Jamaican Journal – Day 4

It is late Saturday night as I begin to write this entry, it will be morning on Sunday by the time I get to send it. Today was a busy one, I started it off with another hot shower / bowl bath. That is a good thing. I did not, however, sleep well at all. I tossed about for most of the night and my back was aching. Sister Gail prepared a wonderful Jamaican breakfast treat this morning. We had Achee and Salt-fish (Jamaica’s National dish) with Breadfruit and canned Mackerel. Quite a bit more fish than I am accustomed to for breakfast, but as they say….”When in Jamaica…” Achee is a fruit that looks like a little apple on the outside and on the inside looks like flesh-colored silly putty shaped like Mr. Potato Head’s ears. When it is chopped up with spices and salt-fish it sort of reminds you of scrambled eggs. It tastes a bit like scrambled eggs too. The Breadfruit didn’t taste like fruit either, it reminded me of really dry french fry wedges. The Mackerel tasted like fish but it was floating in some kind of red sauce. It was good enough to eat but I probably wouldn’t order it at a restaurant. Pastor Nathan wanted me to go to the market after breakfast. 

The market is in the center of town and is mostly a farmers market where local farmers sell their vegetables and fruits. I didn’t recognize most of the fruits and vegetable, they looked a lot like props from early Star Trek episodes. One part of the market had butchered goats and pigs hanging all over. There was pig skin hanging all around also. I think it is sold separately. It was rather warm in there and flies were buzzing all around the meat, it didn’t look very sanitary. Another part had fish of all kinds in large containers. I bought a stick of sugar cane about the size of a baseball bat. That was the only size they sold even though I only wanted to try a piece. We left the market and Pastor Nathan told me to be careful about pickpockets who bump into you and rob your pockets. Nobody bumped me though, I think they were afraid that I might hit them with my sugarcane bat if they got caught. 

We went to another orphanage today, it was called Windsor Lodge and is also run by the Salvation Army. We showed them the video of Mr. Donut again and sang a song. I got to pass out candy to the children and this time, each one got a piece. The children were all very cute and came right up to me even before they knew I had candy. One little boy jumped right up in my lap and we played with a toy car together. I got to get my picture taken with them before we left. When we got back to the house I skipped lunch and went to lay down for a bit. I was extremely tired and was able to sleep a bit. Pastor Nathan woke me up to go to Kingston, the capitol of Jamaica which is a high crime area about 2 hours away. 

We took the new toll road which costs $190 each way to ride on. There are quite a few tall buildings in Kingston and a bunch of people standing everywhere. Many parts that we drove though were ghetto or slum areas. When we pulled into one dark alley and stopped by a gang of young kids I was surprised when Pastor Nathan got out, it was already getting dark. This was the place we were going to show the film. It appeared to be an old jail because the were bars everywhere, but now it was a Salvation Army youth center. There were long benches all over the place and kids started coming in around 7 pm, the movie wasn’t over until around 9 pm and Pastor Nathan took turns praying and speaking the Word to the children. When we were finished it was around 9:30 pm and we packed our gear and began the drive home. At 11:45 we got back to the house and I began writing this letter. We are leaving in the morning for church at 8 am and I am supposed to preach at a church nearby at 11 am. The reason we are leaving so early is that Sister Gail has been invited to preach at the church she grew up in and we have to drop her off first and then come back to the other church for me to preach. I have no clue what to preach about, but I know the Lord will give me a Word to share. I hope I sleep tonight because tomorrow is another long day, with three separate ministry opportunities throughout the day. I am beginning to think Pastor Nathan is hyperactive, he never stops running around from place to place. He has such a drive to reach people with the gospel. His poor car goes through gas like crazy. Sorry for the lack of witty content. I really need to sleep and it hurts my head to be witty.  Goodnight and God Bless.

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