Jamaican Breafkasts, Contrasts and Joyful Work

John Machledt writes:

Breakfast  at 7:30 AM.  We were served fruit, pancakes, eggs, boiled green bananas and akee which is the fruit that is poisonous if you do not cook it when it is ripe.  After breakfast, we headed to the Mt. Osborn church with 15 of us packed in the van with the driver.  On the way, we passed many run-down the  and standard colorful Jamaican houses, but there was one mansion, which was very strange to see. It was striking ato see this mansion among so many poor, a personal castle for show.  Fortunately, the van made it up the hill (more like a mountain) and we go to the church.

We first met with the children from the jpre-school and they sang songs and recited lines they had learned.  It was very sweet and touching and it reminded many of our mission group of their childhoods in Jamaica.  Then Opal and Byron led a story and song for the kids before they went went back to school. After that we prepared to start working. There were a few men there to help us which was more than we expected. They were all volunteers and great workers and they accomplished a lot for one day. One man was even standing on the cement wall working in flip-flops. At first we weren't sure what to do because no one was there to tell us, but we figured it out quickly with the help of brother Lewis who is a great carpenter.