The Day After Gustav

On Wednesday, 27 August 2008 the weather forecast said "Tropical Storm Gustav will be moving north of the island as it comes of Haiti." Thursday morning around 2am the power went as the winds had picked up a little... we though must be some spin off from the storm. The sisters and Br Michael headed off to town to do the Thursday Banking and some shopping in town... little did we know at the time that Gustav had taken a hard left over night and was headed to Jamaica.

Gustav took it's time getting to Jamaica, and the banking and shopping were expedited as most all stores were closing at noon. It wasn't until 9pm when the force of Gustav hit Above Rocks and unleashed it's winds and heavy rains throughout the night. By morning the friary bedrooms were flooded as the wind blew the rain right under the doors and in... trees were down and the mud slides had begun.

All day Friday it rained, at times heavy, and the winds came in bands throughout the day. By the time we turned off the generator at 9pm, the hills were crumbling butt he rains were beginning to cease. And best estimates say 26" of rain fell...

This morning we awoke to warm breezes and significant mud slides to our left and to our right, now the process of clean up can begin. While the past 36 hours have been trying, the imposition that our people experience, many of whom live in wood and zinc dwellings is almost inconceivable: the dampness and the noise.

The good news is: no loss of life in our district and as our four churches report in. The bad news: the roads are still blocked and there is no power. We pray that this year's outage is less than the 19 days we endured last year.

Continue to remember us and our people as we clean up and journey through this hurricane season.

4th Annual Shoe Sale

Tuesday, 26 August, 2008 marked our 4th Annual Shoe Sale at St Mary's and Missions. This year's sale saw the largest number of shoes available to date. Our primary supplier: St Louis R C Church, Batesville, Indiana. This year's sale was augmented with sport's shoes from Archbishop Curley High School, Baltimore, MD and St Paul R C Church, Kensington, CT. It took six (6) people all day Monday just to lay out all the shoes. At one point Fr Mike told Sr Marcia there's only a few more cases... seventy to be exact.

To give the brothers and sisters of the Mission a first shot at the goods - a new number system was utilized so they got in first during the first hour of sales. Fr Michael and Michael Stewart work the in door... we guesstimate the turn out to be about 400 people. The bull horn calls the next number, and asks the slow pokes to move along "hundred of people are waiting to buy shoes."

Sometimes your whole family can't make it the day of the sale... so Miss Daphney from our Rock Hall Church brings cut outs of her grand children's feet to find shoes for her family.

Ray, Monique and Miss Whyte look over the offerings on the table... yes, pick you four and head for the door - thank you! Sr Naomi and Miss Lewis will happily take your money and bag your shoes.

CNS Picks Up the Bolt-n-Bible Camp Story

On Monday we received a phone call from a reporter at Catholic News Service (CNS). A friend of the Mission on our email list passed our Link to CNS. After a 35 minute phone interview we were promised an email when our piece was posted... and late Monday night we were on CNS.

The piece:
Olympic fever, island pride dominate Catholic Bible camp in Jamaica.

The link:
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20080825.htm#head6

Thanks to all who help to promote the Mission... by word-of-mouth, email and now the press.

PJR to RIT

It is back to school time for many colleges in the USA. This morning Saint Mary's said good-bye to Peter-John Rowe as he made his way to America to begin his studies at Rochester Institute of Technology. Some of our students attend schools after Saint Mary's College right here in Jamaica. Saint Josephs' Teachers' College, University of the West Indies and Mico University College all have Saint Mary's graduates walking their campuses. This year is the first time in many years that we have a student studying in the States. Peter-John will be missed as he played the drums at Mass on Sunday and was an active member of the Youth Group.

Peter-John with his Mother who is the Vice President of our Church Council as well as the Vice-Principal of our All-Age School.
We oversee six school here at the Mission. School bells will be ringing September 1.

Bolt and Bible Camp

This afternoon we ended our three day Bible Camp at Our lady of Lourdes in Rock Hall. Children from Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Pinto joined the Rock Hall children to learn about the Lord and to have fun at the same time. Today, Wednesday, before the campers reflected on the Beatitudes they needed to listen to the Men's 200 metre final from China. Jamaica is going Olympic crazy as they are mining for Gold! All the children wanted to hear if their Jamaican Star Usain Bolt would win. Huddled in the friar's car, they were not disappointed as Bolt broke the world record in 19.30 seconds.

The campers were then able continue their activities that included making "Beatitude necklaces."

Thank to all our benefactors who made the three weeks possible. If you are interested in helping next year please let us know! the kids are already counting the days for Camp 2009

...The Camps Keep Marching On...

This week we began week #2 of Bible Camp. The site is Saint Mary's Above Rocks. One Monday we had 15 children. Today we had 40! One of the activities for the day was to act out stories from the Bible. One of the stories was Joseph and his brothers.




Fr. Michael
tries to help
"Joseph" with his lines.




In Jamaica the people rarely use the pronoun "I" but instead us "Mi"- little Rashiem (wearing his coat of many colours) gave the story a Jamaican flavour and proclaimed to his brothers "Mi am your brother Joseph!"



The children are all smiles as they learn about the Lord!
The Music Camp also continues as beautiful music can be heard throughout the Mission!

Attitude in Cassava River

This week we began the first of three Summer Bible Camps. Holy Family in Cassava River hosted the first Camp. The theme this year is The Beatitudes. Campers reflected on the various ways Jesus told us how we will be happy: by being peacemakers, merciful etc. Bible stories and fun-filled activities helped reinforce the various lessons.




Sister Marcia shares the story of the Good Samaritan with the campers.

Little Jonathan is so proud of his tie-dye shirt her created all by himself! Campers made shirts to reflect the colours of the beatitudes.

Shania is all smiles as she enjoys her snack. Campers decorated sugar cookies and then ate their works of art.

GOOOOOOOAL

During the week of July 28-August 1 the Mission hosted the 2nd Annual Saint Mary's Football Camp (soccer for our friends state-side). Although we tried to limit the number of registrations to 60, we had 75 boys show up! Thanks to our generous benefactors from the USA, the players received a camp t-shirt, a pair of white athletic socks, football boots and could quench their thirst (90 degrees) with gatoraide. New footballs were also used as well as golie gloves. The purpose of the camp was to help the young boys learn how to play fairly and to use their God-given talents to give Him praise and honor.


The day began with a prayer. The first thing they learned was not how to kick a ball or execute a perfect pass but rather how to make the Sign of the Cross.

The boys spent the next three hours practicing skills and concluded each day with a match.

Some of the future football stars!