Reminiscing About Jamaica

July 19th:

• My first time being out of the country! Once we landed in Mo Bay, I noticed the increase in heat immediately. The ride from Mo Bay to Mandeville (where we were staying) was the roughest ride I have ever been on in my entire life. I will never complain about the roads in NC being bad because I think I got to encounter the worst roads ever. It rained the whole night because a tropical depression was coming through. I was sitting in the dark with a bunch of people that I did not know in a Bible College in Jamaica during a really fierce rainstorm. I did have a moment of wondering what I had gotten myself into, but I was also extremely excited about the unknown.

20th:

• We went to the Richmond Church of Christ. The service was pretty long and we were told it would have been longer had it not been for a funeral that the members were going to. I really enjoyed the service. It was kinda weird not knowing any of the songs they were singing and even if i knew the song, not really knowing what part they were on because I couldn’t understand them. I must admit that when the worship leader started singing the saying ”make a joyful NOISE to the Lord” came to mind. A lot of the people there sing in the same way you would talk, which doesn’t make for the greatest listening enjoyment. A few moments after critically judging the peoples’ singing abilities, God laid some knowledge on me. I felt Him say, ”They don’t care about what they sound like or how loud they get because they are singing to me. Who are you singing to?”. Dang. Needless to say after that my perspective changed. I took a moment during our service to just listen to all of us (American and Jamaicans) singing praises to our Lord. It was beautiful. As the group was traveling back from the church, we passed a school that had an amazing quote. I thought it was a blessing from God and His way of showing me that He would be dropping a lot more knowledge on me throughout my time there. The quote said: “To live we learn.”

21st:

• First day of Vacation Bible School! We had a church to go to in the morning and in the evening. The morning group was at Richmond. They were so mannerly. The afternoon group was at a church called Waltham. Not so mannerly. I was Karen’s assistant at both churches. I am thankful that things worked out that way because I think that working with Karen during this trip really helped us connect more. I was so nice to her the whole week…to bad that was Jamaican Natashia.
• I went to New Hope Orphanage. As soon as I walk in I was overwhelmed. Babies are crying everywhere. There just aren’t enough workers for each kid. I heard this one baby in particular crying his eyes out. He had his hand stuck in this door type thing in his crib. As soon as I got his hand out and wiped the snot off of his face, his arms shot out for me. That was the case with all the kids there. Even with the workers and our small group that went, there weren’t enough people to hold each child. There were times that I had two kids on my hip and still another asking to be picked up. And they did not want to be let go, but that was ok because I didn’t really want to let them go. I met “my twins”. Jafari and Jabari…so freakin’ cute.

22nd:

• Went to the orphanage again. God spoke a lot of truth into my heart about love. I realized that these kids constantly display outwardly what each of us desire throughout our life: Love. God gave me a little glimpse into what selfless love is by being around those precious babies. He showed me how great His love for us is as well. The fact that I wanted for each child that I held to just feel love radiating out of me and how I just deeply desired for them to experience that throughout their lives  was from a person who had only spent time with them for two days. God was like “Tashia, you are loving on these babies like whoa, but I love my children far much more than this.” That threw me for a loop and has really opened my eyes to the depth of God’s love.

23rd:

• The group went to a street service with Mount Pleasant Church. It was an amazing time of worship and seeing the church there passionately telling more people about Christ. I was a part of the best dance party ever! It was with this lady that had to be in her 50’s or maybe 60’s. She was gettin’ it! Karen and I got tired. That lady could have danced for days. It was really fun though because it was dancing unto the Lord.

24th:

• Last day of VBS at Waltham. They were our rowdy bunch. I think it meant more seeing how they had changed because seeing how their love for us had grown was more obvious.
• Richmond held a service for us to thank us for doing VBS. I think almost everyone in the church sang for us. One of my main men, Javol, gets so into his singing or playing the drums. He has a wonderful time praising the Lord and no matter whether he is leading worship or speaking God’s truth, he wants others to get excited. His passion and energy are contagious.

25th:

• Last day of VBS at Richmond. My little man, Raaj, gave me about a dozen hugs. This meant a lot because this kid hissed at Karen and I the first day. He wouldn’t interact with us. I think we got him with our dancing skills. At first he just looked at us like we were crazy but eventually joined in. Then he started sitting beside me and giving me a hug each day before he left.

26th and 27th:

• We left for Negril (the beach). It was gorgeous, but honestly I would have rather spent the last couple of days with the kids back in the mountains.
• As soon as I got in the airplane, I started praying. I was so God-focused during my time in Jamaica. I cared about what He wanted me to do. I put others before myself and felt like I was really serving everyone around me like we are called to do. I hardly picked on Karen and I only lied about half of the time. I really prayed that what I had learned would continue to be lived out back in the Boro.

I know that this is a lot, but it’s not even half of all that I experienced in nine days.