Oh God, how You have blessed us by being able to go to Jamaica and meet some of Your wonderful people! How lovely it was to experience You in the beauty of Jamaica. We as a team will always remember the great time that we spent there and we will never forget all that we have learned from the Jamaicans. Here is a short summary of each team member's Jamaican experience:
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu7i0HipneU&list=UU3A8KS5f6WFU3zG2OSxVV_A&index=1&feature=plcp 400x300]
Linel
Coming from the Cayman Islands to Jamaica, felt like we travelled all the way back to the heart of Africa. I never thought that countries so close together (in distance), can be so different in culture. We were mentally prepared for starting in the "very dangerous" city of Kingston, but being a child of the Almighty God, died and raised in Christ Jesus, I experienced the seeking hearts behind this Patois speaking, dread-lock nation instead. Yah mon! As you'll see from the other team members summaries, we did a lot of kids ministry, visiting many schools and doing a lot of drama's. What a privilege! Seeing our team stepping up and into ministry with more boldness and confidence, encouraged me a lot. We spent a week in Montego Bay, up on the North Coast, which was my highlight of Jamaica. We were blessed to pitch our tents on the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base and experienced so much of God's provision, yet again. Man, He is a good chef! The view from the mountainside base was breath-taking. I was just overwhelmed by God. I know and proclaim, now more than ever, that Jesus is Lord. It doesn't depend on my feelings. As Watchman Nee says, we never "felt" that Jesus died, but we believe it, because that's what the Bible says. For the same reason you can believe that you died with Christ – because God said so! Rom 6:7 "He that died is freed from sin"! That is the Gospel! Jesus is Lord!
Gerrie
Marlene
Through these last two weeks God slowly showed me what His expectations for us are when He said that we must become like children. It means TRUSTING our father without ceasing, trusting in His provision, trusting that He has a plan in every situation, trusting Him that He will use every situation for the best. It means OBEYING without questioning, because God our father knows best for us. It means BELIEVING without asking questions. It means SHARING with our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. It means LAUGHING, PLAYING, SMILING and having no worries about tomorrow. It even means that you can go to your Dad, sit on His lap, SPEND TIME WITH HIM and tell Him about your day, your feelings your problems and joy. Albie Ashleigh André Kim Arthur Marielle Challenge with us! As usual we were challenged in many ways, (I guess that’s why they call it Global Challenge Expeditions) but one of the biggest challenges that we were faced with in Jamaica was about appearances and what we wear. We always say that God cares more about what’s on the inside than what is on the outside. But that doesn’t mean that God does not care about what we wear and how we present our bodies to the world. God does care about our appearance, because that is an imitation of what is going on in our hearts and minds. In Genesis it says that we were made in the image of God. If we call ourselves Christians, then we should act as followers of Jesus, meaning that we are ambassadors of Christ on this earth. If you call yourself a Christian, then you are actually saying that you are trying to become more like Christ, which means that you are trying to imitate Jesus to the world. So
if we are trying to do this, then we definitely should be concerned about how we dress our bodies, should we not? We call ourselves children of God, but do we dress like people who are a part of the Kingdom of Heaven? Or do we look just like the rest of the world? In Jamaica we were just once again reminded of how the devil has come and taken something beautiful that God created and twisted it into something disgustingly sinful and gross! The devil uses women’s bodies to tempt men and create lust. Do you realize that if the devil is able to use your body to tempt your brother in Christ, then surely you are not glorifying God with your body, but you are actually sinning by the way that you dress? How can we say this? Ask yourself: “Are the clothes that I am wearing framing my face or my body?” If it is framing your face, then you are probably glorifying God with your body, but if your clothes are framing your body, then it is sensual and God hates what you are doing! Why do
so many girls and women want to look sexy instead of beautiful? The want to look sexy, means that you want a man to notice your body, meaning that the man might lust after it and commit adultery in his heart. –Matthew 5:28. So you want to tempt a man and cause him to sin. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God was making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2Corinthians 6:3 “We put no stumbling-block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.” – Men are fighting a battle against the temptations of the devil that we as women do not fully understand. The media and society is making the body of a women an
object of lust and sin! Women, let us not conform to the sinful ways of this world and then call ourselves children and ambassadors of God in this world. Why would you want to be a stumbling block for your brother in Christ? Respect yourself and respect your God by honouring Him with the Body that He gave you! Also see Galatians 6:7-8, Ephesians 4:17-24, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 – Living to please God. So we'd like to challenge you: Ladies, think about what you wear and the way that you dress and present your body to the world. And men, encourage the women in your life to dress according to God’s will and God’s standards instead of conforming to the standards of this world. Pray about this and read the Bible. Ask God to give you revelation on this subject, so that you can be certain that you are glorifying God through the way that you dress, and so that you can teach others about what God’s will is
in this matter. (Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Ephesians 2:3) Pray and declare the following over yourself: “My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, redeemed, cleansed and sanctified by the blood of Jesus. My members, the parts of my body, are instruments of righteousness, yielded to God for His service. The devil has no power over me, no place in me, no unsettled claims against me. I overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony and I love not my life unto the death. The Lord is for my body and my body is for the Lord.” We need Your Support Thank you to everyone who has been supporting us through prayer. The power of prayer is really so much stronger than we think. If we really understood how powerful prayer is, then we would pray without ceasing. Please don't stop
praying for us! Pray for our protection against sickness or disease and against any accidents or unfortunate events. Pray for strength and energy so that we will be able to serve God wholeheartedly all the time! We also need you to please pray for our finances, so that God will provide the money that we need for our journey ahead. If you would like to contribute and help us by giving some financial support, we would really appreciate it. Here are the banking account details: Account name: GCX-One Year 9206958383 ABSA Branch: 31 Da Gamma road, Jeffreys Bay, 6330, South Africa Branch code: 334515 Reference: DISTANT ISLANDS Swift Code (for international payments): ABSAZAJJ Thank you for reading! "Mi jus waan do God work" Love you "holeap"! (Which means a whole lot, in Patois) Distant Islands Team