I miss the WARMTH of Jamaica already. We left and it was over 30 degrees and sunny and came back to 10 degrees and rain. But the weather is far from the most beautiful part of our trip. (Although Jamaica is a very beautiful place.) The whole 10 days was an experience that I will never forget and that will impact all of us forever. When we debriefed on Sunday night, that much was clear as we all shared the highlights for us and how God has used this trip in changing our lives.A quick update - on Sunday we said good-bye to our friends at West Gate Hills Church. Pastor Rev. Sharpe gave us each a parting gift: two bookmarks... one with the National Jamaican Anthem which we have gotten so good at singing (from hearing it in all the schools). It is really the loveliest National Anthem I have heard... and in the last schools we visited, our team got pretty good at singing along. We were given the chance to sing the song to the whole church and a lot of Jamaicans said they were surprised at how well we sang it! Phil preached, and our team led worship - which was nice.
The people at West Gate were so loving, the whole time we have been there, and they cooked us a meal (Lunch) as a final chance to thank us and fellowship with us before we left. Saying good-bye to Pastor Sharpe (or "Pasta" Sharpe, as the Jamaicans say) was hard. He is a really amazing 75 year old. In fact, just to show the impact Dr.Sharpe has had... one of the people doing construction work to help at his church was a pastor from ANOTHER church (with an amazing testimony as well), and on Sunday night we visited his church and did a skit there and Jacinthe gave her testimony. It was such a cultural experience in Jamaican worship Sunday night. It is something that can best be explained in person only, but let's just say: They are super excited to worship God and it is reflected in the way they worship. They also overflow with thanksgiving to God and count all the blessings they have even though it is much less, materially, then what we have. Spiritually, though, they overflow with abundance. That is pretty much a wrap on Sunday.
On Monday we said good-bye to Auntie Dalley (who gave us some gifts),
Auntie Rose, Auntie Gloria, and all the lovely ladies who fed us so well... we gave them gifts to thank them for being a part in making our experience in Jamaica amazing. It has been a lot of good-byes lately. On Saturday night we said good-bye to our bus driver Mike who is a really awesome Jamaican Christian who had us laughing while being thoughtful and so helpful. We have made many friends and have experienced more then we can put into this blog. On Sunday the team that went to Jamaica will try and relay more of that experience in detail, so I hope you can make it out!
After all of our good-byes we got in the air before noon and did not make it to Montreal until almost midnight. (We had a layover and a delay in Toronto.) It was a long day back today, and so it was so wonderful as we got off the plane, tired, to see all our family and friends holding up signs welcoming us back with such joy. I was so happy to hug my kids. Saying Hello is keeping me from the sadness of all the good-byes.
No comments:
Post a Comment