Excitement abounded throughout the school lobby on the night of March 27. Ten juniors and three chaperones finally began to see the fruits of their fundraising labors as they packed up to fly to Jamaica. After driving to Minneapolis and flying through Memphis to Montego Bay, and then after a crazy two and a half hour bus ride, the group reached their destination on Saturday: Balaclava, a tiny town nestled in the mountains of Jamaica. Throughout the week, the juniors testified to and worked with Jamaicans of all ages. On Sunday, the class experienced their first Jamaican church service, a much louder and more interactive service than what they were used to in Mitchell. The praying Pelican leaders also took the group to a Catholic nursing home, where the residents had been abandoned by their families. For most of the group, this was their first culture shock; it was so different from an American nursing home in the sense that the Jamaicans there were abandoned by their families. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the juniors visited three area schools Roses Valley Primary School, Elderslie Primary and Middle School, and Balaclava High School and performed skits and illusions, sang, prayed, and talked with the students. On Wednesday, the group also traveled to New Hope Children’s Home in Mandeville, an orphanage for children up to age four. During this four day period, the juniors bonded with the students, church members, and neighbors and three juniors had the opportunity to lead three Jamaican kids to Christ. On Thursday, the group said their goodbyes to the people in Balaclava and made the bumpy bus ride back to Montego Bay. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the group toured one of Jamaica’s biggest cities, bartering for deals in the market, and swimming and snorkel in the ocean. Afterwards, they went to another orphanage set in the mountains Robin’s Nest. This orphanage housed children from newborn to age eighteen, and the boys played baseball and basketball with the older children and the girls mostly stuck to the babies and toddlers, holding and coddling them. After their final debriefing with the Praying Pelican leaders, the group packed up and flew out of Montego Bay on Friday, arriving in Mitchell at 4 a.m. Jamaica impacted the juniors in many ways and allowed them to experience God in many new, unique ways and take the spiritual high of Jamaica back to Mitchell.