Notes from Team Leader Lisa Clark --
Our team was in St. Thomas Parrish which is in the lower eastern corner of the island. It is filled with poverty, but the people are happy. They welcome our help and are very glad to see us. Many live in shacks with tin on the roof held on by cement blocks just laid on top. No indoor plumbing, most are just one room with several folks living in the structure.
This year we were at St. Thomas Methodist Church School working to finish out a building used for Community functions - like sewing classes and also to serve disabled kids in the area. We worked to level the existing concrete floor by pounding it with hammers and chisels, laid ceramic tiles and grouted the floor. Note in the pictures the beautiful blue cross we laid in one end of the floor. It is just beautiful. We also built and varnished four small bookcases, two large bookcases and four freestanding, portable chalk boards. Paula and I also conducted Bible School classes for the kids in the school. The school serves grades 1-6. We worked on the theme of "Fishers of Men". Before I left I made a banner (you can see that in the pictures). Each of the kids decorated a fish and put in the net, to symbolize that they too are Fishers of Men to get others to hear God's word. We took down about 80 boxes of crayons, packets of coloring pages, made necklaces with fish and beads and read bible stories. The kids loved it. We did each grade separately, during the breaks kids from other classes would come up to us, "miss, miss" can I go to the class today. They were so excited. I was especially touched when one little boy came up to me and asked if his friend that went to another school could have some of our Bible School items. He truly got the meaning of our message!
Best of all, we took down about 800 pounds of books. Our Breath of God Sunday School Class (6th, 7th & 8th graders) collected children's books for about 4 months. We couldn't find an economical way to ship the books, so each team member checked one 50 pound bag of books as well as a 50 pound bag of personal items, then carried on a bag with 40 pounds of books. It was work lugging those bags through the airports, but boy was it worth it! The kids were just amazing. It was better than any Christmas I have ever experienced. Groups of kids grabbed books and shouted "look at this, look at this", but the best were the kids that quietly selected a book, sat by themselves and just read. The principal of the school collected all the books, sorted them, had them stamped with the school stamp and was busy making the old fashioned check out cards when we left. In order to best utilize the books, she is organizing a library where the kids can check out a book for a week, she is also going to open it up to the community as a whole on Saturday mornings so that everyone can participate.
Our team was in St. Thomas Parrish which is in the lower eastern corner of the island. It is filled with poverty, but the people are happy. They welcome our help and are very glad to see us. Many live in shacks with tin on the roof held on by cement blocks just laid on top. No indoor plumbing, most are just one room with several folks living in the structure.
This year we were at St. Thomas Methodist Church School working to finish out a building used for Community functions - like sewing classes and also to serve disabled kids in the area. We worked to level the existing concrete floor by pounding it with hammers and chisels, laid ceramic tiles and grouted the floor. Note in the pictures the beautiful blue cross we laid in one end of the floor. It is just beautiful. We also built and varnished four small bookcases, two large bookcases and four freestanding, portable chalk boards. Paula and I also conducted Bible School classes for the kids in the school. The school serves grades 1-6. We worked on the theme of "Fishers of Men". Before I left I made a banner (you can see that in the pictures). Each of the kids decorated a fish and put in the net, to symbolize that they too are Fishers of Men to get others to hear God's word. We took down about 80 boxes of crayons, packets of coloring pages, made necklaces with fish and beads and read bible stories. The kids loved it. We did each grade separately, during the breaks kids from other classes would come up to us, "miss, miss" can I go to the class today. They were so excited. I was especially touched when one little boy came up to me and asked if his friend that went to another school could have some of our Bible School items. He truly got the meaning of our message!
Best of all, we took down about 800 pounds of books. Our Breath of God Sunday School Class (6th, 7th & 8th graders) collected children's books for about 4 months. We couldn't find an economical way to ship the books, so each team member checked one 50 pound bag of books as well as a 50 pound bag of personal items, then carried on a bag with 40 pounds of books. It was work lugging those bags through the airports, but boy was it worth it! The kids were just amazing. It was better than any Christmas I have ever experienced. Groups of kids grabbed books and shouted "look at this, look at this", but the best were the kids that quietly selected a book, sat by themselves and just read. The principal of the school collected all the books, sorted them, had them stamped with the school stamp and was busy making the old fashioned check out cards when we left. In order to best utilize the books, she is organizing a library where the kids can check out a book for a week, she is also going to open it up to the community as a whole on Saturday mornings so that everyone can participate.
Notes from Team Leader Lisa Clark --
Our team was in St. Thomas Parrish which is in the lower eastern corner of the island. It is filled with poverty, but the people are happy. They welcome our help and are very glad to see us. Many live in shacks with tin on the roof held on by cement blocks just laid on top. No indoor plumbing, most are just one room with several folks living in the structure.
This year we were at St. Thomas Methodist Church School working to finish out a building used for Community functions - like sewing classes and also to serve disabled kids in the area. We worked to level the existing concrete floor by pounding it with hammers and chisels, laid ceramic tiles and grouted the floor. Note in the pictures the beautiful blue cross we laid in one end of the floor. It is just beautiful. We also built and varnished four small bookcases, two large bookcases and four freestanding, portable chalk boards. Paula and I also conducted Bible School classes for the kids in the school. The school serves grades 1-6. We worked on the theme of "Fishers of Men". Before I left I made a banner (you can see that in the pictures). Each of the kids decorated a fish and put in the net, to symbolize that they too are Fishers of Men to get others to hear God's word. We took down about 80 boxes of crayons, packets of coloring pages, made necklaces with fish and beads and read bible stories. The kids loved it. We did each grade separately, during the breaks kids from other classes would come up to us, "miss, miss" can I go to the class today. They were so excited. I was especially touched when one little boy came up to me and asked if his friend that went to another school could have some of our Bible School items. He truly got the meaning of our message!
Best of all, we took down about 800 pounds of books. Our Breath of God Sunday School Class (6th, 7th & 8th graders) collected children's books for about 4 months. We couldn't find an economical way to ship the books, so each team member checked one 50 pound bag of books as well as a 50 pound bag of personal items, then carried on a bag with 40 pounds of books. It was work lugging those bags through the airports, but boy was it worth it! The kids were just amazing. It was better than any Christmas I have ever experienced. Groups of kids grabbed books and shouted "look at this, look at this", but the best were the kids that quietly selected a book, sat by themselves and just read. The principal of the school collected all the books, sorted them, had them stamped with the school stamp and was busy making the old fashioned check out cards when we left. In order to best utilize the books, she is organizing a library where the kids can check out a book for a week, she is also going to open it up to the community as a whole on Saturday mornings so that everyone can participate.
Our team was in St. Thomas Parrish which is in the lower eastern corner of the island. It is filled with poverty, but the people are happy. They welcome our help and are very glad to see us. Many live in shacks with tin on the roof held on by cement blocks just laid on top. No indoor plumbing, most are just one room with several folks living in the structure.
This year we were at St. Thomas Methodist Church School working to finish out a building used for Community functions - like sewing classes and also to serve disabled kids in the area. We worked to level the existing concrete floor by pounding it with hammers and chisels, laid ceramic tiles and grouted the floor. Note in the pictures the beautiful blue cross we laid in one end of the floor. It is just beautiful. We also built and varnished four small bookcases, two large bookcases and four freestanding, portable chalk boards. Paula and I also conducted Bible School classes for the kids in the school. The school serves grades 1-6. We worked on the theme of "Fishers of Men". Before I left I made a banner (you can see that in the pictures). Each of the kids decorated a fish and put in the net, to symbolize that they too are Fishers of Men to get others to hear God's word. We took down about 80 boxes of crayons, packets of coloring pages, made necklaces with fish and beads and read bible stories. The kids loved it. We did each grade separately, during the breaks kids from other classes would come up to us, "miss, miss" can I go to the class today. They were so excited. I was especially touched when one little boy came up to me and asked if his friend that went to another school could have some of our Bible School items. He truly got the meaning of our message!
Best of all, we took down about 800 pounds of books. Our Breath of God Sunday School Class (6th, 7th & 8th graders) collected children's books for about 4 months. We couldn't find an economical way to ship the books, so each team member checked one 50 pound bag of books as well as a 50 pound bag of personal items, then carried on a bag with 40 pounds of books. It was work lugging those bags through the airports, but boy was it worth it! The kids were just amazing. It was better than any Christmas I have ever experienced. Groups of kids grabbed books and shouted "look at this, look at this", but the best were the kids that quietly selected a book, sat by themselves and just read. The principal of the school collected all the books, sorted them, had them stamped with the school stamp and was busy making the old fashioned check out cards when we left. In order to best utilize the books, she is organizing a library where the kids can check out a book for a week, she is also going to open it up to the community as a whole on Saturday mornings so that everyone can participate.
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