Community: Together As One

The day started with us heading out to Canaan Primary School located in the town of Dumfries. This is the same community that we played volleyball earlier in the week and is also the school that we visited last year. We arrived and the team lead the David & Goliath devotional. The principal gave a brief introduction of our visit and then allowed us to speak and sing to the students. The students then spoke their school motto, prayed, and we were dismissed to the field for recess. The GAC team had parachutes, kites, soccer balls, and open hearts for serving the children.

After departing the school, we headed to the town of Falmouth, which is the home to Jamaican Olympic runner and world-record holder, Usain Bolt. This town is also important for the country of Jamaica because it is a popular cruise port. Today, the largest ship in the world (Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas) was docked and we drove through town to see it.

We returned to the house for lunch and departed for the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf. This was one of the nicest properties we have seen in Jamaica (property, location, lush green grass, housing facilities, and personnel). Our boys scrimmaged the students and went on to win 5-3. During halftime, all the students participated in an Easter egg hunt with candy. There was a nice misty rain that helped keep our team cool. We played another soccer game against ourselves and the final score was 4-4. This was a very humbling experience and we hope to learn some sign language to allow for better communication next year with the students.

Tonight’s Devotional Group: Grace DeBoer, Jack Zuckerman, Sam Harte, and Will Kenworthy

We started the devotion by reading some verses about community. The verses were Isaiah 42:6-10, Romans 12:3-10, Hebrews 10:24-25, 2 Corinthians 8: 4-5. We connected the verses to the theme of community and led a group prayer.

Shortly following, we led teams of 4 up the stairs one at a time to take part in an obstacle course that we created in one of the rooms.  Each team had a team captain (picked by us) that was allowed to walk through the course using their feet.  However, the rest of the team had to get through the course without using their feet (hands, knees, etc…).  We saw everything from the captain giving piggyback rides to the participants crawling on their knees and hands with their feet up.  At the end, they all had to get into a chair to stop the clock.  There was one more catch; NO TALKING. 

The groups worked furiously to complete the challenge they were given. Many groups chose to walk on their knees, carry piggyback, or make a human wheelbarrow. Many stepped on obstacles and were forced to pay the price. The best team clocked in with the staggering time of 1:26 min. Overall, we were able to bond together and understand a sense of strong community.

It is hard to believe we have only 2 nights left of our trip. Tomorrow is our cultural/free day and we'll be out in the sun/on the water for most of the afternoon. One piece of important information...our returning flight to Atlanta will be leaving 1 hour earlier and our estimated arrival time is 6:02pm on Friday evening. We will have to go through customs and retrieve baggage, but should be out in the INTERNATIONAL terminal between 6:30-7pm.