Expectations and Interruptions


We left the parking lot of the church around 2 am, packed with ministry supplies, clean clothes, snacks, and excited hearts to serve in Jamaica.  Alysia spoke about our role of being that city on the hill from Matthew's Gospel, shining our light on our travels. Our flight from Detroit to Miami gave us time to grab some sleep.  We even got a call out from the pilot for the chocolates we brought the team.  

We had a few corrections after we landed in Florida.  First, the ramp connecting to the jet to allow the passengers to deplane needed an adjustment.  Second, a gate change added more steps as we readied ourselves to fly to Kingston.  We kept our knees bent and rolled with the changes.  After all, we are on God's mission to share His love with others.  What are a few delays?

We landed in Jamaica and quickly moved to the baggage area.  We gathered all of our packed bags and headed to customs for the last step of the process of entering the company.  And all of our expectations of a smooth process were changed.  We were guided to a separate area and were asked to open our packed bags of eyeglasses, sunglasses, teaching materials, and clinic supplies.  And count the contents of each bag and box.  Our carefully packed items were unpacked and unsorted.

What started as a confusing task to us gradually grew into a teaching opportunity for us as servants of God.  We smiled and chattered with the customs agents, showing them the number of supplies from 13 large suitcases, each holding multiple bags of different items.  We gradually made the unpacking, counting, and repacking a cooperative effort between team members and customs officials.  And we shared with them the stories behind donated glasses, colored bracelets about Christ, and the location of our clinic this week.

In the meantime, Erin, our LCMS host, brought us Jamaican patties and water for our late lunch.  Our drivers loaded our personal bags into vans to take us to our hotel for rest.  While we did not leave the airport with our clinic supplies, we pray that these suitcases will be released to us on Monday.  We are being flexible with our schedule on Sunday and Monday to focus on meeting the church family in Kingston for worship and clinic setup at their facility.


After a wonderful dinner at the hotel, we listened to Lisa read the words of Isaiah 6:1-9, encourgaged that our God has sent us here to bring His Good News to others.  When we think we are not worthy enough for His work, He simply reminds us that we are His children up for the challenge.  We serve our God who is bigger than our expectations and greater than any interuptions!


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