Summertime Adventures

It is hard to believe that summer is almost over, and school is just around the corner. This week we welcomed Katelyn Yoder (Maryland) to JRM. She will be our home-school teacher this year.

Earlier this month we said goodbye to Rosetta Stoltzfus who returned home to Pennsylvania after serving at JRM for one year. Thank you Rose for your generous service to the children of Jamaica!

One day later, a new auntie, Amber Hochstetler arrived. She is from South Carolina, but we try not to hold that against her. :)

We also experienced some changes with the children. We added four children in less than one week. That makes for some exciting times! The aunties have done a tremendous job with all the changes happening. They have had to make some sacrifices, but they do such a good job of keeping the childrens' best interests in mind. We are blessed with a great team of volunteers!

Floyd & Ellen also returned to their home in South Carolina. We surprised them the weekend before they left with a farewell party. Duane & Verba Cross (Indiana) were here to help plan things, and Scott & Grace Hostetler (South Carolina) made a surprise visit for the weekend.

Floyd & Ellen don't enjoy lots of attention and would prefer to serve in the background, but we felt it was fitting to honor them for all they have done for so many people in Jamaica.

We hosted a group in the beginning of the month, August 4-11. They were from Dayspring Mennonite Church in Catlett, Virginia. We especially enjoyed that we had some family that came with the group!

They added two rooms to Miss Sophia's house at Mt. Pelier.

They also did some painting and some projects around JRM.

We spent one day passing out tracts, visiting a childrens home for handicapped children, and visiting the infirmary.

On their day off, we visited YS Falls.

We enjoyed hosting them and getting to know them. They were a blessing to JRM and the staff!

We recently had Case Conferences with CDA for the children in our care. We are blessed to have an excellent relationship with CDA, and quality people to work with. We are excited about the difference we can make in these children's lives.

A few things to pray about:
-These next several months will continue to bring changes with staff. Pray that we could work together as a team, and be aware of the attacks that the enemy wants to bring our way.

-Pray for the children as they get used to new aunties. Pray for the new children that they would feel safe and feel loved here at JRM.

-Pray for our family as we make a decision soon about our time here, whether to extend it beyond our initial commitment of two years (your input is welcome).

Carrie's sister Audrey recently announced her engagement, so we are excited to be attending a wedding in November. The downside is that we will need to pay for another set of airline tickets to travel. We also have some potentially sizable dental bills coming up. We have felt so blessed with your generosity in the past, and it is humbling to ask. Many of you have been regular supporters, and we thank you for that. If you haven't given in the past, would you consider? The address is: Stutzman Jamaica Fund, PO Box 298, Plain City, OH  43064. If you have Paypal, you can send it to truebuckeye@juno.com

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!
Kevin

Sign of the month: You never know what's coming your way!

Home

Where is home? This is something I have had to think about in the past month. When we were traveling back to the USA recently, we said that we were going "home." When we traveled back to Jamaica on July 10, we said were coming "home." So I am still not sure where home is...

We had an enjoyable time in Ohio. Our time went quickly as we expected it would. We did have some time to just relax and enjoy family. We were also able to connect with many friends. We are so grateful for all the people who are part of our lives.

Some of our favorite things in the USA:

Back in Jamaica, we hit the ground running it seemed. Floyd & Ellen did a tremendous job of filling our role while we were gone, as well as their normal tasks.

Soon after we came back, we had a field trip for everyone. We did a glass bottom boat tour, and some of the aunties went snorkeling.

Several days later, we said good bye to a set of siblings that had been in JRM's care for a long time. Although we really miss them, we are thankful that God answered their prayer for their own family; and that they are in a good home. Join us in praying for them as they adjust to the changes in their lives.

We also had lots of visitors during the month of July. Loretta had her sister and 3 cousins here for a week. One of Rose's good friends spent some time here as well. Sandra Hershberger and her two daughters have been here for a few weeks, repainting the main kitchen and keeping us company. Wesley joined them this week, and has been busy with various projects.

A group of ladies from Be Open Missions did a 3 day Vacation Bible School for the kids at JRM. The next week we had a group from Dublin Baptist Church (Dublin, OH) do a 3 day VBS for the neighborhood here. It was very successful with over 60 children here the last day. They made an effort to speak with each person individually and many committed their hearts to Jesus!

They also did a Family Fun Fest at the church one evening, with games, face painting, balloon animals, and food.

We wrapped up their time here with a party on the roof the last evening they were here. It was a good week of getting to know our neighbors here in Jamaica, as well as our neighbors from Ohio.

We celebrated Sierra's and Emma's birthdays last week.

On Monday we visited Robin's Nest Childrens Home. It is about a 45 minute drive from our place.

We took a tour of the home, then had a picnic nearby at the old Salters Hill Baptist church ruins. This church has some historical significance in Jamaica. It was voluntarily built in 1825 by slaves. After the "Christmas Rebellion" in late 1831, the military drilled holes in the walls, filled them with gunpowder, and blew it up in retaliation.

This week we welcomed some of Carrie's family. Her mom, two sisters, three nieces, and nephew are here this week ahead of a work team from their church coming next week. The cousins have been enjoying every minute together!

Soon after we came back to Jamaica, we got another puppy. Ellie stays busy trying to chew things up.

We had a local cabinet maker come to JRM to cut some cedar trees for lumber. He uses a 36" chainsaw, and cuts the slabs on site with just the chainsaw. He doesn't have a guide or anything like that; he just cuts it freehand. It is quite impressive.

I am often asked what the hardest thing is about living in Jamaica. One thing that always comes to mind is that it is not easy to do business here. I had a good example of this one day last week. We were trying to transfer the title of a vehicle from an individual to JRM. This should be a piece of cake right? First of all, we had to get a letter signed by some people in the US to authorize me to do the transfer. We had this letter ready beforehand, and were set to do the transfer. I was at the tax office when it opened at 8am. There was a form to fill out with all the information about the car, the company, etc. I went to the desk several times for help with some of the questions. When the form was completed, they said that they were out of license plates, and they would not be able to register the vehicle to a new owner without plates. Luckily we did have an old set of plates at JRM that we could re-activate. So after several phone calls to verify that we had a set of valid plates, they asked to see the insurance for the new owner. Oh, we didn't have that yet, since the car was still titled to the individual. Well, they would not transfer the title until we got insurance. So off to the insurance place I went. There I showed the receptionist my papers, and told her what I am trying to do. She gave me 5 pages to fill out. After waiting a half hour, I got called back to an office. I was told that I will need to submit copies of IDs of all the board members as well as their signatures. I also needed to submit a copy of my personal TRN (sort of like a social security #). I also needed a letter of authorization for this specific transaction; oh, and an updated company incorporation document. The good news is that they gave me insurance for 30 days until I get them all these things. So I got everything I needed for now, and headed back to the tax office. The best part of the whole process is that this time I didn't need to stand in line. I just went right to the front, since I was there earlier and had pending business. They shuffled the papers I had and everything was in order. Now it was time to stand in line to pay and get the registration. That day there was no line at the cashier (very unusual, probably because they were out of license plates). I walked out at noon with everything done. I was actually surprised that it didn't take longer. These types of things can actually take all day depending on lines, etc., so I felt quite fortunate. I still need to get some documents for the insurance company, and it will probably take another two hours there when I take it in. Just be thankful that Geico can save you money in 15 minutes.

Thank you so much for your continued support! We really appreciate it! Keep us in your prayers as we continue to adjust to changes with the children and the staff. We will have lots of staff changeover in the next few months.

Picture of the week (or month):
I always enjoy reading the sign written in Jamaican Patwa.

A Grand Entrance

The rain has fallen, and the grass is green again. It certainly looks nicer than the brown lawn we had last month.

We enjoyed hosting the Foothills Youth Group last week. Things look a little different at JRM since they left. We had 4 talented members of this group who gave our entrance a new look.

They also painted a mural on the side of the children's home, as well as a "Welcome" over the front door.  The rest of the group worked hard as well. They built two houses for families in need, volunteered at Blossom Gardens, as well as lots of painting and clean up at JRM. One day was spent going to several schools to have devotions, and visiting the residents of the infirmary.

We enjoyed having them here. We hope they enjoyed their stay here as well. They guys of the group set up a whole bunch of hammocks in the pavilion to sleep in. There were 14 hammocks strung every which way.

Carrie and I, along with Sierra, Jasmine, and Chloe, had the opportunity to go along to Dunns River Falls with the group (our first visit there).

I had the misfortune of losing my bus key as I was climbing the falls. It seemed impossible that it would be found. A worker with goggles started helping me look for it as well. After 15 minutes of searching several pools (and praying), things were looking bleak. He dove several more times, when all at once he had found it. We were quite relieved!

On the drive to Ocho Rios, we came across a place where a semi carrying a load of cement had crashed. It was a lucky day for those who were filling their gunny sacks with free cement.

Two weeks ago we got a new Rottweiler puppy, Queen Isabella (Bella). Ten days later, she was diagnosed with Parvo. We took her to the vet four days in a row for treatment, but in the end she did not survive. It was only two weeks, but we were quite sad to see her go.

Recently we went to the school's Fun Day. There was a bouncy house, trampoline, and train ride. There was food on sale as well. I was a volunteer to help at the event which was to begin at 10. At 1pm the "locomotive" for the train was still being repaired, and the trampoline was still being set up.

Everything was up and running soon after that, and everyone had a good time! One of my favorite Jamaican phrases is "soon come." This means you might be there in 10 minutes, or 10 hours, or 10 days. It seems quite appropriate in many situations.

CDA also put on an event that some of the children attended. The highlight was getting to meet some policemen and firemen, and getting to ride in the fire truck.

This little guy thought he had the world by the tail!

Mark & Karen Smucker (former houseparents) recently came to visit as well. We really enjoyed connecting with them.

Their son Samuel became a hero in our girls eyes when he cleaned and grilled frog legs for them. They were quite tasty!

Jasmine, Sierra, and Chloe recently finished up their dance class for the summer with a recital.

A few weeks ago we noticed a stage being set up in the empty lot across from our gate. There were people milling around all day, then they played music all night. The next afternoon vehicles and people started filling the area. We found out that they were having a funeral. I had heard that funerals can be quite a big party here, but this one was much more subdued.

We also learned about making caramel from condensed milk. We learned that it is a good idea to use a large pot with lots of water in it. If the pot is too small, the water will boil out causing the can of caramel to burn and explode. If you were to try this at home, it might possibly look like this.

We are looking forward to seeing many of you soon! We will be in Ohio from June 23 - July 10. This will be the last update until after we return to Jamaica, so it will likely be a month until you hear from us again. Unless of course, we are privileged to see you in the next few weeks and are able to speak in person.

It is hard to believe that we are approaching one year since moving to Jamaica. God has been faithful, and he has used you to encourage us as well. Your support has been amazing, and we appreciate it more than we can express. We don't know what else to say except "Thank You!" May God bless you for your generosity!

Hope to see you soon!
Kevin

Sign of the week: This billboard was updated recently, and I found the picture on it amusing, since there is no hunting of any kind in Jamaica.