We're on a Journey

Whew!  We made it!  Hey, everyone.  Courtney O. here.  After pulling out of the church parking lot around midnight Saturday, we began our 2,134 mile journey to Robin’s Nest Children’s Home nestled deep in the hills of Jamaica.  We arrived safely thanks to our awesome drivers back home, our fearless chaperones that guided us through security and customs, our skillful pilots, and Audley, our driver once we arrived in Jamaica. 

This time we were lucky and got to stop at the Pork Pit, a Jamaican style BBQ place!  They were great at accommodating our large group, and it was fun to get a first taste of authentic Jamaican food.  

Raelynn O. steps up to the grill for some Jamaican jerk chicken.

just like the grills back home (or not!)

jerk chicken or pork over rice and beans = mm mm good

After lunch we stopped at the MegaMart for drinking water for the crew and some supplies for lunches at VBS. 

our suitcases were filled with peanut butter, jelly, and granola bars ... a stop at the store finished off our lunches with bread, fresh fruit and some kool-aid

Then we started our 45 minute bus trip to the Nest.  The trip up is never dull!  We got to see the types of houses the locals live in and the incredible rainforest-like vegetation.  We also got to first hand test out the roads, and for those of you who don’t know ... they are quite bumpy!  And by that I mean they are narrow, there are random patches of pavement, very large potholes, and large rocks scattered everywhere.  As someone who has been here before it was entertaining to see the first timer’s reactions.  We finally got to the Nest at about 4:30pm, and like always the Nest staff was incredibly welcoming and the kids were super excited to play with a new group of volunteers.