February Jamaica Update

During an awful thunderstorm, a monkey found himself stranded under a safe overhang by a raging river. The monkey was quite thankful in the security of his hiding place. But, out of the corner of his eye he noticed a fish stuck in the raging waters of the river. The monkey, with considerable discomfort and danger to himself, ventured into the storm, out on a branch above the river, and rescued the fish. Knowing the obvious comforts of his safe haven, he knew that the only right thing to do was to allow the fish to enjoy his blessing. As he reached his safe place and set the fish down, the monkey seemed very satisfied at his work as the fish jumped around with excitement. Soon, the fish seemed to come to grips with his excitement and he was able to settle down into a peaceful sleep.
In spite of the silliness of the story, suffice it to say that it contains more truth for us than we would like to admit. I stole the story from a book that I am in the midst of reading on cross-cultural servanthood. We have covered the topic in a class while we were in Indiana, in our training before we left, and in numerous books and sermons, but we never envisioned this being so confusing. In the study of missions, there is a labeling system of E1, E2, and E3 for the cultural gap involved in the specific mission between the messenger and the receiver. E1 referring to same culture same language, E2 referring to different culture, same language, and E3 being different culture, different language. The cultural gap between the monkey and the fish was large, but the monkey didn’t understand. He was satisfied to do what was right in his own eyes rather than pursing the situation with the necessary compassion that would consider the fishes perspective. The idea is that there is certainly different approaches to sharing the gospel depending on the cultural gap between the messenger and the receiver. I say all of that to ask us to consider the “E number” of God sending Jesus to Earth to save us. Maybe we could start with E1000, but I don’t know that we can totally understand the gaps that were bridged. Ultimately, we are trying to remember that we have no greater example of cross cultural ministry than in the life of Jesus. It is this type of incarnational ministry that we can see but remains so confusing in our everyday lives. We remain in a largely E1 (the easiest) context and struggle with misunderstandings, communication gaps, and flubups. We are not throwing in the towel nor do we want to paint a negative picture, but at the same time we feel like honesty is a necessity. We feel blessed beyond measure and have no room for any complaint as we continue to seek His wisdom for these issues.
After hinting at our struggles, it is necessary for us to counter with the ongoing accounts of our blessings. We feel so blessed to be able to report that we just enjoyed a week off with my parents. We were blessed by their visit as we experienced sweet fellowship and family time. This remains one of those blessings that we have been unable to get our brains to be able to comprehend. The power of the Christian family continues to be revealed to us in so many ways and the calling remains before us as we seek His grace in raising our family.
With the birth of a new niece this past month (Alea Cosette to Daniel and Kasey Messner), our excitement level has increased as we anticipate the birth of baby#3 this summer. We are continually asked whether we are having the baby in Jamaica or the States. This issue remains in the air as we are waiting for our first appointment with our doctor in Jamaica to get some questions answered. We are certainly leaning towards coming back to the States, but we want to remain open to staying in Jamaica. Ultimately, this again reminds us that all ministry leads to a stripping away of our independence for the purpose of establishing our dependence on Him.
Our work in Montego Bay has continued through the month of February. We enjoyed 3 teams that were all very different. A team from PA, DE, and MD started off our month and parts of this team have been coming for close to 20 years. This is a mature team, skilled people, and hard workers. The 2nd team was an 8th grade group from KY. While different from the 1st team, we enjoyed the team and they did some great work. The team leader has been bringing an 8th grade group for around 13 years (now that is ministry). Our 3rd team of the month was a high school youth group from NJ that was full of life. The team worked hard and taught me a few things about NJ that I had not been exposed to before. The work teams continue to bless CCCD and we are grateful to be a part of the work.
In spite of our struggles and confusion, we rejoice in ways that we have never rejoiced before. The realities of the power of the gospel remain before us and we want to magnify His greatness. We sense the faithfulness of our Lord in the midst a growing understanding of our unfaithfulness. The support we continue to receive from so many is humbling and we give Him the praise.
THANK YOU!!!