Photos from this past months trip have been uploaded (and are being uploaded daily). Click here to take a look!
Well, we have arrived home safe and sound. I feel as though we all are bummed today, we all wanted to stay much longer. Our church family there is absolutely amazing - we all miss them already.
Saturday was our one day of rest. We took the group to Port Antonio on the north eastern side of the island. There, we stopped by the Blue Lagoon to swim around. Little did we know, the facilities were still closed from Ivan. Some guy in dreds offered to take us out to an island to swim and snorkell - we took a chance, and ended up marooned! They were supposed to pick us up after an hour, 3 hours later, they showed up!
After we got off the island, we went into town for an hour then headed back.
Today, like every other day, has passed way to quickly! Also like every other day, our team was able to accomplish a great deal for the Lord. Before 3pm, we had basically built another home with the 14 pieces of plywood we ordered. From the leaders standpoint, I continue to be blown away by our members and the amount of quality work we have done in such a short amont of time.
22 of us stopped by the local infirmary today to encourage the sick, elderly, mentally challenged and dying. This experience is far to intense and life changing to discribe in words, unfortunately you all will have to wait for our return to see photos and hear personal accounts of the things we bore witness too today.
After the projects were completed, we drove to 3 of the 11 projects to take photos and visit with our friends. We intend to hit the other sites tomorrow as the sun set to quickly on another wonderful Jamaican day.
On a side note, to my mother-in-law English teacher, please excuse my poor writing and grammer errors. : )
We will travel a great deal tomorrow, to the Portland province (a.k.a. the blue lagoon and Port Antonio. Please continue to keep us in your prayers!
Well, sorry for the lack of updates... our Healing Hands container has yet to arrive with Bro Mikes' new computer and the old one is not working. Thankfully, Darren is working his magic and we're updating on his laptop. He rocks!
As of today, we have finished and painted both houses, a 3 day record that will probably stand for quite some time. One has an "a" frame roof and the other is the other normal Jamaica style, a slanted roof. In fact, last night, Mr Johnson (one of the new home owners) moved in and slept in his new humble abode!! They are all beyond ecstatic.
Not only have we finished the homes, we have hammered out and poured a brand new, level, concrete floor for another lady close to the church. Her house and veranda was required about 5 cubic yards - or about half a truck load. No concrete mixers here... a group of less than 10 mixed mix, gravel and sand the old fashioned way.... on the ground with shovels and buckets.
Yes, there is more.
We've also put 2 coats of paint on the west side of the outside of the church, 2 coats on the new "old" office room, 3 coats on the new office. 2 doors, 3 door frames and the west breeze way.
On top of that, our paint crew has also painted 3 rooms at the Johnson's home in John's Town, 4 rooms an an outside wall & exterior trim at the Leigh's house, 3 rooms at Sis Parchments home, the kitchen at Bro Grant's in White Horses and an entire class room at the Yallahs Primary School.
All of this has been done in the last 3 and a half days - as I took them to the Lysson beach this afternoon. I have never before been a part of or even heard of such accomplishments, in such a short amount of time, by such an incredible group. Brother Mike, and the church at Morant Bay, are blown away.
Every moment has been filled with God given joy and strength. None of this, the whole group would agree, is "work".... we are having a blast serving the Lord. I, as the "team leader", have been blown away... I feel bad telling the group to stop or slow down - they are so goal and God motivated to complete each project. He is taking care of us all.
The US dominoes team could have used a little help tonight - the Jamiacans put it on us, 6 games to 4. It is great to hear Bro Leigh, Bro Johnson and Bro Grant talking trash about our domino skills!
Keep us in your prayers - tomorrow, we'll visit the infirmary, put up 14 pieces of plywood (the same about used in both houses) for a family in Bamboo River and touch up a few areas of paint at the church building. Oh, and we'll probably go to the beach... we'll see what else the Lord provides for us to do.... we are anxiously waiting!
Well, what a day it has been!! One house is about 1hr from being done, it's just lacking a final coat of paint on the inside walls! The turquoise blue paint was the color of choice, and it's brightness is reflective of everyones attitudes!
The second house is lacking a roof and interior paint, but will probably be done before noon tomorrow. The family has been all smiles all day!
The paint crew, as they call themselves, today painted a kitchen in White Horses, the 2nd coat of paint on the one side of the church, the 3rd coat of paint on the new office and several rooms at the Johnson's home in Johns Town.
You could not ask for a better team. It is remarkable. Everyone is working all day, without even wanting to stop for food at lunch time - we deliver and they quickly eat and return to work. They have all literally worked all day. Brother Mike calls me a slave driver - I haven't even said anything to the group to be a "slave driver", but I'd be in trouble from them all if I made them stop!! Keep on praying for us, the Lord is at work in powerful ways and He keeps opening new opportunities for us to serve!
First full day and what a day it was. The weather was amazing. It was definetly warm but there was a nice breeze that kept us cool. Our crate of materials still hasn't arrived but we were able to buy enough supplies to begin work on 2 different homes. Today we split up into 3 different groups. One group was at the church painting, one was in Lysoon building and the other in Bamboo River building. Keep us in your prayers - we are making awesome progress. By some standards, we have completed a weeks worth of work in about 7hrs!! We all have tons of stories and the Lord is at work! No word still on the container coming from Healing Hands... hopefully it will arrive soon. Regardless, we have purchased material for 2 homes and on Wednesday we will concrete the floor of a home for a lady close to the church building. If we have an opportunity to serve, we are taking it. More coming soon... hopefully pictures too!
We're here!!!!! We began our journey at 4:30 a.m. and finally arrived at the Morant Bay church at 5:00 p.m. We got here just in time for Sunday evening church. Once again the singing was wonderful. After the scrumptious dinner, the girls went back to Brother Mike's house for some much needed rest. We are very tired, but eager to begin our work tomorrow morning. Til next time!!
The Jamaica Spring Break Mission Team will be headed south soon! Please keep them in your prayers as they conduct various forms of humanitarian aid and outreach efforts.
Keep an eye on JamaicaMissions.com as the groups progress will be blogged here everyday, so that you can follow along with them in their efforts!