A Busy Monday

Today we had a very full and exciting day on the island. We started the morning with a chapel at one of the local public schools. The students were very excited to see us... especially baby Julia. She was very popular. They all wanted to touch her and see her "big blue eyes." The loved the "little white baby." She loved all of the attention until they started trying to take her pacifier out of her mouth.

The team did some musical numbers, presented their puppet show, and Jonny gave a brief challenge. This chapel was about 40 minutes long. The students stood outside in the heat the whole time without even a complaint. I was amazed at the discipline and structure at the school. I was thinking that if my college students had to stand out in the heat for a class period, I would hear so much complaining. The team had a wonderful time interacting with all of the children.

We then went to the station to work on some more of our projects. We finished up our day there around lunch time. We came home ate some lunch and a majority of the team went to cool off at the beach. We then left for the Kirkland's mid-afternoon to get set up and ready for our first day of VBS. We started the week with 42 children. It was a great first night. We had music, puppets, specials, a lesson, crafts, and a game. Each team member is using their talents in specific ways. Andrea and Emilee worked on music time. Katie taught the verse and Sarah taught the lesson.Many of the team members were involved in the puppet show. Angel was in charge of crafts - with many helpers. Victoria and Emily were in charge of registration and greeting all of the children. Katilyn and Lana were in charge of organized games.Abby really made a point to interact on a personal level with many of the children. The boys were great about playing soccer with the children and reaching out to the older kids. We are excited to see how the rest of the week goes.I understand that the number of children will grow and grow each night. I thought we were almost at capacity tonight!

The team is getting ready for an early bed time. We have the opportunity to do another chapel service early in the morning in St. Johns. It is about a 30 minute drive and chapel is at 8:00 am. Getting a group of 15 and a baby out the door on time has been a bit of a challenge.

The girls would appreciate your prayers - their house is pretty much out of water. They may not get a shower in the morning. I told them it wouldn't kill them. I can easily say that since we still have water over here and my shower is not in jeopardy.

The team is doing really well and getting along famously. I have been very pleased with the unity and spirit on the trip. I pray that it continues throughout the rest of the trip.

For God's Glory,

Kathryn Gamet

Mother's Day in Antigua

Today was a very hot day here in Antigua. We remembered saying last time that we were here that Sundays were the hottest days, and today that was very evident again. We have had a very full day.

This morning we were able to minister at Grace in St. Johns. We had many special music numbers in the morning and in the evening services. I was watching the team sing today and I thought about all of the many talents that God has given this group. We came here primarily to help with the Radio Lighthouse, but each team member has many gifts to be used in many different settings. Joshua, Sarah, Angel, and Andrea led a children's church during the main service time. They did an excellent job! There were games, songs, puppets, a lesson, and a craft time. I enjoyed getting to watch them.

We hurried home for a quick lunch and rest this afternoon. The heat really wiped us out today. Then this afternoon we met at the Kirkland's house for some final planning for our Bible School. We then broke up into groups and walked through the village handing out flyers and inviting children to Bible School this week. We are excited about what the Lord has in store for us through this opportunity.

This week we have a lot planned and are ready to get to work. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings we have chapel services in three different schools. We will be doing puppets, songs, and Jonny will be giving a challenge. Each afternoon this week, we will be having Bible School at the Kirkland's home. Please pray that for each of these events that God will be seen and we will be used of Him.When we aren't in schools or Bible school, we will be continuing to work at the station on the different projects.

For God's Glory,

- Kathryn Gamet

P.S. The team all wanted to write their moms a note for Mother's Day since the couldn't be there with them. We wanted to include them in our post for today!

Kyle Cline: “Happy Mother’s Day, mom! I love you so much, and thank you for all that you’ve done. Like I told you before, I’ll take you out when I get home, and we can hang out some! See you in about a week and a half!! Love you.”

Mom,

Thank you for being my best friend. You’re an amazing mother and I’m very proud and thankful for you. I love you!

Your daughter,

Katie Leigh MacDonald

Victoria Sparkman: Happy Mother’s Day Mommy!! I hope that everyone else is spoiling you today cause I can’t. Thank you so much for all that you have done. You’re the best mother that anyone could ask for and my respect for you grows daily. Love you so much!! – Tori

Lee Campbell: Happy Mother’s Day, mom I hope you had a great day, thanks for everything you’ve done for me. Thank you for all you’ve sacrificed for me and we will have to do something special while I’m home for a bit. Love Lee.

Lana Bowker: Salut Mama!! Bon Jour de Mere!!! Hey Mom, Happy Mother’s Day!!! Hope you have had an awesome day. Thank you for all your support and for putting up with me for the last 21 years. Thank you so much for all you’ve done for me. Love ya- Lana

Joshua Tittiris: Mom, I hope you had a great Mother’s Day! I wish I could have been there with you to celebrate. When I come Home we will celebrate. I Love you!

Emily Lewandowski: Mom, thank you for always being there for me! I love you! See you soon.

Jonny Gamet: (R&R) I love you so much! God truly blessed me with the most wonderful mother a child could ask for. Your consistent godly testimony is such an encouragement to me. I know that no matter what I may face in this life, that I always have a prayer warrior in my corner. I love you so much and I can’t wait to talk to you soon Mom! We love you and Juju misses you! 

Angel Gillespie: Mom, I am sorry that I have not been home for the past two Mother’s days and birthdays. I love you so much and I can’t wait to see you in a little over a week!

Emilee Nelson: I love you lots Mom! Thanks for all you do for me. You are the best EVER!! Love you mostestestester and forever and ever See you soon. Baby Doll

Kaitlyn Unruh: I love you Mom. I am still alive. I will see you soon…. KK

Abby Edwards: Dear Mommy,

I am so thankful that God gave me the best mom (and parents) in the world. I am glad I got to see you even for a few days before I left and I look forward to lots of good “mommy-daughter” time this summer. Next time, you and I need to go on a traveling adventure together. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Thanks for being my best friend!

Ab

Sarah Shirey: Dear Mom,

Surprise, I know I said I wouldn’t get to say happy mother’s day on mother’s day…but I lied :P Happy Mother’s day!!! Have a spectacular day, love you lots! And I’ll see you soon J

Love,

Sarah J

Kathryn Gamet: Mom, I love you so much! Sorry I won’t get a chance get a chance to call today. Every day I grow more and more thankful for all you have done for me. I hope that I can be as good a mom to Julia as you were to me. I am so thankful for you example to me.

Andrea Sanford: Dear Mom, There's nothing more I'd like than to pick up the phone right now and call you while we drink our coffee together. I also wish I had thought to send you a card. Life is so cruel. Basically, if I had called you I would have told you that you are the only thing between me and going crazy.  I love you and Happy Mother's Day! Love, Andrea :) -- ALSO Andrew hola and I miss you babe.....<3

God is Good

We began the day with some sad news from home as we learned that our dear friend Todd Lurtey had passed away last night after a long battle with cancer. We have been praying for Todd (who is 16) and the Lurtey family for quite some time, and our hearts were all very heavy in being away while hearing this news. Many tears were shed, and we spent some time in prayer for this dear family. We love you Mr. and Mrs. Lurtey, and we will continue to pray for God's grace and presence for you in this time.

Today was our first day to do some sightseeing on the beautiful island of Antigua. We packed our lunches and set off for a day of fun in the sun. We visited English harbor which is one of the more historic venues on the island. While there, we sampled a "beef patty" and a "pineapple turnover." Both were delicious! The team had a great time walking around the Nelson's dockyard and looking through some of the museums and artifacts.

We then headed up to Shirley heights which is an absolutely breathtaking view of English harbor. It was wonderful to see the beauty of God's creation with the harbor beautifully painted on the landscape of the vast Atlantic ocean beyond Antigua. God is so good and as we looked upon His creation, we really saw the "heavens declaring God's glory" in the beauty of what we were seeing. The team then saw an information video about Antigua and some of the history in how the country was founded. The country is relatively young as they gained their independance from England in 1981 and formed their own nation.

After visitng a few more lookouts we headed back to the house and changed for some time at the beach. We truly had a wonderful day in weather as the sun was shining and a light breeze kept the temperature relatively cool. Tonight, we wanted to treat our team and our missionaries to a special treat. We had dinner at OJ's restaurant which is located on the beach. We watched a beautiful sunset while we waited for our food. As I was walking on the beach letting the water wash over my san-filled feet, my thoughts again went to the Lurtey family. The words to the old song, "just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven, of touching a hand and finding it God's, of waking in glory and finding it home" began to fill my mind. As tears filled my eyes I began to pray again that the "God of all Comfort" would be especially gracious to the Lurtey family. Please continue to pray for them.

As we ate our food, some of the team members were a little daring in their food selections. The award of the night went to Kaitlyn Unruh in getting a Red Snapper fish (and it came out completely whole!!! Head and all!!). The food was delicious and we had a wonderful time hangin out together and fellowshiping with the missionaries. As we got back to our rooms, we had team devotions where Angel shared her testimony of how she came to Christ and how God is in control of our everyday situations. How fitting, considering our day.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to attending church at Grace Baptist church where we will be doing some singing and leading children's church. Our team members are very excited about the opportunity to get some interaction with some of the kids and be able to worship with other believers. It certainly was a long day but ultimately a wonderful break for the team to be able to rest and recoup for another week. God is so good!

For God's Glory,

Jonny Gamet

Team Flexibility

We awoke this morning ready to get back at it. We were excited to be able to be getting our first experiences with the nationals as a whole team today, but some of our plans had to change because of the rain that was off and on all day. Antigua is unique in the sense that the rain quickly can come up all at once. You can be working outside and literally five seconds later be engulfed in a torrential downpour. Our team members showed a wonderful spirit despite the rain.

Unfortunately, due to the storm, the chapel program we were going to be presenting in the public school had to be postponed. Thankfully we were able to talk with the principal to get it rescheduled for early next week. For lunch, we introduce the team members to a local staple down here called "Bun, Butter, and cheese." Essentially this is a deli-type sandwich but is made with a wonderful sweet bread that combines the flavors in a marriage that is certain to keep you wanting more. We will be sure to visit the local vendor again for this special treat.

Tonight, our team traveled to Grace Baptist Church where we hosted a youth rally for five different churches around the island. We had over 60 kids in attendance. The team did a wonderful job with playing human knot (an absolutely awesome game) and entertaining the kids with a hilarious skit. I think our own Kyle Cline may have missed his calling and should have been an actor. Not to be outdone in the skit, Emily Lewandowski may have played the best pregnant woman I have ever seen. She will be giving her Emmy Award speech shortly. The group sang two specials for the teens as well. Our ladies did a wonderful job singing Complete in Thee and our team choir sang Wonderful, Merciful Savior. I had several teens and leaders come up to me afterwards and commend our group on the blessing they were through song. Praise God!

After the specials, we sang some familiar hymns with the nationals. It truly was a wonderful experience for us to sing with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Although we had never met most of these people, the common bond of Jesus Christ gave us an immediate family connection. I think that may have been the best rendition of "Amazing Grace" I have ever been part of. I then preached from Hebrews 11 and challenged the teens to be men and women of faith and to pursue Christ in their everyday walk. After the conclusion of the message, we spent a good amount of time talking with the teens and pastors, playing soccer (or as they demanded it be called football) and having a great time of fellowship with those who were there. It was neat to see our team interact with the locals and to share God's love with them.

After another crazy drive through the streets of Antigua, we finally arrived back at the house for some much-needed rest. We are looking forward to having our first touring day tomorrow and seeing some of God's beautiful creation on this wonderful island. As I type, I hear snoring around me ha ha. Our team has worked so hard on this trip and it is so neat to see God using each of their unique gifts for His glory! Everyday, we see several team members step up and really help carry the load. The team unity has been outstanding!

Continue to pray for us. Our team members are feeling the fatigue after long days of work, but they have truly been a great blessing to those they have ministered to here.

Goodnight from the land of sea and sun,

For God's Glory,

Jonny Gamet

Rain Won't Stop Us...

As the title would suggest, today we got a far amount of rain. That didn't damper the spirit of our team members as they were up early to start another day of work. Today, our group did a lot of work at the station editing programs. Several of the team members began to work on a recording for a puppet show that the team is going to be doing for a local school tomorrow. Many of us channeled our inner "cartoon character" voices to play our part in the script. Our play was written by Andrea Sanford and Emily Lewandowski who did a fabulous job portraying several animal character and the importance of being obedient to those in authority. Pixar has got nothing on these two girls.

The boys continued their work outside in doing a variety of projects throughout the day. We spent most of the morning painting, cutting down sugar cane which allowed us to play with machetes (always a boys dream to swing a sword and cut down things). During the day, we had to stop several times because of the rain. Kyle Cline was our lucky guy today who climbed with Nathan Owens to the top of the radio tower outside of the station to do some maintenance at the top of the tower (don't worry Mrs. Cline, he was strapped in a harness and secured in his climb). In the afternoon, the team was able to get more done at the station despite the rain.

Tonight we continued our trip ritual by heading to the beach. Although the rain had cooled the water off a little, the beach was still a wonderful refreshment after a long day. Katie MacDonald shared her salvation testimony with the team tonight during team devotions and it was a wonderful encouragement to hear how Katie came to Christ by the influence of her parents. She also shared how she was able to lead her cousin to the Lord later on in her life and the importance of praying for those we know who are not saved. It was truly a blessing.

The rest of the evening was spent planning our day for tomorrow. We have quite the plateful tomorrow as we will be in a local elementary school singing and interacting with kids. Tomorrow evening, we will be having a youth rally at Grace Baptist Church and many of the local youth groups will be invited to attend. We are looking forward to interacting with the kids and teens and being able to show them the love of Christ.

I would personally appreciate your prayers for us as we serve in those capacities tomorrow. Pray that we would be able to be effective in our witness and that we would be able to be the hands and feet of Christ to these kids.

Have a wonderful evening! We'll chat again tomorrow! We also have included several pictures of the team for your enjoyment. We miss you and love you all!

For God's Glory,

Jonny Gamet
Antigua 2013

The First Day

After being wiped out from a day of travel, the team went to bed very early last night. We awoke from a very restful night of sleep and were excited to begin our first day of work in Antigua. Our day began with a tour of the AM tower site and the radio station. The students were excited to see a lot of the same equipment and software they used in school in the radio station. After the tours ended, our team split up into several groups:

Group one consisted of Renee Owens, Emily Nelson and Abby Edwards. These ladies traveled to Bolans Primary School to spend some time reading to the students and spending time with them. The students all wanted to play with Abby and Emily's long hair. These students don't get a lot of interaction with people from the United States, and so they often want to touch the different color skin. Some even pinch it to see if it will turn darker. Abby and Emily both wanted to go back tomorrow to spend time with the students. They had a wonderful time with them, and in being able to teach them about God.

Group two consisted of the rest of the ladies on the team who helped with a variety of different tasks around the station. Most of the girls spent their time editing children's programs and helping do voice over work. In conjunction, the girls also were able to spend some time with the nationals who work on the Caribbean Radio Lighthouse staff.

Group three consisted of the men of the group as Nathan Owens directed us outside for some "man work" or as the average lay person would say "manual labor." The men helped at the AM site with some weed control, repairing and preparing the fence and Joshua and Lee helped to test several of the cables and equipment at the job site in preparation for hurricane season, which will come in about a month. The men also headed up to Mt. Obama (named after the 2009 election), but we still like to call it Boggy Peak (the original name). This mountain is the highest point in Antigua and also the site of the FM tower for the radio station. While there, the men were able to clear out a lot of brush and trees to help prevent damage to the tower in the event of a storm.

Once again, after a long day of work, a time at the beach was needed and appreciated. We spent the evening playing games together and recounting some of the highlights of the day. We had a brief time of prayer and devotions as I challenged the team to think about the lives they possibly could impact with their day-to-day responsibilities. Especially for our students, something like clearing brush or editing a children's program can seem dull and monotonous, but who knows how God can use that for His glory? Maybe three years from now a child will hear that edited radio program and come to Christ as a result. I can't wait to get to heaven and be able to see how God used my life to impact others, and I know God is using our team in mighty ways already, and will continue to do so throughout this trip.

Each of the team members are having a wonderful time and are being a great help to the ministry here. We did take some pictures of the days activities, but our internet connection here is not allowing a lot of speed to be able to upload pictures. We're hoping to be able to add more in the coming days for you to be able to see our work.

Continue to pray for us! We are excited to see God working already in the lives of our team members. We are so thankful for the team unity we have experienced so far and for the wonderful young people we have on this team. They truly are great to be with!

We love and miss you all, and I pass along hello's and "I love you's" from each of the team members.

For now, we say goodnight and we'll talk again soon from "the land of sea and sun."

For God's glory,

Jonny Gamet  

We made it!!!

For all the concerned parents who have been anxiously awaiting news, we made it safely to Antigua around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. Though tired and worn out from a long day of traveling, we are here and praise God for his protection in getting us here.

Our day began bright and early at 2:00 a.m. as we loaded up our luggage at Bob Jones University, said our goodbyes and hit the road. We praise the Lord for the safety He gave us on the road. Especially with the early nature of our quest from Greenville to Atlanta.

We then flew from Atlanta to Miami with no complications at all. We did have to shift around some weight in one of our food suitcases (I guess my stash of Reese's candy bars were discovered to be too heavy). After arriving safely in the Miami airport around 9:00 a.m., the team spread out around the airport to try to find a decent breakfast meal near our gate. The consensus finally came to be Wendy's although they didn't serve any breakfast items. So it was Chicken sandwiches and Baconators as the "breakfast of champions" for our team.

Most spent their remaining minutes in the U.S. surfing Facebook and sending last-minute messages to family and friends. At 11:00 a.m. we embarked on the final leg of the journey in a 3-hour flight from Miami to Antigua. The trip was absolutely breathtaking as we looked over the vast space of the ocean in all its beauty. After arriving in Antigua, we were greeted by Nathan and Renee' Owens and Ken Kirkland at the airport. They helped us secure two rental vans (with air conditioning) and we packed up our luggage and headed out to our home away from home for the next two weeks. Kathryn certainly had a culture shock in experiencing her first driving experience in Antigua.

The best way to describe driving in Antigua would be to combine the atmosphere of a demolition derby, with  streets the size of most American alley ways. Thankfully, the Lord kept us all safe and we managed to get all the vehicles to the missionaries house in a timely manner.

After taking a few minutes to unpack, we all donned our swimsuits for a quick dip in the beautiful beach across from the missionaries house. Little Julia wasn't much of a fan of the ocean for her first experience (that could be because of an enormous wave that she encountered upon entering the water, but I digress). We then came up for a meal with all of the missionaries and the team had a great time getting to know the missionaries.

It is now 7:15, and one by one, team members are beginning to fall to the tireless grasps of exhaustion. We are looking forward to a great day tomorrow as we will hit the ground running in helping at the Caribbean Radio Lighthouse and in local schools. On a side note, we wanted to say thank you so much to those who prayed for little Julia in the trip today. She did a wonderful job and was very happy and content all day, and then slept the entire 3-hour flight from Miami to Antigua. It may be a small thing, but her cooperation in a very stressful day was a great blessing. We know many of you prayed specifically for that and we thank you!

Also, on another personal note, Abby Edwards has been tirelessly chasing me around and told me to say "hi" to her family and friends.

We all miss home and our loved ones very much, but we are thrilled with the opportunity to serve our Great God on the beautiful island of Antigua.

Until we meet again via the Antigua blog, we bid you goodnight for now.

- Jonny Gamet