We spent a lot of time at two Universities in Kingston; U-Tech (University of Technology) and UWI (University of the West Indies). Mostly we just walked around and talked to people, trying to let conversation flow naturally instead of pushing an agenda of conversion. At first it was really intimidating to try to start conversations but for the most part Jamaicans are pretty open people. Once I got past the point of actually initiating, conversation flowed pretty freely. Some of us "DTSers" actually got to sit in on lectures at the universities.I sat in on an English lecture and then talked to some of the students after. It was fun to get a glimpse of what university life is like in Jamaica. One thing that wasn't so fun, however, was seeing how lost and confused so many of the students were and the false sense of happiness and fulfillment they had. There was no concept of absolute truth. Basically, some of the students I encountered had the mentality that there is no one way to get to heaven (if they even believed in heaven), all roads lead to the same thing. 
Another thing we did in Kingston was spend time at some of the local squares doing worship and hanging out with people. In the Jamaica the squares are the central part of the neighborhood, the place where people are constantly coming and going-Business people, school kids, homeless people, street vendors, you name it. Because of the variety of people that we interacted, we had many interesting conversations and experiences, many of them being with some of the Rastafarian's that hang out there. Before I came to Jamaica, I knew very little of what being a "Rasta" actually means other than having dreadlocks and smoking weed. After being here a while, I feel like I have a bit more understanding of it but what I have found is that each Rasta you ask will say he believes something different. It's like none of them really know what it stands for, but have all bought into the "one love" mentality and the liberal lifestyle. They love to philosophize and discuss religion with you, turning the conversation in circles around semi-biblical truths that have been distorted.
My highlights of the week were spending time at some of the schools in Kingston. The first school we went to was called School of Hope, a school for mentally "disabled" children. In Jamaica, the words "disabled" or "handicapped" are rather loose terms in that they can apply to children with Dislexia or ADD. So some of the children there seemed like they were perfectly normal but were sent to the school because their parents and teachers were tired of dealing with them. Other children had Autism or Downs or had some sort of physical impairment. I got to spend time in the computer class working through phonics and math skills with some of the children. They were all so cute and inviting! It was a lot of fun showing love to these children who in some ways are completely forgotten about.
The other school we went to was in Trenchtown (A ghetto in Kingston) called Operation Restoration. For living in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Kingston, most of the kids seemed pretty well behaved (They referred to all of us as "Miss" or "Sir") and happy when we interacted with them. It just reminded me that no matter what happens to kids, they are still kids-still love to laugh and play and sing and dance despite difficult circumstances. I spent most of time with a 15 year old boy whose parents had been murdered and he himself had barely survived, with two gunshot scars on either side of his face. My heart breaks for these children who seemingly have no hope and future (A few of the children performed a poem about having no education and no future and then even when they do get a simple education there is no job available for them. So sad!) which is why many of them steal or getting to drugs or other criminal activity just to make it through life.
Overall the week was an eye opening experience because I learned to see people I had often ignored or not cared about the way God sees them.
"Give me your eyes for just one second.
Give me your eyes so i can see everything that I keep missing.
Give me your love for humanity,
Give me your arms for the brokenhearted, the ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your eyes for the ones forgotten.
Give me your eyes so I can see."
Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath
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Another thing I should update you guys on: Plans have changed and I am now going Gambia, West Africa for my international outreach! Gambia is a tiny country that is home to the Serahule people, an unreached Muslim people group that we will be spending most of our time with. We expect to leave in the beginning of January and return to Jamaica in the third week of February. I am still waiting on more details and will try to update my info once I know more. Please join me in my preparations by praying for the Serahule people and our team!
to those of you who have been sending me encouragements and praying for me! Keep on keeping on! Lecture phase is rapidly coming to a close (We only have 4 weeks left). I want to make the most of the time I have left here!
awesome :)
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