Two Tunics Project - Part 2

Well, it took me a lot longer than I expected, but here is the slideshow of the projects we did in Jamaica last month (If the music skips in the middle and then ends before the photos, I apologize. It was giving me trouble and I am too tired of working on it now to fix it if it isn't corrected by now!). It's hard to put into words a trip like that, and maybe that's why it is so hard for me to sit down and write about it since I wrote part 1 (besides just not having a whole lot of time since getting back). So, I will share here part of what I shared on the private blog we have for the girls in my small group and then let the pictures speak for themselves.

"Time is very different there. You don't have all of the responsibilities and tight schedules like we do here. Days were long but very full, which seems to make the days much shorter here. It was a fruitful change of pace. Our team read a great book called The Great Omission, which I had read several months before and was able to review. It will likely be a required read for anyone who goes on future trips, and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in any kind of missions It is an amazing book and it has many underlying principles that we want to apply for these trips, but can be applied on some level to our daily interactions as well I think.

There is really too much to share in one post, so I'll just introduce you briefly to two Jamaicans at Darliston Baptist Church who touched my heart and who I will be praying for in the years to come. This is Camise. She is in 10th grade and comes from a very poor family of 15 children, of which she is the youngest. Her parents are too old to work, and she lives with them and an older sister who I think supports them. Her sister has 4 children who are divided amongst other family members, which is very common there. (We met more children living with grandmas and aunts than with their mothers I think.) Camise is going to join the army when she finishes high school. She is a hard worker and has a kind heart. She wants to be the first one in her family to be able to help her parents. She continually told us how she is struggling and hungry and needs help. I wanted to give her more, but I offered her my prayers and support, and promised to write her to encourage and pray. I know she is hurting, but God has brought her this far and He can carry her the rest of the way. I know I can remind her of that at least.

This is Kymani. He is 10 years old and was such a joy to all of us. He instantly fell in love with the babies and was so gentle and caring to them. We joked that he was our personal babysitter while we were there because he was so attentive to Elijah, who he called "Bubbie" and also his little prophet friend :). Pastor Leroy told me that Kymani is going to be a pastor someday. I truly hope that God leads him on that path because his loving, gentleheart is exactly what a pastor needs and I can see how he has potential to have a huge impact one day in the future. But I know that there are a lot of distractions that the world has to offer and so I will be praying that God protects his young heart and preserves it so that He can grow into a man who emulates Christ to his people.


Those are just two small pieces of what I took away from there. As a whole, the trip gave me a reminder of having a global perspective - that God's church is bigger than our church, bigger than our city, bigger than our state, bigger than our country. We have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world who are working, praying, struggling, fighting the same battle. That we, in the USA, are extremely fortunate. Poverty is a word I don't think we even understand here in many ways. And that serving God is always a sacrifice in some way, but He will pour blessings over us abundantly more than we can ever expect or know when we choose give it all to Him. "

In the slideshow you will see photos from our time spent in Darliston at the church -- doing construction, meeting with the people and getting ideas from the community of the needs they have, attending services, and also in the community -- visiting 3 primary schools, setting up 8 large suitcases worth of donated computers, touring a local farm, making connections with people and places, etc. The final day we spent in Montego Bay, enjoying the beach and the beauty of the island before heading home, so I threw a few of those photos in at the end too. Enjoy!

Two Tunics Project - Part 1

It's hard to know where to begin. I've been asked so many times since returning, "How was Jamaica?" and I can definitely answer that it was great! But, there is so much more to it than that. It was beautiful. It was hard. It was humid. It was productive. It was a change of pace. It was poverty. It was Jamaican pride. It was need. It was joy. It was enlightening.

I guess the place to start is why we went in the first place and why it is called The Two Tunics Project. In Luke, chapter 3, John the Baptist was speaking to the crowds of people coming to him to be baptized and warns them that those who are not producing good fruit will be cut down and they ask him what they should do. John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." The Bible tells us that Christ's death and resurrection took care of our debt and gives us freedom - it's not anything that we can do, but what He has already done. But, after we've recognized that, we should be growing, serving, and producing fruit within our church as well as out in the community and the world. We recognize that we are very fortunate from a global perspective and we feel a responsibility to help people, both locally and globally, who are in need. We also recognize that we need them just as much, if not more than they need us.


Pictured above is our team -- Brad, Elijah, and me, Joel and Carina, Matt, Zack, Maryellen and Matthew, and Scott. This trip was a visionary/assessment oriented trip, with a couple specific projects to start us out, to bring a group of leaders to decide if we should continue pursing this partnership and also identify areas of need and potential projects for the future to assist the church and help them reach their community. We do not want to create dependency, but rather give them skills, tools, resources, and ideas to help them build up their presence in the community and reach people more effectively. The idea is for us to send two teams a year for a set amount of time (we're starting with the idea of about 3-5 years). During this time, we would progressively work together with the church people down there to accomplish set goals in several different areas.

As of this trip, we are in agreement that this project should move forward in Darliston, Jamaica. Darliston is a small town about 1 1/2 hrs south of Montego Bay. It is in the Westmoreland parish region of the island with a population of just under 1600. It is mainly a farming community in the mountains and facing a huge problem of unemployment.


Here is Darliston Baptist Church. It was one of the few church buildings in the region that is completed (it's common there for building projects to just stop when money runs out for both churches and homes especially). It was set up several decades ago by an organization that left and hasn't had any follow up as far as I'm aware, so they are a very traditional Baptist church somewhat caught in a past era. We were able to attend services on Sunday where our Outreach Pastor, Scott, spoke to the church about being culturally relevant -- an issue that our church has addressed in the last couple years especially. One way we are already helping them in this area is providing New Kings James version Bibles for them which has already been positively received by the younger and newer Christians there who were having a hard time understanding the KJV. It seems like such a small change, but it is making a huge difference.

Pastor Leroy and his family were such a joy to meet. He has an amazing reputation in the community. Everywhere he goes, people know him and love him regardless of the fact that most of them don't attend church. He is highly respected among his people and we saw that manifested in many different ways during the trip. He has a huge heart for God and for training leaders and the next generation. He seems thrilled to have us interested in investing in his ministry and we are looking forward to seeing how he will continue to be used by God in that region of Jamaica.

The best part for me was getting to know the people. It surprised me how in such a short amount of time how attached we got to the people we met. Having the babies there with us was a huge ice breaker and automatically gave myself and Maryellen a common bond with many people there, as well as a draw for the children (they looooved the babies!).

Let me introduce you to one of my new friends. This is Camise. She is in 10th grade and comes from a very poor family of 15 children, of which she is the youngest. Her parents are too old to work, and she lives with them and an older sister who I think supports them. Her sister has 4 children who are divided amongst other family members, which is very common there. (We met more children living with grandmas and aunts than with their mothers I think.) Camise is going to join the army when she finishes high school. She is a hard worker and has a kind heart. She wants to be the first one in her family to be able to help her parents. They started building a better house, but had to stop when they ran out of money. She continually told us how she is struggling and hungry and needs help. I wanted to give her more, but I offered her my prayers and support, and promised to write her to encourage and pray. I know she is hurting, but God has brought her this far and He can carry her the rest of the way. I know I can remind her of that at least. I've thought of Camise often since returning and she will be someone I will look forward to catching up with if I do have the opportunity to return someday.

Well, that's a start! I have a lot more to share, and will give more details about the projects we did while we were there next. It was so cool for Brad and I to go together and to have some special time with Elijah as well. It has helped us be a team and share in this rather than for me to be an "outsider" to what Brad has experienced. The slideshow I am working on is almost finished - we have a team meeting tonight where I hope to get the last of the group's photos to include, so stay tuned!

Profound Beauty

"May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." ~ John 17:23b

No Place Like Home

We arrived home this afternoon and are settling back into things here slowly but surely. We had an amazing trip, and I have so many things (and photos!) to share once things here get a little more back to normal. It's crazy how such a short trip can feel so long and you never come back the same (in a good way). We tasted many new things, saw many new things, and did many new things and it was a trip to remember. I look forward to sharing a glimpse of it with you soon. But for now we are enjoying the sweet reunion of our family. There really is no place like home.

In 48 Hours...

...we'll be in Mo Bay! The bags are packed. We hit the road tomorrow. Jamaica, here we come!

No Worries, Mon!

Something is different about this little guy...
...He's about to become a world traveler!!! :)

Remember that teaser about an upcoming trip? I was waiting for that one last crucial piece before I shared this on here, but it arrived in the mail today (I was getting a little nervous we wouldn't get it in time!) so now we have (almost) no worries, mon! :)

You may or may not remember a little trip Brad took back in the fall. Well, we are headed with a team of 7 other people from our church back down to Darliston, Jamaica and Elijah and I get to join him this time! We leave a week from tomorrow!

This trip is a follow-up to the last one with a slightly larger group. Some people have pretty specific tasks -- we have a carpenter going who is going to work on fixing some bathrooms, and a tech guy going to repair some computers in the schools -- but the rest of us are going as visionaries for how our church can provide aid down there in the future. We are developing a partnership with a church down there that is modeled after Brad's global health trips to Honduras during residency, but with an additional spiritual element. My focus is going to be on checking out the schools and identifying needs with the women and children. We are in the very early stages of setting things up down there, so our leadership team is going to meet the people, see the facilities, and pinpoint ways we can help them. Then we will report back to the church and plan projects for the subsequent teams based on our findings.

I am excited, but a little nervous about the logistics of traveling with a 4 month old to a tropical location. Riley and Naomi are already looking forward to a week of sleep-overs at Grammy's so I know they will be well taken care of, but I am definitely going to miss them. It will be so good though for Brad and I to experience this together. He has a great passion for short term missions and helping people overseas, so it is good for me to have a part in that as well. I haven't been on a trip like this with him since we went to The Gambia, W. Africa back in 2002. I am excited to meet the people down there and bring them encouragement and aid and share with them the love of Jesus! :) Be sure there will be lots of photos and an update when we return! Thanks in advance for praying for this opportunity -- that we will be used greatly and changed profoundly. And for traveling mercies with Elijah :).

Jamaica, here we come!