Women’s Soccer Jamaica Blog IV

So Jamaica day four is now officially over, and let me tell you it was jam packed! We started off the day at 8:30 a.m. with breakfast. If you have been following along with us you may have noticed we got to sleep in an extra 30 minutes, get excited!

Check out the photo gallery from Jamaica...

After breakfast we gathered together to do our daily devotional. Today's discussion was about spiritual two-a-days. Days like that are both physically and mentally straining, to put it mildly. In that kind of environment you are forced to fight through fatigue and maintain focus despite pressure. This may seem insane at times, but it is essential to prepare the team to perform at the highest level. The devotional compared that type of athletic commitment and perseverance to the Christian walk. Life can certainly find all sorts of way to knock you down, but if you continue to delve into God's word and live out His teachings you will remain strong and resolute. After that reading we went to the bus to begin the day's journey. Before I continue with the narrative of our day I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the two bus drivers we have had on our trip: Thomas and Graham, as well as our two guides: Baris and Gregory. They have carted us who knows how many miles, answered every question we throw at them, all with a sincere smile and an apparent joy for what they do. I just want to say thank you to them for everything they have done.

From the hotel we headed over to the bank to exchange our money because we were taking a trip to the market. In case you were wondering one US dollar is roughly equivalent to 84.55 in Jamaican currency. In a word I would describe the market as chaotic. It was one long covered area divided by tarps to section off the different vendors. As soon as we walked in we were ushered in about twenty different directions at once by people hoping to get our business. Bartering is a new concept to me, but apparently in Jamaica you should never pay the asking price for something in the market. In fact you should probably offer at least 200 less than the original price. Weaving through the maze of merchants was a bit overwhelming. Stands offered T-shirts, jewelry, hand carved artifacts, paintings, key chains, and countless other items. We all definitely proved our tourist status while we were there. After an hour and a half we all got back on the bus and jetted off to grab some lunch. We stopped at a sports grill type restaurant and basically overtook the entire dining room. I don't know about everyone else, but my sweet and sour chicken with rice and beans was wonderful. When lunch was over we once again hopped on the bus.

Our next destination was the Maxfield Park Children's Home. This places takes in children from infants to age 18 who were abandoned, abused, or suffered the loss of their parents at a young age. We were only allowed to stay for about 45 minutes, but it was easily the most moving experience I have encountered so far during our trip. As we arrived we were immediately surrounded by a group of curious children. We brought little gift bags full of small gifts such as bracelets, coloring pages, crayons, and candy and their excitement at this gesture was astonishing. One boy named Jonathan did everything he could to be helpful by showing us around and telling us a little more about Maxfield. He himself has lived there for 16 years, his entire life. He told us that he loves living there and continued to express how excited everyone was that we were there to play with them. We all quickly went off in different directions, some to play basketball, some soccer. Some of us just sat and talked with the kids or took pictures with them (they all wanted to jump into photos and were fascinated with looking at the pictures we had taken). Some even went to the nursery area to spend time with the babies. While I was playing soccer with some of the kids a boy sprinted up to me and before I could say a word he instantly grabbed on to my arm. Throughout the rest of our stay he refused to let go of me. Seeing how genuinely excited and thankful he was for a new friend was something I cannot really put into words. Having to leave so soon was definitely emotional, but we hugged them all goodbye and snapped a few more pictures with our new friends. As we got to our seats the kids surrounded the bus and put their hands up to the windows to touch ours through the glass. Honestly, it was enough to break your heart. Somehow we managed to leave (though I would have been glad to stay for hours) and head back to the hotel to change and get ready for our second soccer match in Jamaica.

Our opponent was the U17 Jamaican national team. As we walked out on the field it began to rain and continued to do so throughout the rest of the game. It was a hard fought match. After the game we went to Pizza Hut for dinner then headed back to the hotel and that about sums up our day.

Just so you know I am a Challenger at Mars Hill and so I am heading back to the school early to participate in Gateway orientation with the new freshman class. This is my last blog entry, but don't worry someone else will continue to keep you updated on our team's great adventures. This has been the experience of a lifetime, thank you again for following along with us!

P.S. We are famous in Jamaica! Why, do you ask? Well I am not quite sure, but what I do know is that we have been on TV twice already! Get excited!