Lord, be my Guide and my Protector.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

and that the time of the Lord's favor has come."

                               [Luke 4:18-19, NLT]

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http://g8.no/247-the-gambia-series-i

Well... this is probably going to be my last post until the end of February. I board a plane in three hours and will be on my way to The Gambia, West Africa. Even now... as I am all packed and ready to go, it hasn't really hit me yet. I have been given the opportunity to go and serve in a place they call "the ends of the earth," a place that has potentially never seen a foreigner, a place where 90% of its people are Muslims living in fear and bondage, a place that is in desperate need of Jesus Christ. Though we don't know exactly what God has in store for us, our mission is simple; we are going to Africa to love and to serve. Through this, I truly believe that God is going to preform miracles.


There are a few things we really need some prayer for.


1. Travel mercies. We leave here around noon (Dec. 31st) and won't be arriving in The Gambia until about noon on January 2nd. We will be bringing in the New Year 30,000 ft. above the Atlantic on our way to Manchester, England, where we will spend one whole day before taking off to the Gambia.


2. Another route of travel. We found out last night that the UK transit visas we have eagerly been waiting for were all denied. This means that unless God provides another way to get there, all of the Jamaican students who need the visa will not be joining us in The Gambia. It is possible to go through the US, but ticket prices are exceeding $5,000. Because of this complication, our group of 12 has been cut in half to 6:
        Our leaders John and Danya
        Myself and Morgan from the USA
        Katie and Allison from Canada 
God is already showing us a way that our Mexican, Eddie, and Jamaicans, Jackie, Gabby, and Denzil, could possibly be joining us in about a week... just pray that it goes through.


3. Protection. We aren't going to be staying in fancy hotels, eating proper meals, driving a nice jeep, or having police escorts wherever we go. We could quite possibly be sleeping on the red dirt in a village that has no electricity or running water, eating out of a community bowl of rice and penut sauce, traveling by public transportation and foot, and in a place where the laws of the tribes are the laws of the lands. My mind is at total ease about this. Why? I find my peace in Romans 8:31, which asks "If our God is for us, then what can stand against us?"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Since we are not sure whether or not we are going to have electricity, my ability to communicate (if at all) will be very limited. I have asked my parents to check my email regularly, so if there is anything you would like to tell me, they will somehow try to find a way to relay the message to me.


I will continue to keep a daily journal so that I can share with you my wonderful experiences and stories when I get back to Jamaica.


Thank you all for your support. It makes it so much easier to go on an adventure like this when I know that I have people thinking and praying about me. I truly wouldn't be able to do this if it weren't for you.


I love you Mom and Dad. You will never know how much I appreciate your commitment to me.

PEACH.

Ohhh Christmas

I almost didn't even do a post about this... mostly because this season has felt nothing like Christmas. I found that I associate Christmas with a few key things:

1. my family
2. Christmas lights
3. relaxing
4. Christmas Eve candlelight service
5. tree in the living room
6. Home Alone (1 & 2 but not 3 or 4)
7. stockings
8. cold weather 
9. Christmas music
10. turkey and mashed potatoes

Unfortunately, none of these were a part of my Christmas this year, but, thankfully, it made me appreciate even more all of the things I have back home. It also made me focus more on the "real meaning of Christmas." That phrase has become so cliché that it hurts me to use it, but I must. What I have discovered is that when I think about Christmas, I make a mental list like the one above... but where does Christ fit in? Now, I'm not saying that any of these things on my list are bad. But what happens if I dont have any of these things at Christmastime? Well, that is exactly what I experienced, and after some sulking and feeling sorry for myself, I actually learned something. This whole thing of Christ being born has been very prettied up in our society. In our eyes, it is a time of comfort, indulging, and beautiful lights. I doubt that Mary, Joseph, and the others involved had the same view as we do. Jesus was born in a manger, probably filthy and very uncomfortable. There probably wasn't a huge spread of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, candied yams, glazed ham, and all of the other delicacies we enjoy. And, probably the only lights that were available were the stars, the moon, and maybe a candle. So yeah, maybe I was a little uncomfortable and didn't get everything I expected to get on Christmas, but I was able to enjoy the best gift of all - the opportunity to have an intimate and personal day with my Lord.

Having said all of this........... I did get to do some fun stuff during my week off. Here are some pics of what I got to enjoy :)
                                                                                                        

Love Feast

                                                                                                       

Like I said in my last post, we had a Love Feast here at our base. It was an awesome time of fellowship with friends and family who help make this place run. We also had everyone here from the other YWAM base and a bunch of people from the community.

My Christmas meal: Jerked chicken, macaroni salad,
regular salad, sweet potato, and Sorrel

Carol May

                                                                                                        

Negril

                                                                                                        

Now, this day was fun. A few of us foreigners decided to head to Negril for a day. Negril is a very touristy town with a beautiful beach. If I ever were to come back to Jamaica as a tourist, this is where I would stay.

I call this one Hats
Negril Beach

Ricks Café. Quite possibly the coolest place
I have ever been to. It is a cafe built on the cliffs
around a crystal clear 25ft. deep pool of ocean. Legit.

where I cut my foot on a sea urchin XD

Beautiful sunset to end a wonderful day.

                                                                                                       

Dolphin Cove

                                                                                                        

I spent the break at my roommate William's house and we got hooked up. William's brother works at a place called Dolphin Cove... an expensive tourist attraction in Ocho Rios. The pictures and video speak louder than any words can :) Very fun, though. And the best part was that it was free!

sorry about the bad quality... the footage was pretty low key.

 watch in higher quality for better sound :)

                                                                                                        

Christmas Day

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

Like I said... it wasn't too bad. I definitely missed hanging out with my family though. Leaving for Africa in 3 days! Pray that I get all of my college apps in and stuff before then. I will be doing one more post before I leave :)

Update!

Hey everyone. I hope you are all doing well. Here’s an update of what I have been doing the past couple weeks and some of the exciting things to come!

This is my last week of class before outreach. It is crazy to think that I will be in The Gambia in less than 3 weeks!

This Friday, our base is having our annual Love Feast. We are inviting a bunch of people from the community, from our street feedings, and friends to come and enjoy a huge Christmas meal with us. You will definitely see a post about this soon.

Now… some stories :)

                                                                                                        

Blue Mountain

                                                                                                        

Hightest point in Jamaica. Nbd.
Blue Mountain Peak
(7402 ft)

When they suggested taking a trip to Blue Mountain, I was all over the opportunity. Blue Mountain is known here in Jamaica for its coffee. It is also the highest mountain range in Jamaica. What the plan entailed was hiking, camping in a high mountain cabin, and more hiking. This is the kind of stuff I live for, so I was very excited.

Overall, the whole experience was awesome - just way different than I thought it was going to be. We decided it would be best if we made the trip just for the men. 10 of us piled into the truck and made the 5 hour trip through Kingston to Blue Mountain. By the time we got to the trailhead, it was 10:00pm. But… I guess in Jamaica… this is the prime time to hike? So we hiked in the pitch dark, through thick rainforest, across rivers, with only what we could carry on our backs. After 9 miles of hiking, we finally reached the cabin at about 3:30am the next morning. Now… I had the mindset that there was no cold that I couldn’t handle… especially in Jamaica. All I will say is that for the next time we go… I am bringing a nice jacket. At about 2:00am it began to rain and it didn’t stop until about 5:00am the next morning. It was only about 45 degrees out, but the wetness made it feel much colder. We did, however, end up hiking the 3 extra miles to the peak the last day we were there. Though it was foggy and cloudy… we were able to get a glimpse of the ocean on our way down. The trip was definitely worth it. The best place I can find time to think is up in the mountains, so I will take any chance I get.

sketchy

our cabin straight out of A Beautiful Mind

fresh coffee beans!

the trail

our cabin was in that saddle

mmm chicken

some crazy guy we picked up on the way down :)

nice view on the way down

                                                                                                        

Stones Hope

                                                                                                        

For class last week we were not at our base in Montego Bay, but at the other YWAM base here in Jamaica. It is called Stones Hope and is located in Mandeville. Mandeville is considered “country”, and rightly so. There was so much space and it was a great break from the city. The internet was awful, but that was just one more distraction I didn’t really have to worry about. And the stars… the stars were amazing. We sat out almost every night just to watch for shooting stars.

While at Stones Hope, we went out one day to evangelize. I met a man named Answer outside of a rum bar (very common here) and I could tell he was already drunk. My Jamaican friend Jodie was with me and we just started to get to know the guy. After a few minutes of talking, we found out that this man lives with his brother and farms in the area. Every time he looked into my eyes, I saw something. I saw such an emptiness… such a loneliness. As we continued to talk, Answer told us that he and his wife used to own a huge house and that he used to go to church. The way he was talking about himself compared to the way he looked was very different. As the conversation got deeper, we found out that his wife left him, took his house, took his money, took the kids, and pretty much just kicked him out. Any time we tried to talk about her, Answer became very defensive. Apparently, this whole thing happened about 4 years ago and since then he has been on a downward slope. We talked for maybe an hour in all, but I know we changed this man’s life. I could tell that it had been so long since he had such a warm conversation. Jodie asked Answer if she could pray for him and give him a hug. I saw this rough, defensive man melt in her arms. By the time we were about to leave, Answer was completely sober and he threw out the rest of his rum. We connected him with one of the Stones Hope base leaders, and he is going to try to get his life back.

 I have been thinking about Answer a lot since then. I’ve realized that one of if not the biggest tools we have is love.
                          “Whoever does not love does not know God, 
                                      because God is love.” [1 John 4:8]
Why are so many people turned off by Christians? Simple. The focus a lot of time is too centered on preaching when really we should be loving. It would have been no use to preach to Answer. In fact, he probably knows more about the Bible than I do. We simply showed him love… gave him time… listened to him. And that emptiness I saw at first was shifted dramatically by the time we left.

                                                                                                        

Knife!

                                                                                                        

Here’s a pretty sweet testimony. As we were having church on the beach the other week, we came face to face with some intense spiritual warfare. As we were worshiping, we saw three men standing at the entrance of the beach. One of the men looked at us and walked up to Dane (standing up in the blue). He had in his hand a 14inch, freshly sharpened kitchen knife. He put the knife to Dane and told him to give him all of his valuables. The music stopped, and we all pretty much just sat there in shock. Was this man really going to rob all of us? I took this picture right before the man came over, so I couldn’t really hear what was being said from my position. As I began to put my camera in my backpack and stand up, I see Danya (one of our leaders) standing up right in front of this man. I started walking toward them, and the man raised the knife above his head like he was going to stab Danya. I couldn’t believe this was happening. We all started praying… but Danya didn’t even flinch. She looked him in the eyes, and pretty much said that he had no authority to do what he was doing. The man looked at Danya, looked at all of us, lowered the knife, and began to back away. A lot more goes into this story, but the lesson is clear. Danya recognized that this was something more than just a physical threat, but also a spiritual attack.
                  “The light shines in the darkness, 
                    and the darkness cannot overcome it.” [John 1:5]
All believers have the authority to deal aggressively with the enemy. And when we do, he has no other option but to leave. If you want to know more about all of this… feel free to ask me.

                                                                                                        


I think this is enough for tonight. Please stay in prayer that all of our Gambia stuff (visas & funds) comes in soon. Feel free to drop by and say hey!


<3

No Shave November

No shave November? Never again.

Enjoy!

P.S.- Crazy story attached to November 28th when we had church on the beach. 

It involves one of these

But, for suspense sake (and because I have to work on a book report), I will tell it in a later post :)

Watch the vid in HD for best experience! Or in 480p for almost best! Or ummm watch it on Youtube? Or just watch it here. Quality is nbd. 

Love you all :)

I am so blessed.

What am I thankful for? This.

My family means more to me than anything. It is amazing how I can be 3,000 miles away from home... and still be able to spend Thanksgiving with those who I care about the most. I still don't understand why I am so blessed. My family gives me such strength. Sitting here in Jamaica, holding my family's hands over Skype, and being able to pray over their Thanksgiving meal... it blows me away how good God has been to me. My family is my biggest encouragement. No matter what struggles we have been through, we have always remained strong. My parents have set such a strong foundation for the way I view life... there is nothing I could ever do to pay them back for everything they have done for me. I have the most welcoming, warming, beautiful family in the world. I love you all... more than you could ever imagine. Thank you for always being there for me.

___________________________________________________________

Thanksgiving in Jamaica? I think yes!

It is nice to have school leaders who are American and Jamaican-American. They prepared for us a delicious Thanksgiving meal. We even sang the American National Anthem! I hope all of you had a chance to spend quality time with your families and really reflect on everything we have to be thankful for. Here are some pictures of our festivities. 

It was so nice... we ate outside :)

Alison (Canada) and Kat (Korea)

Not quite the traditional... but
Danya is an amazing cook.

Chicken, pumpkin soup, scalloped potatoes,
sweet potato salad, green bean casserole... mmmm.

Classic pumpkin pie made by:
Yours truly. (Me) with minimal help... :)

Love you all!

Kingston & Beyond

I hope all of you (that have started) are enjoying your Thanksgiving break! I wish I could say that I was enjoying mine... if only the Pilgrams landed in Jamaica too. Oh well.
I never put up anything about my trip to Kingston... so here is a little update :)

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Country Bus to Kingston

Eddie, William, and I got to go up to Kingston a day before everyone else to scope things out and make a few preparations. We took a "country bus" on the 4 hour ride, which was definitely an experience. I learned two things on this journey. The first thing I learned about was the closeness and sense of family that the Jamaican people share and express. Apart from being physically close, something happened that showed the camaraderie of these people. As we were recklessly driving along (which, first off, is an understatement), I glanced out the window and saw what looked like some kind of police checkpoint. A couple of cars were pulled over and there were a good 15 heavily armed JCF officers. When I say heavily armed... I mean helmets, bullet proof vests, and AK-47s. As I continue to watch, I see one of the officers step out into the road and wave the bus to pull over. All I was thinking was, "Great. We're all going to get thrown into Jamaica prison and I'm never going to see my family again." Thankfully, that was not the case. They did, however, evacuate the whole bus and search everyone's bags. A few of the men wondered up a ways to use the facilities (bushes), and then we all got back on the bus. Suddenly, there was a stir. As one of the officers was searching a box full of bananas and oranges, he stumbled upon $50,000 J worth of ganja hidden beneath. The man to whom it belonged managed to ditch the crowd while the other men were using the bushes, so the officers began pursuit. Everyone then got back on the bus, and we went off. No harm done. We drove for about 5 minutes, and out of nowhere, people started yelling and pointing out the window. Turns out, the man who owned all of the weed had escaped, caught a taxi ahead of the bus, and was trying to catch the bus again! As I began to think, “there is no way we would ever pick up this criminal,” the bus slams on its breaks, flips it in reverse, does a J turn, and goes and picks the man up! When we picked him up... everyone cheered like he was a hero? This was the second thing I learned about Jamaica: People are more willing to help out a criminal than submit to the authorities. Its one of the reasons why every single window in the nation has to have iron bars welded over them.

__________________________________________________________

The lights of Kingston

Tastee Patties. Delicious. 

__________________________________________________________

"Studying" at UWI

One of the things we did a lot in Kingston was hang out on the university campuses. Our goal was pretty much just to talk to people. Most people we talked to were really open with us and we were able to speak encouragement and truth into their lives. A few of us also had an opportunity to sit in on a spanish class at the University of the West Indies. I thought we were going to just sit in with them and observe, but we ended up running the class. Eddie is from Mexico, so the professor called him up and the whole class was able to ask him questions. Eddie got to share his testimony... in Spanish... and all of the students were genuinely interested. The professor then called me up and let the students ask me questions. I tried to answer everything in Spanish... but I ended up just making a fool out of myself like always. It was really fun though. We took up the whole hour of class and were able to talk to some of the students after. 

__________________________________________________________

Beautiful Sunrise

One thing I loved about Kingston was the morning time. Since I didn't have to make breakfast, I was able to get up and relax. I woke up at 4am every morning, made some coffee, and had the best quiet time. It was easy for me to wake up because we were staying on a concrete floor in a church. Everyone else would wake up around 6:30, we'd have our morning meeting, breakfast, and be out on the road by 8:30.

Just a normal fish, boiled banana, and
yam breakfast.

Prayer walk to UWI

__________________________________________________________

Our team also did a lot of street ministry. We would go to a park, public square, or shopping center, and just strike up conversations with people. At some places we would find a place to sit and start jammin. 

Have you ever heard of a Rasta? I'm sure you know of Bob Marley, the most famous and influential Rasta in recent Jamaican history.The trem Rasta describes someone who is a part of the Rastafarian Movement, a religious movement  that started in the early 1930's. They pretty much believe that a man named Haile Selassie is a direct descendent of David, just like Jesus, and that he is the Messiah. Most, however,  

either don't believe in Jesus, or believe that Selassie and Jesus are brothers. We talked to many Rasta men in Kingston. They love to talk and reason with people. It is sad because though a lot of Rastas live by the "one love" motto, many of them are lost, alone, and depressed, so they turn to weed for comfort.

__________________________________________________________

My favorite days in Kingston were when we got to go to primary (middle-high) schools. The first school we went to is called School of Hope. It is an alternative school for kids with mental and emotional problems. I was able to sit in on a music class, and man some of those kids are talented. You could tell that they all had problems, but once the music started, they were the happiest kids in the world. 

School of Hope

The second school we went to was a small Christian school in Trenchtown. Trenchtown is where Bob Marley grew up, where reggae and rocksteady music began, the birthplace of Rastafarianism, and is pretty rough in some areas. We sang some songs, did a drama, then some of us played a nice hot game of futbol. These are the kinds of things I LOVE to do.

Operation Restoration Christian School

__________________________________________________________

Those are just a few small glimpses of what I experienced in Kingston. I could have spent more time there though... maybe someday I can go back :)

__________________________________________________________

This is really cool. Some of the local Christian reggae and hiphop artists are having a huge concert event this Saturday, and they are involving our YWAM base. They are called A Betta Tomorrow, and every concert they do is free. Friday night they did a little pre-concert teaser in the city square, and it was awesome. 

__________________________________________________________

Sorry this was such a long one... but a lot is happening! Thank you all for your prayers and support. It is not going unnoticed. If you haven't had a chance to give one of my update letters to everyone you know, here is the link to download it

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaa

Please stay in prayer for Gram. Also, I am applying to Wake Forrest University in North Carolina... so pray that I can get accepted and that I can get a bomb scholarship or something.

I hope all is well and I love you all!

No food goes uneaten with Sean and John

Expelliarmus!

Our bed / wrestling arena in Kingston

Not posed at all...

It's a bee... :D

Pro photographer... nbd.

Stacey-Ann and Jodie 

Tired after playing guitar for 2 hours at street feeding :)

In case you forgot:
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