Christmas Week in St. Elizabeth

Posted by Dan and Carole McClelland

 Christmas In St. Elizabeth 

We had an amazing week in St. Elizabeth, spending the week serving at Deaf Bible Church in Ridge District.  It is the deep country of Jamaica, where the kids speak Patwa or Patios, many hearing people can gesture to communicate with Deaf, and there are beautiful hills to walk and sunsets to see! 

We were able to go on a prayer walk, sharing the gospels and testimonies with people we met. We also had the opportunity to meet and play games with many children in the area! Many of the kids became daily playmates for Olive and Valor.

Olive and Valor also had a great God surprise!  One of our neighbors in Montego Bay that Olive and Valor love to play with is Kai. It happened that Kai's Grandma lives near the Deaf church in St. Elizabeth, and Kai was visiting his Grandma over Christmas. It was such a pleasant surprise to see how near Kai's Grandma lived to the Deaf Church. It was walking distance, so the kids got to play with him during the week too!  Anna, Kai's grandmother, had the entire team over for Christmas Eve lunch, and we had an amazing time enjoying the country air and relaxing while enjoying a meal with Anna and Kai. What an unexpected blessing! 

Kai, Valor's playmate 2X a week when Olive goes to dance 

She made an amazing Gungo Pea (Jamaican Christmas pea), homemade pizza and sorrel (Jamaican Christmas drink). 

 

Marion and I had a great time fellowshipping and washing dishes country-outreach style! 

Our team was able to lead the Christmas Day service alongside Pauline Bent. Our team led the Christmas service by sharing the story through drama of Jesus's birth. Afterwards, we had great discussion groups.

It was such a blessing to spend the week with Pauline. She is such an amazing woman of God, filled with the fruit of Holy Spirit. Throughout our time there, she modeled time with Jesus early in the morning and served all around her with a joyful heart. It was so fun to see our children interacting with her. 

Here are a few more Deaf friends we made! 

Our family on Christmas Day

We also had the opportunity to have a travel day where we visited two of CCCD's campuses and the other YWAM base in Mandaville.  It was a great and full day.  At the YWAM base, were were able to share a Deaf Awareness workshop.

Jamaica Deaf Village Campus

Knockpatrick CCCD Campus

Stone's Hope YWAM Base

Our children have made friends with some of the other YWAM kids at Stone's Hope, and they were so excited to give them Christmas presents. We wish that we lived closer to them but so glad we get to see them a couple times a year. 

We also had the opportunity to prepare for the South Africa outreach by practicing testimonies, dramas, developing Deaf awareness workshops and more. 

Mommy and Valor had a special early morning date to see the sunrise.  He gets up soooo early, and one day Mommy decided to make the best out of it and have a special morning with him.  It was so fun!