Greetings to our brothers and sisters in Christ,

We had a successful trip to St. Thomas Parish Jamaica this past week.  Doc, Terry and Richard went to visit with our friends and partners and plan for the summer.  The most pressing need for this trip was to find a new location for our tool storage.  Our previous location was ending in May of this year.  God provided us the land to build a storage building on and construction began before we flew home.  We thank God for his bountiful provision.

The second goal of this trip was to finalize the summer VBS trip plans.  We have confirmed the dates of June 29-July 6.  We have room for 7-8 more volunteers for this trip.  You can find more details for this summers trip soon on the Get Involved page, linked above.  We will be hosting 2 VBS's at 2 local school as well as having an evening marriage and family seminar at a local church.  Time willing, we will try to have an afternoon at the Blue Lagoon for a swim and some fellowship in this iconic, beautiful location.  

Lastly, we were inspired in some creative, smaller ways you can help as well.  We found out that many of the special needs children in the area have never been assessed.  Assessment is free from the Jamaican government, but the wait list is years long.  Private assessment can be done, but it is costly.  We are exploring ways to send a team to perform the assessment or provide a means for you to sponsor the assessment of a special needs child.  Once we have the necessary information, we will update in the news section and our Get Involved page.  The special needs school also needs tactile learning aids up to grade 3.  This would include puzzles, flash cards and other physical tools teaching letters, numbers, colors, shapes and simple mathematics.  We are in the process of creating a wish list of items for you to view and assist with purchasing.  Lastly, the special needs school could use some tablets as both a learning aid and reward for students who complete their work.  We will be porting a link to some affordable tablets along with the wish list in the near future.

We thank you for your prayers.  They were answered on this last trip.  We look forward to partnering with you all in some fashion in the future.  Please check back soon for the opportunities listed above.

Blessings,
​The IS68 team

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
It has been nearly two years since we last updated this blog section, and we want to express our gratitude to our loyal supporters and newsletter recipients. Despite the lack of content here, please know that our absence does not reflect a lack of activity in Jamaica.
Over these past months, we have been diligently maintaining our ongoing projects while seeking opportunities to expand and evolve our work in Jamaica, all with the goal of making a lasting impact on God's kingdom. During our most recent trip, we organized two Vacation Bible Schools and undertook a construction project at a basic school in St. Thomas. It was a week filled with the joy of sharing God's love and serving the community, as both IS68 veterans and newcomers joined forces.
However, due to an outbreak of Dengue fever and scheduling complications, our return has been delayed until next week. Nevertheless, a small team consisting of Donnie, Terry, and Richard will be traveling to St. Thomas from March 9th through the 14th to lay the groundwork for our upcoming summer trip. We are excited to announce that this year, we plan to incorporate a marriage and family seminar into our annual Vacation Bible School, encouraged by and in cooperation with Pastor Richie Dunn. Stay tuned for further updates on our plans, which will be shared here and in the "Get Involved" section of our website.
On a practical note, we are facing a challenge as we will lose our tool and equipment storage in May of this year. Therefore, we earnestly seek your prayers for the Lord's provision of a new storage facility during our upcoming trip.
As always, we are immensely grateful for your prayers and unwavering support.
Blessings,
The IS68 Team