Dear Friends and Family,
I have now returned from my trip to Jamaica. During the past month of growing, learning, and serving, I have discovered a lot about myself and the God we serve. I want to extend a huge thank you to all of you for supporting me, praying for me, and encouraging me while I was gone. I am so grateful for your actions to come alongside me and further the Kingdom of God.
While I was in Jamaica, I met many people and experienced many new things. I loved being a part of the culture down there and discovering the differences in perspective. While down there I went to the capitol city of Kingston two different times with two different teams. What an amazing opportunity! Our levels of comfort are challenged much more in Kingston where the city is rougher. The ministry is amazing though! Because Kingston is not a regular tourist area, Jamaicans see us and ask us why we’re there (we stand out from a crowd really well). It was awesome to get to talk to people about why we’d come and how a loving Savior had touched our hearts. On our first trip to Kingston we went to two different prisons. The first was a high security prison and only a hand-full from our team was allowed inside. The second was a lower security prison for women where we were all allowed to go inside. The latter was one of our most impacting shows and definitely a treasured memory in my mind.
While in Jamaica, I loved reaching out to adults and children on the island. It was wonderful to just touch their lives and show them the love of Christ. One of the places where I felt I had the most impact, however, was on the lives of the high school students who came down to minister and evangelize throughout the month. One girl in particular had her life changed because of coming on the trip for two weeks. She had the opportunity to lead a teenaged Jamaican girl to Christ during the first week, an experience she had never had before! Throughout the rest of our time together, I had several opportunities to talk with her, telling her about my personal journey and encouraging her in hers. At the end of the trip some of the students wrote me a note, thanking me for the help and impact I had been. This girl in particular thanked me for encouraging and challenging her to follow God’s call in her life, saying that the way she lived her life would be different because of it. I am so honored that God has used me to touch the lives of others and encourage them in their faith.
There were a few days where my physical strength failed. I had food poising one day, but recovered after a day’s rest. Another day I hurt my knee falling, but thankfully it was our last day of ministry, so I only had to limp around the airport on my way home. Travels were safe and sickness and injury amongst the teams were almost non-existent. The Lord provided and protected us always. Thank you so much for your prayers! I know that they were heard.
Leaving Jamaica was very difficult for me. As the plane took off at 7am on the 21rst, I found myself asking God why he was taking me away so soon. I still felt that there was more for me to do there, and I had grown very fond of the life I was living. I was looking ahead with dread at the next 18 hours which I was to spend in four airports and three planes. But my traveling became 18 hours of time alone with God. I spend it praying, thinking, and journaling about the month I spent in Jamaica. I felt a great peace come over me during this time, and after having a week of readjustment at home, I now feel mostly ready to go back to Winona State University for my sophomore year.
Before serving in Jamaica this summer, I never thought that the path God had for me would call me abroad into missions. But now that is exactly where I’m being led. I am already making preparations to go back to Jamaica with the team from New Life E. Free Church for a week in October. Right now the Lord is teaching me to trust Him wholly, and this involves less planning on my part and more faith, so I don’t have any definite plans for the future past this next year of school. But I am excited about where God is going to take me.
I’ll end once again thanking you for everything you have done to support me. You have all the gratitude in my heart.
I never went to a Jamaican church without hearing their favorite phrase; “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.” Everyday I am touched by how true this really is. I hope that all these things may encourage you.
With the love of Christ pouring out of my heart,
Leisha Mitchem
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