January 1985
In September of 1984 we were getting all the final stuff done for the move to Linstead, St Catherine, Jamaica to be the missionary pastors at Bread of Life Church and to identify and prepare Jamaican leaders to lead the church. We left our home in Medford OR and traveled in a borrowed van to Springfield, MO to begin developing a relationship with a small group of churches in the Midwest and prepare for moving the four of us – Jean, me, Stephanie, and Melissa, to another planet!
As soon as we arrived in Missouri, we realized the “group of churches” was much less a group than we had expected and that the missions organization, “American Caribbean Mission” was more of an idea than an organization. For the next couple of months, we traveled a bunch in Missouri and Kansas, where the churches were located, and began to connect with the pastors and churches as quickly and effectively as we could.
I made a trip to Jamaica to meet with the leaders and congregation at Bread of Life in Linstead, and initiate the work permit process that would allow us to stay in Jamaica for longer than six months. While I was in Jamaica, Jean flew to Miami where she purchased a used 1981 Ford Escort Station Wagon for us to use on our travels and then to ship to Jamaica for our use when we moved there.
Sidebar: There were no cars available for purchase in Jamaica at the time due to ongoing issues between Jamaica, the US, and Cuba. We would have to purchase a car in the US and ship it to Jamaica. To qualify for import, the car could be no more than three years old, hence we purchased a 1981 car in 1984. The import duty to bring the car into the country was 100% of its purchase price. Whatever price we paid for the car, we’d have to pay that much again to drive it off the dock in Kingston when it arrived! And we were on a very tight budget!
So we bought our little Ford Escort Wagon as the fine-line compromise between “new enough to import into Jamaica” and “cheap enough that we could afford to buy it twice!” (As well as pay $1100 for shipping and a few hundred for agents’ and handlers’ fees before it cleared customs).
We put lots of miles on it in the month we had it in the US and then when it was time to go, the four of us and all our luggage made the 1330 mile trip from Springfield, MO to Miami, FL and left the car with a family we had never met, with the understanding that when we had all the paperwork ready for shipping the car from Miami and importing the car into Jamaica in Kingston, they would drive the car to the port and drop it off with the shipping agent where it would be placed on a ship, transported to Kingston, unloaded at the port, and then we would go and “buy it again”.
Well, it all eventually happened! In early January we got the notification that the car had arrived in Kingston and was waiting at the port for us to come and claim it and clear it. We lived miles away in Linstead, but our friends Emile and Sophie Azan loaned us their pickup and their driver Mackie. For three days, Mackie would pick me up at the house just after daylight, we would drive to the port, and I would step-by-step clear the car. This involved lots of waiting in offices, being told, “No, you must go to another office first and get this paper stamped, then come back here”, while Mackie waited in the shade somewhere. Then in the evening he’d drive me home to Linstead. Finally, about 1 PM on the third day, the final money was paid, the final papers were signed, the last document stamped, and the agent handed me my keys and led me out to the wharf where I actually saw my car for the first time since October! It started right up and I drove through the gate and headed home to Linstead!
At some point, on the drive to Linstead, I realized that the beautiful teardrop cut crystal that we had hanging by a ribbon from the rearview mirror was missing! When we left the car in Miami, I should have removed the crystal and brought it with me. Somewhere between that moment and now, someone had taken it and I felt sad about that. We’d always had a nice sparkly crystal hanging from our mirror on a ribbon. Now we didn’t! I know, it’s not a big deal, but we missed it anyhow! And life goes on!
A few weeks after that, on our daily stop at the Linstead Post Office, there was a notice in the box that there was a package for us. I went inside and joined the queue and at the window I paid a small customs duty for the package and went back to the car where Jean was waiting for me. The package, about the size of a pack of playing cards, was from an old friend, Don Shelby, in Seattle. It had been on its way to us for a few weeks. What a neat thing to get a little package from an old friend far away! The package wasn’t heavy, a little box wrapped in brown paper. What could it be?
We opened the package and the only thing in it was a teardrop shaped cut crystal on a ribbon – wrapped in tissue paper! It was so sweet it made us both cry! A couple of years later, Don and Jeanne Shelby visited us when we were living in Kingston. The crystal was hanging from the mirror when we picked them up at the airport. We told him about our lost crystal and how much his thoughtful gift meant. He couldn’t remember what prompted him to send it. He thought he had just been walking through a craft fair and saw it hanging in a booth and thought of us. No big deal!
How does God do this kind of stuff? And why? Only a God who loves us as much as he says he does, and actually likes us as well, would prompt a friend to send a crystal to a friend far away! And I believe he smiles when he does it!
As always, I’d love to hear from you. If you have a question or a comment simply reply to this email or if you’re reading on the blog, comment below.
Grace to you today, Jim Stephens