Our First Day

Hello everyone! This is Phil!

Today was crazy. Matter of fact, I don't even know what day "today" I'm referring to. We boarded the plane in Sacramento at 10:30pm and arrived in Charlotte at 3:10am – by west coast standards, that is. Not a lot of sleeping happened during the plane ride; the seats didn't recline very far back, there were no complimentary drinks or snacks, nor was there a movie. It was simply a 4 hour, dark plane ride. However, it wasn't completely devoid of excitement.

Geoff and Aaron were seated next to each other with one seat open in their aisle – the window seat. The person occupying the window seat was a German college student who was visiting UC Davis. About 30 minutes into the plane ride I over hear a conversation taking place between Aaron, Geoff and the German student. Two and a half hours later the conversation was over and the three went to sleep. Aaron and Geoff discussed with the student the nature of sin and evil, the existence of God and the purpose of Jesus Christ; we hadn't even made it to Charlotte before Geoff and Aaron had shared the gospel with someone. Praise God for that opportunity!

We arrived in Jamaica 15 minutes earlier than scheduled - that was a great relief! While we didn't have any trouble getting through customs and immigration, we did encounter a small problem at the baggage claim. By the time the luggage carousel was completely emptied of bags team had all picked up their luggage; that is, except for Robert. Instead of his luggage arriving in Montego Bay, it had decided to take an adventure in Baltimore, Maryland for some reason. Luckily, I had made sure to tell the team in advance to pack a change of clothes in their carry-on luggage, so Robert is fine with what he has until the rest of his luggage arrives.

We were picked up by the Fairhaven driver named Chris. He was very welcoming and got us to Fairhaven safely. It is weird to see cars driving on the opposite side of the street but it was pretty cool to see all the Jamaican billboards and local attractions. Jamaica is entirely more tropical than I had imagined. There are great ravines and canyons and mountains; much more rugged than anticipated. We took some pictures on our approach to the airport.

Once we arrived at Fairhaven, the humidity got to us really quickly. We all loaded our luggage into our rooms, which is more like a Hume Lake cabin than a hotel, and we chose our bunks. Immediately, all the guys changed into their swim gear and headed out to the Ocean – a mere 40 feet from our front door. The water is about the temperature of shower water. We wasted no time; the guys just jumped in, swam out about 100 yards or so and stood in the white sand talking and getting refreshed. After a while of splashing around like mermaids, Elliot and Geoff decided that is was high-time to find some locals and strike up a conversation. When this decision came to fruition, the guys were joined by the girls and we all had a good cooling off. About 20 minutes later, I found myself finding rocks (or "stones" as the Jamaicans referred to them) and giving them to the local kids. Pretty soon we were surrounded by about 15 kids playing and splashing and doing front-flips and back-flips. We were throwing stones at a buoy. Some of the local kids introduced us to their families and we shared stories about food and travels. None of the people we met had ever been off the island, so it was fun to talk to them about California.

That having been said, our fun in the water wasn't without its downside – a number of the guys including Eli, Elliot, Aaron and myself were viciously attacked by black sea urchins, or "pokey things" as we dubbed them. Not to worry, though; their venom isn't particularly powerful, and what lasting pain they induce can be solved by urinating upon one's afflicted area. Hooray, pee!