DAY 4.....KLEENEX, GLASS, & MORE CEMENT! (2006)

Awoke to another beautiful Jamaican morning. We had a special treat for breakfast, fresh papaya from one of the teachers, Marion, at Basic School, and a delicious fresh pineapple. Jandi Childs led us in a devotional from 2 Corinthians that reminded us that we may be pressed in, but we will not be crushed. We made final preparations for VBS, although no one was anxious to go. In all of our minds was the inevitable and quickly approaching painful goodbyes. Both teams arrived at their VBS's with a multitude of emotions...excitement...sorrow...love...pain. The craft for the day was a Christ Catcher (ask a team member later). It was actually a Cootie Catcher, but we changed the name. The female team members got a kick out of teaching the men on the team how a Cootie Catcher works. For some reason, the kids really liked the Christ Catcher! We also took more sweeties, three suitcases of supplies for the teachers, which included toothbrushes and toothpaste for the children plus many school supplies, and bracelets to give the children and teachers before we left. After a ton of pictures and singing, we began the painful process of saying goodbye. I knew this was going to be a tough process when I looked down into the eyes of one of the girls who had touched my heart, and they were filled with tears. In some strange way and through the power of God, we had brought joy into her world and the world of her classmates, and all she knew was we were now leaving. I pray the joy of the Lord will remain with them forever.

We returned in silence back to the manse for a quick lunch, and then off to work. One crew continued paint preparations and wall repairs for the next team. Another crew attempted to learn the fine art of cement slinging. We don't feel we have a future in this difficult job! :) A final crew cut almost 100 louvers of glass for the windows of the building being built and installed them.

The evening devotional was led by Whit Hageman who reminded us that the mission should not and cannot end when we leave Jamaican soil. The team has formed bonds and friendships that will last an incredibly long time. It has been my blessing to watch every team member minister to every other team member. This has truly been a seed planting rag-tag team of God. Now on to tonight's team member blogs....Michael "sinbad" Creighton

Linda Creighton.... (adult)
Well, today was our last day to do VBS. I never dreamed I would fall so deeply in love with 20 children (the other group had about 150 children) in approximately 11 hours spanning 4 days. As we left our schools today, I don’t think there was a team member with dry eyes. These 170ish children have touched our hearts, and I don’t think a single one of us will ever be the same. Tears fill my eyes as I picture their sweet faces. I consider every hug and kiss I received from those children as a special hug and kiss from God.

I praise God for this opportunity to come to Jamaica. As I was sitting on the hill at the manse where we are staying after we returned from VBS this morning and I was uncontrolably balling my eyes out, I just kept thinking that somehow all the problems and issues I have in my life back in Dallas, GA seem so small and trivial. And it’s not even really because of how these people we are here to “help” have less than we do, or the realization of how “blessed” we are in America. It’s more just because of how awesome and powerful God is – that His love for me is stronger than the love I have for these 20 Jamaican children and their teachers and even stronger than the love I have for my husband or that my own Mother has for me. That, along with the fact that God sees a ragamuffin like me as someone He wants to use to share His love with others. I’m imperfect; I don’t have my act together; I don’t always say the right or best thing; I don’t give God the time he deserves on a daily basis; I go through phases where I prefer to read the fiction book I am reading instead of reading the Bible; I went for 10 years living my life for me, not for God, and there’s so much more I could say, but after all that (and God knows every bit of it), He sees me as worthy and worth it!

I’m beginning to realize that maybe the reason I get worked up over the issue-type stuff that happens in my life is to give me some sense of power or control, and I’m realizing more than ever here in Jamaica that God is the One in ultimate control, and I need to humble myself and hand a lot more over to Him – especially the trivial stuff I get worked up about.

Well, I could write a book here about this experience, but you’ll have to settle for the Cliff Notes. I just have to say thank you to all who are reading this and a special thank you to those of you who have left comments. Your comments have brought us so much joy and encouragement. I miss you too Kim and can’t wait to see you back home.
Love to all!!!

Jada Earl....(student)
I am sad to say that today was the last day of VBS. Those are some of the sweetest, happiest, and most loving children I have met in my entire life. God has blessed me so greatly by giving me the opportunity to get to know these wonderful children. When you look into their beautiful eyes and see their cheerful smiles, you can’t help but to fall in love with them! Today I got to know some of the children that I had not gotten to talk to earlier in the week, it was so hard to say goodbye to my new little friends after only spending such a short amount of time with them. The hardest child to say goodbye to today was Kalya, I will always remember that her favorite color is yellow and her favorite animal is a sheep, the sound of her laughter is priceless. God has been doing so much cool stuff in the past week, he truly is AMAZING! Thank you so much for all of the support everyone has given us, hearing your comments every night brings me (and everyone else) so much joy. I love you all so much!

P.S. Steve, Nathan, Monica, Kelly, Jake, and Chris…. If you are reading this I love you all so much!

Melanie Ewing.....( student)
WOW!!!
This week has been awesomely, amazingly, incredibly, fantastically, well formed!!!
Words cannot explain the way this week has been for me..! I wish this wasn’t the last day with the kids…I wish we had one more day with these kids!!! Earlier today at the school one of the kids named Ramón looked at me and said “CRY?” and I said “Yes cry” and he said “ Why you cry” and I said “ I’m leaving.“ Later on that day when we were leaving he brought his friends over and said “She the one who cried” and his friends said “It will be alright.” Wow I wish I would understand why just a couple of hours with the kids made a difference in our lives and in theirs! The devotional tonight was by Whit Hageman and one of the things he said was to carry on this mission…don’t stop when we get to Atlanta…keep it going into other people’s lives. Which I can tell that, that has already happened by reading all of your comments!

My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the name of the Lord, the god of Israel. But the lord said to my father David, “Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my name, you did well to have this in your heart. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood-he is the one who will build the temple for my name.” the Lord has keep the promise he made. I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 2 chronicles 5 (7; 10)

That Verse is about the children at the school…the first day we were at the school, the children sang us a song and that song went “ Building up the Temple, Building up the Temple, building up the Temple of the Lord, Boys come and help us, Girls come and help us, Building up the Temple of the Lord.”

Well that’s it from here. I guess I will talk to you all when we get back from Jamaica!!! See you all very soon…love to all!

P.S. Momma I love you very much and I miss you and Alan! Alan, thank you for that comment it meant a lot to at least hear from you… Ashley I haven’t heard from you yet but I would like to hear from you very soon!