Dwelling among us

This morning as we gathered under the large tree at the hotel, John had the song "Great is Thy Faithfulness" by CeCe Winans playing. We know that He is faithful and true.  We stand in awe of what we have seen and done with God's help this week in Kingston.

Deb led the devotion using the words of James.  In chapter 2:15-19, we read how James declared faith without works is dead.  We need both to be true followers of Christ.  We know that the faith we have in us internally shows itself outwardly through actions.  Jesus spoke this in Luke 10 in His parable of the Good Samaritan.  Jesus is our model for how we should take actions to serve others.  We sang the song "Here I Am Lord".  We joyous sang "I will go if you lead me."  Following prayer, we then sang "Happy Birthday" to Deb as she celebrated her birthday today!

Pastor Ite was alerted by several people early this morning that they were waiting at the worship center for the eyeglass clinic.  When we arrived, we saw many friends sitting and standing outside.  We greeted them "Good Morning", ate our breakfast, then manned our stations.  Registration for new arrivals began outside where there was more room.  There were some friends arriving to complete the eye clinic process, as well as few that needed to start the process before heading to work.  Groups of 8 to 10 friends moved from station to station.

Like yesterday, there was a wide variety of affinity groups at the clinic.  Word of mouth and the distributed flyers helped to bring more people to the worship center.  Our team was greeted constantly by kind words from our new friends, thanking us for sharing our time with them.  

Our team staggered our lunch break, encouraged by Alysia and Giselle to take a rest.  Giselle facilitates the Lutheran Hour Ministries in the area.  She was helpful in understanding the context of scheduling of a visit to the clinic with other work responsibilities.  Her calmness and smile was appreciated during the busyness of the day.  Later, she presented our team members backpacks with the LHM logo.

Our conversations with the friends coming to the clinic involved listening to their stories, celebrating their new eyeglasses, and receiving gracious thank yous.  We continued to "Point to Jesus" as the source for the reason for our service.  A few us walked to a nearby market after our clinic.  We saw several friends thank us from their jobs at a nearby hotel, a transportation vehicle, and at the very market we visited.  What an awesome sight to see the impact of our faith and actions!

Pastor Ite's wife Melissa brought dinner to us at the worship center.  She made chicken, mashed potatoes, rice and beans, and fried fish.  The food tasted so good at the end of our long day.  Several team members asked about the chicken recipe.  Another trip to the market for Jamaican green seasoning will be needed!  While we continued conversations in the large room, several team members and Erin planned to surprise Deb with a birthday cake, complete with candles.  We shared a Jamaican rum cake and a frosted cake for dessert.

We finished the evening with our team meeting and devotion.  Alysia explained how we would close the clinic at the end of the day Friday.  Erin spoke about our final meal Friday night and times for Saturday morning's departure.  Joel spoke about the importance of going beyond knowing Jesus to reading Jesus through the fundamental practice of being in the Word.  In Genesis 1, we recognize that "God said" and it came into existence.  In John's Gospel, we read that the "Word became flesh".  When we read Scripture, that very Word is relatable to us because Jesus dwelt among His people.  We sang "Ancient Words", encouraged that our devotional life becomes heartwarming because our God doesn't change like the ways of this world.  One of our friends shared with Joel that he has subscribed to Lutheran Hour Ministries for 20 years to receive written devotions to use in his life.  Those ancient words protect, sustain, and change us.  Our evening hymn completed our noteworthy day of service.

In the van heading home, Alysia announced that we served 184 friends today, the single day record for our St John's mission teams.  God has been among us all this time.  What great things might we witness tomorrow? How can He use us to enlarge His kingdom?  Here we are, Lord!