Tomorrow is the last day of outreach and the Montego Bay team prepared for the next day tonight. They are ready and excited to make the last day special. We’re planning on demonstrating stewardship by picking up garbage in the neighbourhood around the YWAM Centre.We heard from the Spanish Town team and things are going well. Yesterday they helped feed homeless people and last night they shared with a youth group. The Trelawny team have been building friendships with people in the community. They’ll also be returning to a girl’s home that the whole team visited last week. Outreach is full of challenges and the students have been doing a great job dealing with last-minute schedule changes, sore throats, loss-of-voice, and 95 degree weather. We’re all looking forward to our day off on Monday and our return on Tuesday.

In Luke 10, Jesus sent out 70 of his followers into groups of two. He challenged them to perform the same miracles He had done, and to tell people about Him. “For the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few,” He said. After the 70 returned, they were so excited! They shared their stories with each other, amazed at all that had happened.

In the same way, we’ve planned for our team to break into smaller groups. We’ve spent our first week together in Montego Bay and now for the second week we’ll divide into smaller teams to reach more of Jamaica. Last night, we shared about the outreach locations with the teens and they prayed to ask God about where they should go.

Two smaller teams will go out from here Tuesday, July 10 to Sunday, July 15 and one will remain in Montego Bay at the YWAM campus. The outreach locations are both places where YWAM Montego Bay regularly sends teams and knows the churches who will be hosting us.

Here are the outreach teams:
Remaining in Montego Bay to continue developing the relationships we’ve made this week are: Nathan, Nick, Erika, Reba, Susanna, Aileen

They will complete a VBS for the children in Moy Hall (a community near the YWAM base), visit a hospice and an orphanage, and share some of their own stories of what God has done in their lives with the Access—Jamaica team that just began here at this campus.
The staff leading this team are Matt, Tracie, and Nate.

Going to the parish Trelawny are: Abbey, Allie, Joan, Stella, Emily, Karin
They will stay at a church’s home that houses visiting outreach teams. The team will continue doing more children’s ministry, visiting an orphanage and a hospital, and returning to the girls’ home.
The staff leading this team are Manuel and Kate.

Going to Spanish Town are: Michael, Mishawn, Courtney, Samantha, Grace, Amanda
The team in Spanish Town will work with a church that has a long-established relationship with YWAM in Montego Bay. They will stay in homes with Access staff. They’ll get a real Jamaican experience! This team will also do similar work to what our whole team has done in Montego Bay…like visiting an orphanage, feeding the homeless, and doing evangelism in the community.
The staff leading this team are Paul and Monika.

Monday we began the week with the Vacation Bible School we’d prepared. First, we walked back up Moy Hall and into Tower Hill to invite children to the church. Pretty soon, the church was filled with kids ages 3-12. We split the kids into groups according to their ages. Then it was time for crafts, games, and Bible stories. We’ll have the same group of kids for this VBS for the next few days.

Sunday morning, we went to a nearby church. The pastor was very friendly with us. When he joked with his congregation in Patois, he stopped to “interpret” for us. After church, we loaded up and went to the beach for some much-needed time off.

We jumped on huge trampolines, snorkeled, swam, and laid out in the sun all afternoon. Some even got to buy some souvenirs or enjoy ice cream with local flavors like Sour Sop or Ginger.

We got home just in time, too. As soon as our vehicles pulled into the parking lot, the dark sky let loose a loud rain storm.

We definitely have enjoyed all the birthday cake this last week, thanks to Emily, Grace, and Paul’s July birthdays!

After a sack lunch or a snack from KFC, we drove an hour to a home for girls. Most of these girls are 10 and older. They’re at the home because they’ve been abused or abandoned. Some of them were juvenile offenders. Before we began our program, we prayed for the girls. We really felt that God wanted to show them that He loved them all like a Dad.

About 50 girls gathered together and we performed two dances and a drama. The drama is called “Turn Around.” It’s about a girl who is trapped by sins like addiction or pride, but whom Jesus rescues. It’s very powerful. After the drama, some of the girls wanted to talk to people on the team and pray with them.

We spent a few hours with the girls at that Home of Safety. They let down their guards once they realized we wanted to get to know them and learn about their lives. A lot of the girls on our team bonded with them by learning “hand slap” games, braiding hair, and dancing. Others sat and played games or just talked.

The infirmary is a place for people to go who can no longer care for themselves or do not have money to pay for their care. It is run by the government and home to about 30-40 adults between 30 and 80 years old. They do not often have visitors. Many have been left at the home by their relatives who cannot care for them.

As usual, our large team broke off into smaller groups. The boys’ team walked up the dusty path, past a few goats and the main office building to the men’s quarters. Many of the men laid in their beds staring up at the ceiling. The room was small, but a gentle breeze blew through the windows. A couple of the men were able to walk around. One of the men, the youngest one who was in his 30s, walked behind a walker, his right leg shriveled.

“Can you sing that song about Jesus and the little children?” he asked. “I love that song, but I always forget the words.”

So the guys sang “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.” “Jesus loves me” was also requested. Paul wrote down the lyrics. They sang several more songs together and shared stories out of their lives.

Meanwhile, the girls spent time in the two buildings where the women lived. One of the groups of elderly women was confined to their beds. The girls went to each bed, talking to the residents and offering to read to them. Gloria, who had lost one of her legs, sang hymns and songs with the girls. A blind woman who lived on a bed in the corner of the room requested to hear Romans 8, parts of Matthew and the Psalms.

The second group of women was able to walk around and interact more. “I was so encourage by one of the residents,” shared Emily. “She was so joyful. And at the end, she prayed for me.”

At the end of the evening, Matt (on staff) shared a short essay written by Dorothy Day that related to what we’d just experienced. The essay was about what it means to love Jesus through caring for the poor and needy. After our time visiting with the elderly, we learned that God’s heart is just as tender toward them as it is toward the orphans we’ve met. Everyone is valuable to God and should be treated that way!

A Change of Plans…
Friday morning, we found out that our plans for the morning had to change. No problem, mon! The exciting part about working along with God on outreach is that He can give us ideas. So as a team, we prayed about how we should fill our morning. We already knew we would have a performance in Moy Hall that afternoon.

An Impromptu Parade
Amanda  is writing a blog update about the rest of this day. You will be able to read her entry online soon.

Here’s what some of the teens said about the day:
“At first I was nervous because no one was laughing at our skit. But by the end it was really good. It was great dancing with them at the end because we got to show we respected them, too.” ~ Erika
“It was better than I imagined. I thought we’d look like idiots, but it was really fun.” ~ Susanna, who dressed up like a clown and ran up the streets inviting people to the performance.

On Wednesday afternoon, our team had walked up one of the hills behind the YWAM campus into a community. We prayed for the people there and later talked about what we would like to do to help reach out to the community.

“We should get to know them,” suggested Mishawn. “It’s important to know their names and become friends with them.”

“And it would be good to clean up the trash,” noted Aileen. “There’s garbage all along the streets.”

The girls in Monika’s small group continued writing down more things they wanted to accomplish so that Access wouldn’t just be another outreach team, but would make a real difference for the people.

Thursday afternoon, our team again went into the community — Moy Hall. Moy Hall is at the top of a steep, steep hill. As we climbed up the hill, we broke into three smaller groups to pray or meet people.

One group found a bunch of kids to play with. Another talked with a man who was cutting open coconuts with a machete. He called over his nephew to climb a nearby tree and get coconuts for each of the Access teens in the group. Then he chopped them open so the team could drink the coconut water and try the “jelly” inside. After that, he invited the group to see his shop and the home he was building. The man’s name is Neva, and he began talking about his beliefs as a Rastafarian. The discussion with him challenged the teens to know how to express what they believe, too.

Neva’s nephews and neighbors joined in the discussions and talked about their lives, too. We promised to come back the next day to perform our dances, drama, and puppet skit for the children. Before they left, Neva gave them a couple bags of fresh oranges from his property. The Access team was glad to have gotten to know the people in the community.

That evening, we talked about what we could do the next day.

“Let’s have a parade!” someone suggested.

We went to bed looking forward to the next day….and excited that we’d been able to accomplish some of our plans for the community. We’d met people, gotten to know their names, seen their homes, prayed with them, and made plans to keep building friendships.

West Haven Home for Disabled Children
Thursday, we went to Westhaven Home for disabled children. The home was about 40 minutes from the YWAM campus, further up into the hills. It’s surrounded by lush green trees–coconut, banana, and ferns. The home for the children has about 5 main buildings where the children live and are cared for by the staff. The children are anywhere from 4 to 17 years old. There were probably 50 or 60 children there. Some only have physical disabilities — like being unable to walk or speak — to some mental disabilities like down syndrome. Many of them were unable to communicate very clearly with words — but they sure let us know they liked having us there.

As soon as we got off the bus, a group of them rushed toward our bus and ushered us off. Some were jumping up and down they were so excited for visitors.

The team split into smaller groups and visited each of the buildings. Many of the children and teens were in wheel chairs, so we took them out to enjoy the fresh air. Some of the teens even helped the children into swings and pushed the giggling kids for at least an hour.

At lunchtime, the team helped feed all of the children. Some still ate from bottles, while others ate the typical Jamaican “rice and peas” (beans). At the end, we performed our African dance called “O Si Funi” and a Jamaican Reggae song called “World Changer.” The dances were a great hit with the kids — and we ended our time there with an impromptu dance party.

Being at this home for disabled children stretched us all to interact with people even if we were uncomfortable at first. Our hearts were broken by the children there at the home. We learned that God loves people no matter what they can or cannot do. Society often places more value on people for what they can do, but we saw how special each one of these children is.

Even though we’ve only been in Jamaica for just under two days, we’ve seen some amazing things happen!

We got in to Montego Bay Tuesday morning with no problems on the flights or in the airports. The staff at the YWAM campus gave us a tour of the property and an orientation of what kinds of things they’re doing in Jamaica. We’re staying on what used to be an old Estate. We’re at the top of “Long Hill,” overlooking all of Montego Bay. The blue Caribbean sea sparkles under the bright sun and disappears into the horizon. The swimming pool on the campus keeps us cool in the early afternoons.

Tuesday evening, we wanted to get our crafts ready for a VBS. Just as we were going to start, all the electricity on this side of the hill went out. It was completely black. There had been black-outs the last couple of days–even shutting down the airport at times.

Now what would we do? How long would we be without electricity?

“Let’s pray!” someone suggested. “We’ll pray that God turns the electricity back on.”

It seemed a little far-fetched…but in Ephesians 3:20 it says that God will do “exceedingly, abundantly, beyond all we can ask or think.” We had left Wisconsin with high expectations of what God would do through us on outreach. So we joined hands in a circle and prayed.

We finished praying and then Olivier, the 2-yr old, said “Amen!” Just as he said Amen, the lights flickered back on. The electricity returned! What proof that our prayers make a difference!

Read another take on this story at Manuel’s blog: http://staff.ywammadison.org/rammingers/2007/07/05/of-healings-and-other-miracles/

On Wednesday, we visited an orphanage. The orphanage is home to over 30 kids, from the age of one week old to about 7 or 8 years old. Many of the children are brought to the orphanage because their parents can’t take care of them anymore. In Jamaica, over 80% of children don’t have fathers. The kids are often shuffled around between mom, grandma, aunts, and an orphanage.

One small room was filled with little babies lying together on a mat. They cried to be picked up and held. Toddlers and young children rushed to greet us. They all wanted to be loved and played with. Some of us had 3-4 kids hanging on us at a time.

We brought our puppets and script with us and did a puppet show. Then we played with the kids. It was so hard to leave them behind. We’re looking forward to seeing them again!

The rest of this week will be busy going to different places. Thanks for praying for us. We’re so glad to be here in Jamaica and are excited for the next 2 weeks.