just show up, He showed off.
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