I went on a Missions trip there with my mom and another lady from church and spent 8 days traveling to, from and around the many sides of Jamaica. And the time there definitely changed me...
We spent the majority of our outreach time at Galina Primary School - tutoring the kids, helping them write letters to their sponsor's in the states and helping out the teachers with whatever we could. I also spent a bit of time playing outside with them, spending all my money to buy them snacks and watching how much they love their lives and glorify God in what they do have (instead of looking at what they DON'T have).
You'll be seeing much more about my trip in the next couple of weeks I'm sure - WAY too much happened to explain in just one post.
But I'll leave you with one of my funniest moments...
As I'm sitting in the "Infant" class (basically Pre-K and Kindergarten) - I was tutoring the little girl in the picture above that's in the red checked dress. (She really touched my heart) It was her second day of school and because she was 6 or 7 they put her in "Infant 2" (the "kindergarten" side of the class) but she couldn't keep up (the next day she was moved down to "Infant 1"). She was sitting between two little boys who were quite obsessed with my skin and arms.
The little boy to my right proceeds to try and put his hands around my upper arm and then looks at me and declares "You're FAT!"
I looked at him and said "What?"
And he repeated himself "You're FAT!"
Again I said, "What?"
He continues to say "I can't feel your bone - you're FAT!"
(You'll notice from the picture - almost all of the kids are VERY skinny - literally skin & bones)
I replied with the only thing I knew to say... "Okay?"
And then I threw in a smart remark as well "Should I skip lunch today since I'm so fat?"
And the little boy to my left says - "No, you're not fat. You're beautiful..."
(as he was caressing my very soft skin on my arm - which he loved)
Amazing what can make your day...
I think I may have to go back again...
2 comments:
Ha! How sweet, and funny! :)
Kell~I didn't see this post until now and I HAD to respond to this. As you know my husband has Jamaican roots, and I was told by my mother-in-law that calling you "fat" is a compliment because it implies that you always have enough to eat! Whether that's true or not...I'm not sure how I would have reacted. Ya sure can't feel my bones either! =)
~Bobbi
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