Community: The Art of Togetherness

Day 2 in Jamaica started with a 6:45am sunrise. The group enjoyed breakfast and began hydrating for the long day ahead. Church service began at 11am in Dumfries at Bethel Baptist Church. The first hour was mostly praise and worship, with the second hour containing the message. The pastor emphasized the sacrifice of the Lord and the forgiveness of sins. One of the activities during the service was welcoming of the group, and that began a five-minute handshake processional around the building. The service ended around 1pm, and sandwich lunches were enjoyed on the bus.

After lunch, the team suited up for our yearly volleyball competition. The competition was decked out in uniforms that had been donated by an American group. The competition was fierce, as the Americans won several games. The Jamaicans fought back and won some as well, including the final game (which they were considering the championship). All in all, it was a greatly community experience through athletics and a few Jamaican afternoon rain showers.  

The evening concluded with the nightly devotional. The theme of community was prepared by Rachel Chupp, Will Kenworthy, and Emeritus Morris. They wanted the team to get to know each other on deeper levels by creating questions that each team member had to answer and then share with their smaller groups. Then points were awarded by correctly answering questions. The game was followed by a reading from Romans 12 and a story was shared by Emeritus about his first encounters with the Jamaica community. It was a great start to the week of student-led devotionals.

Will: "After long hours of tedious planning, we put our two family feud teams to the test. After many challenges and ups and downs for both teams, we discovered we in the end can all come together as a group of individuals with different ideas to make one big family."

Rachel: "Tonight our devotional was centered around community. I realized tonight that we were part of a community today at the church we went to. The Jamaicans welcomed us with open arms and made us feel like we were a part of their community."

E: "Today was a great day from start to finish. I honestly was worn out more by the kids than the actual volleyball game. A long planned and thought out devotional game went well (with a few unexpected but quickly fixed hiccups) and the community feels as strong as ever."

P.S. We are already low on Kool-Aide :(

Stay tuned for our Monday update!