CHRISTMAS!!!

C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S
If I have learned anything this Christmas, I have learned that Christmas is the busiest time of year for a volunteer. We have certainly been busy.

• Serving lunch for 270 inmates at a local prison: 4 hours
• Packing 200 food bags for needy families in the missions: 2 days
• Baking 400 sugar cookies to be given as presents to families in the church (thanks for the recipe Dad!): 6 hours
• Gift wrapping 400 presents for needy children in the missions: 6 hours
• Serving Lunch for 100 men who are mentally or physically challenged and live in a home run by Missionaries of the Poor: 4 hours
• Distributing presents and lunch to children with disabilities and the community surrounding the home on Christmas Eve: 5 hours
• Driving around lost to find the home we were invited to on Christmas Day: 1.5 hours
• Celebrating Betsy’s birthday by hiking 14 miles to Blue Mountain Peak in the pouring RAIN at 2 AM: 8 hours (And it was COLD!)

Choosing to live in a tropical developing country with an 80 degree Christmas: Priceless

Haha yeah, I just did that.






Twenty food bags are distributed every month to each of Immaculate Conceptions missions. Each bag usually has about 4lbs of rice, 1 lb of beans, powdered milk, tin beef, flour, sugar and any other food items available through donation. The effort is launched by St. Vincent de Paul, a society dedicated to helping the poor all over the world. The more help available for packing out the food bags the better, and since we know most families in the church personally, we are able to really lend a hand in this incredibly daunting process. For Christmas the donations are plenty. For example, in just rice, we packed eight hundred pounds into smaller bags to be distributed as a special Christmas treat. The people who receive the bags depend on them monthly as they are distributed, and especially around the holidays when money is especially tight.




The other volunteers and I organized a Jesse Tree at Immaculate Conception Church to collect presents for the children in the missions where we work. Many of the children in these villages will not receive presents for Christmas, so through the Jesse Tree and other generous donations, we were able to gift wrap a present or each child who belongs to the church! It took a VERY long time to wrap over two hundred presents and our living room looked like the North Pole, but it was so fun to be able to sort through all of the donations and hand pick toys for each child that see almost every day and now know very well. Handing them out at mass was even better. The kids had no idea they were getting presents, so to see presents gift wrapped in pretty paper (which is extremely rare) was a HUGE hit. I seriously think that we could have wrapped up a rock…the gift wrap made the present that much better and so I know our hard work was not done in vain!

I have also been doing Prison Ministry once a week with another Catholic Church in the area. We usually read a bible verse and then break into smaller groups to talk because these men rarely have a chance to be listened to. The Friday before Christmas we prepared meals for each of 270 inmates at the prison because they cannot have visitors on Christmas. Upon our arrival, you could feel the energy of the place begin to lift. The group of about 30 men that come to our weekly meetings, or “our guys” as we like to call them, call out to us by name just to wave or shake our hand and give a friendly smile as we pass by. As I handed out the drinks with an inmate friend, Ony, I recognized faces that have now become familiar after five months, and ask how I am doing. Ony directs me as I hand out the drinks, and I find my mind wandering to a realization that I am inside a Jamaican prison, assisting a Jamaican prisoner in handing out drinks to other Jamaicans who are in here for some sort of crime. And I am having fun. Hm…

After lunch, a bunch of the inmates hung around and sang Christmas Carols led by Ony over a microphone. My heart warmed as they all rose to sing, “We wish you a Merry Christmas” after a heart wrenching thank you and loud applause. As we walked away, out of the prison bars, away from that dreadful place, to our comfy homes, I felt truly sad for them, because you could see the sadness in their eyes, as they continued to wave every time I looked back. Maybe they felt a resemblance of family in us, even just a little, for those few moments. I hope so at least.

Then on Christmas Eve I went to the Home of the Beatitudes, run by Father Holung and Missionaries of the Poor. Father Holung is certainly a fantastic man. Missionaries of the Poor- look them up…they are awesome and give me hope that love does run the universe after all.

Well, Father Holung has several homes in Jamaica, I think three in Kingston and then one in the hills called the Home for the Beatitudes. The way I understand it, is as long as Father has room, he will take anyone in need. He has even been known to drive around and pick up people off the street. The Brothers, who come from all over the world, work in the homes and take care of the residents. The homes in Kingston are for men with disabilities, women and children with AIDS, and an orphanage. The Home for the Beatitudes, where I went in the hills, is for children with disabilities. So he basically cares for the abandoned. And if this isn’t enough, the areas Father Holung builds his homes are always the most destitute, so he helps the surrounding community as well.

On Christmas Eve morning, I went to the Home of the Beatitudes for a huge Christmas celebration for the families in the area. Over 200 people of all ages gathered for a free meal as children participated in dance contests and singing contests to win a Christmas gift. No child left without a prize. We were dancing and singing and eating literally on top of a mountain. Children were smiling, and parents were cheering. Some of the children from the home that were able to walk even came outside to participate in the celebration! It was wonderful. After lunch, there was a procession with the disabled children up to the retreat house, where each received their own gift wrapped present. This is surely what Christmas is all about.


And oh yeah…On the 23rd I slept in a Rasta’s board house without electricity and hiked seven miles up and seven miles back at 2AM in the pouring rain to the top of the highest peak in Jamaica: Blue Mountain Peak. Yes, the trail turned into a muddy river and it took eight hours and no, we didn’t see the sunrise or Cuba, as the guidebook said we would. But, we did get blisters on our feet and soaked to the point where we could wring out our clothing. I think my roommate said it was the worst day of her life. I would do it again, though…just never again in December. Haha