A letter from Vicki Smith in Jamaica
July 2008
Greetings from Jamaica,
As the school year closed during the first week of July, the island’s students were busy with tests, graduation, and exercises associated with the end of the school year. It was a busy time for everyone. The end of the year and the giving of prizes were exciting events, with many parents in attendance. The children were thrilled with their awards, and everyone was glad that our (too short) summer vacation was beginning.
During the first week of summer break I worked with the vacation Bible school at Boscobel United Church. Fifty-one members of Redding Congregational Church in Redding, Connecticut, came to spend a week in Jamaica doing construction work on the church and assisting in the Bible school. Most of the visitors were teenagers. They were a real asset and a joy to be around. The children loved them and they have worked hard as well as played with the kids and shown God’s love to their Caribbean friends.
Two years ago, the same church sent workers who were heavily involved in beginning the construction of the new church building. Now, two years later, they return to build doors, paint, and in only a week’s time transform the building into even more of a sanctuary.
Although windows still need to be purchased and put in place, and much else is left to do, much has been accomplished. Boscobel United Church is a place of worship with the atmosphere of completeness in God, even if the building still has a lot of construction to be finished.
On the same week that the crew arrived from Connecticut a group from Newark Presbytery came to work at Iona Preparatory School. Though the heat was a tremendous burden, they painted the school, the benches in my classroom and the meeting hall, and added beauty to the campus. The work was hard and the thirst was great, but so were the results.
It has been a pleasure and a blessing to witness these two groups come to Jamaica and share their time and talent. I truly believe all were blessed—the visitors and the Jamaicans alike. This was living testimony that God’s people can work together and love each other no matter how different they are or how far apart they live.
Teachers return to school the last week in August, and the children return on September 1, as we have a short summer compared to schools in the United States. Soon we will be in our rooms getting ready for another year. It will be good to see the kids, though we are all enjoying a break. I look forward to seeing the kids and being able to share with them daily.
It is hard to believe that when school resumes I will enter the last four months of my time here in Jamaica. There is much to do and say and I know God’s hand will guide it all.
In the belief that with God all things are possible,
Vicki
The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 266
