July 30, 2008

During our mission trip to Jamaica, things didn't always go according to schedule. Which often led to some interesting experiences that we hadn't counted on.

On Monday morning, the Memphis group was supposed to start painting the Lucea church building. But for whatever reason, the paint wasn't there yet, and although we arrived at the church building around 8:00, the stores wouldn't open until 9:00. So painting would have to wait.

One of the options we were given was to go with the Chattanooga group to an elementary school. Sounded good to Laura and me, so we jumped in one of the vans that was going that way. From the beginning, I had been curious about daily life in Jamaica, and it seemed that seeing a school was a good way to start. The Chattanooga group had planned to do a puppet show and lead some songs for the kids, and we could help out with the songs, and just generally be there for wahtever would go on.

Along the way, we stopped to pick up Michael, the preacher for the Lucea church. He had brought along a mixer to plug in at the school for their sound system. Then in a few minutes, we arrived at the school.

The school itself was made up of two long buildings, each having two stories. The buildings faced each other, with a grass courtyard in between. The buildings were actually just single rows of classrooms with an exterior covered walkway outside. And like most other buildings we had already seen in Jamaica, the "windows" did not have any glass but were just openings for ventillation because there was no air conditioning. Painted on the outsides of the buildings were pictures of different people, and I recognized them as being the same people who were pictured on the different bills and coins I had seen.

As soon as we arrived, the school children started pouring out of their classrooms. We had already heard that all the kids in all the schools wear uniforms, but this was our first look at them. The boys all wore khaki shirts and shorts, which gave them almost a military look. And the girls all wore blue jumpers over red and white checked shirts. Which was a nice splash of color compared to the boys.

The children were all excited to see us - either that, or they were just excited to have a break from class. But their excitement seemed to be genuine, even if the teachers weren't all that excited over the interruption. The kids would even just reach out and touch us as we walked by, I suppose as their way of getting our attention. They posed for pictures, waved, smiled, shook hands, hugged. Very polite, but very excited.

Once some bit of order was restored, the kids lined up outside their classrooms, some on the lower walkways, some on the upper walkways. The Chattanooga group led songs from the grassy courtyard while others set up the small puppet stage. The kids new most of the songs, and sang along enthusiastically, especially on their favorites. The puppet show seemed to lose their interest slightly, but most likely it was because the kids at the far end of the building were having trouble hearing, even with the sound system.

I took a few minutes to look inside one of the classrooms that I was standing by, since all the students were outside. It looked like a typical classroom - chalkboards, artwork on the walls and hanging from the ceiling, backpacks with familiar cartoon characters. The days of the week, the months of the year, nouns, verbs, school rules. It all looked familiar, yet in some strange way slightly different.

When the puppet show ended, one of the Chattanooga guys led a prayer, and then we were done. But we couldn't leave without more talking, hugging, picture taking, waving, and smiling. They were happy to see us, and we were thankful for the warm reception.

Seems that both the Jamaican students and the Americans encouraged each other.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." - Matthew 19:14

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