Just after ringing in 2009, a group of 37 students and leaders from the Baptist collegiate ministry at James Madison University and the College of William and Mary left freezing cold Virginia for the beautiful shores of Jamaica to spend a week ministering to Jamaicans of all ages.
Each day part of our team remained at the Nutshell Conference Center in Trelawney, where we were staying, and helped Virginia Baptist Venturers Dennis and Nancy Strole with painting, renovations, cleaning and other maintenance work. Other team members went out into the community to minister to the Jamaicans, although it often felt as though they were ministering to us.
One place we visited was an infirmary, where we played games and talked with elderly Jamaicans who had so much to teach us about faithfulness to God. Several members of our team even helped out shaving some of the men, a seemingly simple service that they were so grateful for.
Jeffrey Buffkin, Baptist Collegiate Minister at the College of William and Mary, helps an elderly Jamaican woman onto the beach for the first time in 17 years.
One of the many lessons that we learned throughout the week was to be flexible and to let God guide us rather than trying to follow our own plans.
Jeffrey Buffkin, Baptist collegiate minister at William and Mary, and his wife, Melanie, discovered that one of the residents, an elderly lady named Miss Winefred, had not left the infirmary in 17 years, except occasionally to attend church. From her window Miss Winefred had a beautiful view of the ocean, and she said she would love to be able to get out. So Jeffrey and Melanie asked permission to take her outside, and although it wasn't easy ground to cross with a wheelchair, Jeffrey was able to get Miss Winefred very close to the beach.
As another lady and Melanie waded into the water, Jeffrey could tell Miss Winefred was just aching to be there too. He asked if she wanted him to carry her onto the sand, and when she said yes, he picked her up out of her wheelchair, carried her down the hill, and set her on the sand so as not to get her wet.
But Miss Winefred didn't care about being sandy or wet and quickly scooted herself to the edge of the water and splashed in the ocean. She was squealing with more delight than a child on Christmas morning! Her visit to the beach was short lived, but those ten minutes were clearly some of the best Miss Winefred had had in 17 years. Such a simple thing meant the world to her.
A group from our team also went to a girls' home for young Jamaican girls who are foster children or juvenile delinquents or have suffered some type of abuse. The Jamaican girls quickly warmed up to our team and were so excited to have someone who cared about them and showed them love.
Another group helped out at a local primary school for children 3 to 5 years old. During the day, we helped the teachers by tutoring the children, assisting with class assignments, and playing outdoors with the children.
In the afternoons, many members of our team held a soccer camp for local children, where they taught soccer skills, developed relationships, and shared the gospel. God was able to use the gifts and talents of athletic-minded college students to incorporate their love of sports with God's mission to serve others. The soccer camp also gave the Stroles a more visible role in this small community to build relationships and make connections with the people there.
The common thread that we saw among the Jamaicans throughout the week was their desire to be loved. During our worship and reflection time each night, the team came to realize that the needs in Jamaica were not that different from those in the States, and we committed to make an effort to reach out to those in our area who are looking for love, just like those we met in Jamaica, and to show them the love that God has revealed to us.
David Holland is a senior history and education major at James Madison University. Daphne Almarode is Baptist collegiate minister at JMU.