Sunday morning we heard from three of the students over the course of the three worship services; Rylee shared at the second worship hour about the student mission trip to Jamaica. Here’s what she wrote if you missed it:

Hi everyone! My name is Rylee and I’m going to share with you a few things about my teams’ mission trip to Jamaica. I want to share with you about the family we met and a few other small things. The first activity we did lasted for 3 days. My team and I built a house for a single mother, whos name was Shariffa and her five kids. Yes, we finished building a house in three days! It was incredible and I could feel God’s presence the entire time. Throughout the next week and a half, we visited homeless shelters, hospitals, hospices, a home for mentally and physically challenged kids, and an orphanage! Visiting these places and meeting these amazing people was an experience that I’ll never forget. We take everything we have for granted sometimes and these people have nothing, yet they taught me how to be happy.

Something that impacted me the most was when we walked on to Tower Hill which was where Shariffa’s house was located, her two middle children Kimani and Kamaya right away wanted to help us. They were a huge help and kept us laughing even in the extreme heat! Also, the first time we saw Shariffa, she was nursing her baby so we asked how old she was and her name and stuff…and she said her name was Kyla and she was born on Monday. Let me remind you, our team arrived in Jamaica on Wednesday. This baby was two days old! And then Shariffa was like “I’ll be out later to help!” ….we were saying no, no it’s okay. Anyway, my point is that this family was incredible. Even though we were building a home for them, they wanted to help us and serve us.

An emotional moment for me and a moment when I saw God the most throughout the trip was when we dedicated the house to Shariffa and her family. She could not have been more grateful and it was such a touching moment because she was in tears… she was bawling. But I was thinking to myself, we did it. We got this house up in three days, and these people now have not only a house, but a home. So, because the building of the house went so well, the whole team was on a spiritual high and things were going along schedule and I feel like Satan noticed. He tried to get in our minds and knock us out from under our feet..and you know it may have worked a little….people got sick and had to stay back from activities, a few things were misplaced, and we were physically drained. But, together, as a team we got right back on our feet and prepared for the rest of our last week at this amazing place. That was a time when I not only saw but felt God in our presence.

God blessed me with a completely incredible team and surrounded me with people who care about others so much more than themselves which helped me notice a lot of things. Jamaica was indescribable. Just knowing the fact that we put smiles on those kids, and those people’s faces is a feeling that I will never be able to describe, but I will never ever forget. I just want to end with this, going into this trip, I had so many doubts and fears. But the impact that we made in these people’s lives will hopefully last a long time, because I know that the impact they made on my life will last forever. I am more than happy that I had the opportunity to go on this trip and further my walk with God.