Lutheran Church of the Redeemer

Our first full day in the mission field was a busy one! We spent the morning at Ray of Hope Basic School, a private daycare for 2-5 year olds. The students led morning devotions with songs and a skit, and administered the "midterm exam". (They take school very seriously here!) The kids loved our sidewalk chalk, stickers, coloring pages and bubble machine. They loved to climb all over the students and fight over who gets to sit in our laps.

From there we went to Caribbean Christian School for the Deaf, where you can see us learning Ramoy's "sign name", a name given to members of the Deaf community by other members of the Deaf community that reflects their physical characteristics and personality. We learned that only 10% of the students' parents know Jamaican Sign Language and many students don't have government documents. 

Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without a stop for snacks and ice cream! We swung by MegaMart on the way back to base to stock up on Jamaican candy and drinks and got the most amazing ice cream from a vendor out front. 

Meals have been home cooked and delicious - rice and beans, salad (like cole slaw), fried chicken and curried goat! 

Here you can see the preschoolers sharing a song with us called "Big Foot, Little Foot". These kids know that it doesn't matter if you're big or little, you can serve Jesus! In the song the teacher says "how do you feel?" and they yell "WE FEEL FINE!". 

Jamaicans speak English, but there's also a Creole dialect 'patois' which we've been learning. When we ask the kids 'how are you?' they say, 'mi gud!'

What an amazing way to end a week of service onto others! The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer made sure that in this season of crucifixion observation, the 'shut-in' within the community of Spicy Hill, Trelawny knew that they were not alone. The team not long after assisting with the sports day at the Spicy Hill Basic School across from the Spicy Hill New Testament church and lunch, dived right into parceling and packaging food bags for the locals. The team worked in pairs to parcel out flour, rice, cornmeal among other goodies and just by the commitment given to completing each package from each team member there is no doubt that they served from a place of love and compassion.