Jamaica - January 8, 2017

Second full day in Jamaica!

{Church, Chill Time, Welcome Dinner, Game Night}

Church -

Today we had breakfast at 7:00am. Palmer (Mama Whyte's cousin) made us banana pancakes with syrup, bread and butter, bananas, and watermelon.  The pancakes had a different texture from American pancakes, but they were still delicious.  Mama Whyte drove us to church at 8:30am.  As soon as we got there, we joined the adult Sunday School where the message talked about living in faith.  The scripture was Romans 5:1-5.  It was Youth Sunday today, and TJ (my brother) played the drums in the praise band.  The songs were good, and I recognized one called Holiness.  There was a lot of hallelujahs and amens.  It was so neat to watch the congregation worship in a way that is different than when I'm at church.  The message was preached by a guest speaker.  The theme of the message was New Year, New Task, New Flame, New Beginning.  Throughout the message, she mentioned the song Good Good Father.  That song is special to me, so it was super cool how songs can connect people.  The service was over three hours long.  I was getting tired near the end.  After church, Mama White drove us home. We got in the house, and we were told lunch would be soon.

Chill Time -

Ashley took us to Mama Jay's house, so Sydney and I could see the inside.  We got to hang out with Alyssa and Jaime for a little bit.  When we got back we played a couple rounds of Tapple with Nicholas.  Then, the three of us decided to take naps around 1:00ish. We didn't set alarms, and Mama Whyte had to wake us up at 3:00ish to head to the community center for the welcome dinner.

Welcome Dinner -

We got to the center very early.  We just talked, journaled, and played on our phones.  When the rest of the SR fam came we got to hang out and exchange social media accounts.  This made it feel like we were all becoming great friends.  Sydney, Helen, Jeffery, and I had good conversation about Helen's major.  It was interesting to hear all she can do with a recreational therapy degree.  The meal was buffet style, and it was very good.  We had baked chicken, fried chicken, curry chicken, rice, vegetables, pasta salad, cole slaw, and lemon pound cake.  I had seconds of the cake because it was so good!!

Game Night -

When Mama Whyte brought us back home, we decided to play games with Nicholas while Ashley went to Mama Jay's to work on homework.  We played Phase 10, UNO, and Checkers.  The lights flickered about 20 times and actually went off for about 15 minutes.  Sydney and I learned that Jamaicans have different rules for Checkers, and they play that you can go backwards. Nicholas had to go visit his mom, so Sydney and I decided to introduce Mama Whyte to Phase 10.  She loved it.  When Nicholas and Ashley got back they tag teamed it and joined the game.  Sydney and Mama White won.  When the sisters went to bed we talked about the Kardashians, Ashley's boyfriend Teddy, and everything in between.  We turned out the light a little after midnight, but it took me a while to fall asleep.  It was a great day.

--Al