WARNING: REALLY LONG POST!

Selections from the journal I kept while in Jamaica -

Tuesday 12-28-04
I woke up at 2:30 this morning and took a shower and finished packing. Melissa Kae picked Lori and I up at 4:15 and took us to the airport. Our flight was delayed 20 minutes and we were supposed to connect in Philadelphia but there were a lot of planes coming in and so we were in a holding pattern for another twenty minutes. We arrived ten minutes or so before our next flight was supposed to leave and so we hurried all the way to the gate, but the plane wasn't leaving yet. We arrived in Montego Bay at 3pm - an hour later than we were supposed to. Then 14 (out of 17) of us waited (after going through customs) for an hour - until 5:00 pm for Moose (one of our leaders), Jason, and Crystal, because Crystal and Jason's luggage got lost. Then we loaded into this bus. Our luggage took up the back two rows and then it was seated to on one side, one on the other side and then the aisle had fold-out seats. We rode into town and stopped at KFC because we hadn't eaten all day. Then it got in the bus - forever it seemed - four hours later we got to Mandeville at the church we were staying at. The pastor forgot we were coming or something and no one was there to let us in - we made some phone calls (the phone number Tri-S had given us wasn't working) and finally some one let us in. I don't really feel all that safe here, and it's not good living conditions. Worse than the Mexico trip. We have bunks like in Kentucky with AUCME and there's cockroaches, the shower is a hole in the wall and I think I liked the solar showers better. Some of us are talking about not showering until Montego Bay. I just keep thinking about how much better our villa is going to be. The bus ride here, although really long, was neat. It was dark so we saw some Christmas lights on houses - unlike America they're all just thrown on haphazardly. WE drove through the mountains on a really curvy road (and on the left side). It was totally random - people walking down the road, little shack stores, big houses and everything in between.

Wednesday 12-29-04
We got a lot of sleep last night and it felt really good. When we woke up we realized the place we're staying at isn't too bad and that last night we were just tired and cranky. But we're all really looking forward to the villa. We found out that we aren't going to work on this church - we're working on the church that Sikon, a Jamaican AU studnet, goes to. It's pretty far away so we have to drive but we didn't have transportation today. So we walked down the street and went to Dominoes for lunch (the only place we found quickly) and got some Jamaican juices from the grocery store next door. We also exchanged some money. We split into two groups - one group bought groceries for our breakfasts and my group went to find a card that Moose would put in his cell phone so it would work here, but his cell company locked it out, so that didn't work. We then went to the hardware store and bought some lumber to rebuild the church's roof. Then we all came back. Some people bleached the showers, some played frisbee, and I played cards with some people. Then a group of us went into town to go shopping. I bought a little flag for my brother. Then we came back and took a short nap. After my nap I changed my clothes and we all went to a jerk restaurant - spicy, but VERY good. And the owner, "Logan, Vince Logan" was very friendly. Most of us had chicken, some had pork. There was a lot of little bones, but still it was good. For a side we had this thing called Festival - it was sort of like fried bread. We took some pictures and then came back. We had a time of reflection on the day. We had all noticed that the kids and the older people are really friendly, and the people more our age aren't. We are the only caucasians here. This is definitely not a part of Jamaica most Americans come to. We worshiped some, and then got ready for bed, played a few games of Mafia and then slept.

Thursday 12-30-04
This morning I woke up - and the sun was shining! It was so beautiful compared to the clouds we've had so far. It rained last night and everything looks so fresh now. Thanks to God for new beginnings - His mercies fall fresh each day. We had cereal and fruit for breakfast - mmm... fresh pineapple! Then we piled into a small van and traveled about 30 minutes through more mountains to the church we're working on. The wood wasn't there at first so we played games with some kids and moved a ton of rocks to even out a pathway. Then the wood showed up and we unloaded it - after that there wasn't much to do because a man from the church cut the wood - so we played with the kids. Late in the afternoon we had mountain coffee and tuna sandwiches, then we played more and walked around, and it rained a little bit, and then we played Mafia, and then we had dinner - it wasn't very good and we don't really know what it was. And we had more coffee - so good! We came back to the place we're staying at and we walked to McDonald's and then to the grocery store. I bought some coffee for myself and for my mom and some jerk spice to take home and some snacks and water. We came back and had ice cream, played with a gecko, and had a devotional/worship time. Today when we were playing with the kids we sang "Hold Me Close" which the girls chose. The 11-year old, Delisha, had an amazing voice and it amazes me how God crosses cultures - the same worship songs, the same God. We also sang some Christmas songs. I've noticed that I keep forgetting that it's Christmastime. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve! So crazy.

Friday 12-31-04
I am sure that right now the gang back home is getting ready to head over to Chris' house, white elephant gift in tow. They'll watch a movie or two, a pancreas mug and Mr. Bubbles will be exchanged, the ball will drop and they will drink their sparkling grape juice. Several inches of snow on the ground, below freezing temperature and even colder wind chill. I am not there this time. I am sitting on a flimsy, squeaky bed with a thin, stained mattress in a cockroach and gecko infested room in a building missing half a roof, in a country where it is currently mid seventies and white elephant gifts would be frivolous... New Year's in Jamaica. Not party-on the beach tourist Jamaican New Year's Eve, but go to church with he locals Jamaican New Year's Eve. Today at the worksite there was nothing to do other than play with the kids because the carpenter (whose name is Mr. Wood), Moose, and Jesse finished the scaffolding and Mr. Wood made the rafters and they all hoisted them up. We're hoping by Monday we'll have the materials to start plastering. I'm not myself here. I've been so subdued.

Saturday 1-1-05
What an amazing day. We piled into a bus around 7:45 in the morning - so early! We drove about 3 hours through the mountains to Dunn's River Falls - a park with a beach and a beautiful waterfall. We took some pictures and then went swimming in the Caribbean Sea. After a little while we decided to play in the sand. We were going to build a sandman instead of a snowman (my idea - other builders were Lori, Abby, Kristen, and Crystal) We eventually gave up because it was looking nothing like a snowman. Ah well. We then walked uphill to go back to the bus for lunch. To exit you have to walk through a market. People were yelling "hey pretty girl" and "hey sexy lady" and wanting to take us to their shops. One guy took Abby and so we followed her to make sure she was safe and then someone took Crystal in the other direction. We finally got out and got to the bus and ate PB&J sandwiches. Then we rented water shoes and went to the beach again. From there we all climbed up the waterfall. It was hard in some places but it was incredible! By the time we were done with that it was time to change our clothes and leave. We piled into the bus and came back to Mandeville. We rested for a bit and then walked to Island Jerk for dinner. I got the same thing I got last time - jerk chicken and festival. Then we came back here had a meeting and went to bed.

Sunday 1-2-05
This morning we had more transportation problems - Roy, our driver, informed us that they needed the van to pick up kids and elderly people for church. So Moose went to town and got a bus taxi. It was a little shady because the driver didn't know how to get where we were going. The seats were ripped, he was wearing boxers and rudely yelled at Moose "WATA" (water), but we got there. They cooked breakfast for us again, and then church started at 11 - it got out at 2:45!! Then we had lunch. Church was amazing. Moose preached and talked a lot about when he was in Africa. There was so much culture there it's so different coming from a church where everyone wears jeans to a church where the girls wear formal dresses. After church we got rides back from people - I rode on the back of a truck with Dorrell and Neslie - very interesting. We stood in the parking lot and talked, and then Jimmy Tucker showed up - he sat next to Holly Davis on the plane and must have written down all the information off her customs papers and he came here and gave her a CD and said he wanted to talk to our whole group - creepy! Later we went out for dinner - some went to De Windie's and some of us were going t go to Juci Patti's but it was closed so we just went to Dominoes because we were meeting everyone at the movie theatre and it was right next to it. We saw Ocean's Twelve but I fell asleep b/c I was exhausted.

More to come...