Traveling to Jamaica [day 1]

Our day of travel began bright and early, meeting at the International Terminal of the Atlanta airport at 7:00am.  The nine members of our team (Our team leaders Mike and Casey, Lindsay, AC, Rebecca, Patrick, Izaac, Charles, and myself) greeted one another with smiles, then stood in that awkward silence you experience only when you don't know the other people well.

After checking in, getting through security, and making a quick stop at McDonald's for breakfast, we arrived at our gate in time to snap a quick pre-trip team picture before boarding the plane.  Our flight was just over 2 hours to Montego Bay.

Our small team of 9, ready to board the plane to Montego Bay.
Charles, Izaac, Rebecca, Mike, Lindsay, Patrick,
me, Casey, and AC.

Once we landed and gathered our suitcases, we stood outside in the sweltering Jamaican heat waiting for our bus.  I can't speak for anyone else, but right then and there I prayed that Wait-a-bit wouldn't be as hot as Montego Bay.

We stopped at a Jerky's for lunch.  Most of us ate Jerk Chicken, a few ate ribs, and we all munched on french fries.  When our stomachs were full, we loaded back on the bus for the most nauseating ride of my life.

We must have just left the airport because no one looks nauseous!

Imagine MarioKart in real life.  Winding roads, so narrow the bus barely fits, with turns so sharp you can't see what's coming from the opposite direction.  On one side of the road you see a wall of mountain.  Out the opposite window you crane your neck to look down a deathly steep cliff.  Cars speed towards us, then veer back into their lane at the last second as they pass.  But to Jamaicans, these roads are completely normal.  Our driver accelerated through the narrow roads as we let out frequent shrieks and gripped the handles in front of us until our knuckles were white.

Roadside markets along the highway.

We learned that honking the horn can mean 3 different things:
1. To let a car from the opposite direction know that you are rounding a blind turn.
2. To alert a person walking or a car in front of you that you are passing them.
3. To say hello.

As we got closer to Mandeville, we were able to enjoy the ride.

After about 3.5 hours in the car, we finally arrived at the Life In Abundance campus, where we would stay for the week.  As the bus doors opened and we stepped outside, I was shocked at how cool the temperature was!  The LIA campus is on a mountainside, so we were kept very comfortable with a constant cool breeze.  It was like we were in a completely different climate than the one we'd experienced in Montego Bay.

The campus is made up of a few different buildings and dorms, including the kitchen and dining hall, small cabins, and large sleeping areas for larger teams.  Because we had a small team of only nine, we were each given our own private bedroom.  Our living quarters were much nicer than I'd expected!  My room had a beautiful view of the mountainside.

The view from my room.

Before dinner we had some time to unpack and relax.  We met our LIA leader for the week, David.  David is awesome and unlike anyone  I've ever met.  He's known to break into song mid-conversation and laughs abundantly.  After only one night of knowing him, we knew God most definitely put him on our team for the week.

Before going to bed, David told us that we'd need to prepare a song to sing at church in the morning. We all chuckled at the mention of singing in front of a congregation, because not one of our team members is musically talented.  Not one.  How unfortunate... for us and for the poor ears of those who'd be our audience!

David quickly chose a song for us and forced us to practice. Sitting around our living room for the week, the nine of us shyly sang 10,000 Reasons, laughing less and less at our selves each time.  It's funny how embarrassing we find it to sing without music!  We said our goodnights before heading to our rooms.