News > Latin America

by Josue H.

Key Verse: Numbers 14:9a " Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them."
Missionaries Josue & Ana H. (Guatemala) and Jose & Maria A. (Chicago) visited Jamaica on February 24-28. They had been motivated by General Director P. Ron's prayer topics for Latin America to pioneer 10 English-speaking Caribbean nations by silver missionaries from 2023. Also, they had been inspired by M. Isaac Park, Latin America coordinator, who kept on the prayer topics during the last nearly 20 years to pioneer the remaining 15 nations from among 34 nations. By now, 19 countries are pioneered.
First, Jamaica was magnificent, with blossoming flowers surrounded by mountains, seas, and blue sky. Jamaica is the third largest island that uses English among all Caribbean nations, with 3 million people, nearly 95% African descendants, and 65% protestants.

Second, the people were very open to us foreigners. There are over 20 universities. We visited the two big campuses. West Indie University is the biggest, with about 50,000 students and five branch universities in 5 other Caribbean nations. Though they do online classes, and it was Saturday, out of nowhere, God sent three students (Saevion, Shamar, and Doran) and 3 to Uni of Technology (Joel, Roshanti). So, we could freely talk and pray together, exchanging emails and sharing pictures.
Third, of course, we saw some difficulties too. It was very hot, the price of food and everything looked so high. The Korean Embassy online site wrote, "Jamaica is travel restricted nation. Don't go out after sunset." etc.

Fourth, However, our conclusion was the harvest seemed plentiful. As Num 14:9 says, "Only we should not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them" with such faith in the early stage of UBF missionary spirit, to go anywhere, anytime, even as a chicken killer or a sewing machine girl to the end of the world!