Coming back from my mission trip to Jamaica with the Wesley Foundation, I was on a strange kind of spiritual high. It wasn't the "spiritual" spiritual high, where you feel like you're on fire for God and nothing can stop you. It was a different kind, where I was grateful for all the new friendships God gave me over the course of the week and thankful that they would be here for me to help me stay strong in my faith. Of course, I'm still very thankful for them, but the other night at house church, I suddenly dropped off of my spiritual high. I can't explain why; it just happened. (What was interesting is that the speaker at house church mentioned, just a few moments later, that we were not meant to stay on our spiritual mountaintops, but to come down into the valley to support those down below and encourage them to move up the mountain.) And then I started doubting. It was weird. I had never experienced that kind of doubt before, thinking that maybe there was something I was missing and that I was on the wrong path. I hated that feeling, and I wanted to get back on the mountain again, but God wouldn't let me. I needed to stay in the valley and learn to trust Him there.
While I was in Jamaica, I was struggling with not knowing what God was trying to teach me and where He was taking me. I knew God was teaching me, but I didn't know if I was learning, and if so, what I was learning. So I talked with my friend Shelby, and she helped put things into perspective for me. I think God planned to bring up the mountaintop analogy at house church, because he brought it up in my conversation with Shelby too. He knew I would need that analogy to figure out where I'm headed. Anyway, I told Shelby how I felt like I just wasn't learning anything, not moving anywhere, and she told me about a vision someone had had about her: a sailboat sitting on the still water, waiting for the wind to come move it. And she explained that we are meant to come down off the mountain in order to teach the people in the valley and encourage them, to show them that it's possible to trust God even in the tough times and the times when nothing is happening. Then when I was reading James later that night, a thought hit me when I got to verse 4 of Chapter 1 ("Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything"): Perseverance is not simply being able to stand up under temptation; it's being able to trust God no matter what, even when you fall off the mountain. That was my exact thought, as if God was telling me what I was about to experience in a little over a week. And we will know when perseverance has finished its work because we will be able to see every valley as a mountaintop, creating a picture of a never ending staircase. When you fall off of the mountain and into the valley, your perception will adjust to see the valley as a new mountain; then when you fall off of that one, your perception will change again; and the process continues, only to be interrupted by climbing onto a new mountain through God's wisdom, which God offers freely to us when we ask for it (James 1:5).
So while I had climbed onto a new mountain of close community with my Jamaica team, I was still in the valley of not knowing what I was learning; and from that valley, Satan attacked at house church, trying to make me doubt God. He had taken me down another step on my neverending staircase, but I'm still learning to see it as just another step. That kind of perseverance is something that God is going to have to continue to teach me for the rest of my life.
Now, this is probably going to sound really prideful, which I don't mean for it to be, so just bear with me. From that valley, I continued to trust God, asking Him to increase my faith so that I would have no cause to doubt Him. I was like Job, being tested to see if I would reject God. I was given the opportunity to deny Him, but I refused. My valley became a new mountain.
Of course, it was only made possible because God gave me the strength to stand strong. He answered my prayer and increased my faith, even though it didn't feel like my faith was any stronger in the moment of my weakness.
Now I'm about to get really off track because this is where my mind is wandering. The Wesley Foundation is asking for leadership applicants for next year, and I really want to stay a part of Freshley, so I'm planning on doing Freshley leadership. I've been considering either being a Freshley small group leader or being on the Freshley prayer team, but I was more strongly considering small groups. But over the course of the last week, I've had probably ten people tell me that they think I would be good on prayer leadership, that I strike them as a "prayer warrior." Last Tuesday God had me lead prayer at the Port Maria prayer and worship night. In fact, He had me plan it and put it into action. Then Thursday came, and after having some kind of Christian fellowship every night this week (except for last Sunday, ironically), I dropped off of my spiritual high. (This is where it gets really prideful, so think of this as encouragement. Tell yourself that this is true of you.) Up until that point, Satan didn't think I was much of a threat. Then after the prayer and worship night, he realized that God had been training me to be a prayer warrior, a strong soldier in His army. For nineteen years, I've been a civilian in training, but now God has seen fit to put me on the battlefield. And now that Satan has seen me armed and ready for war, he has decided to attack full force, aiming for my faith, trying to take me down before I can hinder his schemes. But thanks to God's training, I was able to counter the devil's attacks. Like Job, I relied on God, even in the face of trials. So I'm glad to be considered worthy of being tested, and to be given the strength to withstand my trials.
In a way, the picture of being a prayer warrior is an answer to an unconscious prayer. For a while I've been struggling a little bit with self-image in that I'm not a typical bold, tough, adventurous guy. It's a pretty minor thing in my thought life though, and I'm content with who I am. I didn't even know it was an answer to prayer until just now. But still, being called a prayer warrior is a great encouragement for me, knowing that I have been made strong in Christ.
So yeah, I'm pretty much convinced now that Freshley prayer leadership is where I belong, and that God is teaching me to put all my trust in Him until I can truthfully sing, "All my fountains are in You."
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Port Maria Prayer Night
Okay, so Sunday God laid it on my heart to get a few people together to pray over the Freshley Jamaica teams that went to Port Maria, St. Anns, and Montego Bay, so I wanted to go to the Russell prayer room, which is a study lounge in Russell Hall that the students converted into a prayer room simply by decorating it with biblical artwork and Bible verses taped up on the walls. Originally I had four or five people in mind, so I asked a couple people if they were interested and asked them to spread the word to the other two or three. But we weren't able to do it Sunday night. So I waited until Freshley on Monday to talk with them and set up a time. And I couldn't keep it between just the five of us, especially with the humongous party the Jamaica teams had at Freshley and at Snelling later. So word spread quickly. We decided to have our prayer night tonight at 8.
So we did it. We had our prayer night. And I can't even start to tell you how amazing it was. God is incredible! Two weeks ago, I would have been much too shy to lead a group that big in prayer. Two weeks ago, I wouldn't have even known who or what to pray for, or how. I wouldn't have even known who to invite to prayer night. But God's timing is perfect. He delayed us from having our meeting on Sunday so that we would be able to invite more people on Monday. When I got there tonight, there were probably 20 people there! And over the course of an hour and a half, we probably had another 10 walk in late. That's almost half of the Port Maria team! (Of course, we did have a few people from Mo Bay and St. Anns, so it wasn't really half of PoMo, but still, 30 people is impressive.) God was there in the Russell prayer room, but the sheer number of people wasn't the only evidence of His presence.
When I got there, my friends Josh and Melissa, from Wesley and house church, were already there with Josh's friend Des (short for Desirae). Around 8:20, we started with some worship, courtesy of John Hunter, from the Freshley praise team. After a few songs to get us into a heart of prayer, we started praying over the Port Maria team. (I realized afterward that we only prayed for the PoMo team, when I meant to pray for all three teams. But we can pray for the others next week... but I'm getting ahead of myself.) We prayed for boldness in going out into Athens to share God's love and His word with the people of UGA and the poorest city in America. We prayed for healing over the physically sick, the emotionally distressed, the economically broken, and the spiritually dead. We prayed for persistence in keeping up with our school work so that God would be glorified, even in the most grueling essays. Not long into our prayer session, Des, who had been reading, put down her book and started listening. Josh has been praying for her for two and a half years, trying to bring her to know the Lord. And tonight, something changed: she was willing to listen. Josh started reading the Bible to her, and she started crying. He prayed for her, and she cried some more. And then she had to leave, but she said that she wanted to talk to him more about what he believed and about what was going on in that room tonight. I had no idea she would be there. Josh had no idea we would be there. God put us there in the RPR at the perfect time. He is so awesome!
So many people stood up to testify to what God has been doing in their lives. We shared our victories with each other, because the victory of one brother or sister in Christ is the victory of all of God's family. We shared thanks for all our new friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ, who we can relate to in a more intimate way than has ever been possible. We rejoiced in the authority given us by Jesus, the authority to laugh in the face of sin and declare that Satan no longer has power over us. We rejoiced in the conquering power of the Holy Spirit, who was very present in the prayer room tonight. It was incredible!
Toward the end, Kyle, my small group leader, had to leave. He texted me soon after, saying that our praises were echoing outside the building from the eighth floor: "Come like a flood and saturate me now! You're all I want! Come like the wind and sweep throughout this place! You're all we want!" So we thanked God for spreading His glory all over campus without us even realizing it.
Everyone enjoyed tonight so much that we decided that we're going to continue doing this. So we're having Jamaica prayer and worship again next week, and hopefully every week for the rest of the semester! So that's what I was talking about earlier when I said that we would pray for Mo Bay and St. Anns next week (and maybe the next; we might just pray for one team each week). Anyway, I'm really excited to do this again next week. It was so much more than I could have ever hoped it would be!
So I want to thank everyone for showing up tonight. You guys made it awesome! Thanks to Meg for sending out the Facebook invitation so that people could hear the news. Thanks to everyone who lives in Russell Hall for letting us into the building and giving us access to the RPR. Thanks to all the Russell students who made the prayer room what it is, and thanks to the Russell staff for allowing them to do it; and of course, thanks to the Russell staff for being gracious enough to allow us to sing at the top of our lungs without disturbance. Thanks to all the eighth floor Russell residents for being patient with us despite all the noise we were making right next door to you. Thanks again to John Hunter for leading worship; "Prayer and Worship Night" couldn't have been what it was without you! And of course, thank You God for making all of this possible! Thank You for pouring out Your Spirit and Your love on us so that we could praise You and bring You all the glory in spreading Your love to others. You are awesome, Father!
Also, I have something special for all the PoMo people next week. I meant to hand it out today, but I forgot: I wrote the names of everyone on the PoMo team on slips of paper so that everyone can draw a name and pray for that person over the course of the week (or maybe the entire semester). So find me either at prayer night next week or at Wesley tomorrow or Freshley next Monday and I'll give you someone to pray for. (And if you want to make that person your Warm Fuzzy, feel free. It'll help develop our already incredibly strong community even more.) And if you have friends who went on the other Jamaica trips, invite them next week. I wanted to keep it limited to PoMo people tonight so that we wouldn't overcrowd the prayer room, but obviously enough people enjoyed it that space is going to be an issue no matter how hard we try to prevent it. So we want to get so many people that we have to expand out of the RPR and onto either the Russell parking deck or Brumby Beach. God is moving, and no one can contain Him!
So we did it. We had our prayer night. And I can't even start to tell you how amazing it was. God is incredible! Two weeks ago, I would have been much too shy to lead a group that big in prayer. Two weeks ago, I wouldn't have even known who or what to pray for, or how. I wouldn't have even known who to invite to prayer night. But God's timing is perfect. He delayed us from having our meeting on Sunday so that we would be able to invite more people on Monday. When I got there tonight, there were probably 20 people there! And over the course of an hour and a half, we probably had another 10 walk in late. That's almost half of the Port Maria team! (Of course, we did have a few people from Mo Bay and St. Anns, so it wasn't really half of PoMo, but still, 30 people is impressive.) God was there in the Russell prayer room, but the sheer number of people wasn't the only evidence of His presence.
When I got there, my friends Josh and Melissa, from Wesley and house church, were already there with Josh's friend Des (short for Desirae). Around 8:20, we started with some worship, courtesy of John Hunter, from the Freshley praise team. After a few songs to get us into a heart of prayer, we started praying over the Port Maria team. (I realized afterward that we only prayed for the PoMo team, when I meant to pray for all three teams. But we can pray for the others next week... but I'm getting ahead of myself.) We prayed for boldness in going out into Athens to share God's love and His word with the people of UGA and the poorest city in America. We prayed for healing over the physically sick, the emotionally distressed, the economically broken, and the spiritually dead. We prayed for persistence in keeping up with our school work so that God would be glorified, even in the most grueling essays. Not long into our prayer session, Des, who had been reading, put down her book and started listening. Josh has been praying for her for two and a half years, trying to bring her to know the Lord. And tonight, something changed: she was willing to listen. Josh started reading the Bible to her, and she started crying. He prayed for her, and she cried some more. And then she had to leave, but she said that she wanted to talk to him more about what he believed and about what was going on in that room tonight. I had no idea she would be there. Josh had no idea we would be there. God put us there in the RPR at the perfect time. He is so awesome!
So many people stood up to testify to what God has been doing in their lives. We shared our victories with each other, because the victory of one brother or sister in Christ is the victory of all of God's family. We shared thanks for all our new friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ, who we can relate to in a more intimate way than has ever been possible. We rejoiced in the authority given us by Jesus, the authority to laugh in the face of sin and declare that Satan no longer has power over us. We rejoiced in the conquering power of the Holy Spirit, who was very present in the prayer room tonight. It was incredible!
Toward the end, Kyle, my small group leader, had to leave. He texted me soon after, saying that our praises were echoing outside the building from the eighth floor: "Come like a flood and saturate me now! You're all I want! Come like the wind and sweep throughout this place! You're all we want!" So we thanked God for spreading His glory all over campus without us even realizing it.
Everyone enjoyed tonight so much that we decided that we're going to continue doing this. So we're having Jamaica prayer and worship again next week, and hopefully every week for the rest of the semester! So that's what I was talking about earlier when I said that we would pray for Mo Bay and St. Anns next week (and maybe the next; we might just pray for one team each week). Anyway, I'm really excited to do this again next week. It was so much more than I could have ever hoped it would be!
So I want to thank everyone for showing up tonight. You guys made it awesome! Thanks to Meg for sending out the Facebook invitation so that people could hear the news. Thanks to everyone who lives in Russell Hall for letting us into the building and giving us access to the RPR. Thanks to all the Russell students who made the prayer room what it is, and thanks to the Russell staff for allowing them to do it; and of course, thanks to the Russell staff for being gracious enough to allow us to sing at the top of our lungs without disturbance. Thanks to all the eighth floor Russell residents for being patient with us despite all the noise we were making right next door to you. Thanks again to John Hunter for leading worship; "Prayer and Worship Night" couldn't have been what it was without you! And of course, thank You God for making all of this possible! Thank You for pouring out Your Spirit and Your love on us so that we could praise You and bring You all the glory in spreading Your love to others. You are awesome, Father!
Also, I have something special for all the PoMo people next week. I meant to hand it out today, but I forgot: I wrote the names of everyone on the PoMo team on slips of paper so that everyone can draw a name and pray for that person over the course of the week (or maybe the entire semester). So find me either at prayer night next week or at Wesley tomorrow or Freshley next Monday and I'll give you someone to pray for. (And if you want to make that person your Warm Fuzzy, feel free. It'll help develop our already incredibly strong community even more.) And if you have friends who went on the other Jamaica trips, invite them next week. I wanted to keep it limited to PoMo people tonight so that we wouldn't overcrowd the prayer room, but obviously enough people enjoyed it that space is going to be an issue no matter how hard we try to prevent it. So we want to get so many people that we have to expand out of the RPR and onto either the Russell parking deck or Brumby Beach. God is moving, and no one can contain Him!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Port Maria, Jamaica
Well, I just got back from Jamaica on Saturday, and it was amazing! I just want to say thank you to everyone for your prayers and support. It wouldn't have been possible without you!
Before I get into the details of the week, I have some explaining to do. I'm doing SPAM (Spiritual Preparation And Meditation), which is basically Lent with a specific purpose: giving up unnecessary use of secular technology to spend more time with God. So I was a little bit reluctant to get on Facebook to give an update because it felt like I was breaking Lent, but I was persuaded because I needed to do it in order to keep my relationship with all of you strong and to let you know what I did and learned this past week.
More than anything this week, I brought back with me an incredible sense of community. The majority of our time in Jamaica was spent getting to know each other: at the Casa Maria hotel, on the work sites, at Dunns River Falls, on the plane and the buses, and over some delicious food and around a box of "communal Whales." We brought back with us something practical: a group of 68 friends to hang out with and to keep each other accountable in our growth in Christ.
But that's not all we did in Jamaica, not by a long shot. We also had a chance to meet several Jamaicans and make friends with them, including Mr. Eddie and Melanie, who live on the farm that we worked at; Trevor and Edwin, our bus drivers; and Jonoy, Campbell, and Ricky, as well as the children of the Galina Primary School and many others (those were just the ones that I knew). We now have friends in Jamaica to stay in contact with, brothers and sisters from a foreign country that we can pray for to keep each other strong in our faith, and that we can just talk to about life.
But there's still more. Saturday and Sunday were community building days, time to get to know everyone on the Port Maria team and to see what Jamaican churches are like. I went to Port Maria United Church, which was incredible and very different from your typical American church: when the pastor asks you to greet your neighbor, he means, "Get up out of your seat, dance across the room, and greet everyone you make eye contact with." Then Monday came. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were our work days. We worked at two churches, Galina Primary, Mr. Eddie's farm, and Ms. Beth's house. My work sites were the farm, Ms. Beth's house, and Galina Primary, in that order.
At the farm, my team dug rocks out of a creek and built a dam, made stone steps leading to the creek and through the front of the farm, and filled in potholes in the long driveway leading to Mr. Eddie's house. I spent the majority of the morning with four or five other people digging rocks out of the creek, leaving us all with an immense sense of satisfaction: we had pulled rocks out of the rock bed that were up to half our size and at least half our weight. And we didn't just dig out one or two of them; we successfully conquered at least five rocks that size, one right after the other. We accomplished much more than any normal human being would have been capable of, and it showed how God's presence can make any job possible, no matter how difficult and seemingly impossible the task. Then, after we had eaten lunch and finished our section of the road, Mr. Eddie invited us to take a tour of his farm. So he led us into the jungle in his backyard, and showed us such generosity that he made "southern hospitality" look like post 9/11 airports. Mr. Eddie personally climbed a tree to cut down star apples for us, which was an interesting food experience, and we all got to taste coconut milk, jelly coconuts, and coconut meat (the white stuff on the inside of the shell). And before we left, Melanie, who is our age, made sure to get everyone's names so she could find us on Facebook. It was amazing to me just how similar Jamaicans are to us Americans, even though they're so different. When I go out of the country, I expect to have to speak slowly and explain everything, but they already understand so much of our culture that it was an easy transition.
On Tuesday I worked at Ms. Beth's house, working with a new team to lay the foundation for a new house. While there, we met Dennis, a very enthusiastic Jamaican and a very talented singer, who helped us with our work. We spent all day mixing and pouring concrete, which was a new experience for most of us. I was already sore from lifting rocks the day before, but God gave us all the strength we needed to get through the day.
Wednesday was a little different for me. After spending two days doing heavy manual labor, I got to mix some more concrete to help build a wall. But what was different about it was that we were building the wall for Galina Primary, which meant that we had time to spend with the kids during their recess. We started the day off by doing a devotional for the kids, and they especially enjoyed the "Tootietah" song, which they learned from the group that went on Monday. After the devotional, we immediately set to work on the wall. Then, after lunch we got to play with the kids, although it would probably be more accurate to say that they played with us. The girls played with everyone's hair, and the boys all fought for a ride on the guys' backs. I grew especially attached to Christopher, a very shy twelve-year-old, and Alex, an eight-year-old who just couldn't get his fill of piggyback rides. I was told later that the Wesley Foundation might be setting up some way to sponsor some of the Galina kids, so I would really like to sponsor Christopher and Alex, if possible.
Thursday was different for everyone. Instead of doing physically taxing work, we spent the morning at an infirmary, which was much more emotionally taxing for most people. It was sad because all the men and women there had been left there to die, but it was amazing to see the joy that they had despite that fact. Two men stuck out to me the most: Lloyd and Richard. Lloyd seemed, to me, to be one of the very few in his right mind. His hope was fully in the Lord, knowing that whatever happened, God would take care of him; and he was confident that healing is in His hands. But then I met Richard. Jon, a member of the Freshley, Wesley, and Watkinsville First Baptist praise bands, had his guitar with him, so he started playing, and Richard eagerly joined in singing and listening. He was so joyful to hear Jon play and sing along with a handful of other guys on the trip, and it was incredible to see the effect he had, directly and indirectly through us, on the others in the infirmary. After laying hands on him to pray, he closed us out with a powerful prayer—not powerful because of the words he was saying, but because of the passion in his words, despite his frailty. Then, after our oddly joyful goodbyes, we left for Port Maria United Church for some more prayer time. We stayed at the church for a couple hours just worshiping and praying, singing to God and interceding for the Jamaicans, Mr. Eddie and Melanie, Ms. Beth, Trevor, the kids at Galina Primary, and both churches. We prayed God's blessings on the island and that He would reveal His glory all over Jamaica. It was a very spiritually heavy day. So we finished off the day with a talent show to lighten the mood. After all, God does want us to have fun, even when we're praising Him. The show was hilarious, and Bob, the main speaker of the Wesley Foundation, said that it was hands down the best Jamaica talent show with no close second.
Then came Friday. We spent the morning in a Jamaican market, which was interesting because there was a lot of haggling going on, not something I'm used to. While we were there, we ran into all our friends from the other trips, the groups from Saint Anns and Montego Bay, and had a great reunion. But the real reunion was when we got to Dunns River, where we got to hang out on the beach and climb the falls. Friday was a good day, but in a very different way from the rest of the week. It was another community-centered day, much like last Saturday and Sunday, but in many ways, it was very different from Saturday and Sunday. For one thing, we all know each other on the PoMo trip now. And for another, we were preparing to leave Jamaica rather than preparing to be there for a week. We all had an intense longing to be able to stay in Jamaica longer, and in some ways, we got what we asked for: a handful of us stayed up all night, even though the hours dragged by and we felt like it would be impossible to stay awake. Of course, we all slept on the bus to the airport and on the plane back home. But those sleepless hours were just what we needed to get to know each other even better before returning home to Athens.
Jamaica depression started off a little rough. We got back to the airport in Atlanta, and we found out that half of our luggage had to be shipped on the next flight because of a conveyor belt malfunction. So we were stuck in the airport for another hour or so before we finally decided to leave and have them ship our bags to our houses. But at least we got to spend more time with each other, and a piece of us got to stay in Jamaica a little longer—just not the piece we would have liked (although our flight was delayed by about 15 minutes because of the malfunction before they decided to take off and send our luggage after us).
Anyway, now I'm back in Athens. I have about 50 new friends, including a couple Jamaicans, and 68 stronger friendships. I have a new understanding of service and hope, and a new joy in the Lord. I have more to share about what I learned this past week, but that will have to wait until later. Right now, I'm off to bed and looking forward to a new day in my walk with God, with my PoMo friends to keep me going strong.
Before I get into the details of the week, I have some explaining to do. I'm doing SPAM (Spiritual Preparation And Meditation), which is basically Lent with a specific purpose: giving up unnecessary use of secular technology to spend more time with God. So I was a little bit reluctant to get on Facebook to give an update because it felt like I was breaking Lent, but I was persuaded because I needed to do it in order to keep my relationship with all of you strong and to let you know what I did and learned this past week.
More than anything this week, I brought back with me an incredible sense of community. The majority of our time in Jamaica was spent getting to know each other: at the Casa Maria hotel, on the work sites, at Dunns River Falls, on the plane and the buses, and over some delicious food and around a box of "communal Whales." We brought back with us something practical: a group of 68 friends to hang out with and to keep each other accountable in our growth in Christ.
But that's not all we did in Jamaica, not by a long shot. We also had a chance to meet several Jamaicans and make friends with them, including Mr. Eddie and Melanie, who live on the farm that we worked at; Trevor and Edwin, our bus drivers; and Jonoy, Campbell, and Ricky, as well as the children of the Galina Primary School and many others (those were just the ones that I knew). We now have friends in Jamaica to stay in contact with, brothers and sisters from a foreign country that we can pray for to keep each other strong in our faith, and that we can just talk to about life.
But there's still more. Saturday and Sunday were community building days, time to get to know everyone on the Port Maria team and to see what Jamaican churches are like. I went to Port Maria United Church, which was incredible and very different from your typical American church: when the pastor asks you to greet your neighbor, he means, "Get up out of your seat, dance across the room, and greet everyone you make eye contact with." Then Monday came. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were our work days. We worked at two churches, Galina Primary, Mr. Eddie's farm, and Ms. Beth's house. My work sites were the farm, Ms. Beth's house, and Galina Primary, in that order.
At the farm, my team dug rocks out of a creek and built a dam, made stone steps leading to the creek and through the front of the farm, and filled in potholes in the long driveway leading to Mr. Eddie's house. I spent the majority of the morning with four or five other people digging rocks out of the creek, leaving us all with an immense sense of satisfaction: we had pulled rocks out of the rock bed that were up to half our size and at least half our weight. And we didn't just dig out one or two of them; we successfully conquered at least five rocks that size, one right after the other. We accomplished much more than any normal human being would have been capable of, and it showed how God's presence can make any job possible, no matter how difficult and seemingly impossible the task. Then, after we had eaten lunch and finished our section of the road, Mr. Eddie invited us to take a tour of his farm. So he led us into the jungle in his backyard, and showed us such generosity that he made "southern hospitality" look like post 9/11 airports. Mr. Eddie personally climbed a tree to cut down star apples for us, which was an interesting food experience, and we all got to taste coconut milk, jelly coconuts, and coconut meat (the white stuff on the inside of the shell). And before we left, Melanie, who is our age, made sure to get everyone's names so she could find us on Facebook. It was amazing to me just how similar Jamaicans are to us Americans, even though they're so different. When I go out of the country, I expect to have to speak slowly and explain everything, but they already understand so much of our culture that it was an easy transition.
On Tuesday I worked at Ms. Beth's house, working with a new team to lay the foundation for a new house. While there, we met Dennis, a very enthusiastic Jamaican and a very talented singer, who helped us with our work. We spent all day mixing and pouring concrete, which was a new experience for most of us. I was already sore from lifting rocks the day before, but God gave us all the strength we needed to get through the day.
Wednesday was a little different for me. After spending two days doing heavy manual labor, I got to mix some more concrete to help build a wall. But what was different about it was that we were building the wall for Galina Primary, which meant that we had time to spend with the kids during their recess. We started the day off by doing a devotional for the kids, and they especially enjoyed the "Tootietah" song, which they learned from the group that went on Monday. After the devotional, we immediately set to work on the wall. Then, after lunch we got to play with the kids, although it would probably be more accurate to say that they played with us. The girls played with everyone's hair, and the boys all fought for a ride on the guys' backs. I grew especially attached to Christopher, a very shy twelve-year-old, and Alex, an eight-year-old who just couldn't get his fill of piggyback rides. I was told later that the Wesley Foundation might be setting up some way to sponsor some of the Galina kids, so I would really like to sponsor Christopher and Alex, if possible.
Thursday was different for everyone. Instead of doing physically taxing work, we spent the morning at an infirmary, which was much more emotionally taxing for most people. It was sad because all the men and women there had been left there to die, but it was amazing to see the joy that they had despite that fact. Two men stuck out to me the most: Lloyd and Richard. Lloyd seemed, to me, to be one of the very few in his right mind. His hope was fully in the Lord, knowing that whatever happened, God would take care of him; and he was confident that healing is in His hands. But then I met Richard. Jon, a member of the Freshley, Wesley, and Watkinsville First Baptist praise bands, had his guitar with him, so he started playing, and Richard eagerly joined in singing and listening. He was so joyful to hear Jon play and sing along with a handful of other guys on the trip, and it was incredible to see the effect he had, directly and indirectly through us, on the others in the infirmary. After laying hands on him to pray, he closed us out with a powerful prayer—not powerful because of the words he was saying, but because of the passion in his words, despite his frailty. Then, after our oddly joyful goodbyes, we left for Port Maria United Church for some more prayer time. We stayed at the church for a couple hours just worshiping and praying, singing to God and interceding for the Jamaicans, Mr. Eddie and Melanie, Ms. Beth, Trevor, the kids at Galina Primary, and both churches. We prayed God's blessings on the island and that He would reveal His glory all over Jamaica. It was a very spiritually heavy day. So we finished off the day with a talent show to lighten the mood. After all, God does want us to have fun, even when we're praising Him. The show was hilarious, and Bob, the main speaker of the Wesley Foundation, said that it was hands down the best Jamaica talent show with no close second.
Then came Friday. We spent the morning in a Jamaican market, which was interesting because there was a lot of haggling going on, not something I'm used to. While we were there, we ran into all our friends from the other trips, the groups from Saint Anns and Montego Bay, and had a great reunion. But the real reunion was when we got to Dunns River, where we got to hang out on the beach and climb the falls. Friday was a good day, but in a very different way from the rest of the week. It was another community-centered day, much like last Saturday and Sunday, but in many ways, it was very different from Saturday and Sunday. For one thing, we all know each other on the PoMo trip now. And for another, we were preparing to leave Jamaica rather than preparing to be there for a week. We all had an intense longing to be able to stay in Jamaica longer, and in some ways, we got what we asked for: a handful of us stayed up all night, even though the hours dragged by and we felt like it would be impossible to stay awake. Of course, we all slept on the bus to the airport and on the plane back home. But those sleepless hours were just what we needed to get to know each other even better before returning home to Athens.
Jamaica depression started off a little rough. We got back to the airport in Atlanta, and we found out that half of our luggage had to be shipped on the next flight because of a conveyor belt malfunction. So we were stuck in the airport for another hour or so before we finally decided to leave and have them ship our bags to our houses. But at least we got to spend more time with each other, and a piece of us got to stay in Jamaica a little longer—just not the piece we would have liked (although our flight was delayed by about 15 minutes because of the malfunction before they decided to take off and send our luggage after us).
Anyway, now I'm back in Athens. I have about 50 new friends, including a couple Jamaicans, and 68 stronger friendships. I have a new understanding of service and hope, and a new joy in the Lord. I have more to share about what I learned this past week, but that will have to wait until later. Right now, I'm off to bed and looking forward to a new day in my walk with God, with my PoMo friends to keep me going strong.
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