January 2009 Update

God is moving in Jamaica. Isaiahsixeight is active on many fronts - in education, with computer labs, school construction, church repairs, feeding and clothing the needy, home construction, farm development, and direct evangelism.

We appreciate your support through your gifts, prayers and participation on our trips.
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Goose Bumps, Gungo Beans, God, and Government

We had heard about the plight of Delroy and his family just a few days after Hurricane Dean hit Jamaica. He, his wife, a daughter and three grandchildren lost their home and everything except the clothes they were wearing. Delroy has no skills and worked in agriculture. Of course, even that was gone with the banana trees all blown down, fruit stripped from the trees and the blight that has destroyed the coconuts. Delroy was able to salvage a few scraps of wood and some tin (commonly called “zinc” in Jamaica). Money we had prepositioned in Jamaica prior to Hurricane Dean was used to help clothe and feed Delroy and others. On our next trip, not knowing him or where he was living, we met him near his temporary home – a small room of a decaying abandoned wharf. They were hot and miserable there. You could look into his eyes and see the misery and despair.

We visited the site of his previous home and decided that on our next trip, we would try to rebuild his home. A few months later, we built him and his family a tiny two room house with total size of 16’ x 16’. They were still suffering. We continued to help him with some money, food, and clothing. Then we decided to try to help him help themself. We had this idea to help people get started raising pigs and Delroy’s family would be our pilot project. So, in the summer of 2008, we helped him build a pig pen and bought him a pregnant pig as well as feed. We also had to run water to his property. He commented that this was the first time in his life he has had running water (and this is not even connected to his home).

Two weeks ago, I (Donnie) was on the island and drove up to the base of the hill at Delroy’s. There he was with a produce stand, scales hanging from a tree, and two nicely dressed customers. I got goose bumps. Here is a man who was in despair and had lost most of his worldly possessions now making an income selling produce from his farm in the bush.

On his hillside, close to his house, now reside 8 small 4 month old pigs each weighing about 100 lbs. The mother sow is pregnant again. He has planted bananas and plantains on the hill to help shade the pigs from the hot morning sun. Delroy also has gungo beans (the bean most often found in the staple food of “rice and peas (actually beans)” and sorrel growing.

Later in the week, I accompanied Delroy and his wife to their farm in the bush (out in the country). Eleven months earlier, he had rented approximately 10 acres of land on a hillside not suitable for standard agriculture. When we were there in the fall, he was planting 200 banana trees and 200 plantain trees. Now on this rugged steep hillside, he has the banana trees, plantains, coconuts, yams, gungo beans, sorrel, pumpkin, sweet potato, and coffee growing.

So, back to the corner produce stand and my goose bumps. Why did I get them? God led us to help this man and his family in a time of great despair. That helped ignite hope. Now, he has a home, a pig farm, produce near their home, an amazing farm on a hill 10 miles away, and he is selling produce. He now has an income and a bright future. Seeing this end product – hope and relief - brought the goose bumps.

What about those guys buying the produce? Well they wanted to know what we were about. So, I started explaining how God had led us to Delroy, what we had done to help Delroy and the progress Delroy had made. Then they wanted to know more about what we as Isaiahsixeight hope to do in the future with the help of God. One of these men got goose bumps that he showed to me. During our discussion, Delroy told them how he read his Bible daily and again when he felt down or depressed. Goose bumps for me again. Delroy was not a Christian when we met him and he had Rastafarian leanings. The two men there both had connections with the government. They made some contacts which resulted in a meeting with Dr. Fenton Ferguson, the Member of Parliament representing the eastern ½ of the St. Thomas province and Vice President of the second strongest political party in Jamaica. He vowed to help us and try to clear some governmental obstacles for us.

God is amazing! He uses very ordinary people in very bad situations to do amazing things for those who follow and listen to Him.


See more about Delroy's family

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Guinness, Ganga, Gambling, and the Gospel

Over the years, God has put it on our heart that we need to be working with men in Jamaica – particularly the young men. The reason for this is that you rarely see young men in the churches. Are they exposed to the Gospel? Not really. You do see tents with tent evangelists around, but these young men rarely attend those. They have heard and seen all that.

A few quotes resonate in our minds:

“Go straight for souls, and go for the worst.” William Booth

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." -- C.T. Studd

“No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once.” -- Oswald J. Smith

“Evangelization is a process of bringing the gospel to people where they are, not where you would like them to be… When the gospel reaches a people where they are, their response to the gospel is the church in a new place...” --Vincent Donovan

Where did Jesus go? He taught in the temple and synagogues, but he spent most of his time in the presence of sinners – going to meet them where they were. Another thing about Jamaica is that people seem very bored with nothing to do. At nights, they go to the numerous bars, drink Guinness, Red Stripe beer, or rum, smoke ganga (local name for marijuana), and gamble with cards and dominoes. So, if you want to take the Gospel to sinners like Jesus did, you have to go to them – to the bars and gambling establishments.

Thinking about this several months ago, we were struggling with how to reach these people. We realized that they were bored, tended to cluster around the bars, and were quite inquisitive. God has not empowered us to preach plus the preachers there are not reaching many, even when the preacher goes to them. So, how do we get the Gospel to them? God showed us a way. Entertain them and expose them to the Gospel where they are. People retain 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, and 70% of what they see and hear together (Mars Hill project). So, we decided to put together a portable theater and show outdoor movies where the people are (generally the bars). Some of the movies are clean secular ones that draw a crowd, and then we show a movie containing the Gospel message.

Well, you might ask how it works. It is really quite amazing. In almost all instances, we get our electrical current from a bar. We have children, women, and men in attendance. Many of the men are there to drink, smoke ganga (marijuana), and gamble. We have even had to compete with loud card games when showing movies with a Christian theme, but in all instances in which we have shown a movie with a direct Gospel presentation, the gambling has ceased and the men watch the movie. We have averaged over 50 people per showing.

Many of the men smoke ganga and drink through the movies. At times, the smoke is so thick that it burns our eyes, but usually they are captivated by what they are hearing – so much so that their conversations, cursing, and gambling cease.

We have people coming up to us after the movies asking us when and where we are showing them again. We have had people 15 miles away in the small town to see us on the street and ask us when and where we are showing the movies again. We have had people to ask us for copies of the movie DVD and the music we play. We have given Bibles to people at movies.


What is next and where do we see this going? We pray God will continue to show us the way and we think he has. We will continue with the movies, but they are teaching us something else. From the data above from the Mars Hill project about retaining 10% of what you read, 20% of what you hear, 30% of what you see, and 70% of what they see and hear together – how do we use this data and is this data true in Jamaica? Well, we are finding that many people in Jamaica cannot read even though they say they can; so, why give them a Bible? We need to think more outside the box. The cost of buying and shipping a Bible there is quite expensive, but some are still needed. Many people there have DVD players or have friends who have them. If our aim is to get the Gospel before them, we can do it using their DVD players by supplying DVD’s with the Gospel message or Bibles on CD. The Hope video, probably our best movie, can be purchased for less that ½ the cost of getting a Bible there. Also, hopefully, more than one person will see it. Also, we can legally copy some audio Bibles in MP3 format onto CD’s that play in many DVD players. So, for less than $1 US we could give them an audio Bible that they may copy as much as they want.

We believe God is leading us to continue the movie ministry, but also to distribute tracts, Bibles, DVD’s of the Hope video, and audio Bible CD’s. We are praying that this will help us reach people who are not reached by conventional methods so they can hear the Gospel message.

I have heard for years that music can calm a savage beast. It is truly amazing to watch a great presentation of the Gospel captivate a crowd of men who thought they would be drinking, smoking ganga, cursing, and gambling. The Gospel has that power. We just have to take it to the people.


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Schools, Shoes, and Steeples
Last summer, we built a Basic School (similar to a kindergarten) in Stokes Hall. It is a remarkable community with a strong work ethic, a strong church, and community spirit. We promised to come back to help repair their church which was in major disrepair and in danger of collapsing. Of course, we knew the amount of work was too much for our small team, but this community really turned out and did most of the work. We even had the women of the church carrying buckets of sand, gravel, and mixed concrete. It was a great project in a great and grateful community. We had the opportunity to make new friends, share our faith and the Gospel.

We were pleased to see that the community had painted the Basic school with the sea and waves across the bottom and white skies above. The school which was down to 20 students before we built the new building now has 27 and can take up to 40. They are extremely happy with it.

One of our team members brought 140 pairs of shoes donated by the members of Riverchase United Methodist Church. We gave some of the children shoes as well as a suitcase of clothes from Holy Apostles Episcopal Church to the school teacher to distribute. The team members also donated some of their own shoes to many of the men workers on site. Some were wearing tennis shoes with no heels and with the laces tied around the bottom to hold on the remnant of sole. Some worked on top of the rafters in their bare feet. All were most appreciative of our friendship, our work and our contributions. We also left some Bibles for the minister to distribute. He also said he needed a large print Bible. He is 74 years old and has some difficulty with his vision. So, we presented him a large print Bible someone had made possible by a donation.



Read more about Stokes Hall Basic School

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Angels and Anguish
We visited some of the sick and elderly aided by the Christmas Angel program. We went to see some of the same people I had met a year ago. Their plight is worse. Their health has worsened and their hope has diminished as the economy has declined. Two of these women are now captives in their own homes with no family to help them. They survive on a pension of about $55 US per month – in a place where gasoline is still over $2.38 per gallon. One lady can no longer stand and she has no indoor toilet. The other is an amputee living in what looks like a chicken coop made of old rusted tin. She crawls around on the floor then out to a small enclosure with a dirt floor where she has a small charcoal grill where she cooks? There are small chickens all around as she cooks as well as huge spiders and other creatures.

They say that they survive because the Port Morant Methodist Church serves them soup on Saturdays. I have seen the soup. It is a noble gesture, but it is thin and only one day a week. What about their other needs? What about the days other than Saturday?

We do not have an answer yet, but God has laid a heavy burden on our hearts and we know it could be better for them if we had a full time presence there. They need more food, possibly some vitamins, and someone to just show them that there are Christians who care.

They are angels and they are in anguish. We are in anguish over how we can help them. Maybe God will show us how we can be angels to them.


See more about these Angels

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With God's help and direction, we plan to expand God's work in Jamaica. Our desire now is to continue the things we have been doing, but try to gain a full-time presence there to be able to minister to hurting people, like the elderly listed in the story above. The local church delivers them soup once a week. We believe more is needed.

We pray that you will help this ministry by praying for it, supporting it with your gifts, and participating on mission teams.

If you feel led to help financially, please mail a contribution to:

Isaiahsixeight, Inc.
5692 Chestnut Trace
Birmingham, AL 35244

Isaiahsixeight is a not for profit tax exempt Christian mission. All contributions are tax deductable.

God bless you for your support!


Isaiahsixeight web page

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Early Fall Newsletter - 2008

God has continued to bless our mission in eastern Jamaica. We had teams there for more than 3 weeks this summer and we were followed by a team from Virginia that was there for 10 days.

While the physical labor we do there is probably the least important thing we do there, we will cite our projects first to frame the other ways God is at work there.

For more photos, see the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Isaiahsixeight.org

Our first work team built a house in Prospect for a mother and 3 children. Their former house had thousands of holes in it and it leaked rain and air. The mother and children were frequently sick from the exposure.

House Before



















This house was built in approximately 2 days.













After completion of the house in Prospect, the team moved to the Seaside community to do the promised work on Ms. McKenzie’s house (see previous blog including before photos). This required selective demolition of approximately ½ of her home and then rebuilding it and reinforcing the remaining portion. This gave Ms. McKenzie a safe, sound, and dry structure for her and her 6 year old grandson. There were also many children (too many) in the area and they were underfoot during much of the construction. We also had opportunities to play with them.

The first week team was also attended the graduation at Stokes Hall Basic School. We were all given seats of honor for the ceremony. Of course the children were beautiful.













We were invited to this because of the promise to build them a new basic school on our second week. The school they had was a single room that is about 10 feet square and in it, they had 20 students and a teacher. This concrete block structure was attached to a church and the entire structure was about to collapse. We felt that the structure was much too unsafe for the children.



Old Stokes Hall Basic School











A smaller group of our first week team installed a 7 station computer lab in the Port Morant Catholic Church where there had been a computer lab previously. They spent time working on the installation, securing the system, and teaching the teachers how to use it. This is the only computer lab in the area. Computer training is extremely lacking in this area.







The second week team had a construction element and a ministry element. The construction team went to Stokes Hall, where we found a very willing group of local men eager to help build the school. As a result, the school was erected in 2 days. Our work there allowed us to also engage the men in devotions. Most of these men were unchurched.



The second week team also had 3 young women who ministered to teenage girls in Port Morant. They had talks, sermons, socials, and crafts. Many of the talks and sermons were about living in the light, sexual purity, making good Christian decisions, etc. These teenage girls were very much impacted by the work of our young women.

Also, on two mornings, our young women went to Stokes Hall and had an impromptu Vacation Bible School with approximately 30 children.












At the beginning of the 3rd week, we went to a Jamaican wedding. In March, we had helped a couple rebuild their home that was destroyed previously by Hurricane Dean and they were living under a church (see previous blog).

This couple had been living together for close to 20 years and had 3 children. We strongly encouraged them to get married and our persistence paid off. It was very exciting for us to be invited as special guests.





Later that same afternoon, we were invited to participate in the dedication of the Stokes Hall Basic School that had been built the week before. This was yet another opportunity for us to be involved with the community.








The 3rd week team was primarily a team from First United Methodist Church of Alexander City, Alabama. Their goal was to conduct a Vacation Bible School in Duckenfield. Duckenfield is a very poor community on the eastern point of Jamaica. It is largely a sugar cane field with a sugar processing plant. The workers in the area mostly work in the cane fields or at the plant. The plant closes for long periods of time leaving the workers unemployed. Cane cutters there get $300 JD ($4.28 US) per ton for cane they cut by hand.

We talked to several people in Duckenfield and no one could remember there ever being a Vacation Bible School (VBS) in the community. As a matter of fact, many of the children who attended had never seen a white person. Here is a report from the leader of this VBS:

The Duckenfield VBS team shared the Miracles of Jesus with 58 beautiful Jamaicans each day. We had children from age 4 to 14 and even a baby or two! Mothers and grandmothers brought their children to sing and learn about the love Jesus shared by performing miracles for the people He encountered on His walk.

Each day of our VBS we did coloring sheets that portrayed the Bible Story and acted out the story while reading it to the children. The children then answered questions about the Bible passage from that day and the days before. We really felt the children were learning about the love of Jesus in a brand new way.

We also sang songs each day and the children especially loved the words and motions to the song “I’m Diggin’ Life”. This is a song about digging life while splashing in the living waters of Jesus Christ and soaking in the “Son”. We wish everyone could have experienced the children of Jamaica jumping and singing along to the motions our kids made up to the song.

Recreation each day consisted of relay races, Duck Duck Goose, and some Jamaican games the children taught us! We ended each day with a craft such as sand art or scratch art and then after “Diggin’ Life” at least three more times, the children went home singing!

Our team was truly blessed by our days at the Duckenfield VBS!


















Also, during all 3 weeks, but more so in the last week, there was work on the pig project. We selected a family of hard working people who lost everything in Hurricane Dean. Last winter, we built them a house. Now, we have built them a concrete pig pen, purchased a pregnant pig, and had water run to the pig pen. The plans are to take some of the pigs from the litter after they are weaned, give some to others who want to start raising pigs, sell some to the market to raise money for more pig feed, sell some to support the family, and start the cycle again. This is comparable to the better known Heifer Project.

One really realizes how good we have it. We ran water to their home for use by the pigs. The man and woman living there say it is the first time in their entire lives that they have had running water (and this is not even running to their house).


Well, we accomplished a lot: built a home for 4; installed a computer lab for 7; did a major rebuild of a house for 2; built a basic school; built a pig pen, etc. However, these activities were not as great as the intangible things we built: relations with a family and community at a wedding, seeing God at work in the family where we had planted a seed; seeing a community come together with Christians to build a Christian Basic School; conducting a VBS in a poor neglected community; working with teen girls; having community members attend our devotions in our mission home; having community members to come visit at nights; working closely with a family to offer them hope that a pig will give them opportunities to feed themselves and send an adopted grandson to school; to see our taxi driver of many years come to learn how to serve others and take lead in work on the pig project; see both of our taxi drivers start feeling the tug of the Holy Spirit and movement toward Christ. Likewise, team members from the U.S. saw God at work and moving in their own lives.

God showed us a lot in Jamaica. He has opened our eyes to other mission opportunities and He is moving us to more direct relational ministry – more involvement with the communities, families, and people we touch.

We have tentative plans for a very small team to return in October or November, 2008, a team in winter 2099, one in spring of 2009 and one in the summer of 2009. We will also expand on our Jamaican Christmas Angel project and continue to support other ministries even when we are not there.

We appreciate you continuing prayers and financial support for this mission.

Hurricane Gustav and related news:

Gustav hit Jamaica as a very strong tropical storm, just under the wind speed of a Category 1 hurricane, but it brought flooding rains and was on the island for more than 12 hours. The eye passed directly over Duckenfield, Golden Grove, Stokes Hall, and Rollinsfield. Baba and Joyce - the couple who had their home destroyed by Hurricane Dean and who were living under the church lost the roof off the house we had just helped them rebuild in March. We helped them purchase more tin (zinc) and some lumber. The original framing was with round tree limbs he had cut. So, we hope that the timbers and hurricane straps will help prevent this from occurring again.

Also, the rains in the Blue Mountains came into the valleys and washed again some homes as well as the bridge at Harbourview (very near the airport). This cut St. Thomas and Portland off from Kingston and goods and supplies had to be trucked over the mountains to the north coast then via Portland to St. Thomas. For a while, there was a shortage of gasoline and food. We distributed some aid (food primarily) in the week following the storm. Because of a gasoline shortage, buses and taxis could not operate so schools were closed for over a week. A temporary bridge has been constructed relieving some of the shortages.

Also - Delroy's pig gave birth to a litter of 8. That is an appropriate number for the first litter in the Isaiahsixeight project.

Spring 2008 News

Jamaica Spring 2008 Newsletter

Since our last newsletter, we have been quite busy in Jamaica. God has blessed us and our ministry greatly. In January, we built a home destroyed by Hurricane Dean in September, we repaired a damaged home where 14 children lived, we did major repairs on two other homes, as well as repairing the roof on a Special Needs School. We also rented a mission house. Bobbie and Hank Langer, missionaries there in Port Morant, have sold their Port Morant home, necessitating the need for renting of a home there. Jerry Cole's team from Blackstone, Virginia came and made significant improvements on the property. The Langers also supervised and worked to have our rental home painted and cleaned. Then, they were kind and generous to move many of their furnishings into the house and to leave most of their tools for future missions. Also, in January, we had discussions with the Catholic Church in Port Morant to jointly set up a computer lab there onsite.

In March, a team of two went to Jamaica to do some work at the mission house/compound and to make arrangements for summer mission teams. A very significant need was identified that could not wait for the summer and provisions were made for a house to be built.

For the summer, we are planning for mission teams to be present June 28-July 19. This will probably be mostly 3 one week teams; however, there are some team members who will stay longer than one week. We also know already that these teams will represent at least 3 different church congregations.

Also, please keep Vickie Moore's misison team from Virginia in your prayers. They are conducting a medical mission there in the St. Thomas parish. Also, keep Hank Langer in your prayers. He is having some significant heart problems and has been in the hospital.

Many details and stories are below:

Summer trips
Isaiahsixeight news
Mission House / Compound
Details of Summer projects
January 2008 trip
March 2008 trip
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Summer trips

June 25 - Donnie Cantley and hopefully at least one other person will go as an advance team to purchase supplies, ready the rental house, survey the projects, and get materials in place.

June 28- July 5 - First week mission trip - The plans are to work in Seaside to finish the work on Ms. Morrison's home. Some of you will remember this as the home in the swampy area with collapsing wall and ceiling that houses her grandson. His room was the one that was inhabited by pigeons as well. (We are happy to say, that at our very strong recommendation, the pigeons have been eradicated). A second project will be to build a house in the Prospect area. The current house is a house made of tin (they call it zinc) walls and roof. There are hundreds of holes in the walls and roof. The house is leaning badly, it has a dirt floor, and there is no electricity. The mom of the house has been very sick because of the rain and inability to restrain the wind. There are also 3 children living in the house. We may also begin work on a computer lab to be housed at the Catholic Church - depending on interest of team members; this project may be continued or delayed until the other weeks.

July 5 - 12 - Second week mission trip - For years, the Langers have told us that the Basic School (kindergarten) in Stokeshall was the worst they have seen. Also, the Hurricane destroyed 1/2 of it in September. The building housing the Basic School is very unsafe as well as the attached church are in danger of collapsing. We have decided to build a replacement Basic School approximately 250 feet from the existing one. Also, we are considering conducting a Vacation Bible School (VBS) there as well. This week of VBS could be interchanged with one listed under week 3.

July 12-19 - Third week mission trip - There will be building this week - probably completion of the Stokeshall Basic School as well as some other projects God will show us in the prior weeks. We hope this week to also do some ministry in the Duckenfield area. Duckenfield is one of the most economically depressed areas we have seen. It is the area around the sugar factory which is populated mainly by sugar cane cutters and a few factory workers. The work is seasonal and they only operate approximately 6 months per year. A cane cutter is paid by how much cane he cuts by hand with a machete. The pay is about $1.25 (U.S. equivalent) per ton of cane he cuts. As you can see, this is a very depressed area. We plan on conducting a VBS here and possibly a youth rally or youth ministry depending on team composition. Also, Billy Graham, the Jamaican evangelist, will set up his tent in Duckenfield for our use and he may do a revival at nights in the area.

Note: We are hoping that some youth leaders and musicians will be among our team members. Depending upon the team makeup for the particular weeks, we could move the Duckenfield ministry and the Stokeshall projects to make the best use of team members.
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Trip details:

Cost: The high cost of oil has caused an increase in airfare. As a result, we had had to increase the cost of the trips. We have set the price at $1,200.00 U.S. for the usual one week trip. This will include transportation to and from airports, airfare, meals in Jamaica, room, board, building materials/mission supplies, and one day of group sightseeing/tourist activities. The only reason you would need additional money is for souvenirs, incidental snacks, and donations for other needs you may desire to help.

Team composition: We can accommodate no more than 21 missioners at any one time, so please sign up early. We accept Christians of any denomination, but we retain the right to interview the team members to determine compatibility with team members, etc. and we reserve the right to refuse anyone.

Contact: Please contact Donnie Cantley to reserve a spot or for further information at dcantley@isaiahsixeight.org or call 205-967-7999.

Deadlines:

May 15, 2008 - Isaiahsixeight will need a nonrefundable deposit of $600 by May 15 and the following data faxed to 205-969-3797:
Name on Passport
Date of Birth
Expiration Date of Passport

June 15, 2008 - Isaiahsixeight will need the remaining $600 (total of $1,200) along with a color copy of your passport, completed medical information and release.
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Isaiahsixeight News:

Tax Exempt Status Obtained!

We are extremely pleased to announce that Isaiahsixeight has received its tax-exempt status under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. This tax-exempt status is retroactive for contributions from March 9, 2007. You may now make contributions directly to Isaiahsixeight; however, Riverchase United Methodist Church, the church primarily involved with the formation of Isaiahsixeight will still take donations made out to it and earmarked for Isaiahsixeight. Some other churches may also forward contributions to Isaiahsixeight, but one should get permission from the church before doing so. Soon, we hope to have the ability to accept donations via credit card.

Mission House / Compound Rented in Port Morant, St. Thomas, Jamaica

Since the foundation of Isaiahsixeight, we have been faced with the possibility of Hank and Bobbie Langer, the missionaries in Port Morant, might move. They have been trying to sell their home and move back to Missouri. Isaiahsixeight entered negotiations to buy the house, but it was sold to a man from England. We feel God was in this, because we found a great house to rent just two lots north of the Langer home. The house needed a lot of work to make it suitable, but the expense and investment of buying a home was avoided leaving Isaiahsixeight with the ability to direct more of its funds toward meeting needs and less toward meeting mortgage payments, etc. See more below:

Mission House


Mission House / Compound


Kitchen


Small Bedroom


Living Room
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Features of Mission House / Compound:

-Compound is behind Ms. Patsy Lindsey's house and is surrounded by a masonry wall with padlocked iron gates
-Prince, the Langer's German Shepherd, is Isaiahsixeight's guard dog and lives within the fenced area
-The house and store rooms have iron bars protecting all windows, doors, and veranda/balcony
-House has 3 bedrooms, two full baths, a small kitchen, small dining room, a large den and small balcony.
-House is furnished largely through the generosity of the Langers
-The two large bedrooms will each have 3 sets of bunk beds
-The smaller bedroom has one set of bunk beds and a single bed
-Total sleeping capacity in beds in house is 15
-In addition, we have had a small concrete patio built to accommodate plastic chairs and tables
-We have built two outdoor showers in addition to the two indoor showers
-All showers and kitchen have hot water
-In addition, in the back of Patsy Lindsey's house, we have rented two large secure store rooms for tools and materials. Adjacent to these is a 1/2 bath that is ours.
-If a team exceeds 15, we have arrangements with Patsy to rent a large room contiguous with our store rooms and 1/2 bath. That room has a set of bunk beds, a queen size bed, and a twin bed giving sleeping arrangements for up to 6 more missioners.
-Kitchen area has a gas stove, microwave, hot and cold water, a twin sink, and a large refrigerator
-All beds in the mission house will be outfitted with mosquito nets
-There are ample electric fans, but there is no air conditioning
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Summer Projects:

Ms. Morrison's house / Seaside:

Ms. Morrison is an elderly lady in the Seaside community with a home in the marshy area adjacent to a swamp in the Seaside area. Two rooms - her bedroom and the one her 5 year old grandson uses are both about to fall down. The side facing the sea, from which the rain comes, has old rotten newspaper covering the inside walls to keep the rain out. In January, there were 4-5 pigeons on the young boy's bed, tables, and other furniture. The floor is falling, the roof rafters are rotten and falling and in places and sticks are holding the walls up. We made temporary repairs in January and now we plan to come in with a masonry foundation and erect 3 walls to attach to the structurally sound existing portion of house. The addition will be approximately 12' x 22'.

Ms. Morrison's House

Middle and right portions are to be replaced


Bedroom with newspaper on wall (note stick holding rafters)


Little boy's room. (note pigeons)
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House at Prospect:

This is the house of a family of 4, a mom and 3 children. The walls and ceiling are made of old rusted reclaimed tin with hundreds if not thousands of holes. The entire house is leaning and it has a dirt floor with scraps of carpet lying on top of the dirt. The house is approximately 10' x 10' and there are two full size beds in it. There is no electricity or running water in the house. When we saw her, the mom had been sick for several weeks. We paid for her to go to the doctor and for her medication. She had been getting cold and wet. (Yes, even we got cold in Jamaica at night). Her house has so many holes that the wind and rain blow right through it. We plan to have some Jamaicans build a masonry foundation before we arrive. We plan to build a house with plywood walls and a tin roof. The finished structure should be about 14' x 14'.




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Stokeshall Basic School:

Stokeshall is a small community between Port Morant and Duckenfield. You drive through it on the way to Muirton Boys Home or to Port Antonio. The basic school is attached to the back of a church. All the structures are masonry, but old and apparently built before steel was used routinely in such structures. The school had 2 rooms, but the roof of one was destroyed by Hurricane Dean in September. The remaining room is approximately 10' x 10', has a concrete floor with a slant of approximately 15 degrees. The room shares a wall with the back of the church. The church wall has numerous cracks in it, at the top; it has moved approximately 6 inches from the roof and is leaning approximately 10 degrees toward the children. There are large cracks (some you could stick you hand in) in the nearby wall that have sun shining through them. The school had 30 children prior to the hurricane, but has had to reduce that to 20. There are 20 children and one teacher in this 10' x 10' room. We are very concerned that this tall leaning cracked wall could fall killing many of the children. Also, since Jamaica has many earthquakes, the chance of this happening is great.

Our plan is to go to a level lot approximately 250' away and build a free-standing building, approximately 12' x 20'. We will ask local labors to build a masonry foundation before we arrive, then we will build a building with plywood walls and a tin roof. We may have to do the internal electrical connections and some plumbing as well.

Room destroyed by Hurricane Dean


Room for 20 children. Note slanting floor and wall on left.
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Duckenfield:
Duckenfield is a community that surrounds the sugar factory in the cane fields on the eastern most point of Jamaica. The area is quite flat and low. Thousands of people live in this area and it is very economically distressed. To our knowledge, there are no mission efforts or relief efforts in the area. Billy Graham, a Jamaican tent evangelist, targets this area frequently. Bobbie Langer, the American missionary, has told us of the great needs in the area. Apparently, once they announced they were bringing some used clothing and hundreds lined up to get some of the clothing. She said one elderly lady came up and was asked what she wanted or needed. The lady said: "If I could just get anything, I would be happy."

I have asked people familiar with the area if there were ever any Vacation Bible School programs in the area for the children. No one had any knowledge of one having been conducted in the area. So, we have decided to try to have a Vacation Bible School there. Logistically, it will be a little more challenging, but it is greatly needed in the area. Also, Billy says the youth there have nothing to do, and he says that it is worse in that respect than Port Morant. So, if we can get the right kind of team with youth leaders and/or musicians, we hope to do something with youth in the afternoons or evenings. Billy will also set his tent up in the area and we may use that as well.
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Computer Lab:
When the Langers, the missionary family, first came to Port Morant, Jamaica, they had approximately 8 computers set up in their dining room and used them as a computer learning laboratory for the local children. During the morning, many of the area Basic Schools (similar to our kindergartens) would bring their classes to the house for computer learning. After school, children would line up in front of the house. They would allow 8 in at a time for 30 minute computer lessons. After a while, they would have hundreds of children line up in front of their gate. Eventually, the public elementary school had to choose which children could come to the lab. Over time, with the many power surges and low voltage, the computers died and the computer lab ended.

Obviously, computers are rare in the area. There is one computer in the public library. The Basic Schools do not have them, and we doubt there is much availability in the elementary and high schools. We have over the last 14 month been purchasing toy Barbie computers for the Special Needs School in Lyssons and many have been placed in the Basic Schools. These Basic Schools have no technology of any kind. These Barbie computers have been very well received by the students and the teachers.

We have wanted to re-establish a real computer lab in the community, but we have had trouble finding the proper place. Recently, we began discussions with the local Catholic Church which had an old non-operating computer lab. We have reached an agreement with that church to jointly provide the computer lab. The church will provide the space, utilities, security, and personnel whereas we will provide the computers and the technical expertise to set up the lab. Plans are to complete this on our summer trips.
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January 2008 Trip Report:
The trip in January was fantastic. We had a rather small all male team, but we hired a few Jamaican's to work with us to multiply our effectiveness and to minister to them on the job site as well. Our main project was to rebuild a house on a hill that had been totally destroyed by Hurricane Dean. This house was approximately 16' x 16' and housed a man, wife, a daughter and a grandchild. The location was difficult to access because it was up a very steep hill with no road. There was initially no electricity and there was no water. We used a generator until it burned up 2 circular saws. We also had a nonfunctioning air compressor. This house was completed in 3 days. We had a dedication of the house and the wife started crying, dancing, and praising God. It was probably the most moving experience we had ever had in Jamaica. Those 10 minutes on that hill were worth the entire cost of the trip.

Our next project was to help an extended family of 18 living in a 3 room house with each room being 10' x 10'. 14 of these people were children. The room housing 8 of them had several large holes in the roof and the tin had been damaged by Hurricane Dean. Also, before the hurricane, they had a small lean-to room on the side of the house that served as a kitchen. Since the hurricane, they had been doing all their food preparation outside in an unprotected area. Imagine cooking outside for a family of 18. In November, they had rain every day with flooding. We built two small attached rooms for kitchens and repaired the roof. The following Sunday, we saw 17 of the 18 in church.

Next, we helped provide temporary repairs to Ms. Morrison's house (see above - to be one of the projects for this summer).

We also made repairs on the leaking roof at Lyssons Special Needs School.

Lastly, we helped Ms. McKenzie. Ms. McKenzie is in her late 70's. She lives in a one room house that is about 10' x 10'. She has a dirt floor with plastic sheeting and carpet scraps on it. The foundation is just a pile of rocks. Her house is about 18 inches above sea level and her dirt floor is always damp. The roof was tin and had numerous holes. She had pieces of plastic bags attached to rafters to divert the largest leaks away from her bed. On the floor is a charcoal stove where she cooks. Carbon monoxide poisoning is not a concern because there is no way to block the air. The front door was a sheet of tin she bends back to open. When we realized we had time, we tore off her old roof and replaced it. We build a new hinged window and a hinged plywood door with a hasp so she could lock it. We visited with her in March and she was very happy. Ms. McKenzie survives on approximately $25 per month.

Was this trip a success? One of the team members who was in Jamaica for the first time sent us the following email: "I am looking forward to the next trip. As I told you I would like to bring my 16 year old son. It will probably be summer before we can go but all the same I look forward to it. Doc that was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had."


Ms. McKenzie's House



House with 14 children after Hurricane Dean


Inside small kitchen


After repairs
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March 2008 Trip
The March trip was primarily to prepare the Mission House for the summer teams and to search for summer projects, but God showed us a need. In the mountains west of Duckenfield in an area called Rollinsfield, there was a man, his wife, and a young boy whose home had been destroyed by Hurricane Dean. The family was living in the crawl space of a church. There was no electricity, no water, no toilet, and they had no fuel for their camping stove. The Jamaican government had given them enough money to purchase approximately 30% of the materials needed to rebuild his 8' x 12' house. The husband had gone into the woods cut poles with his machete and skinned the bark off them. He had used these to frame the house. He needed more plywood, more tin, nails, concrete, and hinges as well as some carpentry help. We planned to take this as a summer project until we learned that the church was evicting the family from the crawl space on May 1. So, we bought them a tank of propane for cooking, then purchased all the needed supplies and had them delivered to the site. We also paid to hire two carpenters for 2 days to complete the house. This cost approximately $500 U.S. that we had not expected to spend. 3 days after we returned, I was relating the story to some Christian friends. One pulled me aside later and pulled a previously completed check for $500. God had put it on this man's heart to contribute almost the exact amount even before he knew the story. God is great!

Crawl space beneath church


Living conditions in crawl space


Terry and family on floor of home site
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As you can see, we have been quite busy in the last few months and have great things planned for the summer. God has been very good and faithful to us. Please pray for Isaiahsixeight and Jamaica. We hope you can join us in our mission by traveling with us on a team, helping us financially, and/or praying for us.

Thank you for your support!
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Fall News

January Mission trip to Jamaica!

We have set a date (actually date range) for our next planned trip. It will be the week of Jan. 12-19, 2008. Since Martin Luther King Day is the next Monday, some of us may wait until then to return - giving us a few more days there. Staying the extra few days would give us a free Saturday so we can possibly spend some time with children either at Muirton Boys Home or in the Port Morant area. The children will probably be in school during the week. We suspect that the trip will cost close to $1,000. The greatest variable is cost of the flights - one we cannot control.
If there is enough demand or another church group wants to plan a team for another week, we can assist with that and I will be willing to stay there longer or go earlier to assist.

We have not set our primary projects for the January 2008 trip. What we decide to do may depend upon the team makeup. Also, we wanted to deliberately plan for less manual labor and more time for building relationships. We have talked about working in the Seaside area - repairs to homes that were damaged by the hurricane, etc. Of course, we might be able to work in the schools as well if the team so desires.
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Tentative Plans for future mission trips:

We are also hoping we can have a team for Spring Break - March 15-22, 2008. If another church from another area wants to plan a trip and has a different time for Spring break, we will try to make that work as well. Projects will depend upon team makeup, but if we have youth and musicians, we may want to do a nightly youth rally.
We are also planning a trip for June 28-July 5, 2006. We believe the children in Jamaica will be out of school and we can plan a Vacation Bible school and work with the boys at Muirton Boys Home.

If you have interest in one of our trips, please let us know. We will have to make plans for the January 12-19, 2008 trip very soon.

Email: info@isaiahsixeight.org
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Joy in Jamaica - a Christmas ministry

We are changing our Christmas focus this year. For many years, we have purchased gifts and/or sent money for Christmas presents and food for the poor at Christmas time. Riverchase United Methodist Church, where much of these ministry efforts began, has as its motto: "Sharing the Joy of Christ" . As we celebrate Christ's birth, what a better time to share the joy that is Christ! Our plans are to find individuals and families who are in need, make those known and pray that sponsors will step forward to share their joy with these people. We hope to send money to Audrey, our helper in Jamaica, to purchase the items and present them to those in need for Christmas. For families, we are considering flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil, soap powder, and similar things. For the children, we are thinking a gift bag may contain a small toy (probably less that $5 U.S.), socks, underwear, a book, and maybe a pencil.

It has been our experience that most of the children in the area will not receive a gift for Christmas unless we help provide it. So, help us Share the Joy of Christ at Christmas in Jamaica. We will have more information about this soon.
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Other news:
- We are launching an email newsletter. If you are not on our email list, please got to: http://www.isaiahsixeight.org/maillist.html and sign in.
- There have been heavy rains in Jamaica causing some damage to the back wall of the Langer's Mission house. The good news is it appears Hurricane Noel will miss them.
- Earl B produced a great video about our July 2007 trip please see it at: www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=a02c7fa1deea7e114955

Please keep Jamaica and Isaiahsixeight in your prayers!

Update from Trip September 19, 2007

On September 19, 2007, four of us returned to Jamaica to survey and document the damage from Hurricane Dean, as well as plan future trips and conduct some business.
 One of our first stops was to stop in and check with Ms. Nunes at the Lysson's Special Needs School. During our July trip, we took her several toy computers for her children. She said they were a great hit with the children, but that she needed some more. Not only are they educational, but they entertain the children while she is working individually with the children. Her new class this year is quite difficult because some of the children have severe learning disabilities. She has asked us for more of the toy computers and some visual aids such as posters with letters, etc.

 Then we went to the Seaside community, a fishing village built on marsh land near the sea. As you can see from the photo to the left, some of these homes are less than 30 feet from the sea. There was a lady and two daughters living in this house. Because she was afraid someone would steal all her things, she decided to stay in the house during the hurricane. When she thought her house was doomed, she moved into the tiny masonry structure attached to her house (right back of house) and stayed in it. Water was over her waist when she was rescued from that building.

 This home was badly damaged as were many in the area. The walls and the roof of 1/2 of the house were lost. Again, this is the home of one lady and two daughters.

 This is another example of damaged homes in Seaside. This is the home for several mothers and children.












This home near Seaside was actually on a very steep hill before the storm. After the storm, it was several hundred feet away, down the hill, and in the road. A family of six lived in this home. The owner is a farmer and is doing lawn work and working other people's gardens just to survive. He cut the grass in the entire church yard of Port Morant Methodist with a machete.



On Friday afternoon, we went to the Muirton Boys Home. It was great, even though many of the boys had not returned from school, but you could sense an renewed sense of pride. First and most obvious, there was a white picket fence around the flower bed that had been constructed by the boys and some of the male instructors there.





Inside, we learned that there were now 22 boys there. Up from 15 in January 2007 and 18 in July. There were 6 of the boys staying in the room were we had replaced the floor in July. The lockers we built were being used and the facility was much neater because of them. Many of the boys had custom painted their lockers, some with artwork. The one to the left has an excerpt from the Lord's Prayer. Also, we noted that according to their daily schedules, they have devotions in the morning and evening. We left Bibles for them on our previous trip. After that, a minister and missionaries went there and had several boys give their lives to Christ. So, the Spirit is moving at that home and the director encouraged us to come back and help further their spiritual development even more.









One of the new boys, who was not there in July when our team helped them paint the mural in the community room, took us into the room, pulled a table away from the wall and pridefully showed us the mural.








We also check on the chicken house. We had left it nearly completed, but we could not find any chicks. We were pleased to know that it was working great and they had cleaned the first batch of chickens a few days before we arrived and they had a freezer filled with them. In the photo, you can see the next batch. The third batch had not been purchased because of the hurricane. They are also planning to buy some layers.


In summary, the hurricane damage was not as severe as we had anticipated, but people are hurting severely. Almost all of the fruit was lost and with that, many jobs no longer exist. There is still a shortage of food, but it is not severe. We see God working in many areas. The soil is fertile and we hope to join Him in his work there soon.

Jamaica Update 9/6/07

I just talked to Audrey in Port Morant. Apparently things are getting better there. The public water was restored one week ago. The electricity was restored only on Sunday. Land base phones are still not working.

Audrey has spent all the money we sent - buying food and things to help the children get back to school. She still has notepads, paper, pencils, etc. that she is distributing to needy children. She said there is still a lot of suffering in the Seaside Community. Of course, they lost most of their personal possessions, much of their homes, and their livelihood (boats). Recovery of that community will take a long time. Audrey took some photographs and will be sending them soon.

Also, apparently the banana plantation was severely damaged and many of those who worked there now have no work. So, the depressed economy there is even more depressed.

All of this, yet you read the Kingston newspaper (on-line) and there is barely any mention of the hurricane there now.

Audrey said that even Hurricane Felix which was no closer than 260 miles or so from Jamaica caused very rough seas and wind for them. She said other than sand and salt spray; however, there was little damage from it.

Also, several of us are planning to travel down either late this month or early next month. The purposes of this trip are to: survey the damage, document the damage with photos, open a bank account, go into Kingston to evaluate the availability of tools that we can buy there and not have to ship, plan the projects and focus of our next trip. So, pray that we are led by God on this trip.

Donnie

Summary of new Report from Port Morant

I had a long talk with Audrey. It doesn't sound too desperate there, but I think there is not much she can do. Apparently it has been raining a lot and many of the people who have inadequate shelter are getting wet again and are having trouble keeping things dry.

Food is still a big problem. Without electricity, they are having trouble producing some of the food items. Also, apparently the stores have very little, so she cannot buy food for the people. They cleaned out all the food at the church. When they did buy food, they went to the Seaside community and made people line up. She told them that we are the ones who made it available.

She has money left and is looking to buy shoes, uniforms, and school books for the children. Sounds like they may have lost what little they had. Sounds like the food emergency has passed or she has resigned herself to the fact that there is none to buy.