Final Day

It is really hard to think that our stay here in beautiful Jamaica is now over. We only have a few hours left to spend on the island. Today everyone finished up their work, Jason tried out the generator with a successful test run. The sound system rang out through the whole building, Mrs. Marjorie's house received it's plywood walls. The computer class received the certificates they had been working on, along with the painting finishing up their work.

It is always extremely difficult to say goodbye when you leave teen challenge, because you never know the next time you will see these guys, if you do see them again. TC is a one year program, and many of them will be graduated and moved on by time we get back, which makes it hard not knowing if you will ever see someone you love and care for ever again.

Also it is tough to leave this place seeing all the hurt in these people's lives knowing that we are going back to our normal lives. One thing we do know is that our lives will never be the same after this trip. We truly have had an amazing time! One word that kept getting passed around tonight was "bridges". We have been building bridges out into the community that have never been built before. Once we have built the bridge, many will walk across it, and each footstep is worth it!

As much as everyone loves it here, I think many will be glad to get home and see our families again. I know coach Greg will, over the past three weeks or so coach Greg has only been home a couple of days. He has been saying how excited he is to be once again reunited with his family again! We really admire his courage for giving up his family time to minister down here with us!

Most likely the next time you here from us we will be in Baltimore! And we will all be freezing! goodnight to all!!!!


- God Bless -
- Kolby Dukes -

Sunday!

I hope everyone is doing well this evening! We have had a very relaxing day today. Of course we did not work today, but not only that we were able to attend Family Church on the Rock, go to Dunn's River Falls, take a boat ride, and have a banquet with teen challenge tonight! It is hard to believe that this trip is almost over! It still feels like we have just got here! This trip is coming to a close quickly, and although I hate to see it end, I will sure be glad to get home! Mom tells me that is is pretty cold there, however I cannot say the same for here, it is pretty warm and muggy. We all had a very relaxing day in just enjoying our time on this beautiful island, and not be overly consumed with working. In climbing Dunn's River falls I was going up one part and lost my glasses, and only by a miracle did our guide find them. I was very scared! I am blessed to have them. Tonight at the TC banquet, many of our team members got up and spoke of how great of time they have had here in Jamaica and all that God has been doing all week. It was a great time!

Well it is getting late, and I have been tired all day, so this is it for now. Goodnight guys!

- God Bless -
- Kolby Dukes -

Saturday~Perrytown Outreach

This morning got started off a little earlier than usual being that we had team photos. Then we hopped on the transportation and went to TC. A crew got off there to go work on Ms. Margery' s house and another crew went in to work on the sound system being installed in the center.
At Ms. Margery' s house the frame for the shower went up and the roofing went on. The walls have yet to be completed.
Inside the center the speaker in the kitchen went up and is working. The speaker in the dorm room was repaired and another speaker for the dorm was started on. While working on the speakers God blessed me with fellowship with some of the students.
The rest of the team went up to Perrytown for a Childrens Ministry. At the school the team handed out gifts to the children and ministered to them. All reports I heard said that it was a blessing to be there at the school.
At 12 o'clock the teams at TC went out to lunch at the BK lounge(Burger King). Then everyone met back up at the market. This place was insane! Hundreds of people were sitting at little stands they had set up and they were selling stuff they had made themselves or bought. A lot of the stores had the same thing as the store right next to them. The most fun part of the market was the bartering. The face off between buyer and seller occasionally came to a stalemate or a transaction was made.
After the market everyone hopped on the bus and we went back to TC for the street meeting. On one side of the street there was speakers and music and on the other side stood the people of TC and the team, the people of God. As all the random people we will never see again walked by they watched us praise Almighty God and some walked on without a thought, but some stopped and God blessed us with the chance to pray with a stranger, to spread the Good News we have been blessed with, to bless another. During this time of worship we were all challenged to find a member of TC and pray with them about anything they needed. Then we were fed a dinner of jerk chicken, peas, and rice. After dinner we just chilled at TC and prayed with the students until we hopped on the bus and traveled back to the villa.
By the grace of God we have been given another day to live, to share Christ's Love and Life with others, and to serve. Leviticus 6:13(ESV) says this: "Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it shall not go out." Today this verse is saying to us that whatever our purpose is in life that we need to keep going and not give up the fight. We are in a battle of more than we can sense. All we can do is trust in God, be obedient to what He says to us, and know that He will pull us through.

Prayer Requests:

• Safety for all team members
• Courage to reach out to others
• The students at Teen Challenge
• Safe travel on Jamaica roads
• Time for all jobs to get done
• Time to spend with God!!!

~ Mason Small


My great friend Mason blessed me with writing the blog for today and tonight and I have to say he did an amazing job! There was a circumstance tonight which one student was dismissed from the program, and many of us felt great compassion and love for this man. We decided to hit the streets searching for this man. We were all tired and ready for bed, but we knew that we were to go out and encourage him. The six of us pull up to were we expect him to be, and a man comes out of the woods from no where and we inquired whether he knew where this certain person was, and he replied that he did not. As the conversation continued he shed light from an outsider's point of view of how TC could be more loving and accepting to those in the community. After this great time with Mike Johnson we all decided it was time to get home, we didn't know where this man was and it was time to get to bed. Our plans are not as God's plans! As we were pulling out of the parking lot to head home stood in front of us stood who we were looking for. If the timing had been any other thing than from God this would not have happened. On the way there we were discussing what we would do if we found him, what would we say, and what if we don't find him. Mr. Sam Paynter kept reminding me that if it is in God's plan it WILL happen. And it did. We talked for over an hour just trying to be an encouragement and lift him up. We determined that God has a greater purpose. God holds the right to test faith, and He will. One of the last things he said to us was, "I'll see you in church in the morning"

What an encouragement that a man who has been beaten up, rejected, put down, he is remaining strong in God to stick it through to see the greater purpose. God is truly doing amazing things here in Jamaica during these eight days. God is not only working in the hearts of those we are serving, but he is working in the hearts of our team. Barriers that have been up for decades are being not only broken, but destroyed and carried away. God has a purpose and a plan for everything. everything.

God Bless
- Kolby Dukes -

Great Day!

Today was a great day! God allowed the rain to hold off and allowed us to reach many of our goals for our work! Mrs. Carlene got a fresh coat of paint on her new kitchen, Mrs. Marjorie saw the walls go up on her new shower! Teen Challenge now has four speakers up and working on their new PA system. With installing the PA system it seemed as if the team was getting stuck and not getting any further along, and all of a sudden everything just started clicking and things started getting done. A team went up to Jeronimo's house to help with some minor repairs on his house, and to add another room onto it. Jeronimo was a local boy we met and fell in love with about ten years ago when he was only 13, and we have seen him grow up into a responsible young man.

Today a gentleman came to the gate of teen challenge and said that he was an addict and he needed help. He had been in the program before, but had not really wanted it. After several of our team members ministered to him he now is in the program, admitted today.

There are three Teen Challenge graduates that are now in Bible college in Jamaica here, and they have told us of the thirty some students at Bible college that only have two computers available for research. The team decided to raise some money and buy each of them a dell laptop. I have never seen anyone more thankful for a gift than these guys. There was not a dry eye in the room after it all was over. It was truly amazing to see their reaction to something so common place to us, but to them it meant the world.

Well folks we had some slight problems with the internet last night and I was unable to blog, but I have it here this morning!

- God Bless -
- Kolby Dukes -

Thanksgiving!

Today was a great day! Everyone jumped into work just as usual like any other day. Sam Paynter's crew had the daunting task of pouring a concrete foundation at Mrs. Marjorie's house, which is quite a long haul up the mountain, and there was not much joy in carrying buckets of sand, stone, and blocks up the hill. Let's just say they worked very hard. A couple others helped out Mrs. Marjorie by putting up a hand rail for her, as the trail to her house is very steep, and we have had numerous team members slip and fall down. This handrail will be a great blessing to not only her but our team! The paint crew is always running circles around everyone else painting this and painting that. At 11:30 everyone took off for chapel which Mark Briley led worship and spoke. Nick also gave his testimony during chapel. For lunch we had pizza from Mr. Humphry's. It might not be the best pizza, but it is pizza! At 2:00 it was the time for all of the Teen Challenge students were on "recreation", so many of our team members played soccer with all of the guys. Today everyone was allowed to take off at three to go back and take some time to enjoy thanksgiving, after work almost everyone got to go in and enjoy the Carribean for a couple of minutes before we had our thanksgiving feast. All the housekeepers prepared some turkey and salad, among many other things. Afterwards we were treated to cake and ice cream!

Everyone truly enjoyed our relaxed afternoon and night, but tomorrow we will be back hard at it.

Don't forget the pictures link on the right!

Again, thank you so much for your support in praying for us and emailing us! We really do appreciate it!

- God Bless -

- Kolby Dukes -

Working!

Today was another great day of working, although it rained off and on today. The crews finished up the jobs they started yesterday, Mrs. Carlene's new kitchen got finished up today along with sasha's new bedroom. The paint crew dodged raindrops try desperately to get some paint on the building. We also started a new project today putting in a PA system for Teen Challenge, so that they could make announcements over the whole building, and play gospel music for all the students. This morning Mrs. Diana met a young man that claimed that everyone calls him fireblock, and they sat for a while just talking, and I did not think much about it. After their conversation came to an end, he started helping out with us. At lunch time fireblock came down to eat with us and he and Mr. Greg got debating beliefs with each other. Fireblock had many strange beliefs, some as that the trees have souls, among many others. They spent well over four hours just going back and forth sharing with each other. Mr. Greg gave fireblock a Bible to go home and read Matthew and John, and to return tomorrow to talk about it. It is exciting to see a life being changed in only a matter of hours.

After work many rinsed off in the pool and got showers to get ready for dinner.

Tonight we got treated to going out to dinner to a local Italian restaurant called Evitas. And I am still dreaming about that garlic bread. That bread was something to fight over! Tonight was the first time I have every had watermelon on ice cream, and I have to say it was pretty good. I think everyone was very well tired out tonight after all of today's events and was ready for bed after dinner.

Tomorrow is work as usual, but I believe we are going to be allowed to get off of work a little earlier so we can go back and get cleaned up for dinner! Tomorrow the team is going to have chapel with the Teen Challenge students and staff, and that is ALWAYS an awesome experience. I would type up more, but I am really tired! Goodnight to all!

Godbless
- Kolby Dukes -

Our First Day of Work

Today was our first day of work, and we started off by leaving at 7:30 a.m. and we just got home around 5:30 or 6:00. It was beautiful, bright, and sunny while we got up this morning, but as they day went on we experienced what Jamaica in November is known for - RAIN. Everyone had to work through the rain though Yesterday we stopped by teen challenge so we would know where to go and what to do as soon as we got there today. As soon as we got to TCJ the paint team grabbed their rollers and brushes, the masonry team grabbed sledge hammers, shovels, and picks so they could finish all the destruction off to a starting point, and the construction team started rattling off all the kinds of boards they needed brought down and carried out to the job sites. The lumber was kept on the third floor, because TCJ has no space to keep all these boards, besides the roof. From the roof we handed the wet, heavy boards down to a guy on the second floor, and on down to the ground. It rained very heavily at times today, but other times it was just as sunny as could be. Everyone had nice hotdogs for lunch today. Everyone worked very hard through the rain and through heat, but we all made it back home for a nice dinner our housekeepers made for us. Many of those hard working people jumped either in the pool or in the sea before everyone got cleaned up and ready for dinner. Greg La(uhh I can't spell his name), but either way Greg shared during a powerful time of devotions with some of the crew. I did not know about it, but i walked into one of the villas looking for Mr. Sam and got captivated by Mr. Greg's story, it was quite awesome. Everyone is quite tired due to the hard work today, including myself! So we are off to bed, goodnight folks!

Here is a little notice to all:

• Ever get tired of typing www.reachouttotheworld.com? I know I do, so I got another shorter one! You can now visit www.reachottw.com they'll both take you to the same place!
• Take notice to the pictures page! On your right in the Links section there is a link called "Pictures" click on that to take you to our archive of our team pictures for this trip. If you are on the reachouttotheworld homepage and you click on the pictures link it will take you to our archive of pictures for all of our trips since we started archiving the pictures
• Comment! You can comment on our blog by clicking on the "Comment" link at the bottom of each post! We always enjoy getting messages from home!

Thank you very much for your support, we appreciate it very much. Have a blessed day!

- Kolby Dukes -