We arrived at Montego Bay Airport with not too many hassles traveling. We met Jennie, Brianna and Josh and went straight to Hopewell where we settled into our quarters. We had our orientation meeting and met Pastor Oniel Brown among many other members of Hopewell Baptist Church. They have quite a team taking care of our every need. We have been welcomed into their church with love.

Monday morning we split into two groups and had the chance to give devotions at two of the local schools. After we came back together, we got prepared and headed out to two of our construction sites. The first was at Hopewell Baptist, our partner in ministry this week that has welcomed us warmly. We poured cement for the foundation of the addition they are building; while others picked up trash at the sports field across the street. The second group headed to Cocoon Castle Baptist Church, a sister church of Hopewell Baptist. There they plastered walls and helped with the construction of their building as well. After lunch a quick time of rest we headed to an Infirmary (which is similar to an old folks home). God opened our eyes and broke out hearts as we visited with the residents and saw the conditions that they live in. After the Infirmary we were on the road again … off to VBS. VBS was a blast!! Visiting with the kids and playing games, doing crafts, and sharing Jesus’ love with the children. It took us a while to leave VBS because the children didn’t want us to go, and we didn’t want to leave either. But finally we arrived home for the night, ate supper (curried goat!!) and did some missions training before hitting the pillow for the night. It was a long day, but God has seen been with us every step.

This morning came quickly and has been full already. After breakfast we hopped on the buses for our construction sites. Today we were able to begin at our third site, a missionary house for Hopewell Baptist. We arrived at the site with two large mounds of gravel greeting us. We formed some assembly lines and filled the foundation by buckets and wheelbarrows. Tomorrow there will be more piles of gravel greeting us.  We are enjoying a nice rest time now. Some are sitting in the cool shade visiting while others are exploring the area. Tonight we are looking forward to more VBS and smiling children and then visiting a children’s home afterwards. We would appreciate prayer for the Holy Spirit to continually renew our energy and spirits as the day is long and hot and we want give it our all.

Wednesday morning came bright and early. We ate breakfast and headed out to our three work sites. A smaller group went to Cocoon Baptist to help spakel the walls. Another group headed out to Hopewell and continued constructing the foundation. The largest group went to the parsonage/missionary house and continued filling in the foundation with gravel. We were reminded that through our faith and relying on the Holy Spirit we were able to move mountains...of gravel, of course!
Came back and had lunch, short time of rest and left for the church once again. Played some games and had sports ministry and continued on into our last day of VBS. We had 66 children! Praise God!! Paulette (a helper from Hopeweel Baptist). Told us we had brought in kids that she had never seen in a church, and was thrilled to do follow up with them.
After VBS we held a womens and mens bible study where our cultures were joined together through what God's word says about ourselves. After finishing the Bible study, Hopewell Baptist held an appreciation dinner for us. We had a change to say thank you's and simply fellowship with one another as the body of Christ. The night ran late but spirits were high.

This morning we were able to finish off the last bit at the church, and help clean the sanctuary. At the parsonage/missionary house we gave our mountains of gravel one last push. We calculated that we moved roughly 4,000 buckets of gravel at that site alone. We worked hard, but it was worth it. After construction we got read for an afternoon to unwind and debrief from the amazing experience God has blessed us with. Its hard to believe that we will be home tommarow!
Continute to pray for us... that we may bring this experience back home to all of you reading this. That this could be another step in transforming into the people God hopes and wishes us to be. Also prayer for safe travels tommarow.