Sunday, August 1st 5:00-7:00pm
Everyone is invited for Music, Fellowship, and Fun. Bring a covered dish (Bring FOOD!).
Here is the list of what to bring. It is by “last name”. Example: Morris-I would bring a dessert.
A-F Entree (Meat,Casserole)
G-L Side Dish or Salad (Vegetable)
M-R Dessert
S-Z Soft drink
August 2nd-6th 8:30am-4:00pm (Bring Sack Lunch)
I know that there have been several that have expressed interest in participating in our annual visit to Bethlehem Center. However, I only have 1 person officially signed up.
Please go here to sign up: http://www.harrisonumyf.com/database-eventsignups.html
Please do so by Friday, July 30th.
I also need a few adults to be chaperons. At least one for each day. Chaperons will also need to drive. Bethlehem Center is not far away, just off Remount Rd..
If you are available and interested in Chaperoning next week, please contact me @ radrob6500@hotmail.com ASAP. Please let me know which day or days you would be available.
Saturday, August 7th
The Youth of HUMC will be having a fund-raiser at Rising Roll in Ballantyne. It’s in the same shopping area as Five Guys and Salsaritas. Rising Roll opens early for Breakfast @ around 8am and stays open till 4pm.. You can go at any time during the day. When you go to the register to pay, just tell them that you are here for the “Harrison Fund-Raiser”. They will give a percentage of every meal for “Harrison Fund-Raiser” to HUMYF. John & Carolyn Nowaczewski, the owners, have been long time friends and supporters of our church and Youth Ministry. Invite as many people as you can!!! They have great food!!!
We still have a lot of great Summer Missions coming up! This week is HUMC-Vacation Bible School. Today is the first day and the kid’s are having a great time. The theme is “High Seas Expedition”. Come and be a crew leader! Salkehatchie begins this Saturday! We have 8 going to Columbia, South Carolina to repair homes: Kathy and Kelli Sandel, Mark Ligon, Lyn Dickson, Michael Keifer, Cameron Coughlin, Kayla Carrouth, and Caleb McCoy. Pray for our team next week. They will be working hard, and it’s going to be hot. We are looking forward to hearing all about their work and ministry. Bethlehem Center Summer Day Camp for Inner City kid’s is August 2nd-6th. We leave the church at 8:30am and stay until about 3:30pm. We help with games, craft projects, reading, and more… It’s a lot of fun. You will need to bring a sack lunch and drink(s). We should be back to the church at around 4:00pm.. If you are interested, you need to sign up. You can sign up here.
We are home!!! We got in at 4:30pm on Saturday. It was an incredible adventure for all of us. Many thanks to our wonderful team: Clay and Elizabeth Knight, Jan Zenner, Linda Burns, Patsy Sheppard, James Auer, TJ Robertson, Sarah Mahaffey, Sarah Melvin, Amanda Collins, and Candice Zegilla. Also a big thanks to our Harrison family for your prayers and support.
Our last full day was Friday, July 16th. We went to Negrille for our day of R&R. Negrille is west of MoBay. It took us about an hour to get there. We passed through a few towns on the way: Lucea and Lollipop. We were pulled over by the Police because they said that the bus exhaust was smoking to much. They were pulling over every bus that passed by, so I think they needed to fill their quota for the month. We sat there for about 20 minutes while they inspected the bus. I felt bad for Peter, our driver. He got a ticket. He was pretty frustrated. We didn’t really see much smoke.
Once we arrived in Negrille, we spent some time on the beach at Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffets place. Negrille has 7 miles of beaches. It’s the largest stretch of beach in Jamaica. It was great to relax and chill out. There were some tiny Jelly Fish swimming around. Some of us got stung a few times, including me, but they were so small that it didn’t really hurt that much. They were about as big as your thumb. We ate lunch at Margaritaville, and then headed to the craft market. The craft market is a fun place, all hand made stuff. They are pretty pushy, but desperate to make a sale, so you can haggle a bit. We didn’t stay there long.
The highlight of the day was going to Rick’s Cafe. We didn’t go there to eat again. Jermaine took us there to jump off a 45 foot cliff into the ocean! Some people tell you not to give into peer pressure, “if your friend jumps off a bridge, would you?” Well in this case they did:) There was also a 30 foot drop and some 15 footers. Several members of our group took the plunge. I guess it was a rite of passage or something. We have a few dare devils at HUMC. I was a wimp though. I didn’t jump. I was very comfortable watching:) There were about 300 people there. All of our folks had successful jumps, no injuries. But there were a few people that didn’t land very well. There were a few back and belly busters, but no serious injuries. There were some lifeguards on hand in case of injury. The lifeguards were all pro divers, so they would show off some too. They collected tips from everyone to see them do tricks. There was a tree that stretched out over the lagoon that had a platform on it. It was probably about 80-90 feet off the water. One of the lifeguards jumped from there. They did dives, back flips, and hand stand dives. It was pretty amazing. They were really great. Rick’s Cafe was a cool place. It was a beautiful lagoon. The water was turquoise. It looked like a scene out of Pirates of the Caribbean.
After cliff jumping, we went to get dinner and headed back to the base. We finished packing up our stuff, and enjoyed our last moments soaking in the view of the MoBay lights from across the bay. It was raining on Saturday morning as we got ready to go to the airport. Peter and Jermaine dropped us off at the airport. We said our goodbyes and headed for our gate.
Another great trip to see our friends and family in Jamaica. Can’t wait to go back next year! Sign ups and fund-raising will begin this fall! Stay tuned…
Today was our last day of ministry. Tomorrow we will be going to Negril about an hour away. They have a nice beach there and cliffs where you can jump into the ocean. Jermaine our YWAM staff person is going to try and get me to jump. Maybe off a short one. I told him that if I did a cannon ball there might be a Tsunami in Western Africa, so I better not take the risk:) There are also places to eat and some shops, so we can pick up some Jamaican stuff for the folks back home. We are looking forward to our day to relax.
VBS today went great! Like clockwork. Our lesson was on the Tower of Babel, and Patsy came up with a great skit. Of course we had to sing “Pharaoh, Pharaoh” one more time. The kid’s love the song. Amanda Collins sang a new song we learned at BigStuf called “Our God”. She did a great job. After the skit we broke up into small groups and then games. The White House Cup came to a close today. We gave out little prize bags at the end with party favors and “sweetie” (that’s what they call candy). We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and then headed to the beach. We went to a beach close to the village. It was great to swim and play with the kid’s. It was another great bonding experience. It’s the first time we have taken all the kid’s to the beach. There were about 40 that went with some other adults and parents from the village. When we got back to the place where we have VBS, we had to move all the stuff from Pastor Tony’s wife’s school to their unfinished building. They had to be out of their current building today. I have some pictures on our flickr account that show the new construction. Clay and I helped Pastor Tony close up an unfinished opening in the wall, so that their stuff can be a little bit more protected. The structure does not have any windows or doors yet. I’m sure that they are a little worried that someone might mess with the stuff. We need to pray that they will be able to get it all closed in soon.
At about the 3:30pm Peter, our bus driver for the week, came to pick us up. We said our goodbye’s and headed back to the YWAM base. They had a special dinner celebration for us (Jerk Chicken, yeah!!!), as they always do on Thursday nights. Donna, one of the YWAM staff, thanked us for the ministry we had done this week, and gave us a card. She also thanked us for being faithful to serving Montego Bay and the White House Village for the last four years. The YWAM staff are an awesome group of people. They have become close friends, like family, over the past four years. We are going to miss them.
We had a great closing devotion time reflecting on our God moments and special memories of the week. It has truly been a transforming experience for all of us. It just gets better and better. Stay tuned for Day 7…
Greetings from Jamaica!!! Day 5 is coming to a close. I am in my usual spot at this time of the night overlooking MoBay, uploading video and pictures to my computer and to our photo galleries on flickr. I also get to talk to folks back home on Skype and Facebook. The view from the YWAM Base is incredible especially at night. It is one of my favorite moments of the trip. It’s very peaceful. I can see all the lights from the city and the reflections off the water. Tonight there are flickers of lightning in the distance. It’s pretty cool except for the bug bites.
We had a great day of ministry! We had another great crowd for VBS in the village. Still running around 50 kid’s. Got to see a few folks that have been around in years past, but have had to work or had other things going on and couldn’t be here until today. Blossom has been with us every year, but today was the first day we’ve seen her. She braids all the girls hair, and helps with VBS. She also has 3 kid’s that come to VBS. She stopped by before going to work and braided a little for Sarah Melvin, Sarah Mahaffey, and Amanda Collins. Worship, skit, small groups, crafts and games went really well.
After VBS we went to West Haven Children’s Home. It is a home for kid’s with pretty severe mental and physical handicaps, but they are very sweet and always smiling. There are several colorful characters there. Some of them can communicate and some just make noises. We always play cricket with some of the boys. There are three that we call the “cricket boys”. They all have some form of cerebral palsy, but they don’t let it hold them back from having fun. It’s amazing that they can throw and hit the ball as well as they do. Some of the other kid’s join in too. Some just want to walk around and be close to you. They have no problem invading your personal space. They like to hug you and/or hold your hand. Kevin is really funny. He doesn’t speak much. If he does speak, it’s to tell you to stop talking and focus on what he is doing. He will say, “No Talking, No Talking”. He motions for you to come over and sit with him, and if you try and get up to leave or talk to someone else he will grab you and try and make you sit back down. Today, he was digging up small rocks from the dirt. He had to show you each one, and if you weren’t paying attention he would let you know it. You also have to watch him because he will kiss you too. He usually just gives you a peck on the check. But everyone once in a while he will want to shower you with kisses. As we were leaving, he was walking with Patsy Sheppard and I. He decided to give her a kiss on the cheek and it turned into about 5 kisses. It would have been more if I hadn’t pulled him away at the last second. It was a sneak attack:)
Anyway, I know I’m rambling and I need to go to bed. We had another great day! Tomorrow is the last day of ministry. We have VBS in the village then we are going to a nearby beach with all the kid’s. It will be a fun, but sad day because we will have to say goodbye. Friday is our day to relax, go to the beach, eat out, and shop. Stay tuned for more tomorrow…Thank you for your prayers!
Hello Everyone!!! Day 4 completed. Another 50+ kid’s arrived for Vacation Bible School in the Village. It’s been great to see the progress in just two days. The kid’s seemed to be a little more settled today. Monday, everyone was just so excited. It was crazy. The first day is always that way. Our lesson today was “Sapped Strength”, about Samson and Delilah. We had a great skit and worship music. Patsy Sheppard did the intro to the lesson and did a great job. We broke out into small groups and crafts, and then played games. Everyone shared tonight during our worship and sharing time at the YWAM base that the kid’s were more engaged in the lessons today. They really got quiet and listened.
After we left the Village, we went to the AIDS Hospice or “Hope Hospice” as it’s called. It was a great blessing and very humbling at the same time. Several of the patients were very upbeat, smiling and talking with us. A few colorful characters that brought us joy and laughter. Of course there were a few that appeared to be in final stages. We spent time in each room talking, praying, reading scripture, and even singing. There was an older gentleman that was 96 years old and still sharp. He just couldn’t hear very well, so you had to yell to talk with him. Their was an older lady that had been a “choir director” earlier in her life and she sang several hymns to us. It was amazing how well she remembered the lyrics to these old hymns. She didn’t miss a beat or a word. Some could talk and some could only nod their heads, but there were a lot of smiles. Anthony couldn’t speak, but he had the sweetest toothless grin you’ve ever seen. You’d say his name and he would have this huge smile on his face. There was a woman that was quite the character that said I was “the big daddy and that I was fluffy”. I guess I’m just a big teddy bear:) Amanda Collins sang some songs, accompanied by our bus driver Peter on guitar. They were having a worship service right before we left. Everyone was really blown away by the experience. A lot was shared at our evening worship-sharing time about every encounter.
We continue to be blessed beyond measure. We are looking forward to Day 5! VBS in the Village, and West Haven Children’s Home. Stay tuned…
Another great day today! Full day of ministry. Vacation Bible School in the village. We had 45-50 kid’s plus some adults at VBS. Our lesson today was “Giant Removal”, about David and Goliath. We started with praise and worship music, then a skit. Clay got to shoot at me with a slingshot made out of a towel and a nerf football for a stone. He missed me, but it was only because I was not Goliath’s actual size. Had I been 10 feet tall he might have hit me in the face. Anyway, it was fun. I did a brief introduction of the lesson, then we broke out into age groups for small group study and crafts. After small group time and crafts, we chose up teams for the “Third Annual White House Village Federation Cup” or something like that. We have 4 teams of kid’s that play various games each day. We keep score and at the end of the week we give out prizes to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishers. Basically everyone gets something: stickers, candy, bouncy balls, or some other kind party favor. The kid’s love the games and competition. Of course, it’s not how they finish, but that they have fun.
We finished VBS at around 12:30pm. We loaded up our stuff, had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch in the bus, and headed for the “Robin’s Nest”. “Robin’s Nest” is an orphanage just outside Mobay. We had a bumpy ride that lasted about an hour. But once we got there it was worth the trip. It was a beautiful place on top of a mountain with a great view. There was also a nice breeze there. It has been raining on and off everyday too, so it was a little cooler up there. Some of our team played with children and held babies. The staff there was very sweet. You could tell right away that they really loved and cared for these children. There was some construction going on, so a few of the guys helped out. We moved some sand and stone inside the building for the workers to finish the walls. Plus we helped sand down the stuccoed walls. Between playing with the kid’s at VBS, shoveling sand and stone, and running wheel barrows back and forth we got a good workout today.
We got back to the base at around 5pm. It was a great day of ministry, followed by an awesome evening of worship and sharing. Another full day of ministry tomorrow, VBS at the village and then an AIDS Hospice in the afternoon. Keep us in your prayers. See you tomorrow…
Exciting day today! Got up pretty early this morning. TJ Robertson got up at about 5:30am. He said the sun woke him up. I heard him shuffling around, so I got up. Yes, Rob can rise before noon:) Barely, though. I don’t know if I would call it awake. It’s a whole other state of consciousness.
Anyway, after breakfast we had our quiet times, loaded up the bus, and headed for church at the White House Village. We were greeting by beautiful smiling faces young and old. It’s wonderful to be remembered. We were a little late to church, so they had already started a little. Pastor Tony graciously welcomed us as “our friends from the states”. He also was very kind in sharing the relationship that has been forged over the last four years. He noticed that we had some new faces, and then asked me to come up and lead some worship. After a few songs, I asked Amanda Collins to come up and sing our rendition of “Jesus Loves Me” that she does so well. I kind of sprung it on her, but she jumped right in there and did a wonderful job. Several church members commented on how pretty her voice was and how much they enjoyed the song.
It was a special service today. Pastor Tony and his wife started a preschool in the village a little over a year ago, and two of the little boys were graduating. They only have twelve students right now. The building that they are meeting in is basically a two room shack with a bathroom. In a small way, God has blessed us with an opportunity over the years to help support the school. So it was really extra special to be present at their graduation ceremony and share in their celebration.
After the ceremony, Pastor preached a powerful sermon about overcoming our circumstances through faith. In the midst of all that happens in life whether it be good or bad, we can find reasons to praise and worship the Lord. Pastor Tony is a wonderful man of God. He has been ministering to the White House Village faithfully and sacrificially for seventeen years. This is a church that meets outside in open air. The attendance is probably around 20-30 people, and probably half are children, so it is very inspiring and humbling to see that kind of sacrifice and perseverance for God’s glory.
After the service, there were lot’s of hugs. Greeting old friends and making new ones. Pastor Tony showed us the unfinished construction of the new school rooms. I will try and take some pictures and have them up tomorrow. It was great to celebrate their progress! It’s come a long way in four years, but they still have a lot to do before they can actually move into the rooms.
Pastor Tony had to go to a funeral, so he had to leave. We went through the village inviting kid’s to Vacation Bible School, talking to adults, and giving piggy back rides to kid’s. I think several of our youth were worn out after having 10 or 15 kid’s climbing all over them. They definitely got a work out. The kid’s really like to show you where they live. This is our big opportunity meet adults and parents of the kid’s that come to VBS. After the walk through the village we got on the bus and headed back the YWAM base. After lunch, we started working on VBS lessons, games, etc… for Monday. Our group is awesome. What a team! Adults and youth working and laughing together. It’s exciting! After dinner we had our worship time. We worked on songs for VBS: Pharaoh, Lean on Me, and Joy with motions and everything, it was fun. Then we shared where we saw the Lord today, followed by an awesome devotion by Patsy Sheppard. Great prayer time and fellowship as well.
It was a great day! Looking forward to the amazing things God will do tomorrow. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, they are greatly appreciated. Stay tuned…
