Briensburg & Mt. Carmel Parish of The United Methodist Church

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Mission team from Paducah
district visits Jamaica in June
By Sue Engle, Benton First UMC

Reprinted with permission from
Memphis Conference Reporter

Jamaica is a popular place to vacation. The water is beautiful and the colors are brilliant. The weather is warm and predictable. There are lovely resorts waiting
to make your visit to the island perfect in every way: great food, great entertainment and great people.

This is not the Jamaica a mission team from Benton First and Mt. Carmel UMCs, of which I was a part, recently visited! Our team of 16 people, aged 12 to 74, spent a week in June in the Highgate area building a home, laying a foundation for a library, leading Vacation Bible School and working to clear land for farming.

There was no resort, but there was great fellowship that comes from sharing a common cause and sweating alongside one another! Over the course of the week, our team met many people in Jamaica. The church that hosted Vacation Bible School blessed us each day with fresh fruit. Our construction teams worked with Jamaicans who taught us how to build a house on uneven ground
and how to work together as a team. Our team mixed concrete on the ground and lifted concrete block well over our heads to begin the walls.

We learned to use machetes to clear the land and we learned to avoid tiny little ants whose bite was mean!

We also learned that Jamaicans waste very little and make the most of their
resources. Our teachers visited classrooms where classes are divided by boards that do not reach the ceiling or floor. Classes are “organized chaos,” but the
students dress in uniforms and learn well.

Mostly we learned that going out and making disciples is much more than building a home or a library or even holding Vacation Bible School. It is meeting people in Jesus’ name and sharing His love .

It is meeting a need and sharing a vision. It is the chance to sow a seed that perhaps in years to come will produce fruit. We were all humbled by the
opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ and we are eager for the opportunity to serve in our own backyard. Thanks be to God; He uses His people to reach out to His people!

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