Thank God For Life

It’s 7:00am on a Sunday morning and in about an hour we will head over to the Immaculate Conception church for our first of three masses today. Today is a little unusual because the third mass is for Brother Michael a Jamaican man who is taking for final vows. I really love Sundays for a number of reasons but the biggest is the people in Devon Pen. They are so honest and open with their relationship with God and church. One of the biggest things I have learned so far about the people in Devon Pen and I’m sure its universal for all the people in our missions is how much they value life. They truly value being alive. A hurricane could blow through their town and wipe out there home but they would still appreciate just being alive.
On Friday I had the opportunity of taking Charity up to Devon Pen with me to spend the day visiting families. We started in Friendship Gap visiting Miss Vera, her husband, and many grandchildren. It was my first time visiting with Mr. Davidson and I spent about 20 minutes sitting and talking with him. I am still having a hard time understanding Patois the language spoken in Jamaica other than English. Ioca’s uncle Chevy said later that day at the river, he would teach me. Mr. Davidson is a shut-in and doesn’t leave his home due to his really bad arthritis. He told me he used to work on a farm and that he was an incredibly hard worker. He can’t really walk anymore because of the arthritis and he said it’s so hard watching people walk by every day. He envies those who can still walk and work. He said it’s so hard to watch people who are capable of working not take advantage of that. After Miss Vera’s we headed down to Aunt Daph’s. Mas John was doing well and was very talkative which was wonderful and we had a really great conversation. Stopping by Aunt Daph’s is kind of like stopping and checking in at home. Aunt Daph helped me to track someone down in the mission who is going to build us two of our 6 dining room table chairs for our table at the apartment. We just got a dining room table but we don’t have any chairs so we thought what a great thing it would be if people in our mission could make them for us and we would pay them. Marvin will be making me two chairs which will be ready next weekend! I’m really excited about them. After Aunt Daph’s we walked down to the river to meet Ioca, Ava Ke, Junior, Chevy, Steve, and a few other children. I picked up Osheen on the way down to the river as well. We spent about an hour and a half at the river. Chevy asked me lots of questions about school and where I was from. He is in 8th grade and had lots and lots of questions. I’m having a lot of fun learning from everyone in Devon Pen but I especially enjoy learning from the children. Chevy and I talked about everything from fishing, to running, to school, to traveling. The kids played in the river swimming and catching small crayfish. I was taken a little a back but was also really moved after Osheen finished swimming she came and crawled up in my lap and just sat with me while I talked to people around me. She is Mommy’s 2nd youngest and starved for attention. It’s hard not to get caught up in wanting to provide for her. It would be really easy for me to make my focus Mommy and her kids but there are so many people in Devon Pen that have lots to offer. I guess I kind of consider it an accomplishment to be able to provide a small snack and some attention to Osheen that she doesn’t get at home.
I said to Father Lucian yesterday that I didn’t know when to expect when I came here but if I could have expected anything it would have looked exactly like this. There are struggles but there is also so much joy and smiles that I try to let that joy outweigh those struggles. Well I’m off to get ready for mass!