Jamaica Updates

jamaica-updates-2

We realized an error that was made on this day’s blog post. Since our internet is unreliable in Jamaica, teams submit their blog posts to one central location and are posted by one individual. It looks like the information for what we did Friday last year was accidentally posted instead of this year’s update. We have uploaded the correct blog posts below.

Montego Bay

Our plans had to change a little bit today. Instead of going to the infirmary like we normally do at the end of the week, we ended up staying at the base and doing some yard work to bless the YWAM staff that hosts us so well. We then went on a prayer walk around the city. It was a blessing to get to interact with the locals in the community we have been serving all week.

Mandeville

We had to adjust our plans today. Typically on our outreach day, we visit an infirmary but this year we spent some time at the hotel in small groups and then we went to the YWAM base and had a time of prayer and intercession.

St. Anns

We had a really sweet last full day in Jamaica today. We started off with a corporate quiet time where we all got to reflect on the trip individually. Then, we headed back to Ocho Rios and walked around and prayed for the city and any locals that we met along the way. We took time later in the afternoon to regroup and continue praying for the country of Jamaica before we had some free time and some fun at night! We had worship time and a talent show and it was a really great note to end our time together on! We can’t wait to be home and tell you more about what God has done on this trip!

Port Maria

WOW, today was so much fun!!! We got to go celebrate what all God has done this week by meeting up with all of the other teams in Ocho Rios. It was so fun seeing all the teams meet up with each other after not seeing each other for a week! We got to eat at the local Burger King (yes, BK is alive and well in Jamaica!!), buy some fun souvenirs, hang out at the beach and climb a water fall. After doing all of that and spending almost two hours on a bus today, we are tiiiiired. But we are also excited to to spend our last night together in Jamaica. God has done so much this week. We are of course sad that our week is coming to an end, but we are also thrilled for what’s to come: lots of group hangs back in Athens, continuing to encounter God and more!

Montego Bay

Hey Everyone! Just like that, Thursday is in the books! Today was our ‘fun’ day, although everyday has been fun! We went to Dunn’s River falls, look it up on the internet, it is very beautiful! We met up with the teams from the other 3 trip locations in Jamaica! It was so much fun and it was great to get to reconnect with many friends and familiar faces! The students got to walk around a Jamaican market, hangout on the beach, and climb a waterfall! Afterwards we headed back and grabbed dinner with our team! We then had a worship and small groups and our normally nightly routine! It is amazing to see how this team has become so close in such a short amount of time! Friendships and community are being built and it such a blessing to see all the wonderful things God is doing in our group! Continue praying for us as we close out this amazing week!

Mandeville

Today, we took a field trip! We traveled to Ocho Rios and met up with the other 3 Freshley Jamaica teams. We hung out at the beach and went shopping around the markets for souvenirs. Some of our students climbed the waterfall there while others played spikeball and swam in the ocean– I, for one, did NOT want to climb the waterfall haha! Anyways, it was so cool getting to see all of the teams hanging out together. It’s crazy to think we all didn’t know each other a week ago and now we are all such good friends! It’s a testimony of God creating community on our team in a really tangible way. I can’t believe tomorrow is our last full day. We are expecting God to do big things!

St. Anns

Cannot adequately express how much fun today was! We got to reunite with everyone on the three other trips and watching the reunions between students was one of my favorite moments of the trip! We went to the market first and got to shop around and bargain a little bit (which I am horrible at) then we got lunch! Fine dining at Burger King was a big hit! After lunch we got to go to the Falls! There is a pretty beach at the base of the waterfall so some students took time to just relax and hang on the beach, some played some spikeball, and then some students went straight to climbing the waterfall and climbed it over and over again until we left! Our hotel is really close to Ocho Rios so we just had a short bus ride back when the day was over and we got to come back here and chill! Everyone is pretty tired but obviously not slowing down! Some people never changed after getting back from Ocho and just went straight to the pool! It was great to have this day to just play around after working so hard! Expectant for what our last day holds!

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To all parents of UGA Wesley students on our Jamaica mission trips:

 We are very closely monitoring the rapidly changing corona virus situation and are aware of the President’s travel ban on European countries effective Friday.  We have no reason to believe Jamaica will be added to the ban prior to our students arriving back in Atlanta on Friday or Saturday.  While we are supportive of many parents desire to have their children back home ASAP, given that it’s spring break, we have no way of finding earlier flights for 320 students and staff.  We’re doing everything we can to help your students continue having an amazing experience.   I am in close communication with the leaders of the other 3 Jamaica teams.  To date, all four trips have gone exceptionally well.  

Please keep us in your prayers until we all are safely home. 

Blessings,

Bob Beckwith

UGA Wesley Director

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Port Maria

Today was bittersweet. It was our last day at each of our worksites. I am so proud of each and every student on this trip because they put in so much work and accomplished a ton over the last few days. They’ve poured a loootttt of concrete since Monday, and that is no easy task.

It’s always sad to say goodbye to the people here who we have developed friendships with, but the memories we make with our local partners are so sweet. They are always so kind in thanking us and showing us love on the last day!

I’m really excited to see what God continues to do on the last little bit of our trip. Spending time with this team is so sweet and special. <3

Montego Bay

Today, our team split up and went off to our three worksites again! I will tell you about our base worksite. We are staying at a YWAM base where long term missionaries live so we have some of our team hang back and do some work for them everyday. We get to spend the week doing projects for them that they don’t typically have the time or hands for. This week we have gotten to do landscaping around the base and help with projects they have been wanting to do for a while. It’s a joy to serve and bless the people here. It was a great day full of sweat, dirt, and laughs 🙂 Everyone got back from their sites and we ate dinner. Then we ended with a talk from Daniel, worship, and time in small groups. Everyone is doing great and having so much fun! 

Mandeville

Today was our last day of worksites! While physically I am very exhausted, I am so grateful for all that I learned these past 3 days about putting in hard work and getting out a great reward. I am so at peace knowing that every person who steps into the school we painted will know that they matter and deserve a beautiful facility to learn in. The families who didn’t have a HOME, now get to live under a new roof with safety. God’s heart is really being revealed through our team to these people and we have learned so much from them this week. Really looking forward to prayer and worship tonight so that I can reflect on all God has done through worksites and my interactions with the Jamaicans.

St. Anns

It was our last day of worksites and it was really bittersweet! It was incredible to hear about how each worksite wrapped up, how students really gave their all to honor the projects they were given, and how they had built relationships with the Jamaicans that they were working with and serving! It is so wonderful to be finished but we will miss the people we got to meet along the way and honestly, we’ll miss the bonding that comes from hauling cement together for hours! Tonight we got dinner at Ultimate Jerk (yum!) and got to celebrate these last few days of really hard work! We’re about to have another night of worship where we’ll get to take time to thank God for everything that was accomplished at the worksites! After that, hopefully people will get to bed early (I say this knowing there will be some group up playing games until 3 AM) because tomorrow we’ll spend the day having fun and meeting up with all of the other trips at Ocho Rios! We’ll shop at the market and go to the Falls!! Can’t wait!

Port Maria

Today was very similar to yesterday! It was also amazing! We yet again woke up early and spent most of the day at our worksites. The students have been working so hard and it’s incredible to see them band together and work as a team. Everyone has been getting along so well as we are really in the swing of being here. God has continually done awesome things and tonight was amazing. Bob’s message really struck a chord with a lot of the students. After the message, we had a time for ministry where the directors and interns got to pray over the students. God was really moving! After small groups, we just hung out together while playing games and continuing to build community. 

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Montego Bay

Day two of worksites and our team is feeling good!! One of the worksites some of our team went to today is a ministry called Homes for Hope. At Homes for Hope we get to build a local family a new functional home. Yesterday, our team set us up really well by getting the interior and exterior walls up, painting, and beginning to frame the roof. Today, our team continued to build and make progress on the home. By the end of the week, the home will be ready for use and there will be a key ceremony to welcome a family into their new home! Our team got to spend a lot of time together and with locals today as they all worked together! After our worksites, we are back at the base getting to just hang out and chill together. Tonight we will have more teaching and worship. We are excited for how God is moving and expectant for the rest of the week! 

Mandeville

Today was day two of worksites and they were even funner the second day! We switched up people so each person could experience something different. Let me tell you, these projects are HARD work. Mixing the cement by hand takes a lot of effort and is very tiring. When we got home, a lot of the team had to rest. I jumped in the pool to cool off! I am starting to grow some sweet friendships with people on my team. I am really excited to be friends back in Athens as well. Tonight we ended with another session of teaching and worship. God is moving really powerfully on our team.

St. Anns

Day two of worksites is done and we really worked hard!! We’re all definitely pretty tired and thankful for the downtime we have right now before dinner! Most people are taking naps or hanging out in the pool. Yes, there is a pool here! Such a blessing! This is probably one of my favorite times of the day because you see students who didn’t know each other before choosing to spend their time resting by getting to know each other. It has been really sweet to see how students have already been bonding and forming friendships over the last three days. We just had dinner and now we’re about to worship and hear a teaching! The students have really been enjoying the worship time and it has been so restful to get to come together and thank God for all he has done at the end of every day. Tomorrow is the last day of worksites so we will be finishing up our projects. You can join us in prayer that we finish everything up well!

Port Maria

Today was our first day of work sites!!! We tried to go to bed early to prepare for the long day, but we honestly stayed up longer than we intended to. Which was actually great because everyone on our team is so eager to really get to know one another. Last night was particularly sweet because we got to celebrate three different birthdays! After we ate breakfast, we packed our lunches and headed to our worksites. Our team gets divided into a couple of different worksites each day. We go to different schools and churches and partner with our friends in Jamaica. Today that looked like painting, pouring concrete, laying a foundation for a fence, and loving on kids. Let me tell you, by the end of the day we were sweating. The heat is real. But we had so much fun doing it and we got to do it together. Today reminded me of the scripture Ephesians 4:12 which states “Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Our team has definitely embodied that verse. We are working and learning together and we deeply care about the work we are doing. After worksites, you know the first thing we did was shower 😉 Then we had some down time before dinner. After dinner, we worshipped and one of our staff members gave a devotional. After the devotional, we broke into our small groups to debrief our day and talk about the message. You can be praying for continuous energy and for us to have our hearts and eyes open to whatever God wants to share. We can’t wait for day 2 of worksites tomorrow!

Montego Bay

Hello everyone! Today was our first worksite day! Everyday, we will be divided up between 3 different worksites, but we are going to highlight a specific one each day on the blog! Today we are highlighting Robin’s Nest! Robin’s Nest is a children’s home basically on a mountain. In order to get up to the orphanage you have to drive up a steep road, so it can be very challenging due to the poor road conditions. This is what we are mainly here to help do this week! We worked with cement today and repaved parts of the road in order that visitors and others can actually come to the orphanage! It was really hot and exhausting, but also great to get to work together as a team! I think that our team is beginning to bond and grow a lot as a group together! After we worked on the road for most of the day, we were able to go and hangout with the kids! It was so fun and refreshing to get to play with these children, they simply have so much joy! As much as we were able to encourage them, I think we left feeling just as encouraged. Everyone seemed to have a great day and we are looking forward to the rest of the week! Continue to pray for our team and the people we encounter this week!

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Mandeville

Today was the first day of worksites and it was SO MUCH FUN! There is something special about giving your all to a project alongside others that makes you grow closer as a team. Our entire team split up into different sites and did things such as mix cement (SO MUCH CEMENT), played with some kids and painted the inside of a school. After our worksites, we went back to the hotel, washed up, hung out and ate dinner. After dinner, we will worship, have a small teaching and then break into small groups. I am exhausted but so pumped for tomorrow! 

St. Anns

WOOHOO! We completed our first day of work sites! We have partnered with the local church to complete multiple projects in the community! We are doing a lot of cement work – we are establishing a foundation of a church and a house. We are painting several schools and we are building a fence at Golden Grove Primary School! The students will get a chance to be at a different worksite each day to meet new people and to get to participate in multiple projects! The first day went incredibly well- at one of the schools we even got further painting than expected and our students got to spend some time loving on the kids at the school! Day one was filled with so much joy and we are so expectant for what day two holds as well!! 

Port Maria

We started our day by having breakfast at the Casa Maria and then left for church. We got to break up into teams and go to different churches (like we do each year) thanks to our local contacts that set us up with these churches. The experience we got to have this morning is much different than the typical church we experience in America, but it was incredible to see how God is still the same God in Jamaica as He is in America. Worshipping God with people that have different cultures and don’t look the same as us is an incredible experience! After church, we went back to the Casa Maria for the afternoon to rest and have some free time to gear up for the work that is ahead of us in the coming days. Community within the team is truly starting to take place! After dinner, Bob Beckwith, the Director of Wesley, got to speak to us and it was incredible! After Bob’s message, we met in our small groups and got to debrief the day and talk about what we had experienced or learned during the message. Looking forward to our first worksite tomorrow!

Montego Bay

We’ve officially kicked off the week!! Today, our team split up into a few groups to visit some local Jamaican churches. The people of the church were so welcoming of us and made us feel very much at home. We sang and danced and truly got to experience a new culture. Some of us went to a youth group and some went to Sunday school, while many of us stayed in the main service. Wherever we were in the church, we got to experience genuine worship and teaching from the Jamaican people. The church services last up to a few hours, so by the time we left, we were definitely filled up with the Lord and our feet also hurt a little bit! After church, our team got to hang out at the base and rest up for the week ahead. At the base, we sit on the top of a huge hill and have an awesome view of the ocean with a nice breeze. It’s beautiful. Our freshmen and leaders are already starting to build friendships among each other, and it’s so exciting to see! We can’t wait for a wonderful week ahead!

Mandeville

Wow, our first day in Jamaica! So fun and still so surreal. This morning, we woke up and had breakfast as a team. After breakfast, we went to a Jamaican church. This church was unlike any church I had gone to before. There were some hymns I recognized but they took their unique spin on things! Today was really sweet because we all got to worship God in a new way, in a new culture and with new people! After church, the team just went back to the hotel and got to know each other better! I’m so excited for worksites tomorrow! 

St. Anns

It’s our first full day in Jamaica! I’m writing this while watching all the students playing some game I don’t fully understand, but it’s amazing! 🙂 It is so great to finally be here. After all the preparation and all the excitement, I love that we’re finally experiencing Jamaica. This morning we went to church! Jamaican church is different than in the USA. For the most part, services last way longer than what we are probably used to. The worship looks a little different, but I think it is really healthy to step out of the American Church and worship the same God in a different culture. I am reminded of Revelation 7 where people from every nation, tribe, people and language” are worshiping God. It’s a beautiful representation of God’s global Church and I think we have all learned something from our time at a Jamaican Church. Thanks for reading! We start worksites tomorrow, and I’m excited to see what God has in store for us! 

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