Team has arrivedby Brent Kirk | June 20, 2016 11:06 AM
The team has arrived in Jamaica. All is well, everyone is doing great. Everyone's things made it and now the team is heading to get some lunch and then on to the lodging facility to settle in.
We are looking forward to a great week and can't wait to see how God works through the team!
The team arrivedby Doug Dell | June 20, 2016 8:58 PM
The team arrived in Jamaica on time, safe and sound. Tuesday they will minister at an elementary school in the morning and an infirmary in the afternoon. We will keep you posted. Thank You for your prayers.
1st Day of Ministryby Sydney Newman | June 21, 2016 4:50 PM
We started our journey today by visiting Success Primary school. There we went into a 1st grade classroom and interacted with the children. We split the students into 3 stations, music, crafts, and games. We noticed very quickly that the children loved the crafts and were so excited that we were there to talk and listen. We talked about how much God loves them and everyone around them no matter what, and then we listened to the children talk about what love meant to them while they colored. These children were so happy and loving and really showed our group respect as we tried to understand their language or connect within their culture.
Our next stop was to the Falmouth Infirmary, this was a very eye opening experience. Here we talked and read scripture to the elderly. The residents here were so thankful and happy to see us coming. They were so excited to here our experiences just as we were excited to here about theirs. Even though this ministry was challenging at first, it ended up being an amazing learning experience. It was very heartwarming to watch the residents faces light up when they would talk about their children, hear us read scripture, or when they were singing their favorite Hymn.
Overall I believe that this was a very productive day filled with many smiling faces, countless stories, and a lot of spiritual growth.
Second day of servingby Harrison Stone | June 22, 2016 7:11 PM
Today we woke up and went back to the Success School and continued our VBS ministry. Each station incorporated the theme of the week "love is". Since Tuesday was a bit rowdy we were expecting another rowdy day but it turns out, the kids were much more responsive and better behaved. Things ran much smoother today and I believe that both the Jamaican children and ourselves learned more than day one. After VBS, we drove all around the diverse and colorful country on our way to a children's orphanage. The children in the orphanage all had special needs of mental and physical disabilities. My favorite part of the day was when we finally arrived at the orphanage and was immediatly surrounded by the children and were greeted by the smiles as big as the ocean we saw on our drive. We spent about an hour and a half with the children and young adults and although some of them were non verbal and difficult to communicate with, I believe we all saw God's work through their pure happiness. I had the opportunity to play cricket (the sport) with a man named Kano that was in a wheelchair. I pitched the ball to him and he would hit it striaght over my head and into the field. I kept pitching and he kept hitting for over 30 minutes and I was glad I had the opportunity to share my love of sports with his. In all, today ran smoother than day one and had everyone involved as we continued our week serving in Jamaica!
3rd day on the Mission Field by Doug Dell | June 23, 2016 11:58 AM
The team had a great day with the children this morning. They have become very attached. This afternoon they did a prayer walk in the community of Duncans. It was out of their comfort zone. With that said, they really did a great job. It was fun to watch them get more and more confidence as they met people and prayed with them. When they get home they will have some incredible stories to tell regarding the prayer walk. Tonite they will worship and meet as a group to go over the day. You have a lot to be proud of them. They have done an outstanding job. They are making a difference.
4th Dayby Joanna | June 24, 2016 6:58 PM
Well, our last day of mission work is in the books! We had a wonderful day today filled with many blessings. We started at the Success Primary school where they were having an end of year carnival for the children. There were bouncy houses, slides, and music for dancing. It was a lot of fun and we got to enjoy it with the sweet children in our classroom. We really enjoyed the Jamaican patties we got to eat for lunch. They are meat filled pastries that are eaten inside "coco bread." It was really difficult saying goodbye to their sweet faces as we left the school for the last time.
After that we went back to the infirmary, which is similar to a nursing home and visited with the folks there. We enjoyed reading scripture, singing and praying with our friends there.
Tomorrow we will be heading out for the day to Dolphin Cove resort for a day of fun! We'll also go to the local craft market to buy some souvenirs. So we won't have a trip journal tomorrow night, but we look forward to telling you in person all about our adventures here in Jamaica!