After a long journey, the team has arrived safely in Montego Bay. After making our way through immigration and customs at the airport, we loaded the bus and headed over to out lodging for the week, St. James High School in Montego Bay. For lunch we got to try Jamaican patties, which were delicious. We are now getting settled into our rooms, and are resting up before dinner. We will post a group picture tonight!

This morning, after breakfast, we headed over to Burchell Baptist Church, in the heart of Montego Bay for Sunday morning service. Burchell Baptist is a very old and historically important church here in Jamaica. Not only are they celebrating their 188th year as a church, but Burchell was also the home of freedom fighter Sam Sharpe, who helped lead a rebellion which eventually led to the abolition of slavery in Jamaica. He is buried at the church under the pulpit, so the church is truly Holy ground. We arrived to a packed church, as this morning was a 5th Sunday gathering of all three churches that are part of the circuit. The service today was very special, as there were several baptisms, as well as a baby dedication, communion and lots of special music. The service was longer than we we are accustomed to, but was truly Spirit filled and reviving.

After service, we enjoyed lunch together and spent some time at church learning how to share our stories and testimonies. This will surely help us as we do evangelism here in Montego Bay this week. We then gathered for dinner before we made our way into the streets of Montego Bay to visit some members of the church who were shut ins. We first visited a gentlemen who was a brotherhood member of the church who was confined to his home. Since he was not able to move around, some of the ladies were able to assist him and clean some of his home for him. While there, we were able to also meet his nephew Leroy who was there with his granddaughter. We spent some time getting to know him and learned he worked at the local craft market. We also visited the home of another elderly church member who had attended church that morning. We visited with her shortly and also some of her neighbors, who had some small girls who were very eager to meet us. We will return there later in the week to do some cleaning for her. We then made our way to MegaMart, which is like Walmart back in the States to purchase some snacks for the children at the VBS we will begin tomorrow. We are resting up for three full days of ministry here in Montego Bay. We ask for continued prayers from everyone back home. Blessings!

Some of the guys with Leroy, who we met visiting the homes of some elderly church members.

Some of the ladies with Tori-Anne and Brianna, two sweet girls we met while out visiting the community. The were so eager to talk to us and greeted us as we came up the walk!

Today began our first day of ministry here in Montego Bay. This morning we headed over to Garland Hall Children's Home, our VBS site for the week. The kids there were definitely glad to see us, and their energy overflowed. We spent time with them playing, teaching them about Daniel, and making crafts with them.

We headed back to Burchell Baptist Church after VBS and enjoyed a lunch of Jamaican patties and coco bread for lunch.We even were able to try genips, a local fruit, fresh from the tree. We dived right into our work project of painting their fellowship hall ans multi purpose room, which is heavily used by the church. It will look great just in time for them to celebrate Jamaica's 50th year on Friday night.

This evening we will be heading back to our lodging for the week for dinner and to rest up and plan for tomorrow. God is so good!

We had a great first day of VBS at Garland Hall Children's Home. This child proudly showed off her craft that she made today.

Iris working hard painting the church's fellowship hall and multi-purpose room.

Today the team had a very special opportunity that had a huge impact for the Kingdom. Some team members took a break from painting and went into the streets of Montego Bay to share the Gospel. We passed out tracts, witnessed and prayed with countless members of the community. We are so excited to tell you that as a result, several of these people received the Lord today! Praise God! We willl continue this ministry throughout the week. Please be in prayer for us and the people of Montego Bay that in our efforts God will be glorified and lives changed.

Today was another great day! The kids were attentive at VBS, and hungry to learn more about the Bible. We continued painting the fellowship hall and are close to being completed. Several team members had the chance to share the Gospel again, and several more were added to the Kingdom! We give God all the glory and praise! We are encouraged as a group and looking forward to more ministry and opportunities to share the Gospel. Thank you for your prayers!

Working with the children at VBS

The kids at VBS ready to learn!

These guys ready to start a busy day of ministry!