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| The employee mission trip was a blessing! I’m not sure I’ll be able to capture all the special moments I had without this letter getting too long, but I would like to share some of those.In Kingston we stayed at a guest house on The Salvation Army’s School for The Blind and Visually Impaired property. The “property” was always referred to as the “compound”. The property includes The School for The Blind, dormitories for the 67 children currently enrolled, the Frances Ham Residence for Retired Officers and Adult Blind, 6 apartments for retired officers, several homes for officer families, the Corps building, a preschool, and The Nest, a children’s home where there are currently just over 20 children. Let me describe our housing situation a little bit. Our house had several rooms with bunk beds and 3 full bathrooms. However, we could only shower one at a time or run the risk of having just a trickle to bathe in. The weather was hot, so taking cold showers everyday was refreshing (There was only cold water.). We did have to spray bug spray on ourselves a couple of times a day and of course apply sunscreen. You would think they’d stay away because of how sweaty we got throughout the day, but no. We always kept the windows open and ran fans at night. The lizards quickly became our friends as they liked to come out and play quite often, both indoors and outdoors!Major Clark and Major Jones were our cooks for the week. These ladies are two retired officers who live in the apartments on the compound. The food they prepared for us was always delicious! Major Jones is Guyanese, so one of our dinners was Guyanese spaghetti.Our work project for the week was to paint the boys’ dorms. We were able to paint 4 dorms while there; two of those are the older boys’ dorms. I have to share with you how God’s hand moved through our painting project.We were given two colors of paint: morning glory(a blue) and frosted lime(an off white). There were more cans of the morning glory than the frosted lime, but we chose to start with the frosted lime since the walls were already an old blue color. We decided we would change the look of the boys’ dorms to really make a difference. We weren’t sure if the boys would be able to see the change in colors because of their sight, but we hoped they’d enjoy the new coat of paint. We had to be out of the dorms by 2:30pm because the children were let out of classes at that hour and would return to their dorms. It took us a day to finish one dorm.At breakfast the next morning, our group discovered we didn’t have enough cans of paint to do the full two coats in the adjoining dorm as we had done in the first dorm. During that discussion, we found out that the frosted lime paint was actually for another project! Because the first two dorms were for the older boys and because their dorms were joined together by the shared bathrooms, we really wanted to paint the second dorm the same frosted lime color as the first dorm. We agreed that if we could paint these two dorms the frosted lime color we would finish the others with the morning glory paint. Joe, the team leader, spent part of his morning going from shop to shop to see if anyone carried a can of frosted lime. At lunch, Joe reported that there were no more cans of frosted lime to be found! We had already painted the first coat of frosted lime by lunch time. We prayed over the project and asked God to multiply the amount of paint we had as He did with the fish and loaves, so we could finish that one dorm! I have to share that the day before, Majors Roberts had asked us to read a Bible story to the ladies of Frances Ham. For some reason, I was handed the story book. Sheila told me, “Read the story about the fish and the loaves.” So I did. What I didn’t know was that God would remind us of His miracle the very next day, and He put our faith to the test! After lunch, we went back to finish the dorm. We did not spare a DROP of the paint we had left! We went under the rims of the cans, brushed up any drops that dripped on the tile floor, and scraped pans and cans. Army Watson even pulled out the can of paint from the trash bin that we had emptied that morning to make sure we didn’t waste a drop of that can! GOD BLESSED US! We finished the second coat of paint in the second dorm! God did not only bless us by extending the amount of paint, but He also sent us a confirmation of the correct color used! While we painted that morning, Captain Barb Stanley had walked in the dorm and said, “I’m so glad you’re painting this room in the same color as the other dorm. The boys who sleep here really wanted their room painted the same color as the other boys’ dorm. They said they really liked it!” There was no Lowe’s or Home Depot to match the paint at. We had to depend on God’s wondrous hand to help us with that project; and He did! Thursday, our last day to paint, we painted two more dorms, but we used the morning glory paint. We only had to paint one coat on the walls, because YEARS before they had been painted some shade of blue. The fresh coat of paint really brightened up those dorms! One of the very special events of the day was visiting Frances Ham. On the first night in Jamaica, Joe had explained to our group that groups in the past had never really visited with the residents of Frances Ham, but by the end of the week, those residents blessed our souls in indescribable ways! We had so much fun with the residents there! We would walk them in the mornings then sit on the veranda and sing praises and chat. How the ladies love to sing! Some were songs they themselves had made up. I am personally challenged each time I visit a nursing home. When I worked with the Women’s Auxiliary of Washington DC, one of our monthly activities was to deliver gifts to a certain nursing home. Though I was always ready to go, I always feared I wouldn’t have anything to say to the residents. I didn’t know how to interact with them. Before our very first visit to Frances Ham, I placed this fear in God’s hands because I knew we were to take the ladies on a walk the next morning. God answered my prayer by pairing me up with Miss Taylor. Miss Taylor was a funny woman who always had a song in her. She could not see, so I had to be very careful where we walked. She also asked for her roommate, Miss Jeanne, quite often, so I had to make sure I always knew where Miss Jeanne was. Miss Taylor always had a story to tell me, and she managed to always keep our conversation going! One day, she told me the same story as the day before of her son saying she didn’t eat. She said, “If I didn’t eat, I would be dead!” We soon learned these ladies were so full of God’s joy and always sang about being HOME with God one day. On Wednesday, Miss Gordon prayed for our group. She has such a strong voice! She prayed fervently for US and every part of journey back home. Thursday, four of us were able to play BINGO with the ladies, and we all had a great time! I helped Miss Taylor, Miss Jeanne and Miss Sergeant. Everyone won prizes and some even won two or three times! The funny part about playing BINGO with those ladies is that some of them would cheat! From the three ladies I helped, Miss Jeanne is the one who would place her markers, pinto beans, on squares all over her card, but only when I wasn’t looking! It was fun! You’re probably wondering, “If you stayed at a school, what about the children? Didn’t you interact with them?” Of course! We had multiple opportunities to play with the children at both The School and The Nest. One of the things the children enjoyed doing more than anything was having their picture taken! They LOVED this. However, their glee wouldn’t end there. They would ask if they could see their picture on the screen of our cameras. Some of the children at The School couldn’t actually see the picture, but they would still ask to see it! One time, a little girl crossed in front of me as I took a group picture of children at The Nest. When one of the boys saw the picture and noticed he couldn’t be seen because the little girl was walking in front of the camera, he yelled at her, then posed and asked could I take the picture again. At The Nest, we had one night of fun and games, another night of planned devotions structured as children’s church, and another night of devotions through a prayer bear craft. The children at The School were always around when we had spare time, so we often played with them in their playground. We joined them during their devotional time Friday morning. I was amazed and full of joy when I saw that the ones leading were two students, standing by themselves in front of their peers leading them in songs of praise to God. Because I work with youth, it was a very encouraging moment to see that YES, young people can stand strong in front of their peers to lead them in honoring God. Afterwards, our team distributed sunglasses to everyone. The team from THQ who participated on the mission trip to Jamaica last year sent sunglasses for everyone. The kids had so much fun with their sunglasses! We saw the children wearing them all day long. Later that same day, we did the same prayer bear craft with the children at The School.I had a great time with everyone we interacted with, and I was greatly blessed in every activity. Our group started the day with morning devotions, and we would finish the day sharing how we saw God throughout the day. Everyday we had new things to share, new revelations from God, or a better understanding of His Word that perhaps we had already learned before. Two of the blessings I received from God that week, which touch my heart more than anything from that week actually came out of interacting with the team. I didn’t know everyone beforehand, but we all quickly got acquainted and carried on very well. God has an amazing way of placing us right where he wants us. Thursday at lunch, Cindy McQueen and Sue Damskey’s testimonies blessed me. Through their testimonies, I was reminded how blessed Matt and I both are to have each other but most importantly that we both love God and serve Him. We are both an answer to each other’s prayers. It will soon be 5 months since our wedding, and God continues to remind me in so many ways, to thank Him for Matt. After lunch, I felt moved to spend some quiet time with God just praising Him for our bringing us together and inviting Him to always be a part of our relationship. The next morning, I woke up and the first thing I did was call Matt to wish him a happy birthday and sing Las mañanitas to him. The second blessing I received was through the constant prayer. Our morning devotional book asked us each day to begin by praying the following: Lord, silence my thoughts and ideas right now. Then, Lord, will you silence the voice of the devil from my mind in Jesus’ name? Finally, Lord, will you speak to me and help me to listen right now? In Jesus’ name, Amen. We would ask, listen, obey, and evaluate to know God was the one revealing. God seemed to keep me alert to His voice all day long. The days didn’t just pass by with fun and busy-ness. They were full of God’s voice in so many different ways. He would ask me to pray at different times for whatever we were doing; silently, as I walked, as I sat around the table, or anywhere. He also spoke throughout the day; through His word, the children, the officers, the Frances Ham residents, our team, and our activities. Joe also encouraged us to keep this habit up and perhaps even start praying at THQ while walking into a meeting. It was a neat experience to be in constant communication with God and not just during devotions, a meal, at church, in time of need, or while driving, but ALL the time! I’m sorry this letter turned out to be so long, but I don’t know how to shorten it anymore without keeping something from you! Thank you for praying for me and supporting me on this trip! I really do appreciate it. I know your prayers kept me and the group safe, healthy, and in tune with God all week long. How blessed am I to be surrounded by God-fearing people! May He continue to bless you and use you in His ministry.
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| I am excited to share with you about this opportunity God is giving me through The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters (THQ). I have recently applied for and have been accepted to participate in the THQ Employee Mission Trip to Jamaica. I have learned through various activities I have participated in, that my heart breaks for children and for missions. I really enjoy working with children. I also enjoy visiting and learning about different cultures in addition to learning what The Salvation Army is doing abroad. One of the dreams Matt and I both have is to be able to participate on a mission trip together sometime. This year, this passion has motivated us to become sponsors of a 14 year old girl in Ecuador, whose name just happens to be Gabriela, through The Salvation Army’s Child Sponsorship Program! Let me tell you the little bit I know about our trip. The group of 10 will travel to Kingston, Jamaica June 9-14, 2008, where we will participate in projects at The Salvation Army School for the Blind, Officers' Training College, and The Nest Children's Home. I am very thankful for this opportunity! I pray God will prepare me for the trip and use this little me somehow, to fulfill His agenda while we are there. I also pray that my eyes, ears, and heart be open to what He will teach me while we are there. I write to you to ask for your continuous prayers for myself, the group, and the trip. I am very excited about the way God could use me on this trip. I hope not only to be a blessing to those I serve in Jamaica, but also to you. I hope you will prayerfully consider being a part of my ministry. Thank you so much!
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I know I don't really write blogs, and you may call this cheating...that's ok. I wanted to share the lyrics of this song. So, sometimes I feel the best way I can express myself to God is with a song. Tonight, the song that came to mind at the beginning and end of my prayer time is: What Can I do? Words and Music by Paul Baloche and Graham Kendrick When I see the beauty of a sunset’s glory Amazing artistry across the evening sky. When I feel the mystery of a distant galaxy, It awes and humbles me to be loved by a God so high. Chorus: What can I do but thank You; what can I do but give my life to You; Halle-lu — jah, halle—lujah. What can I do but praise You; Everyday make everything I do A Halle-lu — jah, a halle—lujah, halle-lu — jah.
When I hear the story of a God of mercy
Who shared humanity and suffered by our side.
Of the cross they nailed You to, that could not hold You;
Now You’re making all things new by the pow’r of Your risen life.
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I received this email today from my corps officers from when I was in Virginia:
This message is sent at the request of Majors Earl and Janice Fitzgerald. Faith Anderson’s friend, Tracy Baker who is pregnant and lives in Richmond Virginia is undergoing emergency surgery today at 5:00 PM to remove the baby as there is a grave threat to the lives of both baby and mother. The baby is only about one pound in weight, so the risks are serious. Your prayers are urgently requested for Tracy, the baby and the family. Please set aside this time, 5:00 PM today (Tuesday March 4) to lift Tracy and the baby in prayer and for God’s merciful loving embrace as they go through this serious procedure. Thank you. Indra Corea from the NCV Division
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