Mission members close in on target

Fundraiser enters final push, with just $2,000 needed for the youth group’s upcoming trip

TRURO, N. S. – A local church mission is preparing to depart for a remote mountain village in Jamaica after months of fundraising for their trip.

The youth group from Truro’s Immanuel Baptist Church has less than $2,000 to raise of the $52,000 needed for their weeklong journey, which they hope to receive by running a car wash in Bible Hill on June 8.

“I think we’ll get there,” said volunteer leader Carol Jones. “God has been very faithful to this group already, so I feel like it will come in.”

The mission will be in Jamaica from June 29 to July 5, working in the impoverished village of Catadupa, south of Montego Bay.

Church members may do anything from fixing homes to building washrooms and showers for local residents. They will be informed of their exact jobs two weeks before they depart.

Jones described Catadupa as a rural area which, while poor, is still free from the high crime plaguing Jamaican towns, as people know each other better. It is home to between 2,000 and 3,000 people.

Mission members will likely sleep on the floor of a local school and must bring their own sleeping bags and mosquito nets. It is a far cry from the luxury beach hotels around Montego Bay.

“Understand that your eyes are going to be opened to a world we won’t see,” said Jones. “Not worse or better, just different. Our job is to love people, no judgment.”

To help prepare the mission group for a way of life many Canadians never see, a group of Jamaican women will give them an introduction to their home country’s culture and cook them a traditional meal on June 4. Jones said the women are migrant workers at the Riverbreeze Farm just outside Truro.

“That’s our goal, to see people how God wants us to see people,” said Jones.

Previous fundraisers for their mission trip included dinner theatres, silent auctions, bottle drives, coffee and yard sales and private donations.

The final fundraiser is June 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Main Street Self Serve Car Wash in Bible Hill, just before the junction with Farnham Road. Signs will be posted for drivers. People can make a donation to have their vehicle washed.

For more information on Immanuel Baptist Church’s activities, visit its Facebook page of the same name or www.immanueltruro.org.