Visitors, Easter, and Other Adventures

We started the month of March with a group from Harmony Christian Fellowship from Maryland and Delaware. Many from the group were relatives of our teacher, Katelyn Yoder, and we also enjoyed having personal friends of ours Larion & Cheryl Stoltzfus.

They built a house for a family in the Mt. Pelier community.

It was great to re-connect with old friends and also make some new ones.

Carrie's mom and brother (Josh) came to visit us the end of February. We loved having them here, and the time went way too fast!

Loretta's family (Elvin & Verna, Janis, Lewis, Marcus, and Keith) was here around the same time.

Next was Amber's family (Anthony & Mary Jane, Gabe, and Destiny, Grandparents Willis & Alice).

Mandy's parents (Marlin & Louise) were here this past week.

And this week Novella's parents (Ruben & Rosella) and sister (Amberly & Lyndon Steiner) are here to visit.

We not only enjoyed getting to know all these people, they also helped out tremendously with various projects around JRM.

Joe & Ellen Shetler have been back home in Indiana the past two weeks. We hope they are having a wonderful time there, but we are looking forward to having them back in Jamaica.

The school children had Easter break from school, so we did some special things that week. On Easter we had an egg hunt.

Ready for Easter Sunday!

We all went to visit Ms. Cynthia & Mr. Leslie one day during Easter break. Cynthia made lunch for us, and we enjoyed a feast!

Recently, we said goodbye to our good friends, the Barton family. They will be gone for the summer at least. We hope to see them back in Jamaica this fall.

On Carrie's birthday, we celebrated with the school children by stopping for ice cream on the way home.

Carrie & I enjoyed an evening out complete with a spectacular sunset!

We have had lots of great sunsets recently.

Pictures of the month:
For some reason, we didn't want to stay behind this precarious load we saw going down the road.

Why do you need a truck when you have friends to hold the pipes?

Keep us in your prayers at JRM! There is change happening constantly it seems. We recently had one child leave, and new one come into our care. Pray for the staff and the other children that we would be able to adapt well to all these changes.
Thank you for all your prayers and support!
Kevin

Highlights of the New Year

The cold winter weather in the north has a way of affecting us here in Jamaica as well. It doesn't necessarily affect our weather here, but it does affect the amount of visitors we have. We have only had several days in 2016 without visitors so far, and it looks like it will continue so until at least the middle of April. We enjoy having people here though because chances are, it is family or friends of someone here at JRM, and they are bringing goodies for us! It seems like Christmas throughout the year!

The Lynford Weaver family from Pine Grove, PA was here in the month of January. They didn't stay at JRM, but they were here working here almost every day. The roof on the mission house looks much better with fresh paint. They also painted the outside wall all along the front of the property.

Thank you for coming and blessing JRM!

When some of Amber's friends visited us, we enjoyed when they shared their musical talents with us.

There were some other new faces that came to JRM in January. We had two new children join our family, and now have a total of 10 children here.

Carrie has been taking care of the baby, so it has taken some getting used to short nights again! She has the new mom "glow" about her, and she is at her best when she is taking care of children.

Novella Fisher from Manheim, PA joined the JRM team on January 19. Welcome Novella!

The first weekend in February brought lots of people to JRM, as it does every year. It was time for the Annual Associates Weekend. My niece Rachelle Mast came along and surprised our girls. 

We had a work day at JRM on Thursday, then a banquet in the evening. We had some special singing by the staff, and worship led by Brian Burke. Sheldon Campbell of YWAM Mobay was our guest speaker, and challenged us to define our purpose and vision for JRM.

Friday was a "fun day" in the Mt. Pelier community where JRM sponsors the Blackburn Learning Centre, and holds a Bible Club every week for the students. The activities for fun day included making crafts, a photo booth, games, and face painting.

Then on Saturday was the annual board meeting to conclude the weekend's activities.

The children always enjoy when Sam gets out the guitar!

It was a fun weekend of getting to know new people, and re-connecting with old friends.

Our family attended a birthday party of one of the girls' friends from church.

Their ballet classes have started again, and Olivia gets to go this year too. They look forward to that every week. They also enjoy Kids Praise every Friday, and AWANA at church every Sunday evening. It is a good chance for them to cultivate friendships outside of JRM.

Last week I made a trip to Kingston to meet with the government office that registers charities. Two friends from church made the trip with me, and we enjoyed an American lunch at TGI Fridays!

We had a great day of connecting, and best of all, JRM is now registered in Jamaica as a Charitable Organization. That means we will not need to pay the 16.5% sales tax anymore.

I really liked the sign at the office where I had the meeting.

We recently took a group picture.

Please pray for Jamaica, especially this week as there is an election on Thursday, February 25. We feel safe here, but there is often some violence that goes with the election time.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Kevin

Sign of the month: I think we all feel like this when we drive.

The Christmas Breeze

When the cooler breezes of winter hit Jamaica in December, the locals refer to it as the Christmas Breeze. The temperatures are still in the mid-70s to the mid-80s but the Christmas Breeze has us reaching for sweatshirts some mornings. I know that is hard for some to imagine who are braving negative temperatures this time of year, but it is amazing how a person's body adjusts to the environment they live in.

December is always a fun month with Christmas and all the related activities. A friend from church brought gifts for all the children one afternoon.

We hosted a Christmas dinner for the workers of the Child Development Agency and Blossom Gardens.

The staff and children sang some songs, then we had a time of worship. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

We also said some goodbyes in December. Rebecca Graber moved back to Ohio after serving 14 months at JRM. She poured herself into her work, and she is greatly missed.

A few days later, Cynthia Miller returned to North Carolina after filling in for several months. She did a great job of being thoroughly involved, even though she was here for only a short time.

Then of course, we had Christmas! We had the children dress up as characters in the Christmas story, as we read it from the Bible.

Then it was time to open gifts!

We had made a wooden play kitchen for the girls, and a train table for the boys. They were thrilled with it, and could hardly stop playing with it to eat Christmas dinner.

Thanks to a generous donor, we all went to a waterpark on Monday after Christmas. It was a full day, but everyone had a great time!

It included all the food and drinks, so we were sure to take advantage of that. :)

I recently saw a funny sight on the road. I guess this passenger was going to get where he was going no matter what happened!

Continue to pray for us! We don't just get gifts and go to waterparks all the time, even though it might appear that way.
Pray that we can do what is best for those in our care.
Pray that we could see what God is doing, and be able to partner with Him in building the Kingdom.

Thanks for being involved in what is happening in Jamaica!
Kevin

Sign of the month: No worries! The bad dogs are only in the small hole below the arrow.