Heading to Jamaica

Here we GO! Cathy and I are getting ready to head back to Jamaica to begin our summer mission trips. We are so looking forward to getting back there and serving the people of Jamaica. We will be leaving in just a few days and will spend a little over a month in Jamaica leading 4 mission teams. We will be serving in several cities in Jamaica beginning with Old Harbour Bay. We have 2 teams that will be joining us there. One team will be coming from South Carolina and the other from PA. The teams will be working with local schools during the morning hours teaching and working with the local children through literacy programs and VBS style programming.

In the afternoons the teams will work on construction and painting projects as well as installing new louver windows in one of the schools. Construction includes the continuation of building a library for one of the schools. This will be a lot of hard work as they will be working out in the direct sun all day. Concrete work in Jamaica is not an easy task as it is here at home. All concrete is mixed by hand on the ground and carried then by buckets. The teams will also spend some time visiting an Infirmary in Spanish Town. This is a facility for senior citizens who are physically and often times mentally challenged; many never have family or friends visit so they look forward to the teams visits.

Cathy and I will also be serving with two other teams while in Jamaica. These two teams will be serving in Kingston. During their mission trip they will be involved in VBS at the Promise Learning Center. This is a school for Autistic children. There will be 75-100 children at the school for their VBS program as the principle of the school has already prepared the students and their families for this awesome event.

The teams will also take part in ministering to children at a place called the Jamaica National Children's Home in Kingston. This facility houses neglected and abused children. Our teams will provide various activities with the children as well as some project work such as painting the bedrooms and bathrooms of the children. They will also be involved in other projects such as the building of a new basketball court and volley ball court for the children. Both teams will aslo spend time loving on and ministering to severally physically and mentally hadicapped children at a facility called the Tegwyn Home.

There will be so much awesome ministry going on over these mission trips. I cannot wait to see how God will use these teams to help change lives. I also know that each team member will have their lives changed in mighty ways as well. You can't help but be changed.

Mid July, Cathy and I will leave Jamaica for Chicago. We will serve with 2 mission teams in the inner city and in the heart of Chicago. We will be staying at local churches sleeping on the floors. The teams will work in the community doing landscaping, repairs on the churches as well as local schools.

We will also spend time working with Pacific Garden Mission, which is a large homeless shelter in downtown Chicago. They house over 500 homeless each night and serve a thousand plus meals daily. We will be helping the shelter prepare and serve meals to the residents, stripping and making beds, working in their greenhouse with gardening and much more.

The teams will also be hosting VBS each week for the community both at the church as well as a public, inner city park; along with a big BBQ one afternoon for the community. Each team will also spend time walking the streets in a time of prayer for the community. This is an awesome experience and one that the community really appreciates.

Please pray for Cathy and I as well as for everyone we and the teams come into contact with. We are so thankful for the opportunity that God has placed us in and for the abilty to GO and love on, minister and serve others. We cannot do this with your prayers and financial support!

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