Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Today was the first day of the 34^th  session  of the Jamaica Annual Conference.  It’s delightful to be here.  This time I’m in another oceanview room; last night I was a bit disappointed that it did not offer a view of the ocean.  Probably because of the time changes, the stress associated with traveling (especially thinking you were going to rendezvous with a group only to find out after they didn’t show up that plans had changed), and the abundance of processed food one finds when traveling, I woke up early this morning feeling like absolute crap.

So I wandered to the window and found an absolutely stunning view of the ocean!

(A link to more of the day's pictures is below.) As you can see, the view was spectacular.   It was so beautiful that I decided to go for a stroll along the beach.  For me, it’s a bit tragic to come all the way to Jamaica and have the only time you’re not in church be spent either as a consumer or having people serve you in hotels.  I like to get out and walk around, meet, and interact with people.  And while I love doing  it with the Saints, I also want to do it in a non-controlled environment.  Kinda.  So I went out walking on the beach.  There was a Rasta (or at least a guy with a Jamaican accent and dreds) walking around.  We spoke and went our separate ways. 

Spent some time walking the beach and, like Otis Redding, watching the waves roll in.  It actually helped the headache.  When I finally headed back to the room, I found myself falling at one point (I find the steps and the pavement here consistently uneven, and since my gait is not as synchronized as I’d like it, I do notice it.  It’s not usually a distraction, but this morning my head was somewhere else).  So I fell.  And I got up and went on.  It didn’t break the skin, and while there was some pain inside the knee, it didn’t appear to damage anything.  Since I’ve had operations on both knees and may someday have them both replaced, this (the fact that I didn’t hurt myself) was a minor miracle.  I limped back to the room, massaged and stretched the knee, took a hot shower and didn’t give it too much more thought.

Breakfast was a buffet with something that looked like cheese sandwiches,  banana bread, bacon, ham, fried dumplings, fruit (papaya, watermelon and pineapple), scrambled eggs, ackee and codfish, calaloo, and the yam/plantain stuff.  Delicious.  I have to watch my portions and end up tasting a little of everything, cuz it’s all so good.

Conferences are really interesting, and being around Bishop Reddick is quite fun.  I am admittedly and somewhat intentionally oblivious to politics in the CME Church; I do, however, enjoy watching people.  And I can often “see,” sense, or feel people on a spiritual plane.  Or something.  I can sometimes see who you present yourself to be as well as who you are and who you could be.  It’s quite an interesting process, and maybe it’s not a spiritual thing, maybe it just has to do with emotional intelligence. Whatever it is, Bishop Reddick seems to possess the same ability.  So breakfast was very interesting, not the least of which were conversations about his DUDS days and my rediscovery of the fact that he is a complete and total CME history geek!

We got to Good News CME Church about 9ish, I suppose, and after morning devotion (where PE and Host Pastor Colmie Simms took her text from 1 Kings 3:18-28, preaching on “Bring the Live Baby Back,” talking about how a spiritual death threatens to take us over, and we must bring the Live Baby back by drawing closer to the Lord), we made some brief presentations: Mrs. Reddick gave a gift to Mrs. Grant; Rev. Heath and Pastor Burns gave gifts to the kids and to Rev. Grant; I put the candies and all 1100 bracelets in the care of Rev. Grant.

The conference then started and continued on til mid-morning Bible Study.  The devotional was led by Rev. Christopher Bennett, and Dr. Ore Spragin, Jr. did Acts 8, 1-15.  Like any excellent Seminary professor, my twin Dr. Spragin broke open the text, historically, socially, theologically, and spiritually.  He located and identified Saul and Stephen and the Samarians, explaining how sometimes going into all the world as Jesus commanded may not appear the way we had conceived of it, but offering assurance that, if we continue on with God’s plan, that God will bless.

After Bible Study we were served lunch.  The US delegation along with some of the Presiding Elders and some of the primary schoolteachers ate in the Pauline B. Grant school cafeteria. It was rice and peas, some deliciously fried chicken, some escovietch fish, I heard there were oxtails, maybe some curried goat, and I don’t know what else (this, with the additions of a macaroni salad and some cole slaw, would be the menu every day).   I’d asked Bishop Reddick who could take me to get a sim card (even though Rev. Simms had offered me her phone, I’m going to be here longer and didn’t want to impose.  Plus I’d have to have cut her sim card to use in my phone, rendering it unusable for her.  I would learn later that her supply of phones is legendary, but at the time, I didn't want to inconvenience her). 

So as soon as I finished lunch we went to Black Water, about 15km away, for one.  We went first to the LIME office, because everyone says LIME is better.  Their computers were down.  Then we went to the Digicel office across the street.  They had no sim cards.  Then we went to another Digicel store which also had no sim cards.  Then Rev. Bennett called a Digicel store, took me on a 30 minute drive in the opposite direction, and I finally got a sim card!  I got some plan that gives me a GB or two but unlimited FB, Twitter, AppChat, and Instagram.  The sim, the plan, adding data and text all came to less than $20.00 US. The best coverage I could get on Digicel was 3G until the middle of the night; don’t know if it was less traffic or the fact that I rebooted the phone, but after I did that and took out and replaced the SD card (only because I wanted to copy my ipad movies to it), I suddenly, at 2 am, got 4G speeds.  I also know Digicel has 4G speeds in MoBay. 

A member of our delegation had asked me to get her some Alka Seltzer. So while I was in Black Water, I went into the drugstore to get some and the lady asked if I wanted it in a lotion or powder.  She heard “Aqua” something, and was trying to give me something for the skin.  When I asked her what she had for the stomach, she said she’d have to check to see if Alka Seltzer was a prescription medication.  When I told her it wasn’t and asked what she had for an upset stomach, she offered me Pepto Bismol and Xanax.  I would have gotten the Pepto, but they didn’t take US dollars.

We got back to the church just in time for Communion.  Rev. Clarence Kelby Heath preached from John 20:1-4, “Running to Find Jesus.”  He started talking about various runners, comparing Usain Bolt and Jesse Owens, but in the end saying that none of them was the best runner; the best runner was the one who runs for Jesus, with all their heart and soul, in every situation and circumstance, no matter what, and who is not deterred. It was QUITE the moving sermon.

We came back to the hotel for dinner of tossed salad, macaroni salad, peas and rice, pepper steak, steamed veggies, fried fish, and ice cream. I’m probably leaving something out.  It was good, and we all sat around talking for a while. (Velma Lois Jones has earned the right to eat her ice cream first, and I forgot to put in how Vanessee Burns ate my ice cream when we stopped at the Pelican.  But it wasn't very good, so she allowed me to eat some of it.  Between the two of us, we still didn't finish it.)

After dinner,  of course, we went into the lobby, the only place where the wifi seems to work. I can get wifi on my phone and my laptop, but not on my ipad which is where all the videos are.  So I stayed there until about 11 getting them off my ipad and onto my laptop (and hopefully later onto my hard drive.) I’ll probably have to wait until I get back to the States to upload them.

I was sitting with brother Cliff Harris trying to figure out why his Skype didn’t work and the Rasta guy from this morning came by.  He was high as a kite and spoke with a thick Jamaican accent, but I think he told me that he drives a boat and some guy give him a hard time and wanted to fight him and he didn’t know how to fight, and he hurt his hand, so he’s had a bad day.  But we made each other smile, so that was good.

That’s what I remember from today.  Nothing especially profound; in  the last 24 hours I’ve learned that it’s ok to let people be who they are, even if they’re unpleasant, unintelligible, or unbelievable.  Let them do and be them, and RESPECT who they are.  I also learned that I can drink a large coffee with no sweetener. 

Because the cell coverage is so bad, my phone doesn’t appear to connect to the network enough to even change the time.  I have no idea what time it is, but want to walk the beach tomorrow, so I’m calling it a night.

Today’s pics are found here:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10205322162587403.1073741892.1048146180&type=1&l=5ba2f235e7

Additionally, some videos are found here:

He Touched Me
https://youtu.be/8ywB8mh1lfI

Rock of Ages
https://youtu.be/B6QP5U80ozI

There is a Fountain
https://youtu.be/SGe0FEDsPPs

There is Power Mighty In the Blood
https://youtu.be/-LrY3o_2rPA

All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
https://youtu.be/hBsDxdhYXIg

Draw Me Nearer
https://youtu.be/IUbC9z0Ldj4

Hallelujiah!  What a Savior!!
https://youtu.be/CqgLdOSImtI