Heading Home

Early this morning, we left Villa Myka, our hotel, for the last time. Ancella and Surgeon drove us to Kingston to get to the Norman Manley International Airport on time. Our flight leaves at 9:00 am, a little over half an hour from now. We're all a little tired but our hearts are full. We loved it here and the people of Jamaica and especially Bois Content will always hold a special place in our hearts.
This was my first international mission trip and I hope to go on more. I'd like to thank MOST Ministries for the wonderful opportunity and the privilege of writing this blog about the trip. I hope you all enjoyed it.
See you soon, America!

Long Day

Yesterday I wrote that I would cover the water filter in all its awesomeness. Well, we had a long drive to and from Ocho Rios to see and experience Dunn's River Falls today. It really took it out of me. Also, it looks like Pastor Paul may have lost his phone on the trip, which is a real bummer. God is still good to us; we look forward to our trip home to tell some of you, and all of our family and friends, about the great time we had during this mission trip and how much God worked in the community of Bois Content, St. Catherine Parish, Jamaica. Jesus' love was shown all around and most evident on all the happy children's faces.
Big shout out to Ancella Gregory, our host this week, for setting up everything on the Jamaican side of things and for going out of her way to make all of us feel at home and comfortable.
See you all soon and hopefully with more info on the water filter.

The End of the Mission

Last day up in the mountains of Bois Content. Much more rain today also. Enough came off the roof in just one hour to fill the entire 55 gallon tank the church was using for the bathroom. God is too good.
It was wonderful getting to know the villagers and the members of the church this week. They were so kind to us all week, and especially today. Sister Una, Clover Simms, Gretel's mother, and Pastor McClalla's wife sent us off with a beautiful song about living water. We have a video of it but it'll be a little while before we can upload it for everyone to see.
Today was a wrap up of all the lessons that Joyce, Jeanette, and Dianna gave this week. Pedro the sock puppet had one last talk with everybody and reminded the kids to be kind to everyone they talk to and to show Jesus' love to all.
Steve and I put one water filter together today. It was for a woman named Solia's brother who is very sick and in a wheelchair. He can't move his arms very well anymore and she mentioned he had had a head injury recently. We were very happy to give the filter to him.
After a few tearful goodbyes, we drove away from the church that we had out base out of all week. A few hills down from the church we stopped at Solia's home. Pastor Paul got out and prayed with her brother. It really helped pull together the end of our water clinic. We Christians, when we see others suffering, "can't not help" (a quote from President Harrison of LCMS.) We are compelled by the love of Jesus to help in all circumstances. Christians love spreading the good news about Jesus Christ's gift of everlasting life, the water filters were just a good way of getting people to the church.
Before we left, Pastor Paul, Dennis, Ancella, and Pastor McClalla did an exit interview and Pastor McClalla, when asked what impact we've had on the community, said "we won't know for weeks." A good, honest answer. Please pray that these water filters would bless the community of Bois Content and bring health and well-being to their homes.
Tomorrow I'll be posting here all about the Sawyer Filter, the water filter we gave away this week. It will be a little more in depth look at what we've been assembling so I hope you'll come back to take a look.

Wednesday- God Brings the Rain

Today Joyce, Dianna, and Jeanette taught everyone the importance of brushing your teeth and what to do in case you or someone in your family gets diarrhea. They gave everyone who came a new toothbrush and toothpaste to keep their teeth nice and healthy. I'll try to attach a photo of Daisy the Diarrhea Doll (a 2 liter bottle with yarn for hair) who showed them all how dangerous it can be too become dehydrated when you suffer from it.
Good news... We are almost out of water filters! We have less than 5 left to give out which means we've already provided clean drinking water for over 30 families in Bois Content. It is such a privilege to be here helping out with the water needs of all these wonderful people, and to tell them of the living water promised by Jesus in John 4. Many of these families who are coming up the mountain to the church already know Jesus and it's so refreshing to be able to share with them stories of how God has blessed each of us. I haven't written yet of the drought in St. Catherine's Parish but they say it's supposed to be the rainy season right now. It hasn't rained here all week and they told us it hasn't rained in 3 months. The ground is all dry and almost every plant and tree is wilting, brown, and dying. So we've been praying all week that God would pour down rain on the mountain. Well, today before we left, He did. At first we didn't notice, but then it started pounding the metal roof and everyone got super pumped. It only drizzled while we were up there but you could see across the valley where it was pouring from the clouds. Now, here at our hotel, it's coming down really hard. God is good and He looks out for His children. Tomorrow is our last day at the church and we're all excited to see everyone again before we say goodbye.

A Jamaican Tuesday

-Breakfast was callallu with banana puree, salt fish (cod) with scrambled eggs, and ginger bread muffins that were fried. The hotel maid gave us ginger tea to try this time too. Not as tasty as the Nescafe instant coffee which is surprisingly delicious.
-We are stopping for gasoline right now. Everything is in liters and Jamaican dollars so I'm just watching Surgeon and Ancella talk to the attendant. This place is great.
-Shortly after we left the gas station I started feeling sick. My stomach just didn't feel right. Thankfully Joyce, Dianna, and Jeannette led the lessons this week on cleanliness. It gave me time to sit and drink water. After a while I felt okay and was able to assist Steve with more filters. He wanted me to try a couple and they really are the easiest filter I've ever seen. Today we put 12 filters together, which brings our grand total so far to 22. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Monday Fun Day

Surgeon (our driver/all-around guide) woke up at 4:30, left at 5:30. He said that's his normal wake-up time. He had to leave our hotel room, where he slept on an airbed, before the hotel owner showed up with breakfast because the rooms are only for 2 people and my room already had Pastor Paul and me. He came back after breakfast arrived and Pastor Paul shared his croissant and ham egg rollup thing with him.
When we got to the church, Surgeon and Ancella left to get a bigger van (very much needed) and we all got started on informing the villagers, who were trickling in, about the importance of hand washing and keeping germs away from their body. After that, Steve and I started putting filters together (Steve did most of it) while the others asked the villagers questions about their health so that we can follow up with them at a later date.
After the adults got all their info and filters, the children had their class about pretty much the same thing as the adults, but for kids. They loved it, and the sock puppet "Pedro", which Dianna made out of my sock and a couple buttons. Pretty shortly after that, we were done. We ended up waiting a while for Ancella and Surgeon to bring the other van back. I talked with Gretel for a bit and she taught me a lot about Jamaica and its history. We found common ground in our love for Martin Luther and everything he did for the Church. They eventually showed up with the van, a really long one with plenty of leg room. They looked exhausted but we were so grateful that they did that for us. After we got down the mountain, we hit KFC for that sweet, sweet chicken. Life life is good for the team.

Sunday in Bois Content

Sunday morning we had breakfast delivered by the hotel. It was waffles and fresh fruit bowls. I'll have to come back here. After morning devotions we left for church. When we arrived at church, Pastor McClalla asked Pastor Paul if he would preach that morning; he accepted. It was a great sermon and everyone really enjoyed it. The service itself was about 1.5 hours and full of singing and much louder than any Lutheran service I've been to in a while. We followed the service with a VBS/Sunday School for the children. They colored in a picture of Jesus being baptized by John.
When we got back to the hotel we all rested. For dinner Ancella went and got everyone Domino's pizza. She is the best host we could have asked for.