Happy Halloween from Jamaica!
Christina: After a great breakfast of pancakes & fresh scrambled eggs we had morning prayers with the residence of Jacobs Ladder (JL). Morning prayers at JL is unlike anywhere else at MSC. The residence here are older than what we are used to and they are severely mentally and physically disabled.
Francesco: Michael is one of the residents who can actually communicate with me (somewhat). He rubs his belly and will say "full" to let you know he just ate. His voice is deep, yet friendly. Michael likes to watch us work and help out. He seems happy to have us here and isn't shy to jump in and help out.
Christina: I first met Michael at My Father's House 5 years ago, on my first service trip. He is very affectionate and loves to sing praise to God. He loves to give hugs and always wants me near him. If I try to say hello to another resident he'll quickly pull me back to stay with him. He blows air kisses to me too.
Francesco: Michael even tries to kiss me!!! He'll pucker his lips up real strong and tight and blow me an air kiss. Man, if that happened back home I don't know what I would do!!!...but here I play along and blow a kiss back because these kids are coming from a fun loving place. They are so innocent. They don't have as much as us but they are so happy.
Christina: Spending more time with the people at JL makes me think of my sister who is a special education teacher. She tells me stories of her students and the difficulties she has during her workday. I commend the caregivers here who work so hard to take care of these residents. They feed them, bath them, praise with them, chase after them and so much more. Most of all they show them love and patience. What a lesson that is to me!
Francesco: While mixing concrete with Andrew, Michael came alongside me with an empty wheelchair and motioned for me to get in. He took me for a ride to the area where we were mixing concrete and I began to work. When I looked back I saw him sleeping in the chair like he just had a long night of partying. It was pretty cool that he wanted to push me around before taking his afternoon nap. He doesn't have anything to give me like food or a cup of coffee like a friend back home would offer me if I was at their home...so instead, he offered me a ride in a wheelchair to show me love. He's a really cool guy.
Christina: JL wasn't the first place I would have chosen to come to but now that I'm here I don't want to be anywhere else. JL is magical and lots of things are going on here. After a long day of the team working on painting the missions house, cleaning the area around the well and making new stairs, a rainbow appeared over the mountains. I think that was God's way of saying He is pleased with what we are doing here. I'm happy and so very proud to say we are a part of the JL team.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Just Be
So.... during last night's reflection, we discussed our consolations, desolations, and hopes for the upcoming week. There seemed to be a common theme amongst all of us, one by one, as we circled around the room. The theme was how hard it is to leave our lives at home behind - whether it be our hectic work schedules, our families or our everyday comforts & routines - and embrace the simplicity of "just being".
Today we were trying to just be... by waking up and enjoying the gorgeous Jamaican mountainside and wonderful coffee. By joining the local community for mass and being welcomed with open arms and song. By taking in the natural smells of the farm such as cow manure, dead frogs and headless chickens. By jumping into our first task of cleaning debris and grading land around the new well (and boy were we happy to find out that is not where our drinking water was currently coming from). By not worrying what time it was or how dirty we were getting. By working as a team and appreciating each and every person that is here....
We aim to let go of our stresses back home so we can love the children of Mustard Seed with open hearts, provide the support the caregivers need, work physically as hard as we ever have, and completely embrace the opportunity to give of ourselves to others.
~ Gretchen and Suzanne (Three Year Veterans)
Today we were trying to just be... by waking up and enjoying the gorgeous Jamaican mountainside and wonderful coffee. By joining the local community for mass and being welcomed with open arms and song. By taking in the natural smells of the farm such as cow manure, dead frogs and headless chickens. By jumping into our first task of cleaning debris and grading land around the new well (and boy were we happy to find out that is not where our drinking water was currently coming from). By not worrying what time it was or how dirty we were getting. By working as a team and appreciating each and every person that is here....
We aim to let go of our stresses back home so we can love the children of Mustard Seed with open hearts, provide the support the caregivers need, work physically as hard as we ever have, and completely embrace the opportunity to give of ourselves to others.
~ Gretchen and Suzanne (Three Year Veterans)
This Year Is Different
Every year when the team leaves on the trip it rains. This year was different though - we escaped just in time to miss the snow. It was different and set the tone for this trip being different than any other.
After an early morning, quick trip to the airport, seamless check in and an overall uneventful flight, we arrived in Kingston. We piled 13 bags, plus 2 carry ons each, into the familiar white Mustard Seed van and set off on our journey, stopping only once for some delicious chicken and beef patties. Normally we'd be en route to Sophie's Place, but this year was different.
Up through the windy roads and down a long dirt path, we arrived at Jacob's Ladder. All veterans of this trip, we all have had the opportunity to see this community, which houses adults over 18 with disabilities, come further into being each year and have been nothing but impressed with it's progress.
After we settled into our beautiful new residences for the next few days, we exchanged pants for shorts and went on a tour of this truly majestic community. The chapel is taking shape - the two stories are getting built up, the tile is being laid on the floor, and we all paused a moment to feel the presence of God, while taking in the scenery of rolling hills that surround us. Next we moved on to tour the farm, picking up a few residents who were excited to join us on the tour. Chickens, pigs, cows and rabbits. The expansion plan to make this community self-sustaining is impressive. We walked over to the pond, past the huge greenhouses, all the while taking in the beautiful land around us.
After a long day we returned to our residences, to catch up, relax and journal. In the evening we reflected on our highs and lows of the day and also our hope for the trip. Mine was to be here, live here, experience life here, be open to the different and new experiences of this trip and simply live in the present.
While we have all been on this trip before we are challenged to live, not in the shadow of trips before or what awaits us back home, but to create new experiences here, to serve and be open to the challenges of this week.
~ Karin (Two Year Veteran)
After an early morning, quick trip to the airport, seamless check in and an overall uneventful flight, we arrived in Kingston. We piled 13 bags, plus 2 carry ons each, into the familiar white Mustard Seed van and set off on our journey, stopping only once for some delicious chicken and beef patties. Normally we'd be en route to Sophie's Place, but this year was different.
Up through the windy roads and down a long dirt path, we arrived at Jacob's Ladder. All veterans of this trip, we all have had the opportunity to see this community, which houses adults over 18 with disabilities, come further into being each year and have been nothing but impressed with it's progress.
After we settled into our beautiful new residences for the next few days, we exchanged pants for shorts and went on a tour of this truly majestic community. The chapel is taking shape - the two stories are getting built up, the tile is being laid on the floor, and we all paused a moment to feel the presence of God, while taking in the scenery of rolling hills that surround us. Next we moved on to tour the farm, picking up a few residents who were excited to join us on the tour. Chickens, pigs, cows and rabbits. The expansion plan to make this community self-sustaining is impressive. We walked over to the pond, past the huge greenhouses, all the while taking in the beautiful land around us.
After a long day we returned to our residences, to catch up, relax and journal. In the evening we reflected on our highs and lows of the day and also our hope for the trip. Mine was to be here, live here, experience life here, be open to the different and new experiences of this trip and simply live in the present.
While we have all been on this trip before we are challenged to live, not in the shadow of trips before or what awaits us back home, but to create new experiences here, to serve and be open to the challenges of this week.
~ Karin (Two Year Veteran)
Friday, October 28, 2011
"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,so as to accept the life that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell
In preparation for our trip we have talked a lot about what we are looking forward to as well as what we are challenged by facing this year's trip. Many of us, myself included, have trouble "letting go" without knowing what is around the next corner. By nature I am a planner; to the point where among my friends it has become a joke that I say "tomorrow is my only free day".
The focus for the entire team this year is to "just be" while we are in Jamaica and live in the moment. Each of us has experienced Jamaica in the past but we've never experienced it in 2011 as a part of this team. The past 2 years I have even slept in the same exact bed at Sophie's Place (I think something along with that planning nature also makes me a creature of habit). But as I face this trip to begin in just over 12 hours I know a brand new adventure awaits. While some of the kids will be the same, some will have made drastic changes for the better or sadly taken a turn for the worse. There may be new children changing the entire dynamic of a home. There will be new laughs, new tears, new songs and new jokes because it's a brand new trip. Now it's time for the whole team to let go of our worries, our cares and our schedules and embrace the adventure of Jamaica 2011.
I may have planned on going to mass one evening back in the beginning of 2009 when I first learned about Hoboken Cares but I could never have planned how this trip has changed my life.
The focus for the entire team this year is to "just be" while we are in Jamaica and live in the moment. Each of us has experienced Jamaica in the past but we've never experienced it in 2011 as a part of this team. The past 2 years I have even slept in the same exact bed at Sophie's Place (I think something along with that planning nature also makes me a creature of habit). But as I face this trip to begin in just over 12 hours I know a brand new adventure awaits. While some of the kids will be the same, some will have made drastic changes for the better or sadly taken a turn for the worse. There may be new children changing the entire dynamic of a home. There will be new laughs, new tears, new songs and new jokes because it's a brand new trip. Now it's time for the whole team to let go of our worries, our cares and our schedules and embrace the adventure of Jamaica 2011.
I may have planned on going to mass one evening back in the beginning of 2009 when I first learned about Hoboken Cares but I could never have planned how this trip has changed my life.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Ready to Change
Have you ever wondered what your life is all about? Have you wondered why you go to work every day and why it's so important that you show up before your boss and leave after him? Have you ever wondered why you HAVE to have those adorable shoes or that tv bigger than a small car? Have you ever wondered what would happen if you just stopped doing the same thing every single day?
Thirteen men and women have wondered. Thirteen men and women have found that after a very scary leap there is an incredible world out there that looks nothing like they thought. Thirteen men and women have answered the call and gone to Jamaica to live without luxury, to do hard labor, and to have the best vacation of their lives.
Those thirteen men and women are changing our world because God, working through Mustard Seed Communities, changed their hearts.
They are doing amazing things in this world from reading books to kids to working at soup kitchens to being board members for non-profit organizations.
This year we ask you, our friends and family, to join us in changing our hearts to change the world. Are you ready to have God change your heart? Are you ready to change the world? Join us not only on this journey for this week but for the journey of our lives that is taking a drastic turn starting today.
Thirteen men and women have wondered. Thirteen men and women have found that after a very scary leap there is an incredible world out there that looks nothing like they thought. Thirteen men and women have answered the call and gone to Jamaica to live without luxury, to do hard labor, and to have the best vacation of their lives.
Those thirteen men and women are changing our world because God, working through Mustard Seed Communities, changed their hearts.
They are doing amazing things in this world from reading books to kids to working at soup kitchens to being board members for non-profit organizations.
This year we ask you, our friends and family, to join us in changing our hearts to change the world. Are you ready to have God change your heart? Are you ready to change the world? Join us not only on this journey for this week but for the journey of our lives that is taking a drastic turn starting today.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Trading Suits for Shovels
For most people, when summer ends and the leaves begin to fall, thoughts turn to pumpkin-picking, halloween, and cozy sweaters. But for those of us on the HobokenCares team, autumn means preparing to head down to Kingston for our annual trip to work with Mustard Seed Communities (MSC). This will be the 7th trip for the HobokenCares team, and it will be the first time that the group consists entirely of veterans. And while it might seem that the ritual of one week in Jamaica has become familiar, each trip is always very different, and always has a profound effect on our lives in so many ways.... we hope you will share the journey with us again through this blog.
We head to Jamaica on October 29. Please keep us, and the children and caregivers at Mustard Seed, in your prayers as we finish our preparations this week.
http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/16055371/article-Trading-suits
We head to Jamaica on October 29. Please keep us, and the children and caregivers at Mustard Seed, in your prayers as we finish our preparations this week.
http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/16055371/article-Trading-suits
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