Time feels like it is flying by. Right now, my team is paired up with one other team, Team Tent, in St. Andrew Parish, Jamaica. We are about an hour north west of Kingston. First off, Jamaica is absolutely gorgeous. Here’s just a couple of pictures that I have taken over the past 2 weeks.
The view we had during one of our ministry days.
The view from our backyard at the house our teams are staying at.
The people are so incredibly friendly. Right outside of our front door people will walk up and say hello. People are very friendly and open to hearing what we have to say. Our ministry for this month is door to door evangelism. We spend about a week in a community and then each week we move to a new community. The people are more than willing to welcome us into their homes and listen to us.
Personally, I find it hard to do door to door evangelism because when I put myself in their position and see a crowd of people coming to surround and talk to me, it is very intimidating. It feels like we are pressuring them into believing what we believe. However, I sit down and think about the fact that we may be the only people to come and tell them the truth about Jesus and the Gospel. We are truly loving them by sharing the Good News with them and hoping that the truth will resonate within them.
One of the biggest difficulties we have run into is that Jamaica is both an extremely religious and superstitious place. Most, if not all, of the people that we have run into have a knowledge of both the Bible and of Jesus. So, when we ask them if they know who Jesus is and what they think of him, most people we have spoken to simply say, ‘Yeah, I know about him! He created everything and is the savior of the world, He’s the only reason that I’m here!” It is very exciting that they know this but when we ask them a few more questions like, ‘the Bible tells in Proverbs 27:1 us that tomorrow is uncertain and implies that we can die at any moment, so, can I ask you, if you were to die tomorrow where would you go?’ And nearly every time we have asked, they say that they do not know. After asking them how they believe they can be saved 95% of them respond with ‘You just have to live the Christian life! You need to do good and love others.’
They are totally missing out on God’s infinite grace! There is nothing we can do to be saved, it is purely by His grace alone. That is probably the biggest thing that Jamaica is missing. They get so caught up in what church they go to, whether or not they go to church, how good they have been in their life. If they do not feel like they are at a good place in their life, they don’t think they can be saved. This has been the biggest obstacle that we have to overcome when talking to them. Telling them that we as humans are and never will be good enough, and that we come to Him in our brokenness and He will fix it for us, not fixing it ourselves and then coming to Him.
Overall, I have loved Jamaica and part of my heart is definitely going to stay here when we leave. Please be praying for Jamaica because they are so blinded by the facade of ‘religion’ and not simply following after Jesus.
