16 Jul Jamaica Missions Trip Update: Part 2
Jesus told us to, “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) Ye means me! This Month we are excited to have our youth pastor, Pastor Rob Simms, share from our recent Joy to the World Missions trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica. We believe that it will inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and into your purpose. Whether in Jamaica or at your places of work, schools, or neighborhoods we should all be sharing the good news – that God loves you, as if you are the only person in this world to love!
This we continue our with…
Day 3 (WEDNESDAY)
After our awesome team spent an hour in Word and Prayer, we had breakfast and then loaded the buses again. We ministered in two schools at once! Between the two schools, about 300 students accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
After the schools, we went to West Haven Home. West Haven is not an easy place to go to. It is a home for severely handicapped kids who have been abandoned by their families. Our team spent time loving the kids and staff. It was a special time!
After West Haven, our entire team went to Doctor’s Cave Beach in Downtown Montego Bay. Imagine the whitest sand and the clearest crystal blue water you have ever seen in your life. Before we played in the ocean, Pastor Jim baptized about 10 members of our group. We had a huge crowd of tourists watching us while we did the baptisms, which led to more witnessing opportunities and a couple of people getting born again!
Later that evening we headed up to New Ramble. Think of a community on the side of a mountain over-looking all of Montego Bay and you would have New Ramble. As part of our team ministered at the “Kids Club” there, the rest of us spread out and canvassed the entire area. Many more precious people gave their lives to Jesus putting us at over 900 salvations total!
Day 4 (THURSDAY)
After our prayer/Word time and breakfast, our team started off again by going to two different schools and leading over 200 Jamaican children to Jesus!
We then went back to one of our favorite places to share Jesus, Sam Sharpe Square. One of our Mount Juliet Police officers decided to minister to a couple of officers sitting in the area. He led one of them to a first time decision to Jesus! By this time in the trip, every single person on this missions team had led someone to Christ!
After a great lunch at a local favorite authentic restaurant, we then split up our team into women and men. The men went to an area we call the bus terminal and were so bold. They led many to Jesus one-on-one. The women went to The Women’s Pregnancy Resource Center, which is a home for teen girls who have children. Our ladies ministered the Good News to those girls and many of them made decisions for Jesus! It was at this time in the trip that we officially crossed over our previous all time record for a missions trip; 1381 precious individuals had accepted Jesus and we majorly rejoiced together as a team!
After dinner we headed off to Family Church on the Rock for an awesome Jamaican church service! We had the privilege of experiencing Jamaican Reggae Praise from the team at Family Church on the Rock and then Pastor Jim preached a message called “More” which was one of the best messages we have ever heard. It was so powerful and set our expectations so high for what God has in store.
To top the night off, we had one of the most touching stories of the week. One of our bus drivers, Marvin, had been so hurt by Christians earlier in life that he refused to transport church groups. His manager didn’t tell him that we were a church from America. He discovered that by the way we treated him. He was so moved after the genuine love from the team for 4 days now, that he decided he was done running and wanted this Jesus. One of our team members prayed with him to get born again right there!
Join us next week as we continue sharing from more from our recent trip…