If anyone is still reading this, we're home! After a long day of flying on Tuesday, we arrived in Minneapolis at 11:00 pm. Our biggest problem in all of our travelling was Susan's hiccups which came and went the whole trip. She hiccupped for 4 hours total! Poor girl. But for all the things that could have gone wrong, we're thankful that that was our biggest problem. All of us travelled safely home to Iowa and Minnesota on Wednesday. We definitely have mixed feelings about being home. It's good to be here again, but we all miss Jamaica and the wonderful people we met. And we're definitely missing the weather. We froze in the air conditioned airports and now at home where it's in the 60s. We're so used to the heat that we once complained about that now we want it back. Thank you all so much for all of your prayers and support while we were on our trip. It could not have gone as smoothly as it did without a lot of help from God and your prayers. Keep Jamaica in your prayers! We're looking forward to sharing with you more aobut what God did in Jamaica while we were there.

This morning we went with the California team to the airport and said our sad goodbyes. It was hard to watch them leave since we grew so close to them during our time here. Then we did some last minute shopping on the Hip Strip before walking back for lunch. We had a lazy day sitting around and going to the beach. It was raining pretty much all day so it was a dreary last day. It seems way too quiet around here with no other teams at Fairhaven and the California girls gone. We still have to finish up packing before our flight tomorrow afternoon, which we aren't looking forward to doing because it makes it seem like more of a reality that we're actually leaving Jamaica. We enjoyed spending more time with our driver Mikey today and we're looking forward to doing rounds with Wayne, the security guy one last time tonight. Please pray for safe travels for us as we return home tomorrow.

Yesterday was such a fun day that we didn't even write on our blog! We started out the day spending some time with God and reflecting on our time in Jamaica. Then we went out on a glass bottom boat and went snorkeling. Even though our tour guide Joe was quite odd and the snorkeling equipment tasted disgusting and didn't work very well, it was still really fun and an amazing experience to go snorkeling in the Caribbean. We went shopping (again) on the Hip Strip in the afternoon. For supper we went to Glistening Waters, which is a restaurant on a lagoon. The food was delicious, though the jerked chicken that Susan and Amy ate set their mouths on fire. Then we got to go on a boat into the lagoon, which is one of the three places in the world where you can experience the bioluminescent waters from a microorganism. We don't really know how to explain it besides saying that everything glows in the water. Including humans. So we went swimming and became glowing creatures. It was an incredible experience. This morning we went to The Meeting Place again for church with the people from Robin's Nest. It was another long service. Then we have just been enjoying spending time with the California girls since they leave tomorrow. We're planning on having a celebration tonight before bringing the other girls to the airport tomorrow.
Prayer Requests:
*Pray for two of the girls on the California team who have both been sick since last night.
*Pray for Robin's Nest as the couple in charge, Andy and Laura, leave on Tuesday after being there for a year. The special education teacher, Dana, is also leaving this week. They will be going through a lot of transition, and it will be hard on the children who we've grown close to you.
*Pray for safe travels for all of us we leave in the next couple of days.

We had an early start to our morning today. We got up at 5:45 to go to the market to by fruit with Lisa, one of the women who works for Fairhaven. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We bought some Jamaican apples, pineapple, and sugarcane. Emily liked the sugarcane but Susan and Amy weren't big fans. After the market we came back to Fairhaven and took a nap before leaving for Blossom Garden which is an orphanage run by the government. We had a few issues when we arrived and ended up having to call our driver back to pick us up so we could change our "inappropriate" clothing and then return. It was frustrating because we felt like we wasted a lot of time that we could have been helping, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. We spent most of our time helping with the babies. The youngest was 3 weeks old. Some of the girls also spent some time outside with some of the older children. We had a lot of fun even though our time there was short. This afternoon we did some more shopping on the Hip Strip. Then after supper we went to Blue Beat, which is a jazz club down the street from Fairhaven. Since we went so early we were the only ones there, which was a little disappointing, but the view was gorgeous and we had a blast. Today was our last day working down here, and the rest of our time will be spent doing debriefing. The California half of the time doesn't know what we're doing so we can't write it on here just in case they read it. But tomorrow we will hopefully have time to write quickly and let you know about our fun filled day.

This morning we got to sleep in a little bit finally. Then we went to Westhaven, which is a home for children with disabilities. There are 81 people living there in total, ranging in age from young children to 31 years old. It was very difficult to see all of them as the living conditions were not the greatest. We sang and danced with some of the kids because almost all of them love music. We also helped feed people at lunch. The majority of the people at Westhaven are either in a wheelchair or are bedridden. It was a draining experience but one that we are still glad that we could have. We hung out and did a little shopping for the rest of the day. Here are some things that we have learned and about Jamaica and its culture so far.
*There are goats everywhere. Lots of them.
*People honk their horns all the time when driving...to warn that they are going to pass, to say hello, to warn drivers that they're coming around the curve or up a hill, and countless other reasons.
*Everyone here is very welcoming and wants to know a lot about us. Sometimes too much.
*Besides honking all the time, the drivers are just crazy in general. We are very thankful that we don't have to drive here since we have a driver.
We've learned to love a lot about the Jamaican culture, but there is too much to write here.

Today was our last day at SOS. We were very thankful to be done. It was an extremely stressful day as we tried to control and teach the children. When we were finally done we literally jumped in the van and told our driver to get out of there. But we are done there. For the afternoon, we went to Margaritaville. But don't worry...we were good girls and got virgin daiquiris even though we are old enough to drink the real things here. They also have a water slide and trampolines there, and we had a blast playing on them. We also met a really funny lady named Jodi who came to jump and the trampoline in the rain with us and took pictures with us. It was pouring rain, which just made everything more fun. It was the stress relief that we needed. Tonight we went to the beach after supper and had more fun. Everything is so much funnier after a stressful day when not much was fun. There were a few special moments at SOS and we are still glad for the experiences we had even though they were difficult. Less than a week left!

Today we returned to the kindergarten at SOS Children's Village. It was kind of a stressful day because of a lack of structure and discipline in the school. Largely due to cultural differences, the teachers tend to hand the class over to us and expect us to control and teach the children. Obviously, we were not exactly expecting to due this, so it put us in a difficult situation. Despite the difficulties, we still are falling in love with the children and have even more that we want to take home with us. We also got a tour of the village, which includes 13 houses, in which 110 children live. We're hoping to be a little more prepared for tomorrow, which will be our last day at SOS. We went to the beach again in the afternoon, which we are starting to take advantage of since we only have a week left. We're excited to be home and see everyone again, but we also don't want to leave this wonderful country in a week already.

Today we went to SOS Children's Village and worked at the school. We did a short VBS type thing in the morning and helped in the classroom. The kids were very energetic and they wore us out. The children were great in the classroom but badly behaved outside when were playing. SOS Children's Village is a place for children who have been taken out of their homes and then live in homes with "mothers" and "siblings." When we got back from SOS, we went to the beach and went swimming. We're thinking we're maybe not quite as pale as when we left the midwest. We've started a running game of hearts and have been playing a lot lately. Tomorrow we'll return to the SOS again and do the same thing as yesterday.

This morning we went to church at The Meeting Place, the same one as last week. The pastor promised a short sermon today. It was two hours long. So the service was 3 hours long total. Then we walked back to Fairhaven, which was about a two mile walk. After a quick lunch we went to Doctor's Cave beach with the people from Robin's Nest. It was so fun to see all of the kids again. It started raining and we had to walk back in the rain, but we still had a lot of fun. We had supper at Fairhaven tonight, and it was delicious! Then we went across the street to watch the sunset over the ocean. It never gets old. A team of 24 people from Georgia arrived at Fairhaven today, and they are nice to have around.

This morning we went shopping on the Hip Strip, which is the touristy area near Fairhaven. We found some good deals and got "discounts" because of us being "missionaries." Another team of 18 people from Nashville came to Fairhaven today. It was hard to see them taking over "our " territory and our driver Mikey. But it's also exciting to have more people here and see the place a little more alive. This afternoon we went to Melody House Girls Home for the afternoon and played games and chatted with some of the girls. For supper we went to a restaurant called The Pelican. The food was delicious! We tried lots of new things including chicken curry, curried goat, mango chutney, and also had some wonderful milk shakes. The food didn't really agree with our stomachs, but it was still worth it.
Prayer Requests:
*One of the girls from the California team, Megan, is having trouble with her eyes and is in a lot of pain from them. Pray that they heal quickly and she can enjoy the rest of the time.
*Pray for the rest of our time spent here at SOS Children's Village and Blossom Gardens, which are both orphanages.
*Pray for continued strength as we are starting to feel tired and somewhat drained.
*Praise God for all the ways we've seen him work and for the wonderful people we've met.

ants in your pants...NOT just a game

Today was our last day at JCSD. We did devotions as one of the teachers interpreted. It was very entertaining to watch even though we didn't really understand what he was saying. Then we planted some flowers, which was interesting considering none of us knowing anything about gardening. Hopefully they grow. We all felt like we had ants crawling everyhwere after being in the dirt and sitting on the benches there. We hung up some new clothesline for them and did some laundry as well as working in the classrooms. We handed out lunch to the kids that stayed for the weekend. Since it's a boarding school, most of the kids go home for the weekend. It was hard to say goodbye to them all. After lunch we did some more laundry and then came back to Fairhaven. Four of us went swimming and snorkeling at the beach across the street. Megan and Amy saw some beautiful fish as well as a huge puffer fish that refused to blow up. It was a lot of fun as well as a little scary because of the abundance of sea urchins. We made pancakes for supper and ate with our driver Mikey.

Day 10 already! We can't believe it and we aren't quite sure if we're going to want to come back to the U.S. either. We went to the deaf school again today and did devotions and worked in the classrooms. It was hard to watch the students struggle in their academics. The teachers do a good job, but they have difficult tasks in teaching the students, some of whom are not only deaf but also have learning disabilities. It broke our hearts to watch twelve and thirteen year olds not be able to say their alphabet. Despite the sadness of it all, we are still loving working with the kids there and learning a lot of sign language. We also got to participate in the P.E. class where they were learning a dance. It was fun to watch the students and get a little taste of Jamaican culture. After JCSD, we went to the beach and relaxed. Then we moved from our third floor rooms to our much smaller first floor room where we will be staying for the remainder of our trip. Although our kitchen is larger, we only have one bathroom for seven girls, no air conditioning, and much smaller rooms. We are learning to make do with what we have though. Suitcases under the beds, deoderant in the windowsills, bedposts as closets. We also have a lovely view of someone else's bathroom from Amy's bunkbed. But Jamaica is so wonderful that we don't mind too much and we can handle the living situation if it means getting to stay in this beautiful country.

We returned to the Jamaican Christian School for the Deaf today. We did devotions with all of the students, which consisited of Emily reading a story and a teacher interpreting, doing a memory verse, singing a few songs, and praying. Then we helped out in the classrooms. Susan was in a level 3 class, Emily in a classroom of older children, and Amy in the special education class. We all learned a lot of sign language and had a lot of fun. We are slowly learning everyone's sign names and not having to ask quite as many times to "fingerspell slow again please!" After school was done, we tried to find somewhere to buy seeds to plant in the garden at JCSD, but our adventure around Montego Bay left us seedless. After some quick showers, we went out to eat at a restaurant called Island Grill with our driver Mikey. We tried lots of new foods and liked most of them. We had jerk chicken, callaloo rice, festival, bammy wedges, and lots of different kinds of pop (or soda for any weird Wisconsins reading this). We recently discovered that we have a fourth roommate in our room. Please pray as he is currently missing his tail. IT'S A LIZARD! We don't know where he is and we are quite paranoid about finding him in our beds. Also, we will be moving out of our room tomorrow night and staying in a room on the first floor instead as there is a large group coming to stay at Fairhaven. We are still loving it down here and are sad that we only have 13 days to go.

down and dirty

Today was our first day at Jamaica Christian School for the Deaf. It was an early morning since we left Fairhaven by 7 am. We spent the morning working in a garden to remove "the smelly plants" which we soon discovered were huge marigolds. We did more gardening as well and may have pulled out some "weeds" that we later discovered were actually plants. We also hauled rocks to even out some land near the clotheslines. After lunch we waited to see if they had any more jobs for us to do. They didn't really have anything else for us to do, so we were just going to wait for our driver to come get us and then go get seeds to plant in the garden tomorrow. However, our driver did not show up and after much confusion, we finally got picked up after 5:00. So we ended up sitting around doing a bunch of nothing for about 5 hours. We did get to practice our (for the most part very poor) sign language skills with the kids after school was out though, which was fun. Then on our way home when we were very hungry, there was a huge traffic jam and it took forever to get back to Fairhaven. But we survived and got our macaroni and cheese for supper. Most of us got sunburned today as well as some of us getting rashes from the soil that we worked with. But life is still good here in Jamaica and we all have kids we want to take home with us. We were able to hear the stories of some of the children at JCSD and they broke our hearts. We're excited to go back and work in the classrooms, do devotions, and continue gardening tomorrow.

Yesterday, we went to church at The Meeting Place with the people from Robin's Nest. It was certainly an experience with all of the wonderful singing, the looooong service, and the yelling. We sang for over an hour, and the service was over two and a half hours long. After church, we came back to Fairhaven and had lunch before heading to the beach with the people from Robin's Nest. The kids had a blast playing in the water and sand with us. It started to rain, so we had to run back in the pouring rain and we got completely soaked.
Today, we went to Robin's Nest for the last time. We spent the morning picking up toys, doing laundry, ironing, and playing with the kids. This afternoon, we played with the kids while they swam and played games. It was hard to say goodbye to them. One of the little boys asked Amy to take him home with her, which made it even harder to leave. We hope to see them at church or at the beach again before we leave. We can't believe it's almost been a week already. Time is going too quickly! We have been so blessed by the children and the people of Jamaica as well as with the company of the California half of the team, who we have grown extremely close to in the short amount of time that we have been here.

steaming hot

Even though today is Saturday, we didn't get the whole day off. We went to the market this morning, which was quite the experience. The people there all tried to get us to come in their shop and buy from them. They would say, "Pretty girls, come in our shops. We give you a good deal." We did find some good deals and enjoyed experiencing a little more of Jamaican culture. After the market, we were escorted to a park by security so that we were safe. We were supposed to meet the children from Robin's Nest at the park, but they never showed up, so we ended up enjoying our lunch in the ocean. We also got sunburned in the middle of a thunderstorm, which was something new. After the park, we walked back to Fairhaven and got some cold water and stood in front of the air conditioners and we were literally steaming hot. Steam was pouring off of us as we stood there...SICK! Then, we headed out for Melody House Girls Home, which is a home where 15 girls ranging from 12 to 18 years old. We played games and hung out with the girls there and had a wonderful time. Tomorrow we will be attending church and going to the beach with the children from Robin's Nest.

Exhausted. That's how we feel. Today was very tiring but still fun for us. We did a VBS with the kids at the preschool again, but there were only children from Robin's Nest there today, so we had 7 children instead of 18. After lunch, we were all assigned a partner at Robin's Nest to play with for the afternoon. It was very difficult to keep them entertained for four hours, but we survived with the help of some Jolly Ranchers, which we gave to them as rewards for helping with chores. They called them "sweeties" and constantly asked for more of them. At the preschool, the kids loved singing with us. We taught them a few songs, and they taught us some as well. One of our new favorites is "Makin' Melody in my Heart." There is a dance that goes with it, and we all look absolutely ridiculous doing it, but it's fun doing it with the kids and watching their smiles. They know a ton of songs and loved to sing them for us. We actually were full after supper tonight, which was a good change. Our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at lunch don't quite fill us up like they used to when we were five. We're excited to work through the weekend with the kids!

sunshine on a cloudy day

I think we've found our new home. All of us falling in love with Jamaica and the children here. They have stolen our hearts! Today we went back to Robin's Nest Children's Home and also to the preschool near the home. We did a VBS with the children at the preschool and then also with five of the children at Robin's Nest who are in a special education classroom. We were able to interact with the children a lot more today and we had a wonderful time. It was rainy almost all day. But the smiles of the all the children were our sunshine on this cloudy day. Because of the rain, the roads were even worse today, so the trip back was longer and more dangerous with the roads being flooded partially. It got sunny by the time we returned to Fairhaven, so we got to see the gorgeous sunset over the ocean from the balcony outside our third floor room.

Today was our first full day in Jamaica. We went to Robin's Nest Children's Home, which is a privately run children's home about an hour away from where we are staying in Montego Bay. There are 33 children currently living at Robin's Nest. It is up on a mountain, and the roads to it were awful. Thank goodness our driver Mikey is so wonderful. At Robin's Nest, the children have pod mothers so that they can bond to a few adults rather than having many different adults in and out. Therefore, we are there to take care of other things, such as laundry and cleaning, so that the pod mothers can spend time with the children. We hung up, folded, and put away a lot of laundry, hauled rocks, helped at a preschool, fed babies, got thrown up on, wiped noses, cut and carried rebar, sweated a lot, got a little sunburned, and gave a lot of hugs. It was a wonderful day! We're excited to go back to Robin's Nest for the next few days where we'll be doing some VBS stuff with the kids at the preschool and possibly at the children's home with the special education classroom as well.
Prayer Requests:
*Pray for the preparations for our VBS as we are unsure of exactly what we're expected to do.
*Pray for the children of Robin's Nest as well as the staff, as they have exhausting jobs.
*Praise God for the wonderful start we have had to our trip.

WE MADE IT!

We are typing this message from Montego Bay, Jamaica! WOOHOO!
We left Montevideo last night and spent the night in St. Paul then got up at 4:23 am in order to get to the airport in time. Besides having to rearrange some luggage to stay under the weight limits and getting a jar of peanut butter taken away, everything with our flights to Miami and Montego Bay went well. We spent the day getting to know the California team, hanging out at the beach, having orientation, and grocery shopping. It still does not quite seem real to us that we're actually here. However, a few more hours in this hot and humid weather may make it a reality for us. Here are a few more prayer requests:
*Pray for the children that we will be interacting with for the next few days at Robin's Nest.
*Pray for unity in our team and the California team.
*Pray for our team's safety as the driving here is quite scary. Praise God for our wonderful driver, Mikey.
Thanks for your prayers! We will hopefully be able to write again soon!

Itinerary!

So about 24 hours after I wrote that we wouldn't find out exactly where we would be working, we found out where we will be working. We will spend 5 days at Robin's Nest Children's Home, which is the place that originally drew us to Jamaica. For 4 days we will work at the Jamaica Christian School for the Deaf, where we will be doing devotions, assisting in the classroom, and heping with a gardening project. We will work at SOS Children's Home for 3 days, and we will be assisting in the basic school and doing arts and crafts projects with the children. We will spend one day at Blossom Gardens, which is an orphanage. Also, we will spend some time at the Melody House Girls Home. We are very excited to see how God is going to work on this trip. We are 8 days from our departure, and final details are falling into place. Thanks for all of your prayers!

it's coming!

16 DAYS! We cannot believe how fast the days are going. As our departure draws nearer, we are realizing just how hard it is to plan out the details of our trip while finishing up our last projects, papers, and exams. From figuring out which foods all of us like to planning a vacation Bible school, we are discovering just how many things we have left to figure out. It's teaching us to trust God to work everything out though. We will likely not find out our exact placement until we go down there since they will put us where there is need at that time.

As always, we appreciate your prayers for our team and the people we will be in contact with in Jamaica. Here are some prayer requests.

*Praise God for the generous financial support of our family and friends. Pray that the support would keep coming in, as some of us have not reached our goals yet.

*Pray for our plans, especially the Vacation Bible School, as we are very unsure of what to expect with it.

*Praise God for technology that will allow us to stay in contact with everyone back home while we are gone.

*Pray for the hearts of those we will come in contact with on our trip and that God would be preparing them to hear His Word and see His love.

*Pray that all of us would be open to being used by God on the trip in whatever way that He wants to.

The time is flying by....only 34 days left! We have been continuing to stay in contact with the group from California to get to know them better and planning more details of our stay. We found out that the transportation cost is much higher than we were expecting, so that is a slight set back as we try to raise money. So other than that for now, we just have a few more prayer requests.

*Pray for continued financial support, especially with the added cost of transportation.

*Pray for us as we try to get to know the California team from across the country.

*Pray for us to have continued strength to finish the school year.

praying and planning

In 47 short days, we will be in Montego Bay, Jamaica! Our journey to Jamaica started back in November when Amy heard about an orphanage in Jamaica from a couple in her church in Orange City, Iowa and then again from the founder of the same orphanage in chapel at Northwestern College. Soon after these ideas were planted, Amy casually asked Emily and Susan if they would like to go to Jamaica in the summer. After much praying and planning, we all decided that this was something we felt God calling us to do. Our plans changed a few weeks into the planning process as things were not working out with the orphanage at which we planned to work. However, God was faithful in guiding us to Fairhaven Christian Retreat Center in Montego Bay, which is where we will be staying during our time in Jamaica. Fairhaven works with Jamaica Link Ministries to place us in a place where we are needed while trying to meet the needs and desires of our group. We hope to be working in orphanages as well as a deaf school, along with possibly doing a Vacation Bible School. God has been so amazing and His timing to bring us to Fairhaven for the same three weeks as a group of four college students from California is unbelievable.
Here is a list of things that you can be praying for.
*Pray that God is working in the hearts of the people with whom we come into contact in Jamaica and that He would be preparing them even now to hear what He might have to say to them through our team.
*Praise God for the financial support that we have been blessed with so far and continue to pray for continued support.
*Pray for us as we continue planning this trip while all living hours apart from each other.