Day 1 - We are here! (Well...almost)

(From Jack Janigian)

Well, we are glad to tell you that we are here in Jamaica - the journey has been quite interesting, already - but challenges in the journey only make us stronger, right?

For the parents reading this - you know that we arrived at the airport at 3:40 AM today. Unfortunately one of our team members, Kuni, overslept and missed our flight (actually only missed it by about 10 minutes). I share this not as a point of giving Kuni a hard time, but more so to ask for your prayers. He will be traveling Sunday morning to meet up with the team. He will be on his own traveling from Detroit, to Atlanta, to Montego Bay where he will meet up with us on Sunday afternoon. Please pray for his journey on Sunday.

We were quite the pack traveling together as we had 114 bags among the 35 of us. Amazingly enough, 114 made it to Jamaica! However, upon arriving, some of our students were stopped at customs and 27 bags of supplies for the orphanages were confiscated. After sticking around for a little while, it was obvious that they were not going to release these bags, so we went to Fairhaven to check in and start getting moved in for the week. After a short time there, the director of Jamaica Link ministries drove me back to the airport, along with two students - Jordan and Mike - in hopes of getting our bags back. The customs officers started by telling me it would cost $500 in fees to get the bags because they were going to tax our donations. After much negotiating, and a couple hours sitting together in a small sweaty room - they gave us our bags for $136 dollars in taxes.

Tonight, a pastor from Kingston, Jamaica who is also the director for Jamaica Link came and shared his heart with us. We asked him to share the passage of scripture that has affected his life and ministry the most - and he shared Matthew 6:33, and Galatians 2:20. He shared his passion for ministry and his desire to be used by Christ for greatness, and he encouraged our students to pursue Christ with that same passion - and to seek the righteousness of God!

So now we are here - our luggage is here - and we anxiously await our first day of ministry. Tomorrow we will spend the day at West Haven Orphanage. Teaching the kids about Christ, and working on various projects around their campus. Pray for our students to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ, and for God to really use them as they seek after Him.