Madison United Methodist Church Youth

The team has arrived safe and sound. After their arrival, they left the airport and headed to our famous jerk spot in Jamaica. The team enjoyed some jerk chicken and the local drink, then headed off to the lodging facility.

They are excited to see what God is going to do, and we are anticipating what is next. Thank you for your many prayers, don't stop praying this week!  God bless you all!

We started the day off at Annotto Bay Baptist Church! We were greeted by some amazing church members and a yummy breakfast. We got the privilege of experiencing some of the amazing culture.

One of the highlights of the day was seeing how passionate the praise team was about spreading the love of Jesus through their music! Callie Nation beautifully lead us in scripture and Kellen Fairburn and Elisabeth Morton led us in worship. They were told to prepare two songs, one of which was Amazing Grace which happened to be what the preacher's sermon was about. 

Today a group of about 6 or 7 of us went to Epsom Church and repainted the walls on the inside and outside of the church. We painted the inside with yellow paint and the outside with pink paint. People who lived around the church came to talk and help us paint.

Day Two of VBS today

The kids were so excited to see us when we drove up to the school this morning. Our lesson today was Jonah and the whale. The kids worked on crafts today, were taught a dance, and played outside. 

Today on Tuesday, Connor, Doug, John Taylor, Cory, and I along with our foremen John and Mario, began working around 9 a.m. mixing concrete as the larger portion of the group went to VBS. We worked all morning and were able to almost finish the inside of the new building we were laying the foundation for.

When the rest of our group returned from VBS we ate lunch and then we were able to begin mixing concrete again. At the end of the day, we were able to finish laying all of the concrete and finish our main project a day early.

We then, as a group, went to the beach for a little bit before dinner. All in all, it was an extremely successful day and we hope to replicate the success tomorrow. 

Yesterday a group of us went to the school to help prepare the 4th graders for their end-of-the-year test. In math, we focused on multiplication, addition, and subtraction.

I enjoyed seeing the kids finally understand what we were working on by the end of the day because that showed me that what we did made a difference. 

I loved painting this church that Pastor Drummond preached at. Some of the people that attend the church had actually painted a good first coat of the inside before we had gotten there. So we helped finish the second coat on the inside of the church with a pretty light yellow then we began to paint the outside of the church with a peachy color!

As the kids got out of school they would stop by and want to hang out with us. Even the adults that attend the church were wanting to help us paint as much as they could. It’s amazing to feel wanted, but also to see others want to help along with us. 

Yesterday we mixed and laid concrete for many hours. What impacted me the most was even though we felt like we were all dying, we were still having fun dancing and singing. No one complained, but worked hard, and accomplished our goal early. I loved each and every minute of it even though I was sweaty and gross.

Today was such a fun day, yet a little sad. We had our last day of VBS and had a blast with the children! It has been so much fun growing relationships with all the kids in just a short amount of time! They give tons of hugs and just want to be loved and acknowledged by us.

At the end, they had a performance for us. All the grades did a Jamaican dance/song for us! We prayed over the teachers and kids and that was very special, knowing that we would not be coming back.

Then we said our goodbyes and gave hugs. It was very emotional and most of our team and the children cried. We were all so sad that we would be leaving them. But we did leave them with markers and many supplies to play with in the future! I have loved growing with the children and making connections with them! 

We are so glad to be able to pour our love into Annotto Bay Baptist. It was a blessing to be able to serve them by painting the front of the church. The kids and leaders had fun painting and pouring into the people in the community. 

It was really sad, but so incredibly sweet, to say final goodbyes to all the kids we got to minister to this week. It was amazing how God moved in these kids and that in just three days how much these kids affected us.

We came this week to accomplish one task and ended up completing three missions. One of the things for this week was hearing the group talk about being just the right place that God wants them to be. I have seen these kids move from being fearful to being bold in reaching out to people this week and I’m so so proud of what their future looks like cause the will accomplish anything if they take everything they learned during this week. Thank you for your continued prayers this week!

This week I am grateful for all of the new relationships that I have made and I am grateful for all the relationships that I already had being strengthened and renewed.

I am grateful for the ways that I have seen God work this week through the school that we served at, through the ladies who spent so much time preparing food for us this week, through all of the construction we were able to get done for the church, and through the countless lives that were changed this week.

The word Jamaica will have a new meaning for me after this week. I will look back on our time here and remember the beautiful nature, the beautiful people, and our beautiful God that allows us to experience His goodness each and every day.

We continued to have joy while shoveling cement as part of our work project. I’m so thankful to have been a part of such a positive mission trip learning more about this country, serving others and being served by others, and spreading the love of God. 

After a long week of hard, but rewarding work, we were able to let loose a little as we spent the day at Dolphin Cove. As a group, we were able to swim with dolphins and play with a variety of animals like sting rays, sharks, parrots, iguanas, and parakeets.

We swam in a secluded beach looking for crabs and got to hang out at the pool. Janna and I competed in a belly flop contest with myself being the undisputed champion. My favorite part, though, was the water slide where some of us would get stuck, but after a quick trip to the bathroom, Ethan and I lathered each other with soap and flew down the slide.

We ended that day with some pasta at The Almond Tree restaurant and then met by the water for a final debriefing meeting where affirmations were made, memories were shared, and tears were shed. Today was a great way to end a week of hard work and sharing Christ with our new friends in Jamaica!

.We want to say see you later to our friends from the Madison United Methodist Church today it was a wonderful God-felt week. They worked hard, accomplished what God sent them to achieve this week, then built  new relationships. They worked on projects that was planned and ones that wasn't intended, but they did it all to glorify God. We want to say thank you for your hard work and your dedication and most of all for your heart that is of a servant. See you next time God bless you all as we would say in Jamaica walk good