Mission Trip to Jamaica

I am sure by now you’ve heard about our planned mission trip to Jamaica in March. As it now stands, we will be sending two teams to Little London Methodist Church in Little London, Jamaica. Eleven Missioners will be meeting this week to look at the project: replacing the roof of this aging structure and helping to refurbish the inside. Those who have made the commitment are moving forward with a good deal of excitement. When the subject comes up, I can see it in their smiles.I’ve taken part in a number of these “out of the country” projects over the years and the same question is always asked of me. “Wouldn’t it be a wiser to just send money rather than people.”? They’ve got a point. All that money spent on plane tickets adds up. There is the added work of making arrangements for a place to stay, in communities where hotels are rarely found. Through the years I’ve slept in all manner of places; local homes which have always been smaller and far more primitive than my own, church floors and most recently the second home of what I gather was a local politician, a rather shady character. Then, there is the food. While you may not always want to know what you are eating, be careful of what you eat, if that makes any sense. I’ve gotten sick.So, it is a legitimate question. Wouldn’t it be a wiser use of our resources to send money and one or two experienced builders to oversee the project, a contractor and someone licensed for the particular work at hand? Why send a dozen volunteers, many whose real jobs are at a desk. On these trips, without exception, the local community of mostly other Methodists has worked alongside us, so the labor pool is there.But then, all these reasons not to go give us the even greater reason of why we should. We go to work alongside others of a different culture and world view, and we find our lives and theirs richly blessed. We go to share their food and share stories, and find that common bond that holds us together, which is love of God and love of neighbor. The cost of a plane ticket can’t compare with what we receive in friendship. I’ve never read a book or heard a lecture that better educated me on harsh realities and the complexities of poverty than working side by side with the poor to build their community. I’ve always returned home with a greater hope and a greater in trust in Jesus, who we claim is Lord and have come to worship.If you are at place in life where you can take leave for a week, come join us.“For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jew or Greeks, slaves or free- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” (I Cor.12:12)