Live Report from our Jamaican Campers on the Scene!

Waa Gwaan?! It's Tonicia and Imani reporting live from JamCamp 2011! Woot! We would say that it's been amazing so far but that doesn't even begin to cut it. From extreme musical chairs to getting creamed in dodgeball [twice] to being spiritually challenged and enriched...the fun never stops. All these things are happening and it's only day 3! Imagine the last 2 days! We're gone for now but we'll be back with more updates. This is Imani and Tonicia signing off! :)

A Jamaican Birthday

So I know Halie blogged about this earlier so everyone probably caught it but this is Jacob and today was my birthday! I came in knowing that it would be a different experience but I didn't know just how much God was going to show me today.

The idea of having a birthday out of the US was strange for me and, to be honest, I woke up with the mindset that I was just going to pretend like it wasn't my birthday at all and just enjoy it when I got home. Boy am I glad that didn't work out though! The Jamaicans have a tradition here of making the birthday person into a cake and, luckily for me they only had the flour since that usually involves eggs as well! I still have flour in my hair but it was pretty hilarious and I loved feeling like a part of the culture here. (Hunter Cook's birthday is in two days and you can just guess who plans on showing him the tradition ;) ) Besides this, I really tried to just be out of myself and continue thinking about the position as a counselor and not as a birthday boy and that is where God really taught me a lot. When you aren't making your birthday into a day of selfishness where you just get to do whatever you want (aka my last 20 birthdays), then you end up getting more encouraged than ever and not just feeling guilty and spoiled. I had an awesome day just getting to know my boys better, attempting to learn Jamaican phrases, and hanging out with the other counselors and the campers here. I couldn't have picked a better place to be for my 21st!

On a side note, I just want to thank my family and everyone at camp who gave me letters or wrote in the notebook that Sara passed around. I was SO encouraged reading it all during my counselor break today and felt so loved and encouraged by every word! You guys are the best and I love you all and wish you could be here in Jamaica to experience camp with us.

Thank you for all of your prayers and please keep them coming! Relationships are being formed so fast and God is really moving in the hearts of all the Jamaicans and Americans here at camp.

Much love,
- Jacob R (MrJFreshest)

Photo Shoot with #yapeople

@scubadoooba and @dontfailthehale taking some photos on our "counselor break"

Let The Rain Fall Down

So far we've had an incredible day. it's yaboys @MrJFreshest (Jacob) birthday today so we kicked off our day singing happy birthday to him and some of the jamaicans informed us that the thing to do here is make a cake on the person...so we proceeded to throw flour on him, he had a good attitude about it :) about 10 of us just got back inside from playing in the rain. it was POURING! so we started dancing and singing in the rain. we had so many girls out there (the boys thought they were too cool to join in) but that was only the beginning of the fun. we then went to the area where we play dodgeball where none other than Emily Shapiro led us all to a slip-n-mud. by the time we stood up we couldn't tell what was mud and what was blood....(there were only a couple knee scrapes, nothing major.) we had a BLAST! but we then had to figure out how to get all the grass off all of us so that we wouldn't drag it through the cabin and clog the showers (see, us counselors, ALWAYS thinking!) so we got buckets and very patiently waited while it filled up from the slowest dripping of a spigot. eventually we got cleaned up enough to make it to the shower. and you'll never believe it, compared to the rain, the showers felt WARM! we were so excited! we got all warm and are now sipping on mugs of coffee and peppermint tea. yagirl has had an awesome time! ~Halie

From Uncomfortable To Ballin'!!

This is ya boy comin' at ya live from JamCamp XI! We are having an amazing time thus far. Yesterday was such an interesting experience for me. Camp is not a place I am used to feeling uncomfortable. For the first time ever at camp, I was the outsider. I couldn't understand what my kids or co-counselor was saying and what I did understand didn't really make sense to me. After expressing my insecurities with my boys (I have 15 and 16 year olds), God has really opened my heart. I have been able to connect with my boys and have so enjoyed the time we have had together. I played my first official game of futbol today. Had about 10 shots on goal but no goals, yet. I will score a goal in a futbol dominated country. The food has been awesome. There is no Mrs. Debbie here so there is no portion control... many people have thoroughly enjoy helping after helping. It has been so cool to see the young counselors grow up really quickly and I am already really impressed with a few of them. My co-counselor (His name is Gino) is going to be an incredible force here at JamCamp and beyond that. He has an amazing heart to serve the children and has a bright future leading the counselors here at camp. We all miss home but are glad to be doing God's true work. I specifically want to say that I miss my mommy, daddy, and the rest of my family! We will see you before you know it! Please keep us in your prayers and respond to our blogs, it's awesome to hear responses!

Stephen (Scuba) Goodwin

Thanks, Jeff

Swamp Corps

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"Making Memories, Creating Character"

A Week of Firsts.

Hey everyone, this Creighton Arrington blogging. Well it's the first full of day camp and everything is just awesome. I really and truly am grateful for being able to get this chance to be here in Jamaica with the teen ministry. I really miss my family and I wish they were here with me right now enjoying the trip with me, however, there are other important things I have to worry about; the better word I guess is not worried but concerned about. What I mean is that this is the first time that I've ever been a counselor. Another first is that I've never been out of the country and even more I've never flown before. Going in order so far, counseling is great, the kids I have is fun and they seem to listen, follow the majority of the directions they're given; we have plenty of days to work on that. Being out of the country is definitely a different experience. However the flying, is certainly something I did not enjoy; I liked the second flight from Miami to Kingston more than the first mainly because it was night time by then, so I could not see anything out the windows on either side, and I got a pair of headphones from one of my friends so I could watch the inflight entertainment. Another first was that I was the first one in the group to get sick, I had a nasty stomach ache, but I'm fine now after throwing up last night; I got sick mainly because I was really dehydrated and I think one of the sauces I had yesterday, which tasted good to me, did not agree with my stomach. Finally, the last two firsts for this week, so far, is that my boys and I had our first challenge and dominated, and also this is the first time I have ever blogged. Hope everything is still fine over in the states and in a way I can't wait to get home, but I really don't want to leave. I will try to blog latter, bye.

DANCE PARTY!!!!!!

Tonight we started off just how we ended last year, high energy and a lot of sweat. First we danced in circles while playing musical chairs, were yours truly made it into the last chair (but it was hard, everybody was really working for it haha). Then after that everybody got on the dance floor; Americans and Jamaicans alike; but it wasn't long before you could tell whose who. And of course, we had total swag, playing both Jamaican and American music, everybody was happy. Now we just cant wait till the end of the week were we can really let loose! Love from Jamaica, Jessica Williams

It's their arrival time!

         We are SO EXCITED, words cannot even begin to express the amount of joy we have at the opportunity to be counselors here in Jamaica. Taking a tour of the grounds again this morning put everything into perspective. We can't wait to see the character building that will happen this week. We also can't wait to give our hearts completely to this mission and our campers.
        Being here makes us so grateful for God's artistic side. The view from up here in the mountain is ABSOLUTELY incredible. We  can see EVERYTHING! God is SO big! At night we can see the city lit up, and countless numbers of stars. It just makes us realize how small we are and how powerful God is.
        They're almost here. It's now time for us to take off our camper hat, and put on our counselor hat. It's time to give fully of ourselves. It's time to inspire, and get inspired. It's time for JamCamp 2011.

                                                                                    Love always,
                                                                        Jamie Perello and McCall Ponder

Bus. Road. Black Sand.

We have arrived at the restaurant where we are all waiting to eat. Naturally things are taking a little longer than we are used to but we are trying to adjust to being here. The restaurant (called Jack Sprat) is right on a beach with what they call black sand. The water is wonderful and is the perfect temperature. Some of the people decided to get in the water and swim while we wait for our food. We have been traveling a lot over the last few days. We have spent around 4 and a half hours on a bus and in and out of Juicie Patti (the McDonalds of Jamaica) where we all ate delicious beef patties. After we eat, we are headed up to the camp. The ride is sure to be a little more terrifying now that it is dark, but like everything we are doing, it is a fun adventure. Kids come tomorrow and after two days of traveling we're all ready to settle in and have JamCamp. Love and miss you all! Stephen G.

Progress Update: Eating Dinner by the Ocean...

That last post was written around 2:30 pm but didn't get posted until a few minutes ago.

We are eating at a restaurant called Jack Sprats by the ocean. Very beautiful. Some of us went for a swim in the ocean. Nice!

From here we will go the camp about 45 minutes away.

We are all safe and having a blast.

Jeff