A Jamaican Wednesday - Part II

Today we started off the day with our normal prayer groups and quiet time that are always very informative and challenging and just a great way to start off our day. After an amazing breakfast prepared by a couple of the most amazing Jamaican women one would ever meet my life is better because the interaction with them every meal. Then we divided into our two work groups , one of which went to the local church which we have been working all week transporting sand and stone up to the top of the roof only to create our concrete on top of the roof by hand. This work is very grueling and requires breaks constantly but with the dedication and work ethic showed this week we have accomplished great amounts of work especially mixing by hand. The chemistry at this site is awesome and it is extremely cool to stand on top of the roof and overlook the clear ocean. The next work site was the Street family house. We are in the process of producing a foundation for a significant addition to their house. This is extremely tough job considering bedrock and wet clay lie close to surface of the ground and we need to dig approximately 18 inches. With a solid rotation and relentless work by not only the guys but especially the girls we accomplished a remarkable amount of work in the direct heat. Not only did we dominate this foundation but a pair of girls Hannah Ross and Carrie Moss tiled an entire bathroom in just a day and a halfs work. Of my entire 5 mission trips I have never and I repeat never experienced the chemistry and work ethic put into a single project. This work day was a hot one but we absolutely killed it out there.

After showering and having a quick dinner (also prepared by the wonderful Jamaican women), we headed over to Hoolebury Methodist Church to have our first children’s carnival/Ben Glenn experience. We started off in small groups, each at different game or craft stations. Tons of Jamaican children made foam crosses, won prizes for winning games, and walked around in animal masks. After about an hour of fun, the children joined the adults on the lawn of the church, and Ben Glenn began his chalk drawing. For anyone who doesn’t know, Ben Glenn is an amazing chalk artist who uses his talents to convey God’s beautiful creation and teach his audiences about the love of Christ. Tonight, Ben drew a beautiful scene inspired by a postcard from Sedona, Arizona. In his talk after he drew, he made a point of how troubles and trials can interrupt our seemingly-perfect lives by drawing a huge black line across the top right corner of a drawing he had just spent so much time drawing. However, he showed how God makes good out of our troubles by changing the black line into a rock bridge with a runner running across it. As someone who’s seen Ben Glenn draw in the past, I enjoyed the opportunity to see how other people responded and reacted to his drawing as seeing it for the first time. I also enjoyed watching how natural it was for the Americans and Jamaicans to sit together during the performance. There was no sense of separation, and this sparked many conversations about Ben’s drawing and the thoughts it provoked. Overall, it was an amazing experience, and we are all looking forward to enjoying it two more times. We hope that you are all doing well in Raleigh. We’ve heard that great things are happening in Brooklyn, and we ask that you continue to pray for both of our trips. Thanks for all of your prayers and support

Dan Fordice & Colleen Cook