Hi, this is Reece Rose (student) and Sally Weimer (mom) writing this blog tonight. Anything in quotes is straight out of Reece’s mouth.
Both of us spent some time with Jhanelle and Quest, two of the Nest children who are in the final stages of different diseases that will eventually take their lives. God gave both of us amazing strength, love and courage to spend time with Jhanelle, bedridden at the Nest, and Quest, currently at a local Jamaican hospital (too awful too describe). Even though we don’t understand why God allows their pain and suffering and wish He would miraculously heal them, we still see that both of these precious children have touched and are touching the hearts of many. Please pray for comfort and peace for both of these children, and for wisdom and strength for Joel and all of the other people involved in their care. Of course, we can always pray for a miracle, as long as it is in God’s will.
We put on a Vacation Bible School for ALL of the children (ages 1 – 15), which was quite difficult. However, there were definitely many moments when the “sun shined through the clouds” and we were able to really have fun with the kids and hopefully have an impact on them, showing them the love of Jesus. We sang songs, painted banners, listened to Jon’s message, and played baseball. We will do VBS tomorrow and the next day, hopefully making some adjustments to really reach out to the group of older boys who seem to be having a hard time focusing and opening their hearts to God and us.
A couple of our youth were brave enough to join the Nest children in the “wonderfully, disgusting pool”. They patiently let the children jump in to them over and over and over again. This is such a fun way for the Nest children to play and get clean and the same time.
One of the tough parts of the day was when a group of us took about 13 of the Nest kids down the road to a local school. We were hoping that some of the local kids would want to play some games with us. We played with the parachute and soccer and baseball. Some of our kids and leaders experienced a sense of darkness in this location, compared to the sense of Holy Ground that we feel at the Nest. Someone tonight described the Nest as being a beacon of light on the hill, surrounded by darkness trying to creep up and shut out the light. Obviously this would be something you can pray about regularly.
Tonight’s team devotion time was highlighted by all of the youth gathering around and praying for Joel. I know God was beaming down on all of these amazing middle schoolers when they did this. Joel really appreciates all of the prayers and encouragement that all of us have been providing.
The skeeters have been biting my ankles the entire time I have been typing this, so we are finished!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and “good night to y’all.”
Reece and Sally
