Trinity Presbyterian

We landed into Montego Bay safe and sound this afternoon and shortly after settled into our hotel accomodations. For dinner we went to Scotchies and experienced a meal of jerk chicken and pork with festivals. Festivals are baked cornbread that resemble breadsticks. They are excellent!! After dinner we went back to the hotel for an orientation meeting and some worship before bed. Now we are off to rest for our first full day of ministry tomorrow! PIctures will come shortly!! Thank you for your prayers!

Today we were up at 8 am for breakfast in order to make it to church for the 10 am service. It was a special service today as they had a circuit church service. That means that each individual church that belongs to the Bethephil circuit of Baptist churches attended one service. It made for a full house this morning with all of us and all of them, but it was awesome to worship with so many people. We were able to partake in communion as well as witness believer's baptism. The service was long because of all the festivities but it was nice to meet the members of the church and some of the kids before we start VBS tomorrow. After church we ate a meal and walked around the communities inviting children to VBS this week. Pray that we will have a good turnout so that we can reach as many children as possible with the love of Jesus.

Today we started out our day with breakfast at 7:30 am in order to make it out to the Sudbury and Bethaphil Baptist churches for VBS.The children were placed in different classes within the church base on their age. A game of raffle was played afterwards to get them all energized for the rest of the day. The lesson for the day was about Christ and how God can work in their lives.Crafts and recreational activities were done afterwards with kids making hats, coloring paper designs, singing songs and playing games such as football and ring games. Lunch was served and we were introduced to some of the native fruits of Jamaica- guinep. Our team then went to the Garland children home which was a wonderful experience. We went back at the church for dinner afterwards to say our goodbyes to the kids and they promised to come back tomorrow for VBS. Pray that we will have an even better turnout tomorrow so that we can spread the gospel of Christ to these kids and their wider community. God Bless!

Yesterday was our last day of ministry and we really put our back into it. VBS went smoothly but it was tough saying goodbye to our new friends. We spent as much time as we could playing with them just to savor the time we had left. After lunch we rotated to our final work project sites/mercy ministry site. The mercy ministry was West Haven Children's Home which is a place that disabled children go when their families cannot take care of them. At our painting site we touched up the walls and doors that had been covered the previous day and painted the bathroom area blue. We also had a truckload of sand delivered to create a play area for the children that attend the church and basic school on site. The local Jamaican teenagers helped us shovel the sand and smooth it out which was a big help. The other construction site, a local woman's home, also went well. We had some rain but the team sang and worked right through it. The day wore us out but we were happy that we could give all we had to our final day of ministry. Today was recreation day!! This morning we drove out to Ocho Rios for some bartering and souvenir shopping at the craft market. After our choice of lunch, we went to Dunn's River Falls which is a freshwater waterfall that flows into the ocean. We put on our water shoes and hiked up the falls and relaxed on the beach at the bottom for the remainder of the afternoon. We ate dinner at a place called The Almond Tree in Ocho Rios with an excellent view of the sunset over the ocean. It was an awesome way to end our week! Tomorrow morning we will be packing up and heading home - get the "Welcome Home" banners ready!