Matthew was a no-show

We were fortunate that Hurricane Matthew steered clear of Jamaica. Here in western Jamaica our weather seemed "normal." We had a few rain showers, but nothing heavy, and no wind. The only hurricane effects we had were preparing for the storm, and then a day off waiting for the storm that never came. We were thankful to have the resources to make preparation, and thankful that we were spared, but our hearts were heavy for those who suffered so much from this storm.

We did see some neat cloud formations.

We had some staff changes recently. Cinda Hochstetler returned to Indiana after serving at JRM for one year. She put herself fully into her work here, and she is missed. Thank you Cinda for serving well! This picture reminds me of your determination to accomplish what you set out to do. :) This was one of many attempts to take the perfect sparkler picture.

Julianne Kuepfer from Ontario arrived in late September to serve as an auntie. She has done a good job fitting into the team here.

Joe & Ellen Shetler are spending a short time in the USA, attending a family wedding.

We also recently took in two more children, and now we are caring for 11 children. Both the staff and children have done a great job in adjusting to all the changes. Currently our staff consists of 6 aunties, 1 teacher, Joe & Ellen, and our family. There are 27 of us all together; quite a large family!

This past week, some of us made a trip to Kingston to take care of some business items. We left early in the morning, and drove on the new highway. There are areas of this highway that have heavy fog every morning. As you come down the mountain into a large valley, it looks like you are going to drive into a large fluffy blanket. It is a majestic sight! The picture does not do a good job of representing the scene.

We have more staff changes coming in the next several weeks, as well as a work group.  Keep JRM in your prayers as we seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those around us, especially the children in our care. Thank you for supporting us, and making it possible to serve here in Jamaica.

Kevin Stutzman

My sign picture was too blurry to read, so I will leave you with this picture of a taxi. I think they could have tied some people on top yet.

Back in Jamaica again, waiting on Matthew

As I write this, we are awaiting affects of Hurricane Matthew. The projected track of this hurricane is east of Jamaica, so since we are on the western side of the country, we are anticipating minimal impact. We are prepared, however, in case it is worse than we are expecting.

We spent Saturday and Sunday afternoon boarding up the windows, and making preparations.

The last time I wrote, we were in the USA enjoying time with family and friends. We really enjoyed seeing and connecting with many of you. We did have time to relax, and we felt rejuvenated.

We got to see many former JRM staff at Sheri Peachey's wedding to Grady Halteman. It was wonderful to see them all again.

On August 4, we hosted a jerk chicken dinner as a fundraiser for JRM. We were honored by the amount of people that came out in support.

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We received a warm welcome back to Jamaica (in more ways than one), and it was good to be back.

Brad & Rachel Stoll filled in for us while we were away, and did a fantastic job. The rest of the staff stepped up as well, and it was good to know things were in good hands.

Soon after we returned, Kenetra Miller from Texas joined our team at JRM. She is serving as a homeschool teacher for our family.

We wanted to do an outing before school started, so everyone piled into the big bus, and we went to Kingston for the day. We traveled on the new highway, which is nice and smooth, and has beautiful views.

We enjoyed an American lunch at TGI Fridays.

We then went to the Hope Zoo.

We were thankful to make the trip safely, and without any rain. We all enjoyed the day.

A few weeks later, we did a special weekend with various activities. The aunties enjoyed 24 hours off with a hotel stay to start the weekend. We then had Bible teaching sessions based on 1 Peter throughout the weekend. On Saturday morning, everyone went on a glass bottom boat tour.

Another exciting thing that has happened is that the goats had their kids. Our herd more than doubled with the new additions. The children love to help Grandpa Joe feed the goats.

There is a house being built on the property next door. One of the delivery trucks made a delivery in the wrong place.

It had rained a lot just previously, and the truck slid right down the hill onto the road.

We also had some staff changes this week, but I will leave that for the next update. I am hoping to update very soon, as many of you will be wondering about the hurricane.

Thanks for you interest in our lives and in JRM. We couldn't do this without your help.
Kevin

Sign of the week:
This was at the zoo. I don't know if most of them have already been stolen, or what.

Summer Fun

I realize that it has been about 2 months since we had a new post on this blog. Surprisingly, this does not mean that we have had nothing to post about. On the contrary, we have had lots going on.

The fourth Monday in May is a holiday in Jamaica, and it is not Memorial Day. It is called Labour Day, and it is a day to do work in the community. We took everyone outside and cleaned up the trash along the road.

When we took a picture, the guy walking along the road wanted to be in it too.

The children from church that participate in the AWANA Clubs, went to Santa Cruz (about 2 hours away) for the AWANA Olympics.

The first activity of the day was devotions.

We brought our own shade along.

The Baylife team ready for the AWANA games.

They also did a Bible Quiz. This is the Baylife team. They got all the answers right except for one.

It was a full, fun, and hot day. We enjoyed it, but we were happy to be home again.

Carrie & I celebrated our 13th anniversary on May 31. We were able to have an evening out to celebrate. It had rained, and just as we got there, the sun came out to give us some gorgeous scenery.

We had 3 groups in June in back to back to back weeks. First, one of the board members, Sam & Lydia Kanagy came along with their son & his family, and some family friends. Our girls enjoyed having some new playmates for a few days. They did a building project for a neighbor who was re-building after a fire.

The week after that, we had some "home folks." Dr. Richard Shugart brought a group from Plain City, Ohio. They re-surfaced the driveway at JRM, and did some chiropractic adjustments, and eye checkups in several locations.

They made balloon animals for the children one evening.

The next week, we hosted a group of 30 from the Berea church in Nappanee, Indiana. Their big project was to build two houses.

The first 3 weeks in June we also had Sandra & Abby Hershberger and Travis Wengerd at JRM. Sandra put her artistic skills to use by re-doing some furniture pieces, and Travis helped out with whatever work needed to be done.

We had some medical things come up recently, so we got to experience the differences between the private hospital and the public hospital.

The Blackburn Learning Centre in Mt. Pelier had their graduation, and Joe was the keynote speaker.

Our family came back to the USA on July 8 and will be here until we return to Jamaica August 10. We have enjoyed seeing lots of family and friends. One of the board members is filling in for us, so we can have this time off.

Some things to pray for:

-Brad & Rachel and their family as they spend a month in Jamaica.

-The children at JRM, especially with the recent medical issues that came up.

-Our family as we travel in the USA.

-The team of staff in Jamaica (they are the best, but still pray for them)

Thank you for your support, both in prayer and financially. We are so grateful for all of you!

We will be doing a Jamaican Jerk Chicken dinner on August 4 at Plainview School in Plain City, OH from 5-8pm. If you are close-by, stop in and say hi. 100% of the proceeds will go to JRM. We will be speaking at the event as well.

Sign of the month: I always enjoy seeing signs in Patois: