Posting from Jamaica!

Hey all! :) wow, these past 2 days have been crazy, and definitely much more of an emotional rollercoaster than i had expected! last night, i posted on facebook that it was a lot harder than i had imagined and asked for prayers. boy, did i feel those today! the strength, peace, confidence, and excitement i found today was all from God! training went so well today and i don't feel as overwhelmed and stressed as i did yesterday. i had come to jamaica with the expectation of a lot of free time with plenty of time to skype my family. however, the first thing i quickly learned, was that God's plans aren't my own. and sometimes in order to stretch us to past what we are capable, he has to strip us of everything we know.

Let me just give a little run down of how my next four weeks will look, for those who are interested, especially family. I am doing training this week until Friday. The camp I am helping with is intense. It starts at 6:00 a.m. with us as staff praying for the students, and ends at 10:00 at night with the staff again praying for the students. There is no free time. All of the time is spent in teaching/ministry preparation/work duties. The craziest thing I learned first was that they had no one here to teach the dance portion. Coincidence? I think not. :) So starting tomorrow, I will begin choreographing a dance piece for the campers to learn. Definitely will be stretching me, but I am so excited to use my gifting here in Jamaica!

I'm not really sure what this weekend will look like. I'm hoping to be able to go to town sometime so I can go souvenir shopping, as I won't have very much time to do that, except for the airport. Oh well, my family may just have to make do with airport souvenirs ;) The kids arrive here on Sunday night. As of right now, only six kids are registered, which is really low...however, they're hoping and expecting to get around 15 because of last minute registrations. Either way, even if it is small, I think it'll be even greater to get to invest into these kids lives.

On Monday, the 11th, (side note...while i'm writing this, i'm getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, so all of you should be extremely grateful lol), we start the classroom phase of the camp. From Monday-Friday, the day will be jam packed with teachings, ministry prep, and work duties. Saturday, the kids spend the day doing street feeding. On Sunday, we go to church. Sometime in there, they may get more free time. Such as spending a day at the beach, or spending time at the pool that is here on the base.

Monday and Tuesday of the next week (the 18th and 19th), we will spend the whole day doing what they call "rehearsals". This is the time that is set aside to put everything together that they have learned. The teachings and the ministry times will be put together into a VBS that they can take out into the community.

Wednesday, the 20th, we leave for an outreach portion of the camp. We will be doing outreach in different bays of Jamaica. Basically, leaving the campus here and taking the kids to experience their own missions trip. While we are out on outreach, the tens will run a VBS. They will also have the chance to visit an infirmary. The details of the outreach portion aren't all figured out yet, but that gives you an idea of what it'll look like.

We don't get back to the campus base here until the following Thursday, the 28th. Friday will be spent doing debriefing and exit interviews for the kids. I believe these 2 days will be more flexible as well, as the kids will be tired from the week of outreach. On Saturday the 3oth, the parents come to the base and we have whats called a Love Feast. This is a time where the parents can see all the teens have learned. The teens will leave here somewhere between 4 and 5 in the afternoon, and then that will be the time I get to spend packing and getting ready to fly home the next day, the 31st.

I know this is pretty detailed, but I like details. haha. And for my family, this will be especially helpful to have it all written down. You see, yesterday during the training, I found out how rigorous the schedule was. And I found out that I wouldn't be able to be on my laptop, because I won't have any free time. In addition to that, I can only use my cell phone one hour of the day, and cell phone rates are expensive internationally. But I'm going to make the most out of this week, being able to skype and facebook and blog. Although, there probably won't be much more to blog since I've written most of it here. haha

The campus here is absolutely beautiful. The living conditions here are very nice; it is truly a blessing.

As I close this up, I ask that you continue to pray for me. Pray that I stayed hydrated and healthy so that I can withstand the weather. It's actually not been too hot. Plus, I'll be inside most of the day. (guess I won't get much of a tan then :( haha) Please pray for me to continue developing relationships with people on the YWAM staff as well as developing relationships with the teens once they get here. Please pray that I would be constantly reminded that I am where God wants me to be. Please pray for me to have peace and strength and energy and understanding as I adapt to this new place.

Thank you to all those who pray for me! :) I sincerely appreciate it! And believe me when I say, that God truly does use those prayers to uplift me and encourage me throughout my day! :) I may not be able to write until the day before I leave, but please continue to pray for me. Check back here to remember what exactly I'm doing that day. God will guide you in a way to pray specifically for me! Thanks again! :)