I had a long talk with Audrey. It doesn't sound too desperate there, but I think there is not much she can do. Apparently it has been raining a lot and many of the people who have inadequate shelter are getting wet again and are having trouble keeping things dry.

Food is still a big problem. Without electricity, they are having trouble producing some of the food items. Also, apparently the stores have very little, so she cannot buy food for the people. They cleaned out all the food at the church. When they did buy food, they went to the Seaside community and made people line up. She told them that we are the ones who made it available.

She has money left and is looking to buy shoes, uniforms, and school books for the children. Sounds like they may have lost what little they had. Sounds like the food emergency has passed or she has resigned herself to the fact that there is none to buy.

Thank you from Jamaica
Many times, we give sacrificially or go on mission trips and work very hard in difficult situations and expect someone to thank us. Of course, if we are doing it for our own recognition, we are doing it for the wrong reasons. Or, we do the work and even afterward, we question whether we really did anything significant.

We received a response from our blog yesterday that deserves repeating, because it answers some of the questions about what we are doing in Jamaica. The response is from Fern McFarlane, wife of Rev. Wayneford McFarlane. Rev. McFarlane was the Methodist minister in the Port Morant area around 1996. He now serves in the area around Spanish Town. Fern is highly educated and has a position with the Ministry of Education. She was been one of our invaluable advisers early in the formation of Isaiahsixeight.

Here is an excerpt from her email:

Thank you all for your prayers and practical support. The hurricane has indicated that God is blessing the work you do here. Evidence of God's blessings on your efforts are seen in the fact that the house you built stood firm; the money you sent was at hand to help alleviate immediate needs; the church hall you refurbished was sturdy and dry to house people who had to flee their homes...

God bless you and your families. I also pray that He will expand and strengthen Isaiahsixeight.

Yours in Christ,

Fern McFarlane

I believe that Fern has the right idea, but may have a part of it backwards. God is probably not blessing our work because of our efforts, but He is blessing the work we are doing because we are doing His work. Better yet, we want to be doing the work that God is blessing, because that is His work and His will.

Also, if Isaiahsixeight is to expand and strengthen then, we have to do it not for Isaiahsixeight or for our own purposes, but because it is God’s work we are doing.

Please join us as we try to do God’s work and what He is blessing.

Friday, August 24, 2007 Hurricane Dean Aftermath in Port Morant Finally an accurate report of the Hurricane Dean Aftermath in Port Morant area!

Audrey in Port Morant borrowed her husband’s cell phone to call today. Following is her report:

The damage in the area was very bad. She said this was a very bad hurricane. Many roofs were lost. The area is expected to be without electricity for more than a week longer. The water came on for a very short time this morning, but then was off the rest of the day and is unclean and has to be boiled.

The Seaside community was severely damaged. All the homes there received severe damage from water and most lost their roofs. Some homes were mostly destroyed. 22 adults and 23 children from the Seaside community took refuge in the Fellowship Hall of the Port Morant Methodist Church – a structure we helped construct in 2001. After the hurricane past, they went back to their village to see the severe destruction. Audrey says they lost most of their personal possessions. They are trying to scavenge the zinc (we would call it tin roofing) and nail it back in place. Most of the wood siding (largely plywood) was lost from the homes. They are trying to nail what they can find back.

She also said that food is a serious problem. She and Sharon went yesterday and today to Morant Bay to buy food. Apparently there are long lines at the food stores and a shortage of sugar, rice, and flour. The stores are rationing it. Tonight, she and June are returning to try to buy more food. They are using the food for the Seaside community and others who are suffering. Apparently, food is a big problem. Also we would suspect that the mangoes and other fruits are damaged as well. She did say that many of the trees are down.

Also, zinc is in short supply and cannot be obtained. This will greatly hinder reconstruction. We would suspect other building materials would be in short supply also.

Morant Bay, the largest town and government seat of the province, just received power today. Yesterday, the nurses at the hospital there had a demonstration in the street to draw attention to the fact that they still had no electricity or water.

As severe as the damage was, Audrey tells of only one death in the St. Thomas province. That was a 14 year old girl in the Whitehorses area. Apparently there were concrete blocks placed on the roof of her house to hold down the zinc. The zinc blew off and the concrete block fell and hit the girl in the head. Her family tried to get her to the hospital, but could not because of the water washing out the road. They took her back to Whitehorses Methodist Church (another one of our previous work sites) where she died.

We had previously sent money to Audrey just before the storm to help the Seaside children with school expenses. I told her to use the money to relieve suffering any way she could. She has told the people of Seaside we were praying for them and that we were helping buy the food for them. She said they expressed a lot of gratitude to us.

We talked about coming back and helping with the housing in Seaside. We discussed the relocation of the community, but land availability may be a major issue. They are squatting on this land. Also, it is a fishing community and Audrey said all the boats were smashed. So, not only did these people lose most of their homes and possessions, but their meager livelihood as well.

These people will not have the luxury of FEMA trailers, gift cards, or government assistance. Right now, they need zinc, plywood, food, and clean water. Once they get these necessities, they will need boats.

One other interesting side note – on previous trips, we built two plywood homes with zinc roofs - Stephen’s house and Valerie’s house. Stephen and his three children rode the hurricane out in his house. I talked to his daughter who said it had no damage, but it did leak. Audrey said it had absolutely no damage. Valerie and her daughter started out in her house, but apparently it started shaking violently so they went next door to a masonry structure. Audrey said it was amazing, but there was no damage to either house. I told her that was a miracle. She said it was because God had built those houses. I told her “Yes, God and a couple of fools”.

Donnie

These are children who live in the Seaside community, a village of fisherman that is only approximately 18 inches above sea level near Port Morant, Jamaica. Port Morant and Seaside are both on the southeast coast of Jamaica, the area that appears to be the main target area for Hurricane Dean. A storm surge of 3 feet would literally wash the village away. Isaiahsixeight has been aiding these children for years. Our recent mission trip there included a Vacation Bible School that catered to these children.

We have already wired money to Jamaica in anticipation of damage to this village. Please pray that they will safely weather this storm. If you would like to help, please send an email to info@isaiahsixeight.org.

Being on our recent mission trip to Jamaica, it was obvious that God had prepared the way and was with us. We accomplished every task we had planned – a very full agenda, but as usually happens, God showed us other needs, He gave us added energy, and He found the resources for us to address these needs. Also, the community responded and we planted some seeds that already have been harvested by a subsequent mission team.

On Sunday, we attended a local Methodist Church and then Rev. Jack Hinnen and about 6 of our team members rode in the back of a pickup truck for approximately 8 miles into the jungle to preach at another church. On Sunday afternoon, the entire team went to Muirton Boys Home, the boy’s orphanage where we planned to begin working on Monday. Our plans were to show the entire team what the projects were there and to evaluate the various projects and plan the strategy to attack the projects.

We had originally planned for a team from Alexander City First United Methodist Church to stay in the community of our mission home in Port Morant Monday through Thursday doing a Vacation Bible School in the mornings and other work in the community in the afternoons. However, after seeing the condition of the Boys Home, things changed. As one of the ladies on the team said: “it looks like a prison without bars”. So, immediately, they hatched the plan to paint a lot of the rooms and paint a large mural on the community room wall. This would require them to ride for 55 min. each way in the afternoon to get to the Boys Home for these projects. Of course, neither the extra two taxis each way nor the paint was in the budget.

Also, that Sunday afternoon, we learned that the bathrooms were locked. Why? They had no water. None! And they had not had any for quite a while. We also learned that the boys had to walk down the mountain for approximately ½ mile to bathe in the river. We learned that even when they had water, there was no pressure during the day. They would collect it at night for use in the kitchen, etc. Part of this was because the pump that was needed to pump the water from the public source up the mountain was broken and had been broken for over two years. So, while this was not a project we had planned to do, our team decided that not only would we try to repair this problem; it would become our most important project. Needless to say, this was also an expensive project which we had not planned. More about this later.

Back to the Vacation Bible School – the Alexander City team was wonderfully prepared and had the help and support of several members of the Port Morant Methodist Church as well as a few others. They built many friendships with the other workers, but what about the children? They were planning the VBS for Monday through Thursday and were using an “Around the World” theme. For example, on the first day, the country was the U.S. They played baseball; all were given a baseball cap, etc. Also, the team gave each child a sandwich to take home, knowing that they may not have anything else to eat.

There was some publicity before we got there, so some of the children were expecting the VBS. To put things in perspective, excluding our mission team and another small mission team visiting, the attendance at church on Sunday was approximately 40 people – mostly adults. On Monday, the VBS had 65 children and everyone was please with the turnout. On Tuesday, there were 85 children. On Wednesday, 100. On Thursday, 125. On Friday, 150. The problem was, that VBS was only Mon – Thur. So, 150 children showed up on Friday and some of the leaders of the children at the church had to come and provide some activities with the children. So, I guess you could say that the VBS was successful.

Back at the Boys Home, we had a team remove a floor in one of the bedrooms, replace all the floor joists, put in a sub floor, install luan, then place vinyl tile on the luan. This repair allowed 3 more sets of bunk beds to be moved into this room.

Another large team built 30 lockers for the boys. These lockers were approximately 18” x 18” and stood approximately 5 feet tall. They had doors and we installed hasps with combination locks. This does not sound like much until you realize the boys had no place to store any personal items. Some of us saw an amazing site – one of the boys lifted up his mattress on his upper bunk and there between the 4” foam mattress and the plywood on which the mattress rested, he had probably a hundred items – essentially all his material possessions – a set of tempera paints, CD’s, cards, a power supply, combs, photos, etc. This was his only personal area until he got his locker. Obviously, they were very excited about the lockers and many of the boys help construct them also – giving us a chance to minister to them and be a father figure for them.

We learned more about the chicken house. They had recently been given the funds to purchase 50 small chicks, but within 3 days, all were killed - obviously either rats or mongoose. While we were there, large rats were coming in and out – so realized the problem. To stop the rats, we concreted the floor, and then built an internal room-size cage for the chickens. Also, there were dangerous electrical wires and light hanging from the ceiling, etc. So, this was all repaired. We did not get to finish the chicken house, but we left money and a worker to complete it and we left money and instructions to buy chicks and feed.

As mentioned before, the big project became the plumbing project. Again, God assembled the right team. We had a plumber and two additional guys who work for companies that build/supply pumps. The water supply was over 400 feet down the mountain in a jungle like area. This team had to repair numerous leaks, install a pump after pouring concrete into the pump house, secure the pump, ran over 400 feet of electrical wire in new conduit, install switches, etc. All of this and they also discovered that poison ivy grows in Jamaica. This was a major project taking a lot of work, was very expensive, but there was an incredible need and as always, God provides.

Also, as mentioned above, the VBS ladies traveled to the Boys Home every afternoon to paint and to work with the boys. The boys got so excited about the mural that two of the older ones took over and would not even let our people work on it. It was quite impressive. On one wall, amongst sports equipment painted on the wall was a scroll with Philippians 4:13 (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.). Then at the other end of the room are the painted flags of the U.S. and Jamaica with “Whom shall I send? And who shall go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8).

Also, the VBS team made tie dye tee-shirts – both at VBS and at the Boys Home. Also, they built two soccer goals for the boys.

Not only were we witnesses for Christ’s love to the boys, but a donor had given us youth Bibles to take to Jamaica for the boys. We left those there for the boys. Only last week, we learned that following that, another small mission team and a pastor went to the Boys Home. Several of the boys as well as our favorite taxi driver gave their lives to Christ.

Our team had some very spiritual devotions as well. This was an incredible team. Despite temperatures in the day in the high 90’s and in the mid 80’s at night with mosquitoes and little air movement, we had an extremely hard working team that never complained. It was the body of Christ, doing Christ’s work for the lost and forgotten.

The missionaries who were our hosts are growing old and want to come back to the U.S. Their home is a great mission house and has a lot of potential for future missions. They have offered it to our mission organization to purchase for 53% of the appraised value. While that may seem crazy, God sometimes ask us to do things that seem a little crazy – just look at the story of Noah. However, I believe everyone who went on this trip realizes what an impact we have when we go and how much more we can do if we have a mission house and how vital this house is to our future efforts in Jamaica.

Finally, we would like to thank you for your prayers and support of our mission efforts. We would appreciate your future prayers and support as we expand our missions there and consider the purchase of this mission house. We know we cannot do it alone, but with your help and with God’s guidance we can.

If you have any questions about our trip, future trips, our future plans or the mission house, please fill free to contact us. We would be happy to discuss this with you.

“Whom shall I send?”

Help us answer that question.

Donnie