We were only able to upload three pictures before the internet seemed to stop working. We will try and put some more up tomorrow but not sure how successful we will be. Ugh technology.
Wednesday Day 7
Today we got to sleep in until around 8:30 and enjoyed another delicious breakfast. Lucky, our driver, picked us up around 9:30 and we headed to Ocho Rios to enjoy our day off. Our first stop was Dunnes River Falls where we used our newly strengthened, but still sore, muscles to climb up the waterfall. This was one of our favorite activities we have done so far. We started at the bottom of the waterfall and made it all the way to the top without any type of guide, despite many slippery rocks and a few stumbles. There were many times where teamwork was needed to make it through the challenging climb up the water fall and once we reached the top we were very proud. After the falls we went to a small Jamaican grill in the outdoor food court where we were impressed with Tony's negotiating skills. He got us a great meal and a bottle of water for a great price. Some people got a jerk chicken meal with rice and beans, and cabbage. Most got a tasty, traditional hamburger or hotdog and fries. Once we finished eating we made our way back to the bus and drove to Margaritaville. We sat here for about an hour and a half and posted our update. It started raining so we waited for it to slow down and walked down the street to the craft market. Our negotiating skills were used since many people bought items this time through. It was still a slightly stressful experience but since we had a better idea of what to expect we were able to have a little fun with it. We spent about an hour going through the two markets and came away with many neat items. In order to meet with Lucky we had to walk through town to the grocery store. We were a little nervous at first but we really got to feel as though we were a part of the town. We picked up a few items at the grocery store and headed home around 7. Tony surprised us with a COLD Pepsi, something we haven't had often while here. Since we were all still full from lunch we decided to skip out on dinner in town and opted for sandwiches at home. When we got home from Ocho Rios we were all pretty tired and after hanging out for about an hour we went to bed.
Thursday Day 8
Today it was back to work. We started out working on the outside of the building, but after lunch it was raining too hard to continue. Collins and Tony began working on the inside walls of the bathroom while the rest of us mixed mortar and sifted more dirt. While waiting for our ride home at the end of the workday, we watched some of the neighborhood kids play cricket, and Todd even joined in their game. When we got back to the house, we all showered and then ate dinner. Dinner was cooked by Louise, and consisted of the usual chicken, rice, potatoes, and vegetables. In the evening we sat around playing cards and went to bed early again.
Friday Day 9
Friday was a long day. Ivan had taken the day off because it was their Labor Day weekend, so it was just our group, Collins, and Norman working. The girls and Tony painted the kitchen while the rest of the guys continued mixing mortar for Collins and John to throw on the outside walls. We also had to move two HUGE piles of dirt inside, which wore us out quickly. The last few hours were spent mixing mortar and sifting more dirt. When we got home, we started getting showers, and then got the best surprise of the week..... Chris McCullough showed up!!! We spent the rest of the evening eating dinner and catching up with Chris on everything that had been going on here in Jamaica, and he let us in on news from Thomasville.
Saturday Day 10
We had a renewed spirit from Chris' arrival, and despite our fatigue, we began working hard as soon as we got to the church. We sifted dirt and mixed mortar while John, Tony, and Chris threw mortar on the gable of the church. We took a short break to get some pictures up on the roof of the church by the gable. (See picture) Mitchel stayed busy by working on a cast iron church bell, which was previously hanging from some wire wrapped around a 2X4. He made a nice wooden frame to hang the bell in, and even fashioned a string in which to ring it. We worked through the rain to finish the last wall, and then had time for Chris and Todd to play a game of cricket with the neighborhood kids. Even though they were new to the game, Chris and Todd beat the locals! When we got back to the house, we all showered and had dinner, and played more card games.
Sunday Day 11
We sat through our first 4 hour church service from 9 to 1. Today was a special service because the entire district was meeting at a big church in Beechamville. This was 13 congregations, all of which are in the Beechamville-Bensonton circuit. In the church services here, they start their service off with singing 4 or 5 songs, none of which are short, and sing between each part of the service. The children's sermon was 30 minutes long, and served 50+ children. The sermon was also 30 minutes, and was somewhat difficult for us to understand. We were able to participate in communion at the end of the service, which was very special for us. Even though we are separated by so many miles, the communion service was very much the same as ours back home. When we got back to the house, we ate sandwiches and went on a short walk exploring the area around the house. We walked down the driveway across the street from us for about 10 minutes and reached a beautiful old plantation house. We walked around the property there for awhile, and then the caretaker came out and explained to us that the house was built in 1745 and is now available for rent. There was an awesome garden in the back and a pool that was very tempting to us. We also got some great pictures of the view from the back porch of this house. After walking back to the house we are staying in, we used duct tape to create our own four square court and played a long time. We had spaghetti for dinner, with garlic toast made by Chris, Beth, and Kristin. Our long day ended early so we could rest up for work again on Monday.
Monday Day 12
We only worked half a day today due to a funeral at the church, but our time working was well spent. Ivan worked today to finish his wall, and John, Chris, and Tony finished the outside wall. By this time they were as good as the locals. We sifted a small pile of dirt and mixed a few batches of mortar. Mitchel fixed the kitchen windows to make them open easily, and Ashley and Jacquelyn scrubbed the kitchen floor to get the paint and mortar off the tile. We began finishing the day around 11a.m. to leave ample time to clean the kitchen and multi-purpose room. When we finished cleaning we sat outside and waited for our cabs to pick us up. While we were outside we met our friend Graham and sister Pam. We asked them several questions about how a funeral works and their services are very different from ours. The funeral was for a man who had died on May 6th, the funeral was May 25th. You might want to know why they wait three weeks to bury someone, well the answer is that the family digs the grave themselves. This is no ordinary grave either, it is 3 feet deep and lined with mortar and paint in the same process that we were using all week to work on the church walls. The service was going to begin at 1 and Graham told us the church portion of the service would end around 4. After the church service they head over to the gravesite and that lasts about 30 to 45 minutes and then its over. During the graveside portion, members of the family and friends mix the last few buckets of mortar and each take turns dumping the buckets to close off the grave. The funeral was a small one for around here and only 500 people attended the service. The former owner of the house we are staying in was very well known in the community, and when we asked Graham how big her service was, he said there were well over 1000 people in attendance, and they had to do the service at a larger church. After we left the work site for the final time we spent the rest of the day at the house packing our bags and cleaning up the house, as well as tossing the football. Around 6 o'clock, some members of the church began arriving at the house, followed by Unis, Trevors wife, with the meal. We had a large variety of Jamaican food, such as, mutton (goat), chicken, yam salad, yams au gratin, cauliflower and mixed vegetables, fried rice, gravy, cucumbers, tomatoes, some sort of slaw, and a delicious vanilla and chocolate cake with peach ice cream. After we all enjoyed the wonderful meal on the porch we sat around and talked with our Jamaican church family more about various things, such as the cultural differences between Jamaica and America. Later in the night Trevor and the rest of the members of the church spoke about how grateful they were for all of the work that we did. Unis told us of how the vision for the multipurpose building started and how blessed she felt that the vision was coming true. They all shared their thanks through words, songs, and prayer. We were all given a mug, certificate, and hugs from the members of Golden Springs. It was very special for us to hear the thanks from the members and the love and appreciation was clear. The rest of the night was spent hanging out with the Golden Springs members as well as two of the boys from the community that we got close to over the week. We said our goodbyes and shared more thanks before they headed home and we went to bed.
Future days
We plan to spend our last few days in Jamaica at the El Grecco hotel in Montego Bay. We will be getting some R&R after our last two weeks of work. We will be leaving on Thursday around noon. We will arrive back in Thomasville around 6:30 and we hope to see you there. Thank you all so much for following us on the blog and more importantly thank you all for your prayers and kind words of encouragement.
All of us would like to congratulate Carmen and Keith on their big news!!!!
Hey Tony, we like the things you do! Hey Tony, if we could we would be you! When we came to you back in September saying that we would like to go on another mission trip but this time abroad, we didn't know that it would actually happen. You spent the last 9 months taking things that many of us had said to you in passing and turned them into a reality. We know we gave you a hard time with just about everything, but we know that you are in ways the only reason this trip even happened. For many of us this will be our last opportunity to attend a mission trip as a non-leader. Even though it was difficult to see the difference we were making at times, you always helped us see what we weren't seeing. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and organizing this opportunity for all of us.
Love,
John, Matt, Jacquelyn, Lindsay, Justin, Kristin, Ashley, Beth, Todd, Chris, Mitchel
A big thanks to Justin and Lindsay for creating the blog. It has been helpful to keep everyone updated without phones, and we have had fun typing it up every few days. We hope all of you back home have enjoyed hearing about our trip too.
A couple of us working and mixing mortar
A roadside view of the church we worked on
All of us at the falls
Thanks again for keeping up and can't wait to see all of you.
