Back in Jamaica

We arrived back in Jamaica on January 15, and life has been a blur ever since!  We had a wonderful time in Ohio over the holidays, and enjoyed spending time with family and friends. We got to play in the snow, and experience freezing temperatures, but knowing the our "winter" would be short made it more enjoyable. Thank you for all of you who were so generous during our time there, and a special thanks to Ervin & Wilma Yoder for letting us live in their house while we were in Ohio.

Joe & Ellen Shetler moved back to Indiana in January, finishing their 2 1/2 year term as Outreach Directors. They led many projects and groups during their time here, and impacted many families in Jamaica.

Haven of Hope (Michigan) hosted a marriage seminar at JRM in late January. It was a good weekend of getting to know new friends, and learning about relationships.

The annual associates board meeting was the first weekend in February, bringing more friends to JRM.

We had a ground-breaking for the new Outreach Center, where we will be able to better house work teams who come to Jamaica.

It was also painfully obvious that Floyd Yoder was missing from the group. We thought of him many times during the weekend. We had a memorial event during the weekend as well, inviting his many Jamaican friends to share their memories. We were so thankful to have Ellen here, and some of their family.

We discovered that the termite damage in our roofing system was worse than we first thought, so plans were made to do an extensive renovation. This means that we are "homeless." We have been living in other parts of the property during this time. We expect the project to take a total of 3 months. The new roof will be concrete.

Carrie and the aunties made a special dinner for Valentine's Day.

We said goodbye to Auntie Sharon. She was serving at JRM for several months, and it went by way too quickly!

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We have been blessed with other great short term helpers. Hannah Shugert is helping with public relations projects, and Julianna Miller is cooking for several months.

Kayla Hershberger of Indiana joined our team of aunties, and has quickly adapted to "auntie" life.

For the month of March, we have had some help in the maintenance department. Three brave men have staked out their corner at JRM, as they help us catch up on our "to-do" list. Two of my nephews, Josh Yoder and Ryan Mast are here, along with Conrad Miller, a cousin of one of the staff. It has been great to have them here helping out.

JRM along with Embracing Orphans led a work team from Reality Church in building two homes recently.

Carrie & I attended the funeral of Leslie Cleghorn. Leslie's wife Cynthia has cooked for JRM for many years. She faithfully cared for Leslie as he battled diabetes. He had lost both feet, and his sight in both eyes to the disease, yet he was one of the most grateful people I knew.

Olivia celebrated her 7th birthday!

One thing that Jamaica has taught us is to "make do" with what you have on hand. So when you go to pull a concrete mixer, and you don't have the right pin, you use what you have. It made it to its destination just fine!

Thank you again for your prayers and support. We really appreciate it! We have recently been made aware of several heart-breaking situations. Often it is hard to know how to help, so please join us in prayer for Rachel* and Portia* and the difficult circumstances they and their children are facing.
A few other specific things to pray about:
-Our family being displaced while the house is repaired.
-Staff changes in the next few months.

Blessings to you,
Kevin