I know for you, our readers, that our posts just quietly and unceremoniously quit showing up. For us in Jamaica, however, our blog posting ended in sparks and fireworks - literally!
Friday turned out to be a rather blustery day after an otherwise calm, windless week. That morning we headed down to the soccer field to get a team picture with a backdrop of beautiful banana trees, the water of the bay and our new cornrows. (One of the school dogs, Jake, also felt he needed to be in the photo.) As we were smiling at the camera, a crack like a gunshot echoed from behind the school building and we saw a shower of sparks erupt from the power lines. We ran back to the school to warn everyone as the high-tension fireworks continued.
Ms Russell, the school principal, ran back behind the building to make sure nothing had caught fire and saw a neighbor on top of the fence trying to disconnect a wire with a big branch. It seems he had been stealing electricity from the school and wanted to get rid of the evidence before the power company got there.
In the end, we were without power for several hours and it seems that 2 microwaves, at least 1 window air-conditioner and the modem at our house didn't survive the surge. Loss of the modem meant no emails or blog entries. Ms. Russell called the authorities but I don't know what happened to the man who was syphoning off electricity, but at least he wasn't electricuted.
Friday was my (Jennifer's) birthday and the team gave me a beautiful figurine of 3 children learning to sign "Jesus Loves Me" and the school gave me a nice CCCD book bag. There was also birthday cake and many well-wishes. We joined the teachers for a season of prayer that morning; it was a beautiful time of reflection, of unity, and of importuning as we asked God to provide for CCCD's great needs. Financially, things are very difficult for them right now. Kingston has become so violent that some of the teachers said they stopped going to church at night because they were afraid they wouldn't arrive back home. Please pray for CCCD, for these teachers that are giving so much of themselves, and seriously consider sponsoring a child so they had be assured enough food to eat.
Friday afternoon after the teachers went home, our team went down to the "Hip Strip" or the tourist section of Montego Bay. We did some shopping and then went back to the beach at Doctor's Cave. From there we rented a small glass-bottom boat that took us out to the reef and 4 of us (Sammie, Janice, Quita and I) went snorkeling. It was like being in Finding Nemo! It was really amazing. Sammie said that was something she could scratch off her bucket list and Jen thought it was a fabulous birthday! Personally, I was reminded of Job 38 when God recounts His amazing creation:
"Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'? Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this."
When I mentioned this passage in the boat ride back, I said, "Job had no way of seeing what we just saw when he heard God say that!" and Sammie replied, "Yeah, but I'm sure Jonah saw the whole thing on his way down!"
That night we went to a very nice dinner at Marguerite's right on the water. It was a huge contrast to how we'd been eating, to suddenly have a wine glass, a bread plate and way too much silverware, but we thoroughly enjoyed the meal. We took Ms. Russell with us and enjoyed our time. From the balcony, we saw a sting ray swim by in the shallows, he was really beautiful.
But there we also learned that God never stops working! This was supposed to be "time off" but God's work never takes a vacation. The hostess at the restaurant was an absolutely gorgeous and classy young woman, and Janice asked her if she'd ever done any modeling. She modestly answered that she was a contestant in the Miss Jamaica pageant that was coming up soon. We started a conversation with her, and in the end she was excited about the prospect of adopting CCCD as the charity she could support from her platform.
Saturday we were able to take our time getting packed and heading to the airport and we had a long but uneventful flight home. (Uneventful is a good thing!) This fit the criteria for what I think is a perfect trip: Before I left I was happy to go, I happy to be there while I was there, and when it was time to leave I was happy to go home. Stil, it was hard to say goodbye to Andicea and Ms. Russell and the other friendships we'd built. I pray we all can keep in touch with our friends as fellow teachers and sisters in Christ.
Please continue to pray for the team as we transition back to life at home. I'm starting a new chapter in my life as my best friends had a baby while I was gone (little Summerlyn is still in the NICU, please continue to pray) and I will start a new teaching position and a new subject in the fall. Laura and her family are trying to get all the pieces in place to move to Arkansas where Dirk will pastor a church. Most importantly, pray for CCCD, that God would provide for them financially, that He would strengthen them over the summer, and that they would remember what they've learned during the training so it can benefit their students.
Thanks for reading! We'll try to get some pictures available to you.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Prayer for Saturday
Our Warrior and Our Peace ~ Alcuin of York
O King of glory, and Lord of valour, our warrior and our peace, may You win victories in the world through us Your servants, for without You we can do nothing. May Your compassion go before us and come behind us; be with us at our beginnings, and at our endings. May Your will be done in everything we do, for You are our salvation, our glory and our joy.
O King of glory, and Lord of valour, our warrior and our peace, may You win victories in the world through us Your servants, for without You we can do nothing. May Your compassion go before us and come behind us; be with us at our beginnings, and at our endings. May Your will be done in everything we do, for You are our salvation, our glory and our joy.
Prayer for Friday
Resting ~ Frank Topping
Lord,
teach me to rest in You.
Teach me to see the sky
and to think of nothing else
but the joy of it.
Teach me to look
at field and flower
and be soothed
by colors and seasons.
Teach me to close my eyes
and to rest
in the Love that has supported me
all my days.
Teach me, Lord, to rest in You.
Lord,
teach me to rest in You.
Teach me to see the sky
and to think of nothing else
but the joy of it.
Teach me to look
at field and flower
and be soothed
by colors and seasons.
Teach me to close my eyes
and to rest
in the Love that has supported me
all my days.
Teach me, Lord, to rest in You.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Thrilling and Therapeudic Thursday
I'm very sorry we didn't post yesterday, but by the time we got back to the house we were exhausted. Quita took a few minutes to check her "happy birthday" emails and then we all collapsed. (The girls in the kitchen - Yvonne, Marie, and Odette - made her a beautiful cake and she got a lovely banana-leaf purse.) The devil was working hard to confuse schedules, test relationships and discourage our work, but our God is mightier than any arrows Satan can throw our way!
This week of teacher training is the only time of year when all 3 campuses get together, so it was important to have some fun and fellowship. This morning after a breakfast of sausage and baked beans, we took a 1-hour bus ride to Negril. For those of you who went to Knockpatrick with us last year, let me make it clear that this was a very different kind of travel. We followed the coast the whole time and had lovely views of the sea and no switchbacks. Our delightful hostess for the week (and the principal here at Mo Bay), Dorette Russell, is also a licensed tour operator, so she gave us all sorts of interesting facts along the way. She also has her own very nice AIR-CONDITIONED bus. We stopped to see some cliff-divers, climbed to the top of the lighthouse, shopped at an open-air market, and then went swimming at the beach.
After dinner when we got back to campus we received the warmest of thank-yous from the staff. Individual teachers with whom we'd bonded came forward to give us kind words and a cool gift. We also got to laugh through all the inside jokes for the week. It was a very special time. Miss Lawrence, the principal from Kingston, said she felt this was the most informative and fun teacher training they'd ever had. We want to keep these relationships going, not only to hear about our sisters in Christ but also to be able to help them implement what they've learned.
Right now we're sitting around the kitchen table and some of the Deaf girls from Mo Bay (who live upstairs) just finished braiding our hair and now we're chatting. It's going to be very difficult to say good-bye to most of our new friends when everyone heads home tomorrow. But perhaps we can soften the blow by going back to the beach in the afternoon!
Before I sign off, I want to ask you to pray for little Summerlyn Anne who came into the world 6 weeks early today. She weighed 4 lbs, 3 oz and was born to my best friends back in Fort Worth.
Jen
This week of teacher training is the only time of year when all 3 campuses get together, so it was important to have some fun and fellowship. This morning after a breakfast of sausage and baked beans, we took a 1-hour bus ride to Negril. For those of you who went to Knockpatrick with us last year, let me make it clear that this was a very different kind of travel. We followed the coast the whole time and had lovely views of the sea and no switchbacks. Our delightful hostess for the week (and the principal here at Mo Bay), Dorette Russell, is also a licensed tour operator, so she gave us all sorts of interesting facts along the way. She also has her own very nice AIR-CONDITIONED bus. We stopped to see some cliff-divers, climbed to the top of the lighthouse, shopped at an open-air market, and then went swimming at the beach.
After dinner when we got back to campus we received the warmest of thank-yous from the staff. Individual teachers with whom we'd bonded came forward to give us kind words and a cool gift. We also got to laugh through all the inside jokes for the week. It was a very special time. Miss Lawrence, the principal from Kingston, said she felt this was the most informative and fun teacher training they'd ever had. We want to keep these relationships going, not only to hear about our sisters in Christ but also to be able to help them implement what they've learned.
Right now we're sitting around the kitchen table and some of the Deaf girls from Mo Bay (who live upstairs) just finished braiding our hair and now we're chatting. It's going to be very difficult to say good-bye to most of our new friends when everyone heads home tomorrow. But perhaps we can soften the blow by going back to the beach in the afternoon!
Before I sign off, I want to ask you to pray for little Summerlyn Anne who came into the world 6 weeks early today. She weighed 4 lbs, 3 oz and was born to my best friends back in Fort Worth.
Jen
Prayer for Thursday
For Success ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Lord, behold our “family” here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle. Let peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us peace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders ourselves, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others. Give us courage and gaiety and a quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and, down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another. As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy.
Lord, behold our “family” here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle. Let peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us peace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders ourselves, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others. Give us courage and gaiety and a quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and, down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another. As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Prayer for Wednesday
Renewal ~ George Appleton
O my God,
Grant that I may so wait upon Thee,
That when quick decision and action are needed,
I may mount up with wings as an eagle;
And when under direction of Thy will
And the needs of people
I have to keep going under pressure,
I may run and not be weary;
And in times of routine and humble duty,
I may walk and not be faint.
For all my fresh springs are in Thee,
O God of my strength. (Isaiah 40:31)
O my God,
Grant that I may so wait upon Thee,
That when quick decision and action are needed,
I may mount up with wings as an eagle;
And when under direction of Thy will
And the needs of people
I have to keep going under pressure,
I may run and not be weary;
And in times of routine and humble duty,
I may walk and not be faint.
For all my fresh springs are in Thee,
O God of my strength. (Isaiah 40:31)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Tales of Tuesday
Today Laura and Sammie taught on reading and language. Teaching reading is always a struggle with deaf kids so the teachers were very excited to learn more strategies. Laura made a huge impression with her knowledge, education and experience, and she and Sammie were great role models for deaf and hearing teachers working together. Sammie announced at the start of the day that teachers were going to be pulled out of their comfort zones, and she was right!
Unfortunately, Quita was not able to join us during the morning sessions. Last night she was walking back to the house and she tripped over on some St. Augustine. The laptop survived but Quita's neck didn't fair as well. Now that the stress of getting here and giving her workshop was finished, she needed some time to recover. When she walked in at lunch time, everyone cheered and were very happy to have her back with us.
This evening was the teachers' night on the town. We went to the Hip Strip, the touristy section of Mo Bay, for several hours. Some people did some shopping or just walked down Glouster Street. Laura and Maureen went in search of ice cream, but most of us did some night swimming at Sunset Beach. In the bay there is very little surf and the water is clearer than a swimming pool, so we had fun just floating and talking. Sammie and Janice actually managed to get cold, but stretching out in the water and relaxing helped Quita's neck to loosen up.
Now it's 11:15 and Janice and Quita are setting up for tomorrow's workshop. The rest of us are sitting around at our kitchen table talking with Andicea, one of the Deaf teachers from Mo Bay.
Tomorrow's presentations:
Janice - classroom management
Jennifer - Individualized Edcuation Plans (IEPs)
Sammie and Laura - Compeletion of Reading Strategies
Maureen - special break-out session with vocational teachers
Sammie - interpreting (hearing)
Laura - interpreting (deaf)
Please pray for us all!
Unfortunately, Quita was not able to join us during the morning sessions. Last night she was walking back to the house and she tripped over on some St. Augustine. The laptop survived but Quita's neck didn't fair as well. Now that the stress of getting here and giving her workshop was finished, she needed some time to recover. When she walked in at lunch time, everyone cheered and were very happy to have her back with us.
This evening was the teachers' night on the town. We went to the Hip Strip, the touristy section of Mo Bay, for several hours. Some people did some shopping or just walked down Glouster Street. Laura and Maureen went in search of ice cream, but most of us did some night swimming at Sunset Beach. In the bay there is very little surf and the water is clearer than a swimming pool, so we had fun just floating and talking. Sammie and Janice actually managed to get cold, but stretching out in the water and relaxing helped Quita's neck to loosen up.
Now it's 11:15 and Janice and Quita are setting up for tomorrow's workshop. The rest of us are sitting around at our kitchen table talking with Andicea, one of the Deaf teachers from Mo Bay.
Tomorrow's presentations:
Janice - classroom management
Jennifer - Individualized Edcuation Plans (IEPs)
Sammie and Laura - Compeletion of Reading Strategies
Maureen - special break-out session with vocational teachers
Sammie - interpreting (hearing)
Laura - interpreting (deaf)
Please pray for us all!
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