I signed up for the School Assemblies Team assuming that our days here in Jamaica would involve spending long periods of time with students in various schools and really being able to form close friendships while we were there. Shortly into our first day on the field, I learned that our time would actually be very short at each school. We would be lucky if we were allowed to spend more than a half hour total between our assembly and getting to interact with the kids. Discouragement began to set in as we would arrive to a school to find so many children in need, just to have to turn around and load right back on the bus to head off to our next scheduled school. My heart would break each time I would have to walk away from a child who seemed so eager to get to know me. However, yesturday God sent me a little boy who showed me that five minutes of my time was more than enough to touch him. We were at our second school of the day and were told to go out into the court yard and stand amongst the students while the rest of our team put on an assembly for them. As I walked toward the students I saw two older boys beating up a much smaller boy. He was probably about 6 years old and was being thrown to the ground as I came to his rescue. I yelled at the boys to stop and they laughed and ran when they saw a “white girl” coming after them angrily. I scooped up the small boy into my arms as tears flowed down his face. I just held him for a couple minutes before asking him what had happened. Because he was so worked up and because of his thick Jamaican accent, I was not able to understand what he was saying but I was able to see in his eyes just how grateful he was that i had come to his aid. Moments after I met him, I was forced again to leave with the rest of my group but I gave him a huge hug and told him that Jesus loves him and that he will always be there to protect him. He gave a very subtle “Thank you Miss” and I walked away with tears in my eyes. For the next 20 minutes I cried and prayed for this young boy and God gave me an overwhelming peace knowing that he would always be there to protect this boy. That my five minutes with this student was more than enough to show him God’s love and that is exactly why i’m here. ~Bryanna Corrao
