Okay, anyway. Today's been kind of a long one. After breakfast and our huddle time, we went on a walking tour of the community. Although it's only been six months since the last time I was here, it felt like forever. It took be a while to get readjusted to my surroundings. I forgot how welcoming yet reserved people are towards us in the beginning, how sweet and humid the air smelled, the itchy sting of Courage (the Jamaican's equivalent to poison ivy - but don't worry, the Leaf of Life saved me from it) being rubbed on my arm, but mostly how beautiful not only the island, but the people are. All of the staff and people that we walked by during the tour were saying hello, waving, and even approaching those that they remembered. It's hard to get used to everything, but I guess that's the whole purpose of this trip - to get out of my comfort zone and serve where I'm called. Well, I can assure you I am in no way in my comfort zone. For those of you that know me well, extremes make me uncomfortable. So the fact that I've gone from really cold to extremely hot has indeed taken a toll on me - my skin is seeing sunlight for the first time since August. And I'm getting off course, back to my day. After the tour we had the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the entire world and then were assigned our jobs for the day. I was put with my dad building the house. Luckily, the house isn't at the top of a mountain, like the others have been, but that doesn't make it any less difficult. Over the course of about four and a half hours, we hauled and shoveled (so much more difficult than it looked, my dad was right...) marl, put up the walls for the house, put in the door frames, and cut out/put in the two window frames. Of course with many water breaks, and a few breaks to hang out with kids, eat (or drink..ish) bag juice, and check out chickens. The most challenging part of all of this, in my opinion, was getting on the latter and cutting out the window holes. While the foundation wasn't on a mountain, it was still on a bit of a slope with nothing but rocks around it. This, of course, made having a sturdy latter very difficult. The Jamaicans had no problem with it, but I definitely did. I looked at the man holding it for me and said, "Uhhh....you're expecting me to get on this?!" And what was his reply? A smirk, a giggle, and, "Yeah, man." I then went on about how unsafe this was and how he shouldn't expect me to get any higher than the second step and he just kind of laughed at me. Little did I know, he wanted me to go to the fifth step. Worst. Thing. Ever. Being afraid of heights did nothing to help my case. So all that was left to do was to put my trust into someone I barely knew, who I could hardly understand when he was instructing me on what I was supposed to do. But I think that what God's trying to show me this week. Through thick and thin, fears and failures, I need to learn to put faith in things that I'm not to sure about. He's got my back, no matter what. And when I got off that latter, there was not greater feeling that knowing that I just made a window for this family's new home, and I wasn't afraid anymore. So for the rest of the week, I guess I just won't second guess when God's telling me to put my faith into something. It's time to fully surrender, not halfway, and what better place to do it than Jamaica, right?
And I'll leave you all with a thank you, for all of your prayers and cards. We all really appreciate every single one of you.
Lots of lovesies (especially to you mom, I know you're reading this),
Courtney Buttress / Cat Lady / The Tally Maker
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