Saturday, September 10, 2011

JAMAICA!

That's right, I'm in Jamaica now! Loving the people, sights, and food! To keep it brief the team of 9 have been living at YWAM Mandeville for the past week and honestly all feel somewhat like we're living in a resort! It's a beautiful campus that we joke about being a little Europe in the Carribbean. Some things that we are thankful to have here:

  • running water!
  • toilets that can flush toilet paper
  • delicious food
  • beds! I am actually sleeping on a mattress on a bed frame
  • cooler weather, I don't wake up at night sweating
  • English speakers to minister to
  • AND an INCREDIBLE team!!!

We arrived Monday morning on a private chartered plane - it was the cheapest/best way to avoid transiting through the states with our Haitian team members. For many of them it was their first experience flying and the hour and a half flight was monumental for them! Tuesday and Wednesday we spent working on the base helping them out because they are severely understaffed. We spent the mornings painting, raking mown grass, weed-whacking, pulling weeds, hacking vines with machetes and much more! It was wonderful to get our hands dirty and feel like we were really getting some good work in! Thursday we took the team out to do a prayer walk along the road/city a little off of the base and also some house-to-house evangelism. It was a great time of stepping out of comfort zones and sharing the gospel as well as building faith as we prayed for many people throughout the morning.
Friday afternoon we went into the city of Mandeville and explored a little bit, treating the team to a sweet shop where they got way too much sugar lol.  This is truly a beautiful island and while there has been some culture shock felt by Americans and Haitians alike in the last week, it's been spectacular!

Stones Hope YWAM Mandeville Base - looking at "The Great House" from the staff housing.


We've had many great moments of bonding as a team in the last week and each day I fall more in love with these people. Sharing our testimonies with each other last week was so good and really got us all on the same level of understanding one another. I feel so honored and humbled to be serving God in Jamaica with this team, and while there's plenty of room to continue growing in tighter unity - we are a solid group, ready to take on whatever faces us!

This week we'll take the team out to do ministry in children's home, army retirement home, rehab center, private school, again on the street/house-to-house and then we'll be presenting at church in the morning! A very busy week that needs plenty of prayer covering! We are willing to be used and excited to have such opportunities but are also aware that there is some resistance in the spiritual. Please continue to hold us up in prayer and if you get a word from the Lord for us feel free to send it our way! I would happily share it with the group/leaders with appropriate timing! :) There'll be more pictures to come soon! Until next time, God bless!
Love Always

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