Stephen DeFor

Co-pastor, Austin Church of Christ

Who wouldn’t want to spend a week in Jamaica this time of year? We exchange cold and snow for 90 degree weather. Sandals Resorts advertise sun, and fun and beaches for the visitors to Jamaica. We have sun, fun and beaches too, but in a different way. Ya maan!

The Austin Church of Christ will be going on their annual mission trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica the first part of February. We will be working at an orphanage, a home for handicapped young adults, and bringing materials for two schools.

The fun part of the trip is working at Blossom Gardens, which is the home for about 60 kids from newborns to 6 or 7 years old. They are taken care of as far as food and clothes, but we get to hold them, play with them and read and sing with them. The sun part comes when we go outside with the children to push them on the swings and play ball with them.

We also spend time at Westhaven, which is a home for 60 or so young adults who are handicapped and mentally challenged. We have fun feeding them, talking to them, and singing with them. The sun part at Westhaven is pushing the young people in their wheelchairs up and down the street at their home. They enjoy the attention and love we can give them.

This year we are helping in many ways. We are bringing with us many dresses made out of pillowcases. These are nice for dressing kids whose arms and legs don’t bend very well. We are bringing down over-the-counter meds for the home to use. This year we learned that a number of kids at Westhaven need seizure medicines and don’t always get it. For $100 we can buy the meds for eight kids for a month. We will give the money for a number of months to the kids.

The beaches part of the trip comes after our day at the homes. We get to swim in the warm Caribbean Sea every day. We also do Bible studies and have times of worship with Jamaican churches. As always, I ask that you pray for us as we serve the Lord in Jamaica.