O give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His name. Make known his deeds among the people....remember his marvelous works that he has done.
Psalm 105:1,5

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go
Joshua 1:9


On July 22 I had the opportunity to travel down to Jamaica with ~35 other people from churches in Livonia (otherwise known as Detroit), MI; Alto, MI; and Leo, IN. I went in barely knowing anyone on trip, only a few people I had more than a casual conversation with and most I had never met before getting to the airport in Detroit. The plane was overbooked so me and Brice and Allen and Beth and Brooke took the bump and went on our own little adventure making 2 late connections by the grace of God. We made it safely to Jamaica that night (though our luggage lagged a little, about 24 hours). After finding a quick meal we settled in for our first night's sleep, which was a little difficult since it was about a million degrees and we only had a fan without a front guard and the oscillator was busted. However, one of the themes of the trip was 'It can't be hard enough for me to complain' and I would say that people did a great job of following that guideline.

So after a hot night, we woke up for a Sunday without a minister (we were supposed to have Neil Widmeir come down, but his flight was canceled the day before). So Curtis did a devotion and Tim read the Bible and we sang a bunch of songs. It was great and really set the order of the whole week. I think we all appreciated Curtis' forward looking devotion. After that we went to the orphanage (these children could hear). The orphanage was really emotional because, while the kids were well fed and clothed, they just seemed starved for love. I wish we would have spent more time or gone back there, but it was still a great experience. After the orphanage, we went to Doctor's Cove in Montego Bay, which was beautiful. We swam for a while, jumping on a floating trampoline and just having a good time.

After Sunday, we began our work week. Monday -> Thursday we worked from 9-4pm, and then we would play football, soccer, or ultimate frisbee just to make sure that we were exhausted and disgustingly sweaty. An awesomely cold shower (with plenty of singing) later and we were ready for dinner. Dinner was followed up by devotions, sharing of testimonies, and then more games (dutch blitz was a favorite, although the pulse game was very cool). Friday we had a play day, heading to Dunn's River Falls, the market at Ocho Rios, and then Glistening Waters. Each of those was very cool. Friday night we had an amusing variety show (unfortunatetly my camera died after the second act) and then Saturday morning we had an emotional wrap up circle followed by packing up and flying.

Hey everyone. I'm putting pictures online as quickly as possible. If you would like to have your photos added, you can email me or send a CD or send prints that I will scan. I love going through these photos because it reminds me of what a great and faith building experience we had. One important thing, if you want to get prints of pictures, don't use the photos on this site because the resolution is too low. Oh, and if you have AIM (sn = dcoughli) or Google Talk (sn = dcoughli@gmail.com), say hi to me. I think that's it for now, except saying thanks to everyone who has left comments so far ;) And check out Mike Zaagman and Brice Gasser's Masterpieces.

Ok, so you want prints? You can order prints here online and they will be delivered to your home! Now all the photos are edited and uploaded. Let me know if you have any problems (or successes) with ordering prints. Oh, and if you want a CD with all the full sized pictures on it, just email me.