Say it ain't over.

Oh, hello.

So today's our last day in Jamaica. Just to stay correct, here's the rundown of today's events: We took the hour and a half drive to YS Falls. I'd really like to know why it's called YS, but i don't. This place is gorgeous. It is basically a water park of several waterfalls. at the bottom of each fall, there's a pool that's usually open for swimming. I say usually, because the rain has swollen the river and all but two swimming pools are closed. AND, since it's a rain-swollen river, it was VERY cold. Oh, but it was lovely. It was nice to swim and relax and, oh yeah, ride a zip line through the forest canopy and down the length of the river. Very cool.

Then we got to experience some everyday culture at the grocery store. It's a fun place to get some snacks and inspect the produce aisle.

Now, since i have the floor, i'd like to make a few observations about our time here at JDV. Once we finished work yesterday, for the last time, i actually felt like we accomplished something. I realise that i really don't understand a lot about construction, but i felt confused for about three days of working. I think i understood the digging up of rocks by Thursday. My team has been outstanding to work with, even though most of our motivation comes from the incorrect assertion that we were the only group doing any work. I mean, come on, i didn't get these
blisters from having snacks. But I look at the work site and see that it actually looks different from when we showed up. We've been blessed with a week without injury (only one LTA), cool weather and some hard workers all around. Man, that sounds lovely. But really, it was a very good week for us working. We've REALLY enjoyed our time with the residents at the village. Okay, confession: i don't know sign enough to keep me from looking like i'm just flapping my arms. I talk with my hands anyway, but all my usual gestures mean things that are different actual signs. So i say yellow a lot, because its sign is the "Hang Loose" gesture. Also, i find myself using "thumbs up" way too often. And i don't think it means what i think it means. But you know, the guys don't mind that i'm inept. and it's not about how i feel about it in the first place. AND, i've very much been impressed by the way our team has picked up so much sign just by being here. We were cleaning up one day after work and i saw some of our guys signing questions to their co-workers without missing a beat. It's so amazing that God has opened up this line of
communication where we were lost before.

Okay, i'll wrap it up, we're about to start our last devotion/debriefing. See y'all tomorrow.

Bo

ok so... who doesn't own a cell phone?...

I have absolutely no where near the amount of time I would need to express to you all of the elements of this trip that have come together to make it as special as it has been. However, I would like to take the time that I do have to share a little of my experience with all of you at home who have supported me/us and taken the time to pray for the safety and efficacy of our trip this summer. I am currently seated by the open window of M3's community area allowing the cool Jamaican night's breeze blow over me and listening to the laughter of the groups behind me as they fellowship and play a variety of games. It occurred to me that these are some of the most important things we have had the privilege to experience this week.

Primarily, we have grown together as a group in our work and our play, we came together as we planned games for the local children to play on Tuesday afternoon, and we have done everything we could do to help each other communicate with the deaf residents and feel comfortable in this novel environment. The air every evening has been filled with the laughter of our team as we play with each other and the JDV residents. God has blessed us with unity and good spirits and every member has filled me with pride as they have made every effort to learn a new language and interact with residents at every opportunity. The group and the people of this village have been wonderful and I thank God for his sovereign plan.

Secondarily, but of importance, is the beauty of this wonderful little island. We have been blessed with beautiful weather, full of refreshing breezes and cool nights to help replenish our strength for the work to come. The weather has been rainy on and off but has rarely effected our work and though it has become rather hot at times, God has given us enough breaks from the heat that we have been able to work at a rather brisk pace. The beauty of this sweet village has been so astounding at times that it has caused me to sit back in wonder of the loveliness God created for us, and his overwhelming power and love for us. It has, in many ways, been the beauty around me that has had some of the greatest impact on my heart and my thinking.

So far, the trip has been overwhelmingly positive and the people have been wonderful. I could not have asked for a warmer reception, better food, or a more supportive, and downright fun, group to travel with. Continue to pray for our safety as we wind down our work week tomorrow and spend Friday sightseeing and fellowshipping. Thank you all for your support and prayers.
In Christ,
Bethany

A New Perspective

There's so many things I feel like I've already learned on this trip. Today we visited the deaf school. This was such a great experience for me! I loved meeting the kids and having (very basic) conversations with them. We came back to the village, ate lunch, and went to the work site to do some work on the new building. It rained on us, but we kept working until about 4:30 or so. After we all cleaned up, we came back to the dinning area and had dinner and the villagers "sang" for us to express their appreciation for us coming and serving this week. It was awesome to see them sign all of these songs and show so much expression in the way they "sing" their worship songs!

I have learned so much during this trip. I can feel my perspective changing and my character building. God is definitely working on my heart during this week. Some specific things that have changed for me is that I now realize how much I waste. I waste food, water, time, energy, etc... The list is endless! I feel that my perspective on life is much clearer and closer to the reality of God's plan for my life and for all of our lives as missional people living out a missional life that He as called us to.

The surprising thing to me is that I don't find myself missing anything about home, but rather taking pity on my life at home. I love the life they live here. I love how they prioritize relationships over deadlines. I love how they care more about your quiet time with God than on how much work you get done today. I love how they never waste ANYTHING, whether that is pulling out every nail in every piece of wood, or saving all the scraps of food on all the plates to feed the animals. We are so wasteful as Americans.

What I want to take home with me from this trip is the perspective that I should be living my life to serve God and serve others. I want to start thinking outside myself and learn how to unplug from the craziness that is the American culture. I want to be able to live each day intentionally, purposefully taking time to spend in the Word, in prayer, and building relationships. I have learned that its too easy to let your relationship with God fall to the side and let your own will and desires take the lead in what defines your time, days, and your worship.

I pray that God will continue to work in all of our hearts, growing and expanding our view on servitude and humility. I pray that God will break us from our own desires and devastate us with His love and bring us home with a new found passion for His renown in our lives, a desire to see God working through us and in the lives of the people around us.

Be Blessed!

-Cody

Keylee-Bee Meets Machete-Man

I thank God for the weather today it was mostly cool and because of Morgan he made me think I was gonna have a heat stroke every day here in Jamaica. Right now Im sitting by the door of M3 with a jacket on because Im chilly. My favorite part of the day was when the night guard let me hold his machete!! I didn't think he would because in the states a policeman wouldn't let nobody hold their stupid gun>:(.---america and their silly rules Man--- well Im just gonna give ya a quick over view of my day because I'm dead beat!! They feed us good and work us hard man:

Jennifer wakes us up twenty till
I go back to sleep
EMily wakes me up
force my self to get up
Read devotion
pray bout the day
Breakfast
worksite
gettin dirty
water break
gettin more dirty
laughiin
workin hard on dem pipes
more laughin a little too hard
lunch..not likin the soup
Lawrence comes to inspect
Lawrence tells us story bout man hammering his finger flat
i laugh
laugh harder
time is up
time to play with kids
head out to field
daysha slips and falls
i laugh
laugh harder
now im upset
daysha fell with my camera its broke
ill live
its got a warranty
play with kids
build relationships
have fun
more fun
lovin the weather
the sun isn't out one bit
the kids leave
dinner...orange chicken and rice
Oh So tasty
take shower...much needed
bother the dishes crew
hang out with the crew
lovin the weather some more
Listenin to Felicia and Damien's testimony
touches my heart
night guard gets machete
i show everyone...oh so excited
discussion and debrief time
Cheryl did great
nite nite time
earlier than usual for me
took 2 Benedryls
so dont have much of a choice
Ima be out in a few

thanks for readin me blog man

--KJ Ova & Out

Taylor's times, trials, and tribulations in JAMAICA MAN!!!!

The food is AWESOME!!!!! Today we had scrambled eggs, soup and chicken salad sandwiches, and sweet and sour chicken with rice. We also played some games with all of the kids and became comfortable with our many jobs i.e.( laying brick, digging trenches, making concrete and mortar or digging up rocks) So.... that's about it for now so bye. P.S. AWESOME FOOD!!!!!

Keylee rocks on in Jamaica

It's been an interesting day for me here in Jamaica. The started out with breakfast at seven then we were off to our work site. Daniel, Hannah, Tim, and I were sent on a special task to dig an evil pipe line for the rain water. The task was an expected level of difficulty until we came to this enormous boulder that made us work extremely hard. We each to turns whacking at this gigantic blockage that kept us busy for bout an hour and a half. Without teamwork we would have never succeeded in defeating that massive rock. My favorite part was that it was my first time using a pick axe and the team said I was a beast at it.=D

As we continued it was lightning and thundering and our once clear view of a city in the distant mountains was becoming not so visible. We could here the rain on a near distant mountain and didn't think much of it until one of the Jamaican deaf men began shouting and waving as a signal to go inside. Tim was like, " Uhhh I'm gonna listen to the Jamaican." Of course we got drenched and after the rain subsided we continued to work hard. We were rained out again as well.

By four o'clock we were drenched and covered in mud!! We had by far the dirtiest job of the day, but with a beautiful view of the Jamaican mountains. I had mud in places I've never dreamed it would be. (I know that's TMI but its my blog haha) I couldn't wait to get in the shower, even though we can't leave the water running during our scrubbing and its freezing.

Its been a culture shock for me, especially the part bout not refrigerating the eggs and all the conserving rain water, but it's been great none the less.

I obviously fit right in because all the deaf here ask me if I am Jamaican. Its funny to me.

Well tomorrow is another day and even though my body may want to not work I will because I am doing it for God and that is all that matter.

Till next time
-KJ Ova & Out











I can't wait

Adam Ryder's time in jamrock!!!

its pretty flippen awesome here in jamrock, i knew it was going to be awesome when we arrived and went to kfc and bought popcorn chicken for 350 dollars (Jamaican money)after kfc we traveled 3 hours through the mountains of Jamaica and arrived at the village, the scenery here is absolutely amazing. when we went to the church Sunday it was all sorts of different because the had a deaf preacher. today was the best day cause we got to work on building the conference center and got to work along side of the deaf which is challenging but fun. jamrock is and will be my favorite place from now on!!!!

Jamaica thoughts by Emily

Today is are first real work day in Jamaica. The people/Jamaicans are very relaxed. They aren't so much worried about how much work we get done but more how much we get out of the work. The work is very difficult though. It's also very hotttttttt! We have all been drinking a lot of water. It is very beautiful on the work site. Today I did a lot of odd jobs mostly laying blocks though. We had to stop a couple time because of lightning lol but we ended up getting some good work in!! Earlier in the day our foreman Lawrence learned on a wall and it fell down!! Not to scare y'all or anything ;).
The food is amazing!! The sunsets and the scenery are completely gorgeous! Pictures can't even begin to describe. I'm already falling in love. I may not be on the flight back ;). Well its almost time to eat so I'm going to go.

p.s. I would like to give a shout out to my dearest mother(I love you and miss you....you too papa lol) and to my bestest friend ever(you got designer shades just to hide your face :P)

Monday: Daniel ponders

I am siting at a table in M3 gazing out on the rolling mountain country and sipping tea whilst a gentle mountain breeze stirs the curtains into a languorous dance. Meanwhile, I am being hand fed goldfish, it's okay to be jealous. We have earned it though! We spent the day dodging lightning bolts and sliding down mud hills. It seems there is less mud and more rocks though, making our ditch digging quite the chore. Apparently, most of this property was formerly a strip mine and when they finished with the valuable material, the rocks were tossed back in...that is, right back into the path our irrigation pipe was taking. Hence, most of my teams day consisted of digging 4 ft.2 rocks out in order to make a 4 in. deep trench. The other team mostly sat around, but they got dirty somehow anyway. Well, I am off to pet some puppies, or maybe have a snack before dinner.

First Day of Work

Sorry that we weren't able to post yesterday...the power went out for a couple of hours and that messed up our internet.

Yesterday we had a few eye opening activities. First, we went to the deaf church for worship. Many of us had never participated in singing to music with sign language. Everyone tried to participate and many said that they felt like using your body as well as your voice feels like a more complete way to worship our Creator.

Later, we went to infirmary, which is another name for a nursing home. The people there lived in large rooms with about 12-16 beds per room. They had the clothes on their back and the bed that they slept in and nothing else. We learned that quite a few of our youth have the gifts of nurturing, compassion and mercy. All were impacted by how little the people at the infirmary have and how much we have. When we get back I think every person will be grateful for our homes, clothes, possessions and Air Condition!!!!

In the evening, the deaf families in the village came to join us for dinner. Some of our kids jumped right in starting conversations, finger spelling mostly, but learning new signs along the way. We are quickly making lots of friends. We even met a couple who live in Ringgold! We are hoping to be able to invite them to church, provided we can find an interpreter, and to some of our youth events as chaperons when we get back. Our eyes have been opened to a large deaf community in the Chattanooga area.

Today, we are doing all different kinds of construction work. There is a group digging a trench for a water line. Another group is digging up an area so they can pour a sidewalk. Another group is laying block to build the second story of the conference center. And still another group is mixing, carting and pouring concrete into molds to make corners of the walls. It's hard work but we are all surprised that it hasn't been as hot as we expected. There are plenty of clouds and a nice breeze to help us out.

Well lunch is over and we must get back to work. We will try to have a youth or two post this evening provided that we have power. Hoping y'all are having a good Monday.
~Jennifer

We're There!

Hey everyone, Morgan here. I have now been awake for 18 hours and I'm running on fumes. But the good news is that I'm sitting outside under the Jamaican sky at the Deaf Village after a long but successful day of travel. There were no incidents or problems. Nobody got sick. Nobody forgot their passport. Nobody got pegged as a terrorist at the airport. Everything went smoothly and we have our God to thank for that.

Probably the most eventful thing that happened today was our game of soccer before dinner. We had an opponent of more than worthy skill - the Deaf Village dogs. Every time we kicked the soccer ball anywhere near them, it ended up in their mouths. Our poor soccer ball has bite marks all over it now, but its still usable. But those dogs have some skill!

Other than that, we've eaten a delicious dinner, we've met many new people, and now I think its just a matter of time before we crash and go to bed. Well...I guess I can only speak for myself as currently our students are doing what they seem to do best: socializing with each other.

Well I'm off to bed soon. Enjoy the blog this week and keep praying for us!

Pre-Jamaica Thoughts

Hey everyone, Morgan here. I'm sitting in my office realizing that in 48 hours we'll be landing in Jamaica to begin our week. The picture you see to the left is of the warehouses and church buildings at the Jamaica Deaf Village. That's where we'll be spending our week! It's been a really long process and our team have worked hard to get here. God has been faithful in providing us with almost all of our necessary funding and by putting together a great team of students and adult leaders. I sincerely believe that he has hand-picked every person going on this trip with a specific purpose in mind and a specific role to play on this team.

Those of you who were around VBS at all last week know that our VBS mission project was to raise money to help the Jamaica Deaf Village buy a bull. Well, our kids pitched in over $1,200, which was far beyond our expectations. But you never know what God is going to do. This bull will be a catalyst that will provide a major economic boost for the Deaf Village. It shows that he certainly works in the hearts of little children to help accomplish His Kingdom plans, and that he has a great desire to see the Deaf in Jamaica continue to thrive and to be a place where his Kingdom grows among the Jamaica people. And the cool thing is the bull might already be there when we get there! I hope we get to name him. Any suggestions on what he ought to be called?

Lord willing, we will have the ability to update this blog nightly, which will be the primary way we can communicate with you. Check us out when you get the chance, as we'll have various team members tell you all about their daily experiences.

Please pray for us throughout the week! In Habakkuk 2:14, it says "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea!" We pray that our trip to Jamaica will be just one small way that the Lord covers the earth with his glory! I encourage you to pray the same thing.

Morgan