Day 4, Monday, March 12
Our first of seven schools was on the agenda for today. In Jamaica, schools have a daily Bible devotion time, kinda Sunday School like. We were given this 30 min period in each of the schools we went to. How unlike Canada and the US! Another big difference for us was the discipline and respect that the kids showed us at each school. The first time I went in front of the school children to introduce our group I said “Good morning everyone” and 280 kids responded in unison: “Good morning sir”! I did a double take as I am not used to that in our culture.

Anyway, we were told to expect 15-20 minutes, but were given the full 1/2 hour! This allowed us to do more music with the kids as well as split the kids up amongst our students to share the Gospel with them.

Visit Troy Johnstone Photography

Students sharing the Gospel with the kids

After the school we went for a very different experience.. a nursing home.

We didn’t spend much time preparing for this type of ministry, but our students did very well. They talked to the patients, read Scripture that was requested, prayed with them and shared in music and testimonies.

We were scheduled to go to two nursing homes that day, but we had about 4 hours between them so our bus driver took us to a nearby beach!

It was really nice to swim in salt water again, and it was a bonus that it was really warm water!

After lounging about for a bit on a small Caribbean beach, we headed off to a second nursing home where we continued our ministry to the seniors.

A challenging day of ministry as we learned more how God can use us. Some of our students felt akward with the kids but loved working with the seniors, while others had the opposite experience. The whole team was very excited about the opportunities we had and the openness of the Jamaican culture to the Gospel. It made us even more excited about the rest of the week!

Day 3, Sunday, March 11

For the morning service we traveled to our bus driver’s church, Independence Hall Baptist Church. Our bus driver is the assistant pastor at this church.

Our students taught the Sunday School classes and were involved in the morning service with music and testimony. Unfortunately, it had rained that morning and most people walk to the church, so attendance was down. In spite of that it was great to fellowship with other believers in another part of the world. Despite being from different countries, we have this one, wonderful thing in common: Jesus Christ.

Some of the kids at the church.

Visit Troy Johnstone Photography

Students leading the singing.

The service was almost 2 hours long, and not because I am long-winded. They had over an hour of music and Scripture reading before they invited us to share our ministry. It was interesting to see how the services ran in Jamaica.
________________________________

In the afternoon we went to Oasis Baptist Church to run their Sunday afternoon youth group program. Like most events, everything ran on J-time (Jamaica time), meaning flexible time. When we showed up there were no kids there at all, but slowly over the next hour more people arrived. One even showed up just as we were leaving..

Anyway, once some people showed up we played some games and sang songs.

Playing Huckle Buckle with our students

My voice was almost shot from speaking louder than the traffic the night before and preaching that morning, and with one more sermon to do that night I asked Frank to share the devotion with the young people. Frank is a missionary with ABWE (the organization we partnered with for this trip) and came along as a facilitator for us. He also was a missionary for many years with Word of Life. We really enjoyed getting to know Frank and ministering with him.

_____________________
Late once again for a meal we quickly had supper back at the school and then headed off to our final ministry event for the day. We would be participating in the evening service at Mt. Stewart Baptist Church. Students again lead music, shared a skit and some testimonies, and I preached.

Pastor Moore and I after the service.

At each of the churches we visited on this trip we left a copy of the books The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus and the children’s picture book, The Lamb.


Both these books clearly explain the Gospel without making assumptions of what the reader may already know or not know about the Bible and God. It is our prayer that these churches will use them in their ministries with the people of Jamaica.

For 11 days I had the privilege of leading a missions trip in Jamaica. Here is a summary:

Day 1, Friday, March 9
It was an early start to the day as we had to be ready to leave for the Toronto airport by 6:30 AM. Last minute checks of everyone’s passports and baggage requirements (like J who forgot to pack his pillow and bedding) and we loaded up the chartered school bus and were on our way.

Most of us were dressed lightly as we didn’t want to take winter coats to Jamaica with us. Unfortunately the heater on the bus was busted and we arrived at the airport very much looking forward to some tropical heat. One last bit of frost bite before going, you could say.

Frozen students on the bus.

Visit Troy Johnstone Photography

We arrived at the airport shortly after 9:00 AM, right on schedule as our plane was to leave at 12:00 and we needed to have time to get through the airport rigmarole for international flights. We found out we were going to have an additional 5 hours for the rigmarole as the flight to Montego Bay was already delayed that much by the time we got to Toronto.

To further complicate things, 6 of the 22 of us received stand-by tickets. So the next four hours were partially filled with prayer that our team would not get split up and arrive on different days!

While waiting at the airport I decided to get some pictures of my daughter’s Tux (the Linux mascot!) visiting friends.

Finally a plane arrived and we were on our way to Jamaica!

Outside the airport in Montego Bay

Five hours late, but thank the Lord all of us were able to fly down at the same time. After a harrowing drive up into the mountains at night we arrived at our base for the week, Fairview Baptist Bible College. (map)

Day 2, Saturday, March 10
In the morning we got our first idea of how beautiful the country was, and how hot it could get. The schedule for the first day was pretty lite with only an orientation session in the morning and an open air evangelism meeting in the evening.

Our students had just finished a very busy quarter at WOLBI with a full class schedule and six weeks of Snow Camp, so the day off in the sun was a nice break for them. Of course, I spent some of this time taking photos around campus of the scenery (some are available on my flickr set at www.flickr.com/photos/troyandnaomi/sets/72157600025885997/). Wes and I went to the top of the hill overlooking campus to check out the incredible view..

Err.. maybe this view is better:

It is a beautiful campus at Fairview.

The temperature got up to just over 30 C (85 + F) each day with high humidity. And the sun is definitely more intense than in Canada. Normally under such conditions I would welcome a cool, refreshing shower.. but most residences in Jamaica do not seem to have any hot water, so the shower was rain water that is collected into cisterns. That makes it pretty cool, a little cooler than I am used to for a shower.

Guys shower: straight pipe, bent pipe, watering can shower head – all cold.

That evening we walked to the small town at the bottom of the hill where there was a little square with some shops, a couple of bars, and a taxi stand. The nearby church had arranged for their youth group and our team to do some open air evangelism in the community. It was a noisy venue with traffic going by, people walking along, a couple of guys smoking pot, and constant activity at the bars. We did some music and skits to get a crowd around, and some students shared their testimonies.

Students and members of the McField Baptist Youth Group sharing in music

Team members talking to locals about God

Some guys playing a game at the bar 20 feet away from where we were giving our presentation

I also had the opportunity to preach to those who were gathered and those who were listening but trying to look like they weren’t. The people in Jamaica are generally open to listening about God and are respectful, so once I started to speak a number of people who had been at a distance came in closer to listen to a brief Gospel presentation.

It seems that many people in Jamaica know about God and Jesus, but they are trusting in their own works to get them to heaven. With that foundational knowledge we were able to focus our messages on the need for a personal faith for salvation. A key text for me was:

For it is by GRACE you have been saved through FAITH, – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by WORKS, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8, 9

By the time we were done it was getting dark and time to head home for supper, reviewing the night, planning the next day, and a good night’s rest. Sunday was going to be a busy day!