Reflections from Esther C. - DAY 8

Friday was a super busy day. Planning to get up at 6:30 for an early morning walk to the market and to see the ocean can be rough when you stayed up till 2:00am packing for the move from Sav to Mo Bay. Fortunately (or not ) I was woken up by some tapping noise at 5:50 AM. So getting up and wandering downstairs at 6:15 to see if anyone else was around I went in to the lobby of the hotel to try and find internet access. When I opened the door, I saw 3 of the hotel workers we had all come to know praying as they had a morning devotion. Before I could sneak out quietly, the grounds keeper Jeremiah invited me to join them in prayer. After we finished praying we spoke for a few moments before the others going out joined us in the lobby and we headed out for our outing. The trip to the market was pretty uneventful until some strange wild-haired Jamaican on a bike with a rubber glove on his hand was trying to converse with us as one of the vendors at the market told him to leave us alone. He started to curse and hexed us and hoped that all the Americans would get a blood clot in their brain and die. (I wasn't too concerned about it till I was ready to go to sleep with a little bit of a headache but I'm okay) After rushing through breakfast once again, we packed up and piled into the vans to start our journey across the island to Alligator Pond (no there are no alligators in Jamaica) to visit Mahlon. He is a quadriplegic whose wife left him three years ago, and there is no church or Christians close to where he lives. After driving two hours and then procuring KFC which just so happens to be Mahlon's favorite, we continued on our journey. When we arrived at Mahlon's house, we visited with him, had lunch, then gathered around his bed to sing and have a devotion. Mahlon is so happy to see us and seems very at peace with his situation which for many of us is difficult to see and even comprehend the life he has lost and now leads. I have a good friend who is 46 that is in the final stages of MS and is now preparing his family for his death. I have spoken with him several times about the anger and bitterness that he has dealt with. So, seeing Mahlon dealing with the same types of issues that keep you from having the life you thought you were going to have and that sometimes you ask God 'why is this happening to me' really hit me during our visit and I had to leave the room so that I could hide the sadness that hit me. As the van was loading to leave, I went to tell Mahlon good-bye and let him know how his spirit of peace that he shows encourages me and helps me to remember that this is not our final home and we have a much better destiny awaiting us. After almost a 3 hour drive over the mountains and thru the woods (or bamboo forest) we finally arrived at the YMCA for our worship meeting at 7 pm in Mo Bay then another late dinner. We finally made it to our final destination and the squeezing in of 33 people into a 25 person accommodations...but truly this is one definite way of promoting the Christian closeness we all try to have (big smile). I will be leaving on Sunday morning to return to my normal life and will definitely miss this group of amazing people, some of whom I may never see in this life again-But I am truly looking forward to an eternal life with God and the people I have met here and come to love deeply.