Friday, March 14, 2014

Fun Day Friday!

We've had so much fun ALL week long, but today was our designated "fun" day!

Today we spent the day in Ocho Rios or Ochi as it's called here. We had our first rain this morning, but luckily it cleared out by the time we got to the market. The first part of our morning was spent visiting the different booths and stores in town. We purchased lots of souvenirs for our family and friends!

So be on the lookout for those! :)

We ate lunch in town, most of us at a traditional Jamaican fast-food place called Mothers.

We had Jamaican patties (a meat pastry).

Then we ventured to Dunn's River Falls. There we climbed the waterfall and played in the beautiful Caribbean Sea! It was a beautiful and fun day!

We also got to see some of our friends from the University of Georgia Wesley Foundation!

This evening we had a lovely dinner of Jerk Chicken, mac & cheese, salad and festivals (yummy fried bread). It was so delicious and the staff set a lovely table outside. We have been truly spoiled by our gracious hosts and all of the Jamaican people we've encountered!

This week has been incredible and we all want to stay!

Here's our flight info for tomorrow:

Sat. March 15^th

American - # AA 1675

Departs MBJ 2:35pm Arrive DFW 6:45pm

*should be out by 7:30/7:45pm- Depending on lines in customs.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

A House Full Of Blessing!

We had an incredible day!

Part of the team put the finishing touches on the house while the other group when shopping in town. It was such an incredible blessing to get to pray for Phil and hand over the keys to her new home. She was very grateful and we all cried! Such a sweet moment!

We had a little free time before we went to visit the infirmary. The infirmary is similar to a nursing home in the states but with some pretty extreme conditions. The team did great! They sang, visited and loved on the sweet residents. These residents need some love and attention as most of their family members don't even visit or take care of them.

I heard several students say that this was the highlight of their trip!

Tomorrow is our "fun" day! We are looking forward to it but are sad to see the week ending. We have truly had a wonderful week!

Thank you for the prayers!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Terrific Tuesday & Wonderful Wednesday!!

Hello Everyone!

Sorry we missed yesterday- we were very busy!

We made a ton of progress on the house and loved on a bunch of Jamaican children!

Today part of the team went into town to shop for a food basket. Flour, rice, a chicken, veggies, spices, cookies and coffee filled the basket. Then they delivered it to John, an older gentleman in the community. He is such a giving man that he will cook and share the contents of the basket with the people in his community. What generosity that he would share what he has been given with his community even when he has so little! I think there's a lesson there… :)

The other part of the team stayed at the work site. We painted and put some finishing touches on the outside. We are getting very close to finishing the house!

We are all healthy and happy! I think it's going to be hard to leave in a few days!

Here's some pictures!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Major (Work) Monday!

We had an AMAZING Monday!

What started as a cement slab turned into a house frame with a few walls and a floor!

The home we are building is for a sweet lady named, Phil, and her 6 children. Her children were really sweet and many of us enjoyed playing with them today! Progress began slowly but picked up after the first few boards were in place. While some were building the frame, others were painting what would become the walls. We made a lot of progress and even got a few floor boards laid before we left for the day. There's a huge field close to our work site and we played with a lot of kids after school! It was fun and exhausting! Then we got to go into town and get some Jamaican snacks. It was a great day, but I have a feeling we will all sleep well tonight! :)

Here are a few snapshots of our day!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Sabbath Sunday!

Hi Friends!

We are having a lovely Sabbath today!

A few of us had an extra early morning- the plan was to get up and watch the sunrise. However, due to daylight savings time they got up an hour too early! Most of them gave in and went back to bed, but I think a couple did manage to see it rise! :)

We had a great morning at church!

One of our team members, Faith, even got to play a little piano solo!

The sermon was a bit longer than most of us are used to… but we loved that the pastor spoke a lot about the armor of God! This is something we've been praying each week before our worship services! So that was a neat!

We loved the children's presentation as well!

And this was a little cutie who enjoyed seeing a picture of himself!

We all had grumbling tummies after church! We enjoyed pb&j's then headed for the beach!

But first we took another team picture.

Not a bad view, is it?!

This afternoon has been very relaxing! Our day has included worship, food, fun, and fellowship giving us a true sabbath rest! There's also been some swimming, sun bathing, sand castle building, football throwing and even snorkeling!

We are having a wonderful time! Tonight we'll have team time where we worship, have a small teaching and share a little about our experiences so far. The team is bonding really well- lots of new friendships forming. We are looking forward to getting started on building the house tomorrow!

Keep those prayers coming!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

We made it!

Hey Mon!

We made it safely to St. Anne's! Thank you for the prayers! We had a great flight. Long lines in immigration though.
Everyone is healthy and happy to be in this beautiful land!
We will post pics as able.
Just wanted to let you know we arrived. We had a delicious meal of BBQ chicken, rice and peas (local specialty of rices and beans), salad, green beans & carrots! We even had a starter of some yummy chicken soup! All of our bellies are full and we are about to have a team meeting.

Caren has a Jamaican cell phone so if you need to get in touch with us for any reason you can call us directly. 876.489.6052.

Tomorrow we go to church! :)

Keep us in your prayers!

Here's our team pic in the airport

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

2014 Jamaica Team!

Hi Friends and Family!

This is a great way for you to keep up with us in Jamaica! We'll post as much as we are able to give you a little snapshot of what our days are like. Please feel free to post a comment with any encouragement you may have for our team!

Here is our emergency information:

Trip Information:

SMU Wesley Foundation, Jamaica Mission Trip- March 8-14, 2014

We’re staying: IsleGo Missions, St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica www.islego.com

Emergency contacts:
Leah Barnett will be our stateside SMU Wesley Contact.
972.804.4277 or 972.699.1566
*Dusty Cooper, IsleGo Director 407.687.8543

*Caren will also have a cell phone in Jamaica that we can call from if needed.
Caren's cell 876.489.6052

Flight Info:

Sat. March 8th

American- # AA 1348

**Arrive at the airport by 7am!!! Be at Wesley by 6am!!

Depart DFW 9:55am / Arrive Montego Bay, JA 2:30pm