The first day comes to an end!

We just finished up worship and debriefing time. Now Kayla, Cha, Joel, Josh, Beth, Ashli, Holly, Zac, Olivia, and I are all on the roof talking about the day.

Holly:
"Today was a great first day! First we went out and gathered rocks and fill for a woman who is having trouble building her house. While the rest of the team formed an assembly line from the truck to the house in order to get the fill in, Jim took Josh, Beth, Brianna, and I into the streets to tell the kids about the carnival that we were hosting it later. That was an amazing moment. The kids absolutely loved the balloon animals that we were making as a preview for the carnival, and promised that they would come back and bring their friends. They were all over us, holding our hands and giving us hugs. One girl really stuck out to me. Her name was Shenae, and she immediately latched on to me, holding my hand and asking me all kinds of questions. Wildebeest. (Zac just wrote that word with his nose.) After lunch, we went back to the church and set up the carnival. The kids were such a blessing, and amazingly, they were all orderly and happy for the games! We set up like 5 games, and also had balloon animals and face painting. The children loved everything about it, and even listened quietly when Brianna taught them a Bible lesson and sang songs with them. At the end of the carnival, the kids were allowed to pick a prize according to how many tickets they had gotten from the games. They were amazed that they were allowed to get such great prizes. The kids were so thankful, and were really happy about the carnival. Today was a great way to start out the week."

Josh:
"I had a great time today! We started off early, gathering fill rocks for a local woman who needed work done on her house. We formed up in an assembly line and carried rocks to her house for a while until Holly and I went into town. We told lots of the neighborhood kids about the carnival we were having later that day. It was really fun and I got called "rasta-man" like 10 times. When the carnival finally came, Holly and I were on balloon animal duty. We didn't really know how to make anything but dogs and swords (but I made a sweet bow and arrow). The kids were awesome and everyone had lots of fun. Today was so fun and I'm so excited for the rest of the week. Also I discovered my twin.... Kayla Barrow. Tis all."

The carnival was a great success. It went well and we were very fortunate that the weather held out. We're just on the south-east side of the mountains and showers sometimes roll over. After the carnival, we came back and cooled down in the pool with the kids. Dinner was WONDERFUL. Chef Kevin made us two different kinds of fish and some great sides.

Tomorrow we will be in the market doing grocery shopping for the missionaries in a scavenger hunt fashion, and after we will be doing the carnival in a different spot than today. The market will be a good way to get the word out about the carnival. We'll let you know in the morning!

Lunch check-in

We're pressed for time, so this is short. Just got home from filling in the foundation for someone's house that the group has been ministering to. Pictures now, and the team will blog about it later.

Day 1

Beth:
"This is our first morning waking up here...it's so much hotter than NJ! The weather is absolutely gorgeous; so far it's very sunny with a cool breeze. I'm getting to know some of the kids better. Last night in the middle of our game of bull, we played hi ho cherry o with Selena and she attacked Josh's hair and then Joel's. we haven't talked much with the other group, but when we have they seem pretty friendly. I'm looking forward to today's physical work and also the carnival."

Today we will be helping out with some construction and later on we will be hosting a carnival in town for the kids. This is where all those donated toys and games that were given will go! It's going to be a great opportunity to connect with the community.

We also just found out that the head chef of the Sandals resort will be coming by to make us all dinner tonight! This is not a normal occurrence; apparently he is interested in one of the adopted kids (now grown) of the missionaries and is coming here to 'meet the parents'. We just happen to be here and he is willing to cook for everyone.

Sleepy ZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

Today was a great first day to settle in. The missionaries laid the ground rules of their home and told us what our day tomorrow would look like. Here is Zac and Olivia's update:

Olivia:
"It's awesome here! It's so great to be back a second time. So warm and humid! It's a nice change from NJ! Today when we got here we unpacked and organized all of the donations to be given out. Ps thanks to everyone who gave us donations! For dinner we had chili and spaghetti which Zac had several servings of which I'm sure he will tell you below! Later we walked to the beach and looked at all the cool shells and hermit crabs :) sadly no turtles. We just had nightly worship and devotions and everyone is really tired. Also the wifi has a password so a lot of us don't have Internet! So don't be worried parents if you don't directly hear from your children!"


Zac:
"Today was an amazingly stressful yet successful day. Our flight times ended up being surprisingly close together and this caused a slight complication. Once we were in Jamaica after being harassed by immigration things took a turn for the better. Arriving at the house we were greeted by some fellow missionaries from Canada, we were all wondering, 'What's all this aboot, eh?' We settled in with our newfound friends to enjoy some delicious chili and spaghetti. Olivia had a million helpings. I'm going to bed now."

Here we are at 9:09pm (10:09 EST) on one of the decks: me, Cha, Olivia, Zac, Holly, and Kayla. It's about 78 degrees plus some humidity with a light breeze.