Praising Jesus!!!

Its raining!!!

Its coming down so hard and so loud! I love it!
Thank You Jesus for the Rain!

Happy Easter

Easter Sunday I got to attend church at Open Bible Church
in St. Elizabeth. As I sat and "heard" the Easter message
my heart smiled, I had been able to talk to my family and nephews
before church and the only thing that was missing that makes
it really feel like Easter was yearly hearing the song
"Up From the Grave He Arose".
Then just as church was finishing up I heard "He Arose...
He Arose... Hallelujah Christ Arose!" The church next
door was singing "Up from the Grave He Arose"
and my Easter was complete!

After church we took Easter Pictures

The Beautiful Bent family that I had the privilege
to spend the weekend with.
(Tashi I picked THIS family picture just for you!:)

Me and Tashi

Everton my new friend (what he is signing) and I.
Blake wanted a picture with him so I took there picture,
then he wanted a picture with me so we took a picture:)

This is a little part of the Easter service
at Open Bible Church. Because some people
sign JSL and some are Country Signers there
are always two people up front one signing in
JSL and one signing Country sign so everyone
gets fed by the message shared.



To start off the Easter service Everton came
up and shared with us the Easter Story. He
never went to school. Doesn't read or write,
BUT he knows his bible. He shared this story
in church then during fellowship time after church
he continued to share story's from the bible with us.

Wedding Photographer

This past Sat. I got to play wedding photographer.
I didn't know these people but a friend asked me
to take the pictures for her brother's wedding
and I was thankful I could help out a friend.

I was given a program when I arrived
(of course I was the only whitey) and thus
learned the names of whose wedding I was at.

Meet Shava and Rohan

Their wedding party did a little dance as they entered.
The bridesmaid walked half way in where the groomsmen
met her, she then pinned his flower on and he bowed, then
he gave her her flowers and she bowed, then they did a little
twirl dance move and hooked arms to walk the rest of the way
down the isle.

I tried to get as much info on what was "expected" of me
before the wedding but they just kept saying
"your the photographer" so I spent the entire time walking
around getting different shots (along with everyone else
who had a camera:) There was another photographer there
and I feel like he felt he had to compete with me a little as
I would walk around talking shooting and when I would
turn around he was there trying to get the same shot.
After the wedding when I had a chance to talk to him and
he found out I was a missionary and not a photographer:)

the pastor during the service... yep I was standing right there
beside him feeling a little odd doing so to get pictures,
but there where about 5 others with point and shoot cameras
getting up in his face for pictures too so I didn't feel to bad.
I liked his style. The white silk suit was nice!

Rohan and Shava during the message part of the service.

After the wedding we went up to the old governors estate in MV
to take pictures. This one makes me laugh as it just reminds
me of a classic Jamaican pose.

Because the wedding started an hour and a half late
I had to cut out on pictures early so I was able to get back to
St. Elizabeth in good time, but I was thankful for
another Jamaican experience and an opportunity to help
a friend.

Little Ochi

Friday Morning Blake, Tashi, and I drove down to St. Elizabeth
to join the Bents for the Easter weekend. We went to the
Open Bible Church for Good Friday services, then spent the
afternoon at Little Ochi.
Little Ochi is a famous sea food restaurant on the island. I
enjoy going even though I don't like sea food. This time
as we were leaving (wish I had seen it when we first arrived:)
I saw a sign that read "Now Serving Fried Chicken!"
I'll have to remember that for next time.

Little Ochi

supper options for Friday night

S.B. Tashi, and Pauline choosing their supper.

While supper was cooked I walked around taking pictures

people selling the fish they caught, and Robbie giving
me a wave as the picture was taken.

looking down the beach one way

and the other way

Still waiting for our food...
So Tashi jumped around the table taking pictures
with everyone sitting at the table.

Thank You Jesus for Good Days Like These!

Surprise!

Meet John. I have had the privilege to love on this little
guy most Sundays since his birth since his mom comes to New
Life Church and is also apart of our single woman's bible study.
For weeks I had heard rumors that I was possibly John's
god mother, but I didn't think much of it since his mom
never talked to me about it.

about 2 weeks ago we had a "We Love You John" party
since he just turned 5 months old and we had not yet
thrown a baby shower for Shyvonne. We still wanted to
have some party for her to let her know we are there to
love and support her so we came up with the
"We Love You John" party. While playing a game at the party.
the question was asked "who is John's god mother?"
and all the ladies signed "Erin!"
Surprise! I'm a god mother and I didn't even know it:)

John sharing his smiles with me while showing off
his two teeth.
What a Stud!

My New Morning Routine

With the kids on Easter Holiday and no work teams here
In the mornings I now love to go out ...

crawl into my hammock...

and relax while having my quiet time.

Praising Jesus for this Break!



Please pray for Gawayne too.
He is only student whose parents have
not come to get him yet.
We keep trying to reach his mother,
but as of yet she is not answer her phone.
Thanks,

Cricket

Cricket is a game that I have watched my boys play for
years and I am still clueless to what its all about.

the boys recently made some new....I don't know the technical
name, but its the thing that goes behind the batter that
the pictures try to hit, and have been playing cricket
regularly ever since.
In my limited understanding I know that...

we have the bowler aka the pitcher

and the batter doing his best to protect the wooden
thing behind him by hitting the ball away.

Then Odaine made this rolling catch and all the boys started
running and jumping and shouting... then the game was over...
and I have no idea why.

Still so much to learn!

Meet Highland Park

This is the 2nd time I have hosted this team. They are a
great group from Michigan and I had a lot of fun with them.
At the end of the week Tony (our construction guy) informed
the team at the beginning of the week he didn't have very high
expectations from their team but they proved him wrong. :)
He later told me this team came in second to an A.C. team!

Shes Back!!!

Last week I was blessed to have Tamara come and visit.
She was on spring break and I was on my last team of
a long stretch of continual teams. I love having her around
because she is so easy going and doesn't hesitate to jump
in and help.

Tues & Thurs she jumped in and helped read stories
to my little's class that comes in for story/craft time.

Wednesday Blake, Tamara and I went to Mobay for the day.
We started at the beach:), and ended up at the Mobay
school so she could catch up with friends there.

Thursday she chauffeured me around so I could run my
errands for the school and team.

She did a great job driving...only scaring me once:)

Friday we hosted the team on their free day to Y.S.

Last time we all went to Y.S. Matt was with us. So we
took a picture of us missing him to send him.

Saturday was a rough day as I had to tell her bye,
But I Praise Jesus for the time I had with her!

Praising Jesus that as I blog it has been pouring rain
for about the last hour! I hope it keeps up all night!

Jumble Sale

Praising God that last Sat. we had a very successful
Jumble Sale. My phone started ringing before 6 a.m.
the morning of to prepare for the big day.

We started with an apt. room filled with donations to sell,
and ended with just a few boxes. So thankful for all that
we were able to sell as we raised money for the school.

Tent Meeting

2 weeks ago we had our deaf revival week, and to finish
off the week we had a big tent meeting for church where
deaf came from all over the island for the service.

the kids from New Life Church for the Deaf sharing
a song during the tent meeting

Jordan and Andre singing at the tent meeting

Pastor Damian singing "Hurry Up!"

Pastor Bruce who came down with his family from Florida
to lead deaf revival.
His topic through the week was boldness
in Christ. And I don't really know how that tied in with his
topic for Sunday which was "The great white throne". I was
only able to attend Sunday since I had a team while he was here.

The 2 pastors and all those attending the tent meeting

Tashi, me, and Tamara after a long day at the tent meeting.
I love these girls and praise God for their friendship!