Back to mission February 23, 2008

I’ve been back in the States for a week now. It’s been a hard and long week. I’m ready to being kept busy in Jamaica. It’s just that I am ready to be back in routine. The Jamaicans all have been great! They were willing to listen to me, gave me their shoulder to cry on on the day I found out about my aunt. They all have been great! Even Mr. Reid, Nurse, her daughter, Andicea (teacher), and a student, Kishaun all went with me to the airport and they all said that they wish they could go with me and be with me.  I’m thankful for such great friends I have made in 3 weeks!

I’m flying back this afternoon. Pray for no delays!!!

Sorry, no exciting stories to share here…. 

PRAY FOR:

 * for all of my families, my mom, my Gram, my 2 cousins

* the Nurse’s family (at CCCD). Her brother in law passed away on Thursday night last week

* Marie, the work team kitchen staff, her father was dying. (I don’t have the update on that as of yet.) Marie’s father is the only one she still has. Her siblings doesn’t care much for Marie. So she’ll feel alone. Be praying for her and God will show her that the CCCD staff are her family, in Christ.

Urgent Prayer needed!!! February 15, 2008

This is great saddness I need to do… fly back home to the States for one week. My favorite aunt has passed away. I’m flying back to Chicago and will stay in IL for one week. Please pray for my family as we deal with the loss of my aunt. And pray for safe travels.  I know God is good, at all the times! She’s with Him now. That gives me the peace!!!

Love to all !!

Question of the day February 13, 2008

Interesting question was asked the other day.

Kirk and I were watching Mr. Taylor and the boys in training for the “Sports Day”. The girls were with us. Kirk decided to try and race with the boys. He gave me his wallet, phone, keys etc from his pockets to hold for him.  A student next to me, she said that he may be married. I said that he IS married. Married to Keri. She didn’t know who I was talking about, I pointed to the house where they’re at. And described that they have two little boys. She then realized who I was talking about.  Then she asked if you marry, you go to hell. Right?

Oh no!! I had the opportunity to explain about the only way to Hell is by one thing….by not accepting Jesus into your heart. It isn’t going to be because you got rich, because you got married, or because you did something wrong. It is because you did not accept Jesus to be your personal Savior.

Thought that was an interesting question. It got me wondering if it was something like her parents feeding her thoughts like that or Jamaican culture? etc…  I asked a staff and the staff confirmed that it wasn’t Jamaican culture or even not parents influence. Probably children talking among themselves and got them wondering.

Get ready for some laughs February 10, 2008

I’ve learned to wash flip flops! I was asking Odette where I could get a black flipflops which I’d like to have because my pink ones is basically ugly and dirty after 2 1/2 years. A student said to me “wash it”  I was like “wash it? how?” thinking she was joking. Odette laughed at me!! Of course, the American in me, I’d throw away the shoes and get me a new pair. Well, Odette told me how…. I had nothing to lose but give it a shot. Guess what!!! It’s bright pink as new now!!

Woke up Friday morning at 8am to a sky peeking through the ceiling! The team workers somehow made a hole in my ceiling while they were replacing the steel roofs. I was just SO glad I moved my room around on Wednesday otherwise I’d be waking up in DUST on my bed.  On top of that, bats lives in the room above me! How nice!!! I begged that they fix the hole before the bats come back. I don’t need a bat peeking and coming through that hole and live with me! Of course, Miss Russell and the team workers joked around with that!

I was telling Kirk Plattner about how the Jamaican watch movies they bought is on a recordable dvd… not like American store-bought movies, ya know? He told me that a missionary told him about how he rented a movie… during the movie, suddenly a man go up….and few minutes later, the man came back with soda and popcorn, and sat down!! Filming copying a movie in the audience?!?  NO wonder why those movies aren’t captioned!!!!

The long weekend… went by quickly even though I didn’t get to go anywhere much. Thursday afternoon with nothing to do, I decided to help David Brown who was here for the week doing the plastering the walls of the new future Vocational building. Last night, Miss Russell came to me saying she heard that I helped plastering the walls. Here I am thinking, uh-oh… am I in trouble for helping him? She said that if the walls fall apart, she knows who to come after to get paid back for the cement. LOL  I then told her that  David is such a perfectionist! So, he fixed some spots I didn’t do a very good job ob…. so if the walls fall apart, blame him. LOL

I’m sure there’s many more stories to come!

On a serious note, last night a student had an asthma attack. I helped by keeping other children away from crowding her to see what was wrong etc….  while we were waiting to see she does after doing a dose of the inhaler before having to take her to the hospital. She said that her dad usually would immediately take her to the hospital or doctor but he’s in America. Her mother doesn’t act fast and basically doesn’t care for her. Miss Russell just put her arm around her and just looked at me…. and said  it’s hard to see how the parents don’t care for their children. This student, she knows that! SO SAD !!!

Pray for the children here who has been left behind for this long holiday weekend. They should be at home with their families but they aren’t. In a way, I’m glad they’re here rather than being with their families being ignored and not cared for. They’re in a safe environment here. But it isn’t FAMILY….but they know we (the staff) all love them though.

Also, pray for some of the staff who lives here on the campus…. I’m learning about them… about how they’re treated here etc…  I wish I could buy them a house off campus and let them have a life of their own, but still work here at CCCD.  Easy to say!

Today…. got to go to town and walk to the beach…. hung out there with a gal I knew from camp. Good to see her though. We had fun hanging out. I got a bit of sunburn.  Very little pink. We were at the beach for like an hour and half. It’s all good here. I’m enjoying the sun for you all back in Illinois!  

Keep praying!!! 

Closures of the weekend February 4, 2008

It was a busy weekend. To you, it may seem not so busy but I was wiped out each night!

Saturday, I got convinced to go to a funeral of a teacher’s husband (from Knockpatrick CCCD.) I didn’t even know this teacher. But I went for the sake of the staff here, wanting my company. It’s a 2 1/2-3 hours drive up the mountains. I got to see 3 of my friends from JDV (Jamaica Deaf Village, and KP school).  This was Apostolic Church. Very different than American’s AC! I was a bit uncomfortable. Oh well.  Mr. Reid took us to KP CCCD to show one of the teacher the campus because she had never been to KP campus before. While we were there, I got to see 2 students who were at the camps I went to few years ago. And also Andrea, a teacher there. So great to see them! It was a very brief visit but glad to see them.

Sunday… another funeral, the student from MoBay CCCD…  it was a beautiful services. A student who was good friends with her, she lost it before everything started. She sat with me because everyone was bothering her,  asking why she was crying, or wanting to see her face etc…  she sat with me hid her face, I told other children to leave her alone. Our nurse’s daughter (hearing) sat with me and she started to cry too. I had two students next to me to comfort throughout the services. 

After the services, we went back to the campus, had lunch and the work team went to Doctor’s Cove beach… and… sorry to rub it in butI got to go with them. It was only 3:00 when we got there. I got a VERY little sun.  You can barely see where my swimsuit strap was. So, I’m not tan at all!   

At the beach, I taught Drew Plattner the sign for airplane because the plane lands right by the beach… and you’d see airplane landing about every 20-30 mins!! Drew is the oldest son, 2 years old  of a family from Princeville, IL.  It’s nice having them around. And now, every time Drew and I meet, he’s trying to remember my name sign.  So cute!

This week, there’s a work team from Maryland. They’ve been working on the roof of the Plattner’s. And they’ll work on the roof of our apartment. Please pray for their safety while they’re up there on the roof. And pray that God will use them in the way He wants them to do for CCCD.

This morning…. Mr. Reid asked me to do the devotion! ACK! I had only 5 minutes to throw something together. That’s how they do it in Jamaica. LAST MINUTE NOTICE!   It went well. Whew. God is good! Today is the last day of teaching for the week. I’ve taught the 8th graders but was short. And told them that we’ll continue next week. Everyone took off to get their snacks, Mario stayed and asked me what this and that was (on the board that we haven’t discussed and will discussed next week.)  He was so hungry and said to me “I want to get ready for University, keep teaching me.”   Pray that he continues to have that passion to learn, and all other children too. Many of the children lack the passion!! They give up TOO EASILY!!!! They don’t realize how important it is to have a good education for later in life.

Tomorrow, the parents will come, and do the parents/teacher meeting then they all go home. It’s holidays for Ash Wednesday. So, they’ll be gone until Sunday/Monday. Pray that the children enjoy their time with their families. And pray that the staff here will enjoy their time, get their rest before starting school again next week. Pray that I don’t go into boredom this week.

PRAY FOR:

Children to learn from me in educational way.

Work team to be safe working out there on the campus.

That I don’t get too bored this week. HAHAHA  Nah!! I’m always enjoying the company with Odette and Andicea (deaf teachers, living next door at my apartment). We enjoy ecah other’s companies. Always lot of laughters! And they also share their frustrations which saddens me becauseI KNOW they have lot of potentials for the children here at CCCD. Not just the deaf teachers but also hearing teachers here too.  Few of them would stay from time to time… “Now you understand…. I’m gonna quit.”   Turnovers is NOT good for the children and for their education because sometimes they hire teacher with no knowledge of deafness and sign language! So, the children suffer! I try to be a positive encouragement for them. It isn’t easy job!

Pray for me as I had a talk with Miss Russell, she struggles with deaf staff here in terms of having a close relationship with God. Im waiting for books that my mom will be sending to me, and use those books to find some way to use to improve their relationship with God. I’m considering maybe have a Bible study with the 4 deaf ladies here on the campus once a week. Pray that God will show me what to share/teach them on having a better relationship with God.

Sending some warm sun over to you from Jamaica!!!  (Hope that worked???)  

It’s Friday! February 1, 2008

Praise God the weekend’s here!

 I got my schedule earlier this week. I was able to sit in the classrooms and observe the classes I’m assigned to. I have total of 7 hours of teaching the children Reading and Language, 4 hours of sign language with the 3 Houseparents and the nurse…. and 2 hours of sign class with the teachers after school, and also one hour with a new teacher.  I do have some few hours that are free during the daytime. Those times are going to be spent in preparing the lessons because the materials and the books (Library) is in the main office. They’re closed at 4:00. So, I try to use those free hours to find materials, books, using the computer lab to use the computer to use resources, ideas etc… for my classes.

Tomorrow, there’s a team of 40 members coming in to do some work on the new future vocational building. On Sunday, we will do the chapel early in the morning, then to the funeral for the student that recently passed away. Please keep the staff and the children in your prayers! They (both teachers and the Houseparents) are having a hard time with losing this girl.

I got a few comments on my blogs… It’s good hearing from you all and want to thank you for your continuous prayers. We ALL need it!

Stay warm!!