Monday, April 26, 2010

Jamaica, in review

Our team of 8 adults and 2 babies (4 and 6 months) returned to the USA on Friday.  It had been six days of new experiences, of learning, planning, thinking, building, dreaming, and fun.

I'm not sure how much I will blog about the trip over the next weeks, (for there are many stories to share) but here's a taste.

One of the great things that I experienced in the last two weeks was seeing God actively working at drawing people to himself in three very different places.  I left (and have now returned to) Detroit, where God is working through the ministries of New St. Peters to bring several people back to himself from the streets.
In Rochester, the opening of a new church building has brought hundreds of new people.  Over this trimester, 41 different new people have attended our "Starting Point" class, for people who are seeking God and may or may not know him as King and Savior.
In Darliston, Jamaica, they have had a dozen baptisms in January and Febuary, and many first-time professions of faith.

One of the Jamaicans that I spent many hours working with as we built a couple walls and hung doors together just recently gave Christ his life.  He's about my age, a welder by trade. After an accident which left his legs badly burned he was in the hospital.  Pastor visited him, and when he was released he came to church.  The next week he came back, and decided to follow Jesus. Now he's struggling in the midst of an economic downturn to support his family. He had planned to go deep into the hills this season with many of his friends to plant marijuana. It's the most lucrative cash crop they can grow.  But now he has a moral dilemma.  How can he do the right thing and still provide?  His only answer is to simply trust in God.

Praise be to the God of Jamaica, of Detroit, of Rochester.  He is One, and his mighty hand is at work all across our globe.  I am thankful for a small glimpse.

1 comment:

R N W said...

That's definitely awesome to see when you get to travel around and get overdosed on the cool work God is doing despite the awakened awareness of how much more there still is to do.