Greetings and prayers from sunny Annotto Bay! What a joy to be back in Jamaica doing God’s work.
We arrived yesterday (Wednesday) after traveling both by air and land. We touched down in Montego Bay ~1pm then drove 3 hours east, from the resort side of Jamaica to “out country,” as they say here on the island. Though a long drive, we enjoyed seeing the beautiful, lush mountains of Jamaica as well as the Caribbean blue sea. We also enjoyed some delicious Jamaican patties along the way. We arrived at St. Theresa’s around 5:30pm and started with Mass followed by dinner, Holy Hour, and a planning session. By the time we settled down for the night, there was no running water (it shuts off here around 9pm, and our pump wasn’t working!), but we offered it up with gratitude and with hopeful expectation that God would resolve it by morning…and He did!
Today (Thursday) was a great day of firsts. We trekked to Mount Saint Joseph primary school in the Blue Mountains, which is one of five Catholic schools associated with St. Theresa’s parish. The kids seemed shy at first. But after singing “This little light of mine,” everyone was warmed up and ready to have fun.
We had a very friendly dance-off, showing our favorite dance moves to love Jesus and also played “Simon says.” The boy’s team was so good there was a five-way tie!
The evangelization theme for this mission trip is “Jesus, the Bread of Life”. Although Mount Saint Joseph is a Catholic school, many if not most of the students are not Catholic. They have some Christian background, but many do not have a good understanding of the faith. Over the last five years, we have slowly been teaching very simple yet important catechesis to build up the faith and encourage the children to deepen their personal relationship with Jesus.
Today, for the first time(!), we had the privilege of celebrating Mass at the school. It was an “explanatory Mass”, where Father Herald elaborated what was happening throughout the various parts of the Mass and relating it to various parts of scripture. A highlight was a folded “Eucaristic card” we gave to each of the children – when the card was folded, the children saw bread and a bow on the outside (a gift). And when they opened it, they saw Jesus on the inside. It was wonderful seeing their eyes light up as they made the connection that Jesus makes a gift of himself to us through bread (and wine).
After Mass, the kids had a snack break and then had some special visitors – Mary and Jesus (who appeared 3 different times). We narrated 4 scenes of the bible as some brave students dressed up to depict – Jesus born in Bethlehem / Jesus’ multiplication of loaves / Jesus at the Last Supper / Jesus on the Cross. It was beautiful to witness the students connecting Jesus being born in “the house of bread,” to Him multiplying the loaves, to Jesus then blessing/breaking/giving that bread, and then finally offering himself.
And it gets better — we were able to do Adoration at the school (another first). The children had just learned about Jesus being the bread of life, how he is truly present in the Eucharist, and then we adored Jesus in the Eucharist. They wrote some praises and intentions in an activity book, and Marisel and Luke played beautiful worship music as Father led a meditation.
After Adoration, we said goodbye to the children of Mt. St. Joseph’s and made a quick visit to St. Theresa Basic School where the team did a “show-and-tell” using a toy Mass kit.
We ended the day with some fellowship in the ocean, family dinner, and of course Adoration for the team.
Thank you to all our families and friends who have supported and encouraged this mission. Please know we are praying for you, please also pray for us.
Verso l’alto!
The Jamaica Missions Team
Frassati Missions 