So first of all, I would like to say thank you for every prayer prayed for me while I was healing from my unfortunate head injury. I do honestly feel 100% back to normal, minus the little patch of hair that is missing from where my stitches were. I had my stitches removed Wednesday and all of my soreness was pretty much gone by then as well. The biggest thing I ask is that the credit for my quick recovery not be given to me. While yes, I am a pretty stellar person, I did not just will myself to get better. God knew that I would not be patient enough if it took much longer than it did so He allowed for my body to heal itself so I could go back to my new life asap. He also has helped me see all of the blessings that came from this experience. I would also like to thank (and she's going to be really embarrassed I'm putting this in here) my roommate and friend Tiffany. She has been the best and sweetest nurse. She washed my hair for me when I couldn't because of my stitches. She has cleaned my cut for me to make sure it is healing as best as it can. She's also given me neck messages to help loosen up the tense muscles. There are not many people that would be continuously selfless like she is and I am so thankful for her. If you can't think of a friend that would clean out your head wound for you, you need to get yourself a Tiffany in your life!
This was our first week with host families in Jamaica. Tiff and I live with this lady Annette and her husband Manny. Annette sells like beach cover-ups and other vacation clothes to tourists staying in villas near Montego Bay. She said she just goes as often as there are people to sell to but since right now is the busy season for her, she has gone into the city almost every day. She also runs around Montego Bay picking up new material for her clothes and buying groceries and other necessities for us and her children and grandchildren that live nearby. Tiff and I have been able to go with her a couple days and even though she does most of it on her own, it's fun to get to travel around Montego Bay with her. She spoils us like crazy too, making sure we are always full with plenty of snacks on reserve. She just does so much to make sure her family has everything they could ever wish for.
We do have a church that we have become a part of here in Catadupa and I have loved getting to meet the pastor and all of the members. They are so sweet and greet us with such big smiles every time we come to church. Church services here run about 3 hours which does seem like a marathon compared to what I am used to. I am definitely ready for lunch when church is over but I really enjoy being there. Different members are invited to come up and share something God has shown them either with a story from the week, Bible verses, or a song. You can tell so much of the service is Spirit led. We do have a planned worship session but those few songs are just the beginning of all of the singing, praising, dancing, praying, and worshipping that go on for the rest of the service. I love seeing the joy on everyone's face while they worship. You can tell that they really get it!
Highlights from this week:
-We have become frequent visitors to this frozen yogurt place in Montego Bay. It conveniently has wifi and I would much rather pay for delicious yogurt with free wifi than just pay at an internet cafe.
-There is this plantation next to our house that we are allowed to go in and out of as we wish. It's kind of cool to see all of these exotic fruits growing on trees. It's an excursion destination for cruise ships so we see tourist buses pass through every once in a while. You can tell they are confused when they see us walking around like we live here.
-We get a fruit plate with breakfast every day! This really is a huge deal because we really didn't get a lot of fruits and vegetables in Haiti so fruit here feels like a luxury. Plus it's all so fresh and delicious!!
-Tiff brought her eno hammock with her so we've been able to put it up a couple times on our patio area. It's super relaxing to be out there when it's raining because there is a roof over our head so we don't get wet but we can listen to it.
-One of our team members had a birthday this week so we got cake and ice cream and danced all night long.
-Saturday we got to go to one of the beaches in Montego Bay. It was nice being at a beach with real sand and the water was so calm and pretty! It reminded me of Florida beaches
On Sunday, we sang this song and part of it said something along the lines of "the devil is under my feet and he doesn't like there". So naturally I had this visual of me standing on the devil which is kind of a weird thought. But if you think about it, if you were just standing on a person it would be easy for them to wiggle out from underneath you and knock you over. However, as Christians we are supposed to place our faith on the solid rock and foundation of Jesus Christ. So then I visualized me standing on this giant boulder that was on top of Satan. It is impossible to knock someone over when you are being crushed by a boulder. Even though those are maybe weird visuals it totally makes sense. If we decide we are strong enough on our own and walk away from Christ the solid rock, it's easy for the devil to knock us off our feet. But when we place our feet and our lives on Jesus, Satan does not have the power to knock us down. We can be victorious over evil if we constantly choose to place ourselves on the solid foundation of Jesus.
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