Coming at you from Jamaica! Today we went to Clifton’s Boys Home. We rode in a van for an hour, twisting and turning through the mountains. We watched as houses passed by and people went about their daily lives. We all dozed off from the bumps lulling us to sleep.

When we arrived at the mission site, we found that it was an old Baptist church. Our job was to repaint the outside in order to make it look more presentable. The sanctuary was unique. The speakers were hung from the ceiling by cages and the hymn numbers were posted at the front of the sanctuary on a board. The paint we were using was oil-based paint and our hands were all sticking to everything. The people had to go get paint thinner for us. A few boys from the boys home came to help us paint and they made it a lot more fun. They were playing music and jamming to it and it was amusing to watch.

The boys home, unfortunately, burned down seven months ago, so they were forced to move into a local church. There are 27 boys and three employees that are all living in two rooms that are about the size of the Kairos room. We spent the remainder of the afternoon spending time with the boys. We were playing games like Topple, Connect 4, Checkers, and Uno. Anna, Emily, Marcus, and Ella were playing the Uno game and it lasted an hour and a half. No one won.

Overall, it was a really great day and this is an amazing experience. We want to thank everyone who helped us travel to Jamaica.

Anna Schornack (author)and the rest of the group that approved of her blogpost: Ella Schornack, Sydney Lichty, Emily Tripp, Mia Suzuki, Marcus Cramer, Ethan Smith, Maggie Walls, Megan Leland, Nick Sanders, Carl Cramer and Janette Reeves.

I had a great day with the group today.  The ride to the church provided more adrenaline then the four cups of Jamaican coffee I had for breakfast.  It reminded me of when I played Pole Position on the old Sega System.  It was great to see Marcus and Mia jump into using the roller painters on the outside of the church.  Ethan and I had fun painting the windows, over and over, since the wood was soaking up the paint faster than we could apply it.  The trip to the boy’s home was interesting.  It was great to hear that the boys at the home are not allowed to have phones until they turn 14 and even then they are required to maintain good grades to keep their phones.   I don’t feel as bad as a parent making our boys wait until they were in 6^th grade before they got their phones.  As a parent, it was also great to hear that all the boys had to complete chores every day.   As for the heat and humidity, I hear that we were not as warm or as humid as Minnesota today.  Another great reason to have spent today in Jamaica.

Having fun,

Carl

p.s. Young adult leader, Samantha Sanders, celebrated her 21st birthday today with us in Jamaica! She’s a keeper.