Jamaica

I love the dazzling sea in layers of turquoise, azure and aquamarine that I saw everyday in Jamaica.

Also I enjoyed the odd trip to Bob Marley's village where the dreadlocked reggae star once spun his songs and now lives on as an icon for other Rastafarians. Plus our plantation lunch amid music, the high-spirited children who performed for us (above), and our nature walk near a little town of isolated Germans.

The vacation was also marked by hustling, poverty and a sense of that Jamaica could be so much more.

What lingers however are the encounters with people like big-hearted Pauline who sweetly opened the door to our Jamaican excursions and made sure we were safely transported to our hotel, twice. And our introspective tour guide Paul who had much to share after we discovered his church-planting role. Jamaican pastors like him have to work it seems.

My encounters with Jamaicans in the US certainly spurred an initial interest in Jamaica though I had very few mental images of the land. One Jamaican I know in the US is Pastor Andrew, who has such a shepherd's heart and still calls or emails sometimes though I was in his church only six months. Bonds with people are living gems.