Jamaica Mission Trip

All of us cannot believe it, but today is our last day in the deaf village. The past four days have flown by and we don't know how. The trip has been nothing short of success. Everybody is safe and we all have had a blast down here serving and spending time with one another. It certainly will be a trip to remember with lots of funny and encouraging stories. Many are not looking forward to leaving so soon, but at the same time we are excited to see all of you back home.

It is Tuesday at about 9:30 p.m. So much has happened today, I don’t even know where to begin. Today at the orphanage we were greeted with many hugs… as usual. It brings so much joy to me to see so many kids super excited when our van pulls up. We did a craft, ate some snacks, danced, and sang to Justin Bieber. The kids had a blast! At game time I was wondering around looking to see if anyone needed help and I stumbled across a kid. He was outside, hidden, behind the building playing alone. So I walked over there and tried to talk to him. He was playing with a toy car, so I thought that would be a good way to start the conversation. I asked if I could play cars with him. No answer. I asked what his name was. No answer. I asked if I could just sit and watch him play. No answer. But, surprisingly I was patient. Finally, the boy whispered his name in a voice you couldn’t understand. But, eventually he said his name to where I could hear it. He started to slowly open up to me and I found out that he was seven and his favorite color was blue and red. I asked him if he would like a snack and to my surprise he took my hand and walked over with me to get him something to eat. I haven’t felt so happy for knowing I befriended this boy. Such happiness took over me, and when he was painting, I started to tear up for no reason. I gathered myself together before anyone could tell I was about to cry and went straight to Travis and asked if I could write today’s blog. Even though our conversation was little because of his shyness, I felt like it made a difference. Tomorrow will be a challenge… because saying goodbye to all those wonderful kids will be one of the hardest things to do. On to a brighter subject, I worked in the factory today and moved 146 pieces of furniture from a floor to the second floor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen myself work so hard in my life. My parents would be proud since the joke that I’m, “allergic to work.” It has been an experience here and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the week has in store. : )

Delaney Driver

Hey guys this is Dallas by the way, today was a really good day, we almost finished setting up the forms to the columns for the porch today which would have knocked out a lot of work for the next group, but it is really awesome for a guy who works construction every day to see my friends an everyone here working together so well it is really a blessing, and I really think we are getting a whole lot done this week an it seems to me that God has really been working in the lives of everyone here. I mean some of the ways I’ve seen it are like when it starts to rain everyone is still working just as hard and just as well, and you would think it would dampen the mood of people. No, everyone here seems to always have smile on, and it really is encouraging to see all this happening here, and I wish all of ya’ll could be here to see it because it’s definintly life changing, and will be a great chance to grow better relationship with everyone. We all are having a great time here and I really wish this week would never end…

Dallas Chandler

Hello everybody, this is Daniel Levell, and I am going to be talking about a few things that have been happening to us here in Jamaica over the past four days. It is Tuesday, July 20, 2010, and it is 9:08 P.M. at the moment. Today was just another day for me… well that might be a little bit of an understatement. Every day we wake up at 6:00 in the morning, get ready, and head to breakfast at 7:00. We then eat a wonderful meal provided to us, and then we divide into our two groups. One group works as the Construction Crew all day, and the other goes to an orphanage in town to do V.B.S. for half the day, and then works with the Construction Crew the other half. I am with the V.B.S. group, and today we had a blast! Today we first walked in as usual and received the abnormally, gracious amount of hugs, hand- holding, and some awesome smiles. We also made a very cool craft today… a tennis ball puppet. A very creative craft that Debbie Barker helped think up for the kids, and the kids loved them! After V.B.S., we then headed up to “The Worksite”, to begin our second half of the day working. Construction, for people who do not know much about construction, is little bit harder than expected. You eventually catch on to the idea though. After Construction, I had a little chat with Marvin, one of the deaf construction workers here. Sign Language is hard, but if you know the alphabet for it, you can learn pretty quickly. Obviously I am not fluent in it, but I am learning… slowly. We then have our usual showers after work, and then a little bit of free time. It is now 9:22 P.M. here in Jamaica, and I am now going to head back to my game of Skip-Bo… I’m losing.

Daniel Levell

Hello from Jamaica, mon!!

So the weather has been rather rainy since we came but we are still having a really great time! Today (this morning) all of us girls and a handful of the guys went to the Manchester Orphanage where we spent time with the little boys and girls. When our vans pulled up, the children literally started jumping up and down, and when we climbed out of the vans, they ran up to meet us. They were truly the sweetest, most loving kids and wanted nothing more than to be loved on. One particular girl, Natoya, clung to me and held on to me the whole time. We started with some singing and dancing just to get them warmed up to us. Then myself, Holly Robertson, Hannah McMullen, and Will Patrick put on our “Christmas Miracle” puppet play. After that we did crafts where we took their pictures and they decorated frames to put them in. We then ate snacks and played games outside (in the rain). When it was time to go all of us had a hard time saying goodbye to such precious children but we reassured them that we would be back again tomorrow!

Going to the orphanage really opened my heart and widened my perspective on how much we truly have in our lives. Seeing those children so happy and filled with joy when they saw us when many of them don’t have parents taught me to appreciate the things and the people I have in my life. I’m so grateful for God to have provided me with this awesome experience and I really can’t wait until tomorrow when we go back to see the children!

God Bless!

Katy Broadwell

Today at the deaf village we had a lot of interesting events occur. It all started at about midnight last night when we had a surprising rainstorm hit us when we were sleeping out under the patio. Some of us stayed outside and toughed it out and others decided to go inside.

Today was the very first day of VBS and construction. I heard that vbs went very well. Construction was very productive also. In the morning crew we accomplished a lot, we tore down the cistern, and built up two columns and got them poured. Garrett and I also had and interesting day on the work site, we beat the ceilings with a hammer to make divots everywhere so that the morder would stick, talk about an upper-body work out. Throughout the whole day we had off and on rain showers, but that didn’t slow us down.

The afternoon work crew was a little bit better, except for Matt Brasseaux and I. We had more people on the work cite so we were able to get the other columns poured. But for matt and I we had an impossible task. We had to take a screen door off, sand the bottom, and then put it back up. It sounds easy but it wasn’t, we walked up and down the hill getting tools to attempt getting the stripped screws out. We finally got some help and got the job done after four hours of working. When we got done we headed back to the dinning hall to play a hundred more rounds of cards!!! Even though it was a challenging and rainy day, it was great to see how God helps us through tough times.

Clayton Shaw

Today we had the privilege of experiencing a church service in the deaf church. It was very interesting to witness the barrier between the deaf and non-deaf to where the service is presented in two separate styles so that everyone could get the message.

One could tell that we were having a great time during the worship with the big smiles on our faces and our somewhat sorry attempts to sing the songs along with the others in sign language. After that we were preached to about the values of marriage and a healthy relationship in a way that we’re not used to back home. Personally, I found it a lot more entertaining to watch a church sermon where the preacher both spoke and signaled the message at the same time. I felt as if it were a more passionate sermon than a regular sermon where the preacher only speaks his message. Overall, it was a great experience and I am very grateful that they let us sit in with them.

Will Huddleston

Today after lunch we went to the Manchester infirmary. When we drove up there were a couple ladies wandering around, looking with smiles at us. We went into the ladies side of the infirmary and I kinda didn’t know where to start. Me and Kelci ended up at the back of the third room with a lady named Harriett. Harriett had no front teeth, which made it very hard to understand her, and her arm was hidden beneath a blanket. We talked to her for awhile about her family and then she asked Kelci and I to read to her from our Bible. Kelci read her a verse about how the Lord blesses us from 1 Corinthians, and then Harriett started telling us about how the Lord blesses her everyday! If I was in her position I know that feeling blessed would probably not be on my list of emotions. Next we met Linette, who we couldn’t understand at but couldn’t stop talking to us. She also liked having her back scratched :) When I opened up my Bible to read to her she pulled out a necklace I got from Kamp that has a nail on it with a verse from Galations on the back. I asked her if she wanted to keep it and she said yes (although I couldn’t understand, but her face said how much she was pleased). Then we walked outside to go meet some new people but Linette came after us and took us to where there were girls singing for some of the residents. We sang some fun songs and then some of the ladies got up to dance! (If you don’t know me, I love to dance, so I was in my element!) I got up and danced and Linette and another lady grabbed my hand and we danced together. This was such an eye-opening experience and it was really fun to meet these people who are thankful for everything even in their situation.

Holly Robertson

Well, the whole trip has been a success so far with the exception of one detail. The bag that I protected the most, the bag that had some of the most important things for our week got left on one of the vans that took us to the village. It contains all of my music sheets, the cords for our camera and laptop, as well as our video projector and photo printer. In other words, the most expensive and one of the most important bags is not with us. However, I think this is just one of the many lessons God is going to teach us this week. Although we are lacking this very important bag, God has once again proven his faithfulness by providing all of our needs. We have already figured out alternate plans that will work just fine. The good news is, the driver of the van said he found a bag on the bus and plans to bring it tomorrow. I sure hope so, but if it is not the one.....life will go on. We all realize that this trip is not about a bag full of equipment. It is far more than that, and I know that the rest of the week will continue to show us that. Thank all of you for your prayers.

This morning was an early one! We woke up at four, and even though we could have gone back to sleep, my sister and I just lay in bed until we were finally able to get started for the day. We met up with everyone at the airport, and finally, we were ready to start traveling. Once we got inside, we all split up to go find some breakfast (Sarah Wilemon and I got bagels at Einstein’s – yum!). After that, the girls all sat around and played cards until we boarded our flight. I fell asleep for the take-off, but once we were in the air, the flight attendants handed us our immigration cards. We might have spent an hour trying to fill those things out. Then those of us who had headphones watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, and those of us who didn’t just sat and looked at the screen. Once we finally in Jamaica, four hours later, we had to wait in the worst customs line I have ever lived through! The room was jam-packed, and it took FOREVER to get to the desks. We played games and talked to pass the time. Once we were finally through with that ordeal, we went and got some food at Burger King, and then we were on the last leg of our journey! It took three buses to fit all of us and our many bags of luggage. We found ourselves some Dramamine and fell asleep for as long as we could. I loved looking out the window of the bus and seeing all the people and animals and Jamaica. The only scenes I’ve seen like this are in movies! It’s pretty much a rain forest, with these adorable little houses and funny little goats popping out in the most unexpected places. But once I’d finished sight-seeing, I fell asleep again, and I didn’t wake up until someone shouted “We’re here!” All I could see of the Deaf Village were the lights in the windows sloping up the hill. We got into our rooms, ate some amazing pepper steak, and now we’re playing cards. After that, we’ll finally get to go to bed! Travel wears you down! It’s been a good travel day, despite that awful customs line, and we’ve had fun! I’m super excited for six more days of this!

Hannah McMullen

This Saturday @ 5:00 in the morning, the Grace Church High School Youth Group is heading off to Jamaica for a week long mission trip. This trip has been in the works for close to 9 months now, and it has been incredible to see how God has constructed and provided throughout the whole process. What started as an idea has now grown into an exciting reality. We have spent the last nine months sending out support letters, raising money through work days, going to countless number of meetings, and filling out more paper work than we ever want to again. All of this sometimes seems strange in that so much time and energy is put forth for just a one week trip. However, the planning itself has proven to be part of the much bigger picture God has designed. This trip has brought and will continue to bring a strong relationship between all of our group members. It has been a blast being able to work along side each other and support everyone as we prepare for this trip. For a lot of us, this trip will be a new experience into the lives of others around the world, and for some it will be an appreciation of what we have back home. But regardless of what God does in our own lives while we are in Jamaica, we are eager to see what God will do in the lives of the people we come in contact with. We are simply doing what Christ told his disciples to go do. Our goal is to make disciples on this trip in any way God can use us. And our request for anyone that reads this is to support us through prayer. We cannot thank the people enough who have already supported us both financially and through prayer. One lesson we seem to have learned already is that God is faithful, and He will provide for us all our needs.

Thank you for your time in reading this. We plan to update on our experience everyday from a different person on the trip. (Assuming the wireless is kind to us!!!) And yes, pictures will come as well.