Free Will Baptist Calvary Church

Hi everyone! To God be the glory, the team has arrived safely in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  We enjoyed the ride to the lodging facility where we had dinner and orientation. 

We are very excited to be here and show God's love to others this week.  We are waiting to see how God will use us for His glory as we minister.  We are now settling in for the night.

Stay tuned, we will keep you updated...

We started off the morning with a lovely breakfast, then headed off to church.  Everyone was so excited and willing to participate in the service and the team blessed everyone's hearts with a group song. We all enjoyed the worship, it was a beautiful experience. 

After church we went for a prayer walk in the community, then we visited the infirmary.  It was a great day!!

Please continue to pray for us as we look forward to seeing the plans God has for us throughout the rest of this week.

Hey everyone! Today was an exciting day here in beautiful Jamaica. After breakfast, our team went to Wakefield to serve at Pastor Meek's church. First, we started a building project that includes additional office space and restrooms. We pray that this additional space will help the church grow and reach more people. Our team mixed and poured concrete, laid cinder blocks, and worked on framing. It has been our honor to work beside Pastor Meek and his church members. He's clearly loved by the community and has a heart for the Kingdom. 

Meanwhile... Hughroy and I went back to Montego Bay to collect the rest of our missing luggage. This luggage included lots of ministry supplies for VBS and the orphanage that we will be visiting. Hughroy's pastor had a connection and helped us get our luggage through customs. He was a tremendous blessing and we were in and out fairly quickly at the airport. Once we loaded a truck with our supplies we made our way back to meet the team in Wakefield.

We got back just in time for lunch to start preparing for VBS. The kiddos packed in the church despite the rain! The entire event was amazing. The topic for the day was the greatness of God out of Acts 17 with Paul's message to the philosophers at Mars Hill. Our team did a wonderful job of leading worship, playing games, building crafts, and teaching the Word! The kiddos were such a blessing to our team. We are very much excited for day two of VBS tomorrow. 

After dinner, we were able to unpack and sort supplies back here at the conference center. It was such a productive day of ministry. God is moving in our hearts and stirring a sense of missions while at the same time the Lord is using us in Wakefield.

Our Praying Pelicans team is just amazing. Hughroy and Lorna make an excellent team. They are so patient and hardworking. Anytime there is a bump in the road they graciously go to work to problem solve and make adjustments. They have taught me so much. And then there's our driver Rory! He's the life of the party and truly has a servant's heart. We couldn't be happier with the incredible job they are doing!

The children are actively engaged in arts and crafts...

The day started with excitement and anticipation as we set off for day 2 of our building project and VBS with the local church.  Despite the off-and-on rain, we were able to get a lot accomplished on the building, as shown in the included picture. Everyone was pitching in and helping in one way or another!

Children started arriving at the church around 10:00 AM just to hang out with us even though the program didn't start until 2:00 PM. During VBS they all had so much fun and stayed very busy!

We did two different craft projects led by Melissa, sang songs led by Addy and Cara, listened to an awesome lesson led by Pastor Daniel, and had a blast playing Sharks and Minnows during game time led by Andy. 

Again, it was a true team effort and a truly successful VBS! At the end, we were also able to pass out our first set of backpacks to all the kids and parents that were there.  They were all so excited and grateful!! As we were driving away we already saw kids playing with the soccer balls and other items that they got!

Thank you all again for all of your thoughts and prayers so far! Please keep them coming! We are very much enjoying our time with the Jamaican people and with our team and know that God's fingerprints are all over this trip!

Day four in Wakefield was our most productive to date. Thanks to some cooperation from the weather we had zero rain delays. The clear skies worked in our favor, because we were on a tight schedule. Wednesday was our last day at the church worksite, and we had an appointment to visit an orphanage later in the day.

What began as a skeleton of a building extension transformed into an almost fully-enclosed room complete with a framed window, and an opening for a door to be installed later.

One team worked to hang a concrete board that we affixed to the wooden  frame we had installed the day before. The boards look like sheet rock, but are much heavier. Despite the weight of the materials, the team installed the concrete walls in less than two hours.

Meanwhile, Thomas, Youness, and Hughroy climbed to the top of the building to finish framing the roof. Once ready, we passed large sheets of zinc to the men up top, and they secured them with nails with rubber washers to prevent water from entering the building when the rain comes.

Dying to get on the roof myself, Hughroy finally assented to my relentless begging and allowed me to hammer a few nails into the zinc sheets. I only hit my thumb once.

Although the building extension is not complete, the people of Calvary made a great deal of progress under the guidance of Hughroy and Ricardo, a church member. All this despite very little construction experience among our twelve-person group.

We can't wait to see the finished project under the guidance of Pastor Meek.

Here is a picture of Calvary's team with pastor Francois Meek, his wife, and the church secretary at the end of our work day. You can see the framed and installed window in between Youness Boziane and Daniel Sweet complete with shutters.

It is amazing what our small team was able to accomplish in just a few days. We found that working as a team helped us do more than we could do on our own. Even though most of us had little to no experience in building projects, everyone chipped in with a willing spirit and positive attitude.

Our prayer coming to Jamaica was that we could be a blessing to pastor Meek's church in Wakefield. I can say without reservation that, by the grace of God, we have accomplished that goal--not only with the building project but also through the vacation Bible school we hosted for the children in the community.