Face time

This morning we dropped off our group from 'Bama (Roll Tide, Roll) and after a quick day of prep work, we're picking up a team of 157 tomorrow! Talk about craziness! I'll be in charge of a group of about 30 or so and they'll be working at 2 different schools and doing 4 different construction/service projects. We will be painting 4 rooms at the William Knibb High School, building a block house for a lady named Perta, doing repairs on George Feeling's house as well as building him an outhouse to replace one that is in disrepair, and starting a home from the ground up for a single mother named Sandrine. We're going to be extremely busy this week, but as always we know that God will be glorified through our giving!

Which brings me to the title of this blog. . . face time. Last week I was smacked in the face with the realization that all anybody wants is to be loved, one-on-one. Most of us in the USA experience this from our parents, family, teachers, pastors, neighbors, friends, or any number of people. But there are many people who don't get to experience this affection for various reasons. The people we worked with this past week mostly fell into the later category. I started thinking about this as we were doing VBS with the few kids that came out for it. It didn't have a formal structure to it, but instead was just individuals sitting with the kids doing crafts, talking, and just spending time with them. As I saw this towards the end of the week, Josh mentioned that these kids don't get that personal time with their parents because the parents (and it's usually parent, singular) they are busy trying to make ends meet. And the schools are too crowded for the teachers to be able to invest much individual time in the students. But as our team sat with them, individually, and spent time with them, they were like different kids! They felt loved and you could see it!

Then I started thinking back through the week with this theme of one-on-one time in mind. And it just smacked me that the joy we were constantly seeing in the faces of some of Jamaica's most destitute was because they were feeling loved! At the Westhaven Children's Home we spent time just playing, dancing, and sometimes just holding hands or hugging the children. . . and they couldn't be happier. They have enough funding for the staff to do the bare essentials for the children. . . no one-on-one time. At the infirmary sitting, talking, singing, and a just touching the adults there, and the joy can not only be seen, but felt! Again, enough money and staff to take care of their basic needs.

I felt something on my foot and looked down to find this. . .

Untying my shoe made his day and we both had an amazing laugh!!

So as I go into this next week, this is what will be on my mind. . . giving individuals the one-on-one attention that we all long for! Give someone around you some face time this week and see what happens!