March 8, 2009

Today’s early start was very interesting with so many night owls on the team. :) We headed for church at 7:00 am. Church was sweet! The sermon about Jonah was very encouraging to us for our week ahead. It was funny how the pastor constantly said, “If Jonah was a Jamaican he would have said… or he would have responded like this.”

This afternoon we went to a small island off the coast. It even had CLEAR water! We had fish that were cooked on the island: they served the fish complete with bones, scales and everything, including melted eyes from being cooked!!

After returning to the mainland, we piled into a small bus and went to pick up Mr. Forman from the airport.

On the way back to the house, we stopped at a stand on the side of the road and tasted fresh coconut water and SUGAR CANE!!!!

This evening, some of our Jamaican friends invited us to dinner at their home. It was very fun and informative. The president of the schools where we will be working was also there and asked us if we wanted to do some other ministry things.

As the first Global Encounters ministry team in Jamaica, we have the unique opportunity to either pave the way for future ministry here or to damage the reputation of Christ in the minds of the people. It’s kind of scary because what we do and how we do it will determine whether future teams will be coming back. It’s a lot of pressure. Prayer would be very much appreciated. They said they are very excited about us being here which is encouraging but definitely adds to the heat... oh and as to the weather... Beautiful!!!!! I have a feeling we will not be getting very much sleep, but I guess that is part of the fun of a missions trip!

A local Jamaican gave Amanda, Rob, Leah, and Drew a lesson on how inner city kids speak “English, but different” in Jamaica. “Err” means “Hi,” “Menono” means “I don’t know”, and “Waguan” means “What is going on?”

Leah says, “I think he’s speaking to me, but I don’t know what he’s saying!”

From Celina and me, HI EVERYONE!!! Thanks for all your prayers and support. Love you guys!