Leaving is always a hard thing to do.  You are excited to return home to what is familiar but are sad to leave the place you have become attached to.  A large group of people came to see us off, both children from the camp and adults we had worked with.  More hugs were given and questions asked of “When will you return?”  I hope that all of us get a chance to come back to Accompong at some point in the future, but probably in a different capacity of service.  JACOM is doing great things in the community and trying to make sure whatever is done is completed with equity in mind […]

Good evening from Jamaica!  We made it through our long day!  Our morning started off with a walk into town to visit the community center where a couple local artists had their crafts out for us.  One of them was our tour guide, Taishan, and the other was Tyrone, whose family makes drums.  Three of the youth had already bought drums from Tyrone!  The crafts we were able to purchase were mostly jewelry.  Taishan told Jordan that I could pick out a piece for our anniversary; it was so sweet of him!  It was also great to meet the people who made the crafts we purchased.

We were also able go into the museum in the community […]

Well hello there my friendly friends. This is Connor from Jamaica speaking. I just wanted to share some of my highlights and thoughts from this mission trip so far.

One of my favorite things so far was sitting on the beach at night watching the storm roll in and listening to the waves. It is so beautiful here in Accompong. I have considered moving here after high school and helping out with these kids. The churches have done a lot to help these kids and provide the camp for them. It is so amazing to me how much the kids love us.

It feels so good to see a kid’s face light up when you […]

Well…It is finished, MAD camp is done.  We have said our goodbyes and we are preparing to leave.  Our morning started with a hike to “Tony’s Place” or the retreat center that JACOM is hoping to update and use.  We had our morning guard walk with and guide us on the tour as it is farther out from town.  He also provided a lot of knowledge about the retreat area and its history.  It was built by a man from the US who had a dream with his wife to open a retreat center in Jamaica.  His wife passed away from cancer before this dream was realized.  He sold his things and moved […]

As a teacher, I have loved seeing how our youth have been caring leaders for the campers.  They have experienced a lot of moments that I have during my teaching career, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  This morning Tori and Mallory described an incident they witnessed between one of the campers and an adult.  After hearing about it, I am not sure how I would have reacted in the situation either.  They were both looking for an answer to why the adult acted they way they did.  While my answer may not be exact, I tried to describe to them that sometimes people don’t give second, third, or fourth chances to […]

Thank you for your prayers, God certainly was working in our group today!  The adults decided to let the youth sleep in today as we were running ragged after the first day of MAD Camp.  We ate breakfast at 9:00, so even the breakfast crew was able to sleep in.  We took our time with clean up and devotions.  We were then able to take some time to make a plan of attack for MAD Camp day 2.

After a lunch of quesadillas made by Connor and Mallory, we got down to business with camp.  During food prep, Connor made the comment that he was glad they are able to participate in the cooking as he […]

Ay, It’s Noah

I got plenty of highlights including playing with all the lil guys and lil girls. Accompong has been a pretty solid location and I would like to thank God and JCOM for that. Accompong has so many great people that are so friendly. Playing soccer with the kids is an everyday exciting thing. Most of the time everybody has a smile on there face and that puts a even bigger one on mine. M.A.D. Camp has been great with myself and Tanner leading the games. Are group has been awesome and wouldn’t ask for a better group than this one. God Bless!
Love,
Noah Hanson

History Day!

We spent our morning in a guided tour with Taishan.  We learned about the history of the Maroon people and Accompong.  The Maroon people had to make peace amongst themselves before they were able to gain independence from the British.  They signed their own peace treaty among three tribes at the “Kindah” tree.  The Maroon people fought the British for 50 years.  Taishan told us that they signed their peace treaty with the British in 1738 and the rest of Jamaica gained independence in 1739, six months after the Maroons.  We learned about the rituals done at the January 6th independence ceremony.  No visitors are allowed unless a village elder invites them.  Taishan is […]

My highlight today was being able to play soccer and throw balls with the children.  It was great to see all the smiles and laughter coming from them.  it was also nice to see the town of Accompong while walking to church. I love you all! Tanner.

Greetings from Jamaica!