We're finally all here together! Got to our new home this afternoon and settled in with the other two groups. Got to meet and mingle a little before doing some worship and orientation. Got some VBS crafts assembled this evening and ready for a full day of ministry tomorrow! Please continue to pray for our week and those we will be serving and serving with!

Today we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, at 7, for breakfast. We were all ready for a day that would stretch us mentally as well as physically. With the previous night diligently preparing our vacation bible school materials, mostly the crafts which were quite a task but were a hit, we were ready to test everything out. With excitement we got on a bus with another team from Arizona and headed off for our destinations. As we drove deep into Jamaica we got to see much of the culture and the inner beauty of Jamaica. From the breath taking mountains to the goats that are everywhere. After an hour trip we had arrived at a small town where we set up at a quaint church and where greeted with warm hearts. While some people stayed behind to set up most of the group went out into the community and invited people to come. While waiting for some of the other community members to arrive a couple people from the group got to teach the kids how to play kick ball. With the kids kind of making up their own rules we definitely still had a fantastic time. Vacation bible school kicked off with traditional Jamaica songs and dances and the singing of their national anthem. It was really cool to experience a little bit of the Jamaican culture that way. As the VBS went on everyone made connections with the children there and learned how to teach about god in different ways and reaching out to the children in a way that we haven’t gotten to experience before. VBS was a hit and the kids were begging us not to leave as we didn’t want to leave either. We then got some bag juices from a shop down the road it was very interesting, it was a sweet frozen substance in a bag. Next we made our way to get some lunch at the church that the other group from Arizona was at. After we made our way to a construction site where we helped a man build his house. We made an assembly line and filled buckets with dirt and filled the man’s house to level it. We sang and even though we worked like dogs we had a great time doing it. Today was a great way to start off the week, and we already have so many stories to tell…

Our girls teaching during VBS today.

We do a pretty mean bucket brigade!

Today was another great day, but God did send some of his rains of mercy to fall upon us. VBS went well and we saw a healthy increase in the number of children today! They are waiting for us when we get to the church and they're so excited to see us! It's awesome to have so many of our little "fans" running around with us all morning.
For lunch we enjoyed some much appreciated sandwiches followed by a nice desert of sweet potato pie! Delicious!! As we finished lunch it started raining. . . hard! So we waited/played in the rain for a while until it subsided a little. Then it was off to construction at the Hastings Primary school.
It continued to rain a little while we mixed concrete and made another little bucket brigade. Through the drizzle we poured a column, a lentil (which goes over the windows) and a "belt-line", which goes over the top of all the walls and ties the whole building together.
Overall it was a great day! Started out hot but ended a little cooler and a lot more soggy! :)
Thank you for your continued prayers! We look forward to another awesome day tomorrow. . . hopefully a little drier too. Ha!

Passing buckets in the rain.

Enjoying our time with the children at VBS. They love us so much and it's definitely reciprocated!

We had a great start to the day with a traditional breakfast with some interesting flavors. During our hour long bus ride we sang every song that came to mind, all the while bugging the Arizona team. VBS was a hit again today and the kids had a blast along with us. It’s really interesting to see how the kids take care of each other almost as if a parent would. All of us have also found at least one person that we call “our guy” which is just a kid that we have connected to and hope to draw them closer to the lord in a more personal way. In the afternoon we got down and dirty by mixing and pouring concrete for a school of 300 in desperate need of another building. After a hard day at work we are off to a Jamaican church service which should be very enlightening. All of us have started becoming very close and are all forming amazing friendships. It has also been amazing as we watch our friends, and ourselves, grow with the lord, grow as a leader, and grow as a person.

Today was our last day of ministry and it was a great one! It was hard to say goodbye to the children we've been working with at VBS all week, but we could really see how much we've impacted them as well as how much they have impacted us! After VBS we went to a girls' home. This is where girls are sent because of situations at home that make it unsafe for them to be there. We spent a little time there and got to see how rough life can be for them at times. After the girls' home we went to the infirmary, which is basically a nursing home but with much less staff and worse conditions. The people there were so joyful and loving and blessed us much more than we could ever bless them! They sang for us, read scripture to us, and prayed for us. It was an awesome and touching time.
It's hard to believe that our week here is almost over! We'll be seeing you all soon! Thank you for your prayers this week!