Touchdown!

We've landed in MN...8 days from the exact hour we met in the church parking lot. We are certainly grateful for the drivers that have now sacrificed a good nights sleep!

We're in the U.S. but...

...we aren't getting anywhere very fast. We cleared customs in Atlanta, boarded our plane, sat on our plane, and then got back off of our plane. We're being told that we'll leave at 11pm EST...but we aren't holding our breath.  A part is still being waited on. Not surprisingly, the crew is reading, playing card games with lots of laughter, grabbing dinner, and not whining. Hope to see you soon!

Dwelling in the Word

Each night of our trip we have been dwelling in God’s Word. We read Luke 10:1-11 and listen to where God is speaking through a word, phrase or image from the passage that grabs our attention or sparks a memory or insight about our day’s work. We invite you to dwell in this passage today with us. Read it aloud twice, either by yourself or with others. Listen for that word or phrase that grabs your attention and see where God is speaking into your life.

As we have spent time in this passage the reflections about where God is at and how God is working has become deeper and richer each day. I have been humbled by our young people’s ability and desire to follow Jesus. It has been amazing to listen to the ways they have seen God at work among us, often through the children we have come to serve. We want to share some of the insights that our young people heard God speak about tonight.

In order for us to work with other people, we need to extend peace to the people first. I feel like I did that with the kids at Robin’s Nest and the kids who live around there. I could feel the peace when we got to Robin’s Nest. But today, I’m not sure if I was being selfish or what, but I don’t think that I gave this new group the chance to receive the peace and it was harder to know whether they received the peace as well. I think I might have missed out on something today.”

"Jesus says, ‘Don’t carry a purse or bag when you go to do his work.’ I’ve been thinking how we brought all this luggage to the airport and had to take some stuff out of some bags so that we would make them weigh less than 50 lbs. All we really need to bring is ourselves and our love.”

On that same verse another youth said, “If we carry too much stuff with us, we won’t be able to receive the hospitality others give us.”

We have learned this week that doing God’s work with our hands is just as much about being open to where God is already at as it is about what we bring with us. We are looking forward to coming home and seeing where Jesus is already at in our own neighborhoods and meeting him there.

Pastor Jason

what a gift

What a gift...thanks Zumbro for giving us the opportunity to take our young people outside of the country to experience God's creation in a foreign land. It's hard to be away from our own children and spouses (really hard, some days), but it's an amazing experience to be able to partner in life-changing ministry with such amazing people. jason & lisa

our highlights thus far

Many nights at the end of the day we'll share our highs and lows...the best and worst parts of our day. This evening we shared our highs and lows thus far on the trip. Since not all in the group are blogging, I wanted to give you a window into their experience...so I took good notes. :) Here are our highlights thus far...

Alex H. – The kid that really knew how to push buttons was actually sad when we were leaving, and he came up to me to say good-bye and said that he was sorry we were leaving.

Alex O. –Toward the end of the week, Lou and I made a handshake…and it felt like I connected with him.

Sam A-P. – Putting the smiles on kids faces by giving them piggy back rides.

Terry A. – Being part of this group, and pushing the edge of my comfort zone.

Kirsten S. – Looking at the stars last night from the roof on the Nest. Going on the fruit picking adventure with Terry and some of the kids…and finally getting to know some of the kids yesterday.

Madeline Y. – Getting to hear Glaston sing last night. It was as though he was singing directly to God.

Emily C. – Meeting so many new people, kids and being in a totally different culture. Also, it has made me so thankful for all that I have.

Courtney O. – VBS. Even though it was utter chaos, the fact that we were spreading the word of God to so many kids was so cool.

Megan N. – Meeting all of the kids and watching Tulroy develop from kicking and fighting, and then being calm with Lisa…and then when more people loved him, there were more and more people that could calm him down.

Marissa T. – Just being here in general; I’ve never been out of the country before.

Susan S. – Connecting with a lot of kids. I got to know a lot of them and when I left there were a lot of people that I had to say good-bye to.

Alice Z. – When Mr. T (an infant) spit up all over Nicole. And, one time I was feeding the cheetos to kids and a kid lied to me about not getting any yet. I told her, you don’t have to lie to get food…I’ll give more to you. She looked at me like “really?”

Nicole L. – That we were able to give these kids food for the day.

Jacqui O. – Seeing all the kids so excited when they were starting to get their t-shirts and the other craft goodies they got to take home every day. You could see how excited they were.

Amber M. – Getting to know all of the kids.

Samantha S. – The day after we made the t-shirts, all of the Robin’s Nest kids were wearing the them. They all came up to me and said, “Hey, we’re the same now.”

Gretchen S. – Meeting all of the kids, and speaking with some of the adults, and getting to know the whole group.

Abby S. – Seeing the kids and their big smiles everyday.

Karen S. – To watch all of the teenagers (teenagers are scary people for adults). Not one of you complained anytime I asked you to do the most disgusting job. I have real hope for our future. I was getting sad about our world…and so I say thank you to all of you for giving me hope again.

Megan S. – The singing of the littlest kids. They all knew the songs and the prayers.

Emily L. – Orlando and I walked back together yesterday. He was on my shoulders and the whole way back we sang “Sanctuary together.

Katie N. – Being able to come back and see how much the Nest has changed since we were here last here. They have done so much.

Jason B-W – Yesterday afternoon when 2 community boys came back to the school and I talked to them for about 20 minutes. When asked about what they had enjoyed this week their response was, “Learning about Jesus.” And, to see you guys let God work through you this week was just phenomenal. You guys are really, really special.

Lisa – Thinking today about all of all the people that made this VBS and trip happen. I looked at the kids with their Bible Buddies and thought of the VBS children from Zumbro that brought in money to buy them for these children. I thought of the Zumbro VBS volunteers that led at our VBS, and then went above and beyond to prepare everything for our trip. And all of the Zumbro quilters that sent quilts for all of the children. And all of the people that bought stock…so many hands were involved in serving these children…way more than just the 27 people that actually came on the trip.

Bob – The boys often sat on my shoulders, and when no music was playing I would hear them quietly singing, “I am not forgotten, I am not forgotten.” And, yesterday I spent an hour-and-a-half life guarding the boys in the pool at the Nest. It was great…really a private time with me and them…to just watch them be boys.

Sue J. – I had the opportunity to work with several of these kids while here. I got to know their awful stories and have some hard conversations, but at the end of the morning today one of the boys specifically sought me out to give me a hug.

Do I really have it that bad?

This week has been... a whole lot of things. Fun, memorable, but mostly exhausting. It's been the most work I've probably ever done in a week in my whole life. But it's been so worth it. There was one moment that hit me in particular, and it happened yesterday at VBS. Every day I always wake up and something comes to my mind, and yesterday the first thing I was thinking of was, "Oh my gosh I miss my bed... Oh my gosh I want my mom... Oh my gosh I miss my phone!" So it's safe to say I started out the day in the completely wrong mind set. Then we got to VBS and I was irritated with all the kids piling all over my sore, tired body. I got up and went to sit on the side of the room and a girl named Tyra asked me if she could play with my hair-of course I said yes. Now my idea of playing with hair was not the same as hers-boy was that painful! She braided, and re-braided, and re-braided again to the point that my head was throbbing. But we began having good conversation. I asked her if she was enjoying VBS and she started telling me about her home life. She was enjoying VBS because it was a three hour break from being at home having to take care of 15 people living in a house the size of a bedroom. She told me braiding hair is her favorite thing to do, even if it's her own, because it helps her to escape from reality. She then proceeded to ask me questions about what it's like to live in the United States, and I answered. At this point my heart was aching for this sweet innocent girl, and then she told me that it's her dream to one day get an education. That is her dream, and that is something that SO many people in the United States, and probably all around the world take for granted. She wants an education, so that she can find a job in the United States and give her family a better life. I need to remember just how good I have things. When I wake up cranky and missing my big bed and my phone, I need to remember how lucky I am. We all should be thankful for the things we have, and remember that we could be living off of a lot less. We must not take anything for granted. Katie N.

a powerful last day of vbs

I’ve done a lot of crazy things on mission trips before, and I tend to get the rest of the group to follow me…but this, this is the craziest thing I have ever said, “Sure, our group will do that!” to. Today was our last day of Vacation Bible School at the Salter’s Hill School. As we neared the end of the morning, Pastor Jason and I collapsed down next to each other on the cement floor of the classroom. We heard the kids singing the words to songs about God’s great big love, we watched our high school students blessing the young, Jamaican children, and we were surrounded by our teammates passing out sandwiches and oranges and juice. And as the two of us sat back and took it all in, we looked at each other on the cement floor with hot, sweaty Jamaican children crawling all over our laps, and we cried. Our team of 27 worked as hard this week as I’ve seen any other team work before. And we did it. We accomplished our goal…this week we told at least 86 children that God loves them. We fed their hearts with God’s promises and their tummies with food.

Several powerful things happened today. For one, we finally figured out just how to manage all 86 of those children by the last day! As Jason pointed out, we let go of a lot of our organization, while they met us in the middle by going along with a little bit of our structure, and we worked it out together. The moments of peacefulness just might have outnumbered the moments of chaos today. Well, that might be an exaggeration…but it was at least a little bit calmer!

Another powerful moment came when I took some time out to visit with one of the Jamaican mothers that had been accompanying her two young children all week. She shared with me that her kids loved coming every morning, and then she thanked me. “Thank you for coming and doing this for our kids,” she told me. “They all love it,” she said, and then she pointed out to the schoolyard full of kids playing soccer. “Look at the smiles on their faces. They love it.”

When we finally sent all of the kids home, cleaned up, and turned the lights out on the classroom, we boarded a bus to take us to our shuttle to Negril. We’d been on the bus for a long time when we saw a group of the kids from the community that had come to Vacation Bible School all week. We were miles away from the school by this point. When we joined up with the second half of our group, they told us that they had given them a ride down the hill. It was then that they learned that this group of kids had been walking 2 hours each way to come to Vacation Bible School that week. Wow. How powerful. We’ve been on those roads each day and know that it was not an easy 2 hour hike that these kids repeatedly made.

I write now as we’re on a shuttle bus to the Grand Pineapple Resort in Negril. It’s a scenic hour-and-a-half drive around the island from Montego Bay to Negril. Tonight we will relax (and shower)! But tomorrow…we’re back to playing with kids again. J I’ve lined up our group to put on a fun day for about 40 or so children in the Negril area. We’re not at all sure what we’re in for…but we’ll let ya know.

Thanks for reading our blog. It’s fun to be able to bring you along with us as we see God’s beautiful country and use our hands to do God’s work. Blessings to you from Jamaica… mama lisa