Jamaicans are destined for travel! This exclamation was overheard by the author in passing, and may well be true as Jamaicans may be found in many countries all over the world. Godincidences! is an account of travels by a Jamaican woman on a mission with her "awesomely sovereign, sovereignly awesome God" As she shares her adventures in places like Burkina Faso, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Peru, you may be tempted to envy, unless you accept her invitation to join her as she adventures with God. Godincidences! actually goes beyond merely sharing Jo-Ann's adventures. It gives you the space to view your own life as an adventure, and to document your own escapades with the "awesomely Sovereign, Sovereignly awesome God of the Universe"

Godincidences!

Adventuring with an Awesomely Sovereign, Sovereignly Awesome GodBy Jo-Ann Faith Richards

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Jo-Ann Faith Richards
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-7244-9

Contents

Foreword....................................................................................xiPreface.....................................................................................xvChapter 1. Call To Missions — Call To Adventure......................................1Chapter 2. Cuban Adventure.................................................................7Chapter 3. Dreaming Adventures?............................................................17Chapter 4. Amsterdam 2000..................................................................25Chapter 5. Going To Curacao................................................................35Chapter 6. Swiss Adventure.................................................................43Chapter 7. Malaria Scare...................................................................51Chapter 8. Letter From Benin...............................................................59Chapter 9. The Sweetest Rooster............................................................65Chapter 10. Tougan Adventure — The Case Of The Dissolving Clothes.....................71Chapter 11. To Ghana By Bus.................................................................83Chapter 12. Peruvian Adventure..............................................................97Chapter 13. Second Peruvian Adventure.......................................................107Chapter 14. Costa Rican Adventure — They Came With Guns...............................113Chapter 15. Cruising With Sis...............................................................129Chapter 16. Romantic Adventures.............................................................139Chapter 17. Inner Adventures — The Untold Story.......................................149Letter To The Reader........................................................................161Resources...................................................................................163

Chapter One

CALL TO MISSIONS – CALL TO ADVENTURE

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For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 20:11)

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I was floundering around in the world, trying to find myself. My job teaching English and Spanish at a prominent high school for boys in Kingston, Jamaica ended after only six months. I thought I lasted really long! I gave health reasons for leaving the job. I was doing a lot of singing at the time. Every weekend, between the dust from the schoolyard, the chalk dust, and my screaming at the boys, I had serious laryngitis, making it really difficult for me to cope with the Youth for Christ talent competition I had entered as a vocal soloist. My sister was very helpful, on one occasion even insisting that I swallow a vile concoction of raw egg and wine. Eventually, the doctor gave me a way out; she told me it was either singing or teaching. One had to go. The choice was by no means difficult!

After leaving the classroom, I tried working as the front desk receptionist at a hotel in Kingston. That didn't 'click' either. Neither did the flower shop. It was while I was taking orders for floral arrangements that I remembered I had wanted to study at the Jamaica Theological Seminary (JTS) after leaving high school. My mother had insisted that I needed to get a profession first, and that's how I ended up going to teachers' college.

After leaving the flower shop, armed with only one term's school fees, and not questioning where the rest would come from, I entered the Jamaica Theological Seminary. For the first time since leaving primary school, I seemed to have found a niche. Suddenly, I was on the honour roll. The first term, I thought it was a mistake. By the second term, I realized this was my new life.

In those days, each year a third year student was chosen to go to Fort Wayne Bible College in Indiana (which later became the Fort Wayne Campus of Taylor University) as an exchange student. In my third year, I was 'it'. Little did I know that something would happen on one weekend that would completely change my life forever.

Each year at FWBC a large Missions Conference was held. There were many speakers, and a plethora of booths manned by representatives of missions agencies. I collected a handful of brochures and headed back to the dorm to read.

One brochure I read was by TransWorld Radio, based in Bonaire, Netherland Antilles. It contained a letter from a man in China. He had accepted Jesus Christ after listening to their radio broadcast. He invited others to listen as well, and they also became Christians. The radio was their church. The radio was their pastor. The writer was appealing to the station to send someone to give them Bibles in their language, and to help them to understand the Word of God. I was totally broken! I could not imagine that we in Jamaica could have so many Christian resources, while some people in the world didn't even have the Bible in their own language!

After scraping myself off the floor and mopping up, I made a decision then and there to do my part in spreading the gospel, until the whole world hears. Little did I know the adventures that lay ahead.

Chapter Two

CUBAN ADVENTURE

(Summer, 1998)

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You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)

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It was 1987/88 that I responded to the call to missions. My trip to Cuba took place ten years later. There is much that happened in between, including serving in Cayman Brac, the second largest of the Cayman Islands, as Music & Youth Director at the Cotton Tree Bay Church of God right after graduating from JTS. But why am I jumping ahead?

The Cuba trip marks the beginning of conscious adventures with God. Yes, He was always there, but somehow there was something different about this experience. I had fairly recently read Jack Deere's Surprised by the Voice of God, and was now not only speaking to God, but expecting Him to answer.

The trip was shaping up to be a special one. I had a contact there, but just couldn't get in touch with her. Because of this, I called a Jamaican-owned hotel there and made a booking. Although I had planned on staying for two weeks, I knew I couldn't afford to do that if I was going to stay in a hotel. Not too long before I was to leave, I finally heard from my contact. Without giving too many details, suffice it to say that she was able to arrange it so that I could stay in the hotel for the two weeks.

I knew something important was going to happen on this trip, because there seemed to be a conspiracy to prevent me from going. Before leaving Jamaica I tried to get an idea of what I was going there to do, but she didn't feel free to discuss it by telephone. I had to be patient and wait until I arrived.

Armed with Spanish Bibles and Nuestro Pan Diario (The Spanish version of 'Our Daily Bread' published by Discovery House Publishers), and many other gifts for the Cuban brethren, I headed for the Norman Manley (Palisadoes) Airport in Kingston. I was just a little late, and...