Spring Update from the Stutzmans

When we first started this blog, it was intended to be updated weekly or every other week. It soon turned into a monthly update, now it seems like it has turned into a quarterly update. Hopefully it won't turn into an annual update.

Olivia celebrated her 6th birthday in early March with a princess tea party.

The public hospital in Montego Bay has had some ventilation issues over the past couple of years. Finally, the workers in the affected areas refused to come to work until it was fixed, because it was making them sick. It turned out that the officials are not sure what the problem is, or how to fix it. So, until they get things sorted out, they have moved some of the hospital services to the Seventh Day Adventist conference center next door. This facility will probably be in use for quite a while, a year or more I would guess.

We enjoyed having some "home folks" here in March. The Emmanuel youth group from Amanda, Ohio was at JRM for a week. They spent several days building a house for a family.

A former auntie, Nicki, was part of this group, so we were showered with all kinds of gifts and treats. One of the treats was doughnuts on Saturday morning.

Thank you again for coming to Jamaica!

Amber served as an auntie for 19 months, and March was the month she moved back to South Carolina. Thank you Amber for loving, giving, and serving with your whole heart!

One of Amber's favorite things to do is take selfies with other people's phones. I am sure she does this so the world can see her personality. :)

Katy arrived and will be serving as an auntie. She is from Pennsylvania.

We also enjoyed some family guests. Monroe & Emma Miller from Farmville, VA, came to visit along with their children, Duane and Andrea, and Carrie's brother Josh. Monroe & Emma celebrated their 10th anniversary while they were here.

We felt privileged to have them visit, and the time went too fast. The girls really enjoyed having Andrea here, and especially drinking Paraguayan terere every morning and afternoon.

We also enjoyed a visit from Katelyn, our teacher last school year.

Easter is a big holiday in Jamaica. Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays. Schools are usually closed the whole week after Easter. We were able to do some fun activities with the children including coloring eggs and having an Easter egg hunt.

We had a service at church on Good Friday, and some of the children were part of the service.

We had a group of girls from Ohio here for a week. They did some painting up at Mt. Pelier.

Joe & Ellen returned from spending some time in Indiana. Our family is looking forward to spending 3 weeks in Ohio. We plan to fly on May 17 and return to Jamaica on June 6. We are looking forward to attending 2 weddings of former staff, and seeing many family and friends.

With buying airline tickets, our bank account has been a little low. We have been so blessed by your generosity in the past, and we really appreciate it. We are truly volunteers with no stipend or allowance. We are provided with food and a place to live, but we do depend on gifts to cover our other expenses. If you are interested in contributing to our support, donations can be sent to: Kevin Stutzman, PO Box 298, Plain City, OH  43064. If you use Paypal, you can send it to truebuckeye@juno.com.

Please pray for our family, JRM, all the staff and children. We really appreciate all the prayers and support!
Kevin

Photo of the month:
I came behind this truck on the road. While they were driving, the ladder on top moved over to the one side. Things did not look very secure, and one of the guys on the back was sleeping. I didn't see anything fall off though.

New Year, New update

Writing this blog is kind of like organizing your desk, or balancing the checkbook. You know it needs to be done, but it is easy to put off. Then as time goes on, it starts looking a little overwhelming because it has been neglected so long. I do enjoy writing though, so it is not as much of a chore as cleaning up a disorganized mess.

We finally took another group picture in January, but with the way things change quickly here, it is already out-dated.

The last time I wrote was before Christmas. We had a wonderful time with our JRM family. We had sponsors who sent Christmas gifts on the container that we got earlier in December. Thanks to all of you who participated!

Some of Amber's family came to visit after Christmas, so we took advantage of their construction skills. We started a project of building a new nursery and sick room. Our current nursery had as many as 4 baby cribs in a space that was meant to be a hallway, so we thought it was time to have a bigger nursery.

It is now in the process of being painted, so we are almost ready to put it in use.

We also went to visit Mr. Ramford while they were here. We always enjoy seeing his farm, and he is eager to share his fruit, vegetables, and vast wisdom of which kind of plant is good for what.

The Skyline youth group from Canon City, Colorado was here for a week in January. They built a house for a family, and did some other small projects. They spent a day in Montego Bay doing some street ministry, and visiting several schools. We enjoyed having them here, and they were a blessing to JRM.

Jasmine, Chloe, Sierra, and Olivia have been going to French class and Kung Fu class on Saturdays at the church. They have been stretching their brains and their muscles! They recently started ballet classes as well, along with some of the children from JRM.

The annual associate board meeting is always the first weekend in February, and it is a big event for us. This year we were blessed to have 6 young ladies come to do all the cooking. We started the weekend with a work day at JRM on Thursday.

In the evening we had a banquet dinner, followed by some music and verses from the children and aunties at JRM.  We had a time of worship, then Pastor Andrew Pryce had an encouraging message for us.

Friday was the board meeting, then on Saturday we had a "fun day" in the Mt. Pelier community. This consisted of various stations for the children, such as face painting, ring toss, photo booth, card making, etc.

The school teachers cooked lunch as a fundraiser for the Blackburn Learning Centre.

We had family come to visit. Marcus (Carrie's brother) and Andrea and their son Bennett, along with Andrea's parents, Dannie & Laura Gingerich came to JRM for a week. We thoroughly enjoyed having them here, and the time went way too fast!

We visited YS Falls while they were here.

They also did lots of work around here. Marcus built a table from wood that was cut from the JRM property. They also did lots of landscape work and maintenance items.

We visited Mr. Ramford, and we tried star apple for the first time.

We found a car for when the girls start driving...

Emma and Bennett were together every waking hour.

Our gardener (also named Marcus) burned some charcoal for us. This is quite a process. First he piled up the dry wood, then he covered it with freshly cut branches and grass. Then everything was covered with dirt. We had to add more dirt, because as it settled, and we actually had fire coming out of the pile one morning when we checked it. After letting it "cook" for 3 days, it was uncovered and cooled. Some of the big pieces that didn't burn all the way through were put back in for round 2. It was an interesting process to watch.

Our goat herd also multiplied. The four mother goats each had twins, so we have 8 little kids running around. Joe the farmer has been busy!

We also had other changes with the staff and children. We had 3 children leave since I wrote last. We currently have 8 children, but we are expecting a call any day to have more children placed with us.

We said goodbye to Novella a few weeks ago. She served as an auntie for 1 year, and we miss her. Thank you Novella for serving and giving!

Marita arrived from Ohio and will be serving as an auntie.

Pray for JRM as we face all these transitions. Change is never easy, especially for the children. They have done well though, and I am sure it is because of all the prayers.

Also, a big thank you to those who made it possible for Carrie and I to attend the Inspire and Men of Valor conferences in Indiana. We really appreciate your generosity!

I will share several signs since it has been so long since I wrote.

I always enjoy when they write signs in Patois:

This is one of my all time favorites:

Thank you all for your support and prayers!
Kevin