Christmas is in the air here in Jamaica!!! We have started to listen to some Christmas music and Christmas is ALL the children are talking about at school! We are seeing more and more that our friends here in Jamaica love Christmas just as much as we do! It's a little different to think that we will be having a hot Christmas this year and no snow but the Christmas spirit is stirring! We are getting excited too! The Christmas program is coming up and the teachers are beginning to plan what they want to do for the Christmas program with the children. We are excited to experience Christmas in a new way.
I wanted to tell about two special events that happened this week. Last Sunday, Caleb and I decided we were going to have a Jamaican Soup dinner and game night with our church family on Wednesday night. We gave the announcement at church and couldn't wait for that night! We have been feeling like we want to try and create opportunities to get to know our church family more. Wednesday came and after school we drove out to the vegetable market to get the vegetables for our soup! We made a HUGE pot of Jamaican Spicy Cock Soup. One spice I love here is Jerk seasoning. I love to add it to everything and love to add it to soup when I make it. It gives it a nice kick! Caleb and I worked together preparing everything and set up the church so people could sit, eat and play games. A little before six we had 2 of our church members show up! I was so excited! We sat and chatted and waited to see who else would show up! Beth, Brooke, and Larry also joined us and Brenton as well. We had one more of our church members come so we started to eat and fellowship with one another. We also had the dorm children join us and their dorm mother Miss Maureen. It was a special time. After we had finished eating we began some intense games of Dominos. I never knew the right way to play Dominos but it's a very popular game here in Jamaica and Caleb and I have been learning how to play. Every time you place a domino down you are supposed to SLAM it down loudly. Its a lot of fun and can be a very loud game! I won zero games and the champion of the night was, Mr. Forrester! He was really, really good. After the games ended people started to leave to go home and I just felt this overwhelming joy. What a beautiful time with our church family and friends. I felt God was just surrounding us the whole evening as we were together.
The second special event that I am really excited we got to be a part of was the first 5K race here in Ridge! Larry put the event together and it had a nice turnout! There was a boy who lives here in Ridge named Dillan who was the D.J. so it was great to get pumped up to run with some loud, fun music! I could hear it the whole time I was running! Everyone was so supportive and just cheering for each other during the race. It was a really neat time of being together with some of the people here in Ridge and getting some great exercise! I haven't ran a 5K in a few years and I really felt blessed by this opportunity. I still am always amazed at how there are SO many hills here and they are BIG! After the race we all enjoyed some watermelon, bumpees and some other treats. There was a small raffle and then we all cleaned up to go back home. When we got home we just both agreed that it was great to be a part of the race. I was feeling so thankful for legs and good health to be able to run! It's so easy to take for granted our health.
We are continually reminded of God's goodness each day even through the struggles and hard times he is ALWAYS faithful. We also continue to try and live each day as if it was the best day ever and man does that change things! :)
We have been blessed with so many prayers, cards, texts, calls and support from back home. We can't thank everyone enough for your continual love and prayers. We love you all!
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