Hello from Jamaica! I am posting from the lovely home of our Jamaican host family but you will not see it right away because there is no internet connection here. There is also no air conditioning, which is not at all unusual in Kingston. We were spoiled to have it at night during our stay in Montego Bay and we will be back there next week, but for now I am having flashbacks to 30 years ago when I was growing up. We didn’t have central air then and I remember sleeping with the windows open every night. The view here is gorgeous, though, as we are up on a mountain looking down on the city lights.
The biggest culture challenge for me is definitely the lack of an internet connection. And if it is an issue for me, imagine how the four people on our team in their twenties and below are handling it, including my daughter, Christina. They have been completely cut off for most of a day now. Hopefully, we will have a chance to ‘connect’ sometime today.
The first day was a grueling travel day, up at 3am; flight to Baltimore; flight to Montego Bay where we dropped off some VBS materials for later in the trip; and a very long bus ride across the island to Kingston. The distance from Montego Bay to Kingston is not that far, but the trip takes awhile crossing mountains on bad roads – about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. We stopped a couple to times along the way at some food stands to get some fresh pineapple, mini bananas, and sugar cane. Friday night was our first chance to do a few songs at the church we are holding a conference at while here and that went well. By the time, we got to our host home that night at about 9:30 (10:30 USA time,) I was toast.
Looking forward to a good day of ministry on Saturday as we train worship leaders and instrumentalists and share some fun time together.
Here is the fruit stand we stopped at on the way to Kingston. The pineapple was out of this world! But you take your life into your hands shopping next to this busy highway.
This was the first lunch we had in Jamaica. Beef patties in coco bread washed down with Tru-Juice. Love it!
