Olivia celebrated her 6th birthday in early March with a princess tea party.
The public hospital in Montego Bay has had some ventilation issues over the past couple of years. Finally, the workers in the affected areas refused to come to work until it was fixed, because it was making them sick. It turned out that the officials are not sure what the problem is, or how to fix it. So, until they get things sorted out, they have moved some of the hospital services to the Seventh Day Adventist conference center next door. This facility will probably be in use for quite a while, a year or more I would guess.
We enjoyed having some "home folks" here in March. The Emmanuel youth group from Amanda, Ohio was at JRM for a week. They spent several days building a house for a family.
A former auntie, Nicki, was part of this group, so we were showered with all kinds of gifts and treats. One of the treats was doughnuts on Saturday morning.
Thank you again for coming to Jamaica!
Amber served as an auntie for 19 months, and March was the month she moved back to South Carolina. Thank you Amber for loving, giving, and serving with your whole heart!
One of Amber's favorite things to do is take selfies with other people's phones. I am sure she does this so the world can see her personality. :)
Katy arrived and will be serving as an auntie. She is from Pennsylvania.
We also enjoyed some family guests. Monroe & Emma Miller from Farmville, VA, came to visit along with their children, Duane and Andrea, and Carrie's brother Josh. Monroe & Emma celebrated their 10th anniversary while they were here.
We felt privileged to have them visit, and the time went too fast. The girls really enjoyed having Andrea here, and especially drinking Paraguayan terere every morning and afternoon.
We also enjoyed a visit from Katelyn, our teacher last school year.
Easter is a big holiday in Jamaica. Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays. Schools are usually closed the whole week after Easter. We were able to do some fun activities with the children including coloring eggs and having an Easter egg hunt.
We had a service at church on Good Friday, and some of the children were part of the service.
We had a group of girls from Ohio here for a week. They did some painting up at Mt. Pelier.
Joe & Ellen returned from spending some time in Indiana. Our family is looking forward to spending 3 weeks in Ohio. We plan to fly on May 17 and return to Jamaica on June 6. We are looking forward to attending 2 weddings of former staff, and seeing many family and friends.
With buying airline tickets, our bank account has been a little low. We have been so blessed by your generosity in the past, and we really appreciate it. We are truly volunteers with no stipend or allowance. We are provided with food and a place to live, but we do depend on gifts to cover our other expenses. If you are interested in contributing to our support, donations can be sent to: Kevin Stutzman, PO Box 298, Plain City, OH 43064. If you use Paypal, you can send it to truebuckeye@juno.com.
Please pray for our family, JRM, all the staff and children. We really appreciate all the prayers and support!
Kevin
Photo of the month:
I came behind this truck on the road. While they were driving, the ladder on top moved over to the one side. Things did not look very secure, and one of the guys on the back was sleeping. I didn't see anything fall off though.
