Trip of a Life Time

Jamaica Deaf Village. It really was the trip of a life time. I am going to share a bit of what we did while we were down there, talk about a few of the people we met, and maybe even tell a story or two of things that happened. But no matter how hard I try you will never fully understand how... how wonderfully amazing our week was. The only way you will ever now is to experience it for yourself. Something I would strongly encourage everyone to do. It will change your life in one way or another. So with that said... Here is a little taste of our week in Jamaica!
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To start off with this was our group. There was about forty of us that went this year. This group was unique in the fact that it was made up of three families, a few singles, and a few couples. Which was a lot of fun. The Variety in age added a little spice to the group. :)

This building is one of places we worked at while there. It is also the same building that my dad, mom, and two brothers work on five years ago. At that time they were working on the foundation . Yes, construction is a bit different in Jamaica. :) But for Jamaica this building has come a long way really fast.

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The Trip There


It was so fun to watch the kiddos. They had no embarrassment in showing there excitement. For a few of them it was even there first time flying.

The excitement was evenly distributed but it showed itself in different ways. :)

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At the Work Site

Most of the young girls were asigned the task of "sanding" the concrete walls. When I say sand I am refering to taking a piece of concrete brick with a good grip on it and rubbing it on a concrete wall to produce a smooth feel. It is not labor intense work or even very hard work but extremely time consuming. (and a bit discouraging).

Some of the ladies on the trip worked in the sewing room with the ladies that lived in the village.

The men and boys on the trip mainly worked on adding onto the factory building. They dug out the foundation and poured the concrete in the few days that we were there.

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The Friendships Made

That was one of the best parts of the trip meeting new people.

My mom and Simone. They really hit it off while we were there and ever since then have kept in contact. Simone is so enthusiastic and loved teaching my mom more sign language.

'A', Nikki, and I.

'A' lives there and is the missionary's daughter.

I miss her so much.

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Game Time!

Spoons was the absolute favorite of the week.

Below is Marvin. He is EXTREMELY competitive and will be sure to tell you when you are going to slow. :)

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V.B.S.

Us girls planned and did a VBS for the children that live there. They are absolutely the sweetest most loveable children ever.

They loved the novelty of taking pictures and then looking at the picture.

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The Orphanage

We visited an orphanage in Jamaica. It was the first orphanage I had ever been to and was a bit smaller than my imagination pictured. There was about 25 children there some of which were handicapped. For Jamaica it was a very well cleaned, kept up place. But even then comparing that to what I am used to I wanted a shower when I left.

It was mostly babies there and it turned out perfect because there was one baby for every person that went to the orphanage. They were so sweet.

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YS Falls

Friday was our day off and so we went to the water falls. They were breathttaking!

A few of the men (which included my dad and brother) rode on the zip line.

Some of us hiked the falls.

The younger boys enjoyed the rope swing.

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The Beauty

Everything there is so gorgeous!

Yes, this is a weed. :) But a pretty and unique one at that. :)

A banana tree.. Can you tell?

So there you have it. I wish I could tell you everything about that week that made is so special but that would take a while.

I myself am longing to go back. But we will just have to see.

Kay