Our week has been overshadowed with the loss of Floyd Yoder. He was one of the founders of JRM, and his vision has touched many lives here in Jamaica. He had a huge heart, especially for children. We had the privilege of living here at JRM with Floyd & Ellen during the first year that we were here. He will be greatly missed, but we are happy that he is no longer in pain. He was looking forward to being with Jesus. We will be traveling to South Carolina to attend the memorial service.
Lots of things have happened since we last updated you, so this will be a summary of our lives over the past several months.
Last weekend, Carrie and I had the privilege of attending a marriage retreat put on by His Glory Ministries (Daniel & June Pollard). It was a wonderful time, and we enjoyed being able to relax at a resort for several days.
We enjoyed having family visit over Thanksgiving. Some of Carrie's family came to visit us here in Jamaica. It was special to spend the holiday with them.
We invited some friends from church to join us for Thanksgiving dinner.
Jasmine, Chloe, and Sierra were able to travel back to Ohio with Eric & Monica and spend a couple of extra weeks with cousins. The rest of our family will then be traveling from Jamaica and spending a month in the States over Christmas and New Years. We are very excited about that! The girls have been dreaming about seeing snow again. We have had 3 Christmases in Jamaica, so it is time for us to experience the cold of winter again.
The weekend before Thanksgiving, we had a "staff retreat." Some former staff came, along with some cooks, and we had a guest speaker for the weekend. The theme was "Caring From the Heart." Sam & Cathie Gingerich from Life Ministries in Pennsylvania were our guest speakers. We had a wonderful weekend with a good combination of thought provoking sessions, connecting with good friends, and fun. One day we took a boat ride into Montego Bay and did some snorkeling.
We are enjoying some extra living space. The front porch has been screened in, and we use it as a dining room and living room.
Sharon Troyer has returned to JRM and is helping out short term as a cook. She had served at JRM for over 9 years previously. She has been a great blessing to us!
We recently had a local farmer start some gardening on the property here. If everything produces, in a few months we will have more vegetables than we will know what to do with. For example, he started over 200 tomato plants.
The girls are still participating in ballet classes. They had a performance at our summer church picnic, then participated in a competition recently. One of their routines got them first place. They have really enjoyed being part of it.
We also enjoyed going to a local high school football (soccer) match. It was an exciting game, and the crowd showed their enthusiasm by blowing horns and stomping their feet on the metal bleachers.
Here are some other highlights of the last few months:
VBS for the community around JRM
Beach outing before the start of school
A relaxing weekend in the Blue Mountains
Carrie spent a weekend in Virginia visiting her niece in the hospital.
Thunderstorm rolling in
A new roof was installed
And new tile flooring...
Start of a new school year
Loaded for church
Please keep praying for us. We appreciate you support and interest in our work here at Jamaica Relief Ministries. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Kevin for the Stutzman family
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