Pictures from Jenni's camera.

Fill 'er up, mon. The pump was being worked on, so we didn't have water for about a week. I finally had this guy fill our tanks.

Mon, I hate dees spida's! Dems really big, mon!

Miss Kim's new laundry room. She say's she loves it!

They don't seem to get along very well, do they.

Mi loves cleanin' da chicken.

An unwelcome guest. He would hang out inside our stove at night and munch things he took from the garbage can. The little blue pellets I put behind the stove must not have agreed with him. I found him under the pantry. I just followed my nose. There's no mistaking that smell.

Picture time again, kids!!



He has that twinkle in his eye. Kim say's he looks like Richard Simmons with his hair this long.



 Caught in the toy box

Goats to the left of me, goats to the right.                                                                               

                                                                   That's a nice sunset there, God.                

                                                                            

Every once in a while, Dontae folds his toes like this. They are the cutest little feet around. He wants to walk in the worst way, but he's still afraid of falling on the tile floor.

Bittersweet

Today was an emotional day for me. I didn't much talk about it, kept it to myself. Because I think maybe only a mother would understand. I could be wrong, but thats how I felt.
We had to meet the adoption worker in Sav La Mar this morning to get Dontae's passport. But since the adoption is not final as of yet his birth mother had to sign for it. Which meant, we were going to meet the mother who abandoned our little baby boy. We were wanting to meet her one day, but thought it would be after everything was final. So now all of a sudden its time to meet her. The entire cab drive there I was thinking about this woman and our baby. I was never worried that she would change her mind, but I was feeling extremely sad that her heart my just ache when she see's him. In my own life, my heart has ached for my children, so I know the terrible feeling it leaves you with, but I have never been in this womans situation. So to begin to feel the things she might feel is waying heavy on my heart. Then I was thinking that she just up and left him stuck in the hospital with no one. "Why did she do it that way"? "Did she just have to abandon him"? I want to get mad, but not one time thinking about it could I. My answer keeps coming back the same. Yes... this is how God led us to Dontae. God knew that this was the hospital that we were going to be visiting with teams. If she would of put him up for adoption, he would of been in a home somewhere else. So I am not sad the way she did it, but I am sad for how she must of felt and could still feel.
We get to the passport office and in walks our adoption man and a tall, very skinny young young woman. First thing I did after shaking her hand was to look at her hands to compare them to Dontae's. Second thing I did was to just look at her and want to just put my arms around her and tell her everything is going to be just fine. I did not realize this woman was so young. When we got outside where we could talk, she let me look at her hands closley, and I asked her if her feet were the same and she said yes. Then I asked the age question. She is 18, 19 in March. Holy cow, that meant she was pregnant at 17. Now I understand why her mother said it was to much for her to deal with she had to just leave him. I never one time thought Dontae's birth mother was a young girl. She was so shy and quite, she had the most little teeth I have ever seen and they were also rotting away. She tried at first not to really make contact with Dontae, but I tryed really hard to just keep the conversation going and telling her things in case she wanted to know but was to shy to ask. I was doing this for my own heart as well, because not knowing how she is feeling, I was feeling enough for both of us. So I then asked the question....
Would you like to hold him? She shook her head yes. They looked at each other and that is when I took the picture. Ugg! Is it bringing everything back to her? Can Dontae feel her heart strings? Can he feel they have a connection? When she was done, she got tears in her eyes and wiped them with her shirt. She then asked if she could see him from time to time. I told her of course, but I will leave it up to her. So we exchanged phone numbers, and off she went.
Now its all I can do not to just break down balling. Because all I feel is the emptyness she must be feeling as she is walking away. I will never ever forget her face when she was teary eyed. I don't think I will ever forget the sadness I feel for her. I wonder how she is feeling now after they have met again a year after she gave birth to him. Is she happy? does she feel blessed that he is being adopted and not left to and institute? Or is her heart in the pit of her stomach? Maybe one day I will be lucky enough to know the answer. There is one answer I do know though, and that is God chose Dontae for me, well Mark and me. LOL And that makes me the happy.
Here is Dontae and his birth mother together almost a year after his birth.

A lot to be thankful for...

You know that everyday is a new day right? Well today is a new day. I feel like I am getting stronger which means it isn't so easy for Satan to get in and mess with my head. I know he doesn't want us here, and he sure in the heck doesn't want us up here on this mountain where we are starting to affect these wonderful people.
I know some of you may not like the style of how I write to you, about personal issues, about our feelings, and especially my feelings. But to me, that is part of the reason why I put the effort into this blog. Many of you haven't had a friend go off and be a missionary, or maybe its something you have always thought of but to affraid to go. So this is my way of sharing everything, not just the joys and excitments of being in the field. It is far more then that. It is for sure an emotional roller coaster. It is intense, it is sad, it is disgusting at times. Every single day you find yourself wanting to help someone, or someone asking you for help. Mark changed a door for this lady (if you could call it a door), her door did not close right and she couldn't lock it. That small thing brought so much joy to this womans face. Our next door neighbors take baths in a tub outside there door. They cook on a fire, they go to the bathroom in an outhouse if they have one. They scrub their clothes by hand every single day. None of us really know what its like to live like this until someone you know tells you. So this is why I say it all. We, as in all of us, can't do or help anything or anyone if we don't know about it right? Being a missionary is hard work, very hard work and its round the clock, not just nine to five. There is no time to be sick. You are always wanting to do more and help more, and that takes more moola. So far we have been pretty darn creative with our youth lessons. We are wanting to do a movie night with popcorn and juice up at the clinic. Miss Linda has a projector that will make the picture huge on the wall. Cool!!!!! We want to do an out door pancake breakfast once a month after church to try and bring in more people from the community. We so bad want to do a community garden. All this takes money. Not lots of money, but still money. So that is a stress missionarys go through.
But I am also here to tell you that the REWARDS are so much bigger then any of the garbage you go through. Watching the childrens face's, meeting amazing people, helping someone, and really feel like you are helping them, not just lending our buddy five bucks for lunch. (oops you don't say buddy in Jamaica)lol
And watching God work in a different way daily, simply amazing!
Talking about Christ on a daily basis with people and learning more about him yourself. It is an amazing journey, one I will never forget, and one that I am not sure I want to give up come July. But we want to do Gods will and so what he says goes. And why we ask for your prayers on what God wants for our future, and for clarity for us. We need prayers for more sponsors to help us get the word out even more, to be able to give some of these people some joy. And yes, we still are praying for transportation LOL
We sure want to have you take advantage of us being here to come and stay with us in our cottage on our mountain, to be able to do a little of what we are doing to meet some wonderful people, to do Gods work. Oh, and to have some fun in the sun. All for $450.00 plus your airfare. Thats a week. A full week, transportation, food, and your room. Take advantage of having someone you know who is living in a third world country, that can take you around. Now that doesn't happen very often if at all in ones life. Hop on board, with coming here, praying or sponsoring. You won't be dissapointed.
I think I am feeling better huh? lol
Blessings

long days and long nights... when your sick

I have to say being in a third world country being so so sick with no car has been almost to much for me. The first day Markie and I walked down the hill to go to the Dr. (until my motorcycle guy picked me up) was bad, but not that bad, because my sickness wasn't in full motion. The next day, when I thought I had to go back to the Dr., I didn't know how I was gong to get there. It was just not a good feeling. And so many, almost all of the Jamaicans up here on our mountain do not have cars. My bed is in the living room/kitchen, so I am sure it wasn't pleasant for the rest of the family, me moaning and groaning LOL. Then last night Dontae woke up with this cough, almost like something was stuck, not like croup. And it was just better for him to sleep upright rather then laying down, so we were up with him till morning time. All the time I am thinking what the heck do we do if we need to take him to the Dr.??? So today, I walked outside on the porch,I think the first time since I went to the Dr. and it felt so good to know I am getting better, I still feel like my body was hit by a mac truck. But tomorrow we need to take Dontae into Sav la mar. Haven't I told you about the taxi's??????? I really do NOT want to put the baby into one of them. And am I strong enough to go through what you need to go through to get somewhere here in Jamaica? So I am telling you all this because I am in very much need of prayers, I am beginning to feel weak in the sense of just stopping, quitting if you may. This reaction to the antibiotic really took me down hard and its affecting my entire outlook on things right now. At least that is what I am contributing it too. Just another one of Satan's moves. To try and bring me down. So if you would please pray that these feelings I am having will just leave as fast as they came. And please please pray that we can figure something out so we have a car up here 2000ft.
Blessings

Food in Jamaica

        Ya know, I've been meaning to mention some of the different foods we've been able to experience since being here. Tonite I treid some new things that a local guy brought by. There were some things they call "Custard Apples", which look kinda wierd and nasty on the outside, like a dried out pomegranate. But, when they get a little soft, you cut them in half and eat the insides with a spoon. They taste like a combination of an apple and a pear, but have the consistency of pudding or custard. Another fruit he brought is called a 'neesberry". I don't know if that's the proper spelling but that's how it's pronounced. It looks kinda like a kiwi fruit on the outside, but they're nice and sweet and you can eat them like an apple. They have three or four big black seeds in them. We got some "sour oranges". which are more like big lemons, but taste like limes. They make a great juice!
        Another guy has brought us quite a bit of yam. It's a big root that they dig up, rather than a potato like thing. It's really good fried in butter and sugar. The other week I pulled up a bunch of "Coco" roots, which aren't really from a coco plant, but another plant that looks like "Elephant Ears". The roots get bulbous on the ends and that's what you take. You clean them ( a rather messy job) and then boil them for about 45 minutes. If you were to eat them raw, they would make your throat feel like you swallowed razor blades and washed them down with rubbing alcohol. However, boiled, they taste like potatoes.
        We had "Akee" and salt fish the other morning. We've had this many times in the past, but this is the first time Jenni prepared them by herself. She did a great job. "Akee" grows on a tree and looks like a dried out red Bell pepper. As soon as this red thing opens up it's ripe or "fit" as they say, and ready to pick. Don't pick them before they open or they are highly poisonous and can kill you! Just sayin'. Inside these things are three big black seeds, which resemble black olives but are hard, attached to three yellow pods resembeling walnut meats. You pick out the pods, pick off the seeds, clean a little flakey piece out of the yellow walnut meat lookin' deal, and take those yellow jobbies and boil them for about 15 minutes. Be sure to get the little flakey piece out 'cause that's poison too. After they're boiled, we put them in a tupperware with a little vegetable oil and stick 'em in the freezer. When you want to prepare them, you just fry them off a little and add them to bits of cleaned salt fish and fried onions. Yum!
        I fried some "Plantin" the other day for dinner. It's like a HUGE banana, but you take them when they're green, and they aren't very sweet. You peel them and slice them in about 1/4" thick pieces and fry them in butter 'til they get a little brown. A little salt and 'viola! Salted banana chips are real popular here too. You can also do the same thing to "Breadfruit", which grows on a tree and looks like a small, spikey watermelon. The inside tastes kinda' like potato and works well in soups and stews.
        We've had this juice made from a fruit called a "soursop", which is milky looking and tastes like sweet snot. I don't much care for drinking snot, even if it is sweetened wth raw sugar. They also make a juice out of what they call "cherries" here. These little red, deformed, sour balls get ground up in a blender and have about ten pounds of sugar added to counteract the sourness. After that the juice is almost palletable. There is also a little fruit that grows in clusters on trees that's called a "guinup". They are like eating a sour grape that's sweet in the middle. However, they are the consistency of eyeballs with little seeds in the center. Kinda wierd.
         It's amazing what people will eat when they get hungry enough.

some more pictures

 This is a picture of Kim's back after a dose of the antibiotic Cipro. She had a very nasty reaction to it about 8 years ago after her first neck fusion in California. She got an infection and they gave her Cipro through an I.V. for a week. She then contracted a full body rash, terrible itching and shortness of breath. We thought she might die or at least never be the same, but she got through it. I'm sure glad we caught this after only 2 pills or things might have gone badly.

Dontae's new  critter P.J.'s with the monkey feet. The girl's got these for him and I'll bet Calie wishes she could have a pair right now!

Nanner, nanner, nanner! He has a kung-fu grip on this banana. He's got no idea he has only two fingers. It really makes no difference to him.

 Felix the Rasta, mon.

This is Dontae's " deer in the headlights" look. "I didn't do anything!"

Information if you want it...

We have a letter from  Child Develpment Agency here in Jamaica from Mr. Bowen, the man in charge of the closing of My Fathers House.  We intially were going to post it on this blog to prove our innocence, but in praying about it over night we decided to just let you know it is available via email.

Other information... to friends and family that remember when I was in the hospital for two weeks with a rash from an allergic reaction to some medicine.  Well, I got a urinary tract infection, from when we were out of water for 5 days and the fact that I was not drinking water,  I was put on a sister medication to one of the ones that almost killed me. LOL  not funny, but kinda funny. LOL
 Holy toledo, it all came back to me immediatly.  Everything was going wrong, and sick... oh man!!!!!
With no car, Mark and I headed out on foot. LOL (I sound like a good author writing a book)  till my motorcycle man came to my rescue.  LOL  (true story) When at the bottom of the hill, I needed to wait for Mr. Mark to catch up.  We caught the next taxi and off to the Dr. we went.  Thank God the front seat was open for me to sit in or his car would of smelled bad after I got done with it.  We made it safe and sound, but had to wait for over an hour to see the Dr. I was not doing well,  my body was itching from the inside out, the palms of my hand and feet.  My stomach was hurting, my lips and eyes were starting to swell.  Sounds fun huh?  lol  Anyhoo, the good ole man had to give me a shot in my bu** of steroids.  Then stomach medicine and a new antibiotic.  Then back to the street for the long journey home.   LOL  BTW was that story way to much information??????LOLOLOL
I am home now safe and sound, the itching as calmed down quite a bit.  The stomach still bites, and I feel like I was hit by a mac truck, but on the road to recovery.  So please pray for this to just be over with soon there is way to much work for me to do.
Blessings

More sadness

Angie was pregnant.  Apparently the baby was sitting on her kidney, so she got an infection of some sort.  She was swelling up and they think toxema.  I am not sure how far along she was, but I think if it was toxema she was quite far.  I am not sure.
Last night I made cookies for V-day so this morning Jenni took a plate full of cookies over to there home.  The poor kids and grand kids, V-day might not be the best day for them in future years, but I hope they will come to realize that she is having the time of her life.  I also didn't realize that her granddaughter is in our youth group as well.  You can feel the sadness on the mountain, thats for sure.
Blessings

Sadness on our mountain

It started out to be a very nice Valentines Day.  We got the kids candy, and Mr. Mark surprised Jenni and I with a little bag of sweet tarts that he found in  his back pack.  I can't tell you how excited I was to have some candy. lol.  He said tomorrow we can get chocolates.... Yippee!!!!!
Tonight just before Mark Jenni and I were going to start our bible study I thought I heard someone yell
"my mother is dead"  then I heard it again, so we ran out on our porch and looked over to the neighbors just in time to see a young woman screaming bloody murder that her mother was dead.  There were a couple of people trying to hold her up while she cried.  I could hear the children in the home crying.  I was feeling like I needed to help in some way, but I had only met this woman one time and wasn't even sure of all the family members.  But someone needed to go and help or just be there.  It took everything in me to go over to their house but I knew I needed to do it.  Her youngest son Wade is in our youth group and I couldn't stand the thought of him crying and feeling all alone.  His mom was sick and went to the Dr. on friday and she died today.  Very unexpected.  Now the mountain is beginning to hear the news and people are coming from everywhere to watch and listen and some trying to help.  One of the daughters was so hysterical I am not even sure she is strong enough to handle this.  I pray for this family tonight and through all they will now have to endure.  It is so sad.  This is earth, and we know where Angie now is.  I know the family will soon realize that.  But the night is still thick with sadness.  :-(

Water?????????

We are still out of water.  I guess the big pipe at the bottom of the mountain is broke.  On day 5 of no water and sponge baths, a water truck came up the hill.  We had to pay to get our big containers filled, but at this point it was a necessity.  And still today the pipe is not fixed.  Could you imagine?????  I just hope we don't run out before the pipe is fixed.
Anita came home from school the other day and showed us The childrens Own newspaper.  This is a newspaper that all of Jamaica gets about the kids schools and the kids.  And Miss Anita had an article printed.  It was just great.  She writes pretty darn good.  Maybe it will be her future.  When her adoption is final I am sure going to miss her.
Now we are getting ready to do our youth groups on The Ten Commandments, for both age groups.  But the thing is, we were brought up Lutheran, and Jesus for Jamaica is non-denominational,  the commandments are in different order.  So we need to do it in the different order.  All in all I think it is going to be a lot of fun.  We even found a little song to teach the little kids a way to remember them.  Then we are going to do a performance for the kids parents at the end of the sessions.  I hope they just love it.  Maybe the teenagers from our youth group can do a puppet show for the parents as well.  Oh I am getting excited just thinking about it.
Dontae is having such a miserable time teething.  I sure don't remember my kids having such a rotten time.  We are chalking it up to a cleft palate, but not even sure that is it.  He gets a fever every other day I swear, and blisters on his body.  I hope that second tooth comes tomorrow, so he can feel good for a few days at least.
Felix is doing just wonderful.  Remember me saying that everytime Felix sucked his thumb we would have him sweep the porch, well it has almost worked completely.  Very seldom do you see his thumb in his mouth.  As far as wetting the bed, when he lived at My Fathers house, the other kids harrassed him so much that he would hide his sheets or sleep in them the next night.  So when we moved, it took us quite a long time to get him to feel not ashamed and tell us when he had an accident.  That went on for a long long time, and nothing seemed to change, I thought that once he felt not ashamed that he would start thinking about it more and not wet the bed.  Wrong!!!  it just kept going on until I finally told him that from now on, when it happened then he had to strip his bed and wash his own bedding.  Even that didn't work until we moved here and have to wash our clothes by hand.  Well guess what, he is hardly ever wetting the bed.  He Rocks!!!!! He is doing his chores very well most of the time. 
All the kids up here love Jenni to death, and she loves them.  Jenni has so many cool idea's and with her being closer to their ages makes it much better .
Mr. Mark is working on the screens for the Basic schools canteen (outside kitchen) when those are all up and done, then the kids will start getting hot lunches.  We will take pictures to keep you up.
As far as I go, this migrane is still dragging on. But I am very thankful that it is the only one I have had since coming here in July. PTL!  Something about this place agrees with me.  Either that, or the Lord is liking me being here.  I am not sure how many of you know this or not, but Mark and I have the opportunity to stay on here at JFJ.  Yes we would still be coming home in July. :-)  As most of you already know how much we LOVE being here, especially now that we have found a really good fit with JFJ.  So could all of you just start praying for us to have clarity and to give us strength and patience and a HUGE sign if this is where he wants us.  Thank you
Blessings

Wagoan (What's going on?)

Hi, Mark here.
It was my turn to do the lesson at youth group last night. It was the older kids and I had prepared one on repentance. It's kinda tough to hold thier attention for more than just a few minutes, but I was able to get the point across. The best part was, after the lesson, lot's of the kids just started asking questions about hypocritical behavior. Stuff like,"Should a preacher shoot a robber who comes in his house?", or "If a pretty lady walks by, can you look if you are already married?". That's the kind of stuff I like. I love it when kids are curious about what the Bible has to say. What would Jesus do kinds of things. We wound up talking for an extra half hour after class. Cool!
Kim and Jenni had to take the taxis to Mandeville and get another Claro modem for the computer. I oopsed and broke the darn thing and it's become an invaluable tool up here. Kim came home with a headache and it turned into a migraine today. That's the first one she's had since being in Jamaica, so that's pretty good. However, having a migraine is never good.
We have been invited to a real Jamaican wake tonight. I don't know what to expect, but I hear they are fun. I will let you know how it goes.

 Oh yeah, BTW,  I got a haircut.

How about some pictures, mon!

Picture time!!!Click on the picture if it's too big to see (wierd)

Cutie pie!

who needs a shower right!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 3 without water.  Actually had to send Mark and Jenni to the store to buy some water for drinking and baby bottles. Trying to make dinner with no clean dishes is rather difficult.  LOL  But thats the name of the game right?
So like I said Mark and Jenni went to town yesterday.  I think maybe they aren't a  good combination. LOLOLOL First they went to the meat market, Jenni didn't even notice that they didn't get all there meat. (no worries they wern't charged either) LOL  They were supposed to get  6 cans of tuna, they bought 3, LOL (they did have a list) I told Jenni where to buy veggies at market, (her's are so much better then the others) but went some where else, and the lettuce they bought was the size of a baseball.  LOLOLOL  whats up with that?  ok moving on.... they went to the bakery to buy some coco bread (we haven't had any of that in months)  So last night we were sitting around and I asked where is the coco bread?  No one knows!!!!!  Jenni thought maybe it was in her purse.  (I can't quit laughing here)  she comes out and said "we must of left a bag in the taxi"  Mark bought screws and they didn't make it home either.  So anyone agree, that maybe, just maybe these two work better together as puppets....... LOLOL Speaking of puppets, Mark and I were puppets last night for the puppet show.  I think Jenni should of took my part.  But it was sooooo much fun.  Especially when the puppets would have fun with Jenni adlibbing.  Great fun!  Only 15 kids last night, but it was a lot more in control, then with 22.
Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about Mark and Jenni, I am just having fun harrassing them.  LOLOLOL
Blessings.

Strange day

Hey all, this is Mark. We had a great day yesterday by having some very good friends come to visit. Our good friend Ron, the gentlemen who has sponsored Sabrina for years, came to see us with a couple of business partners of his. Lizzy also came up to see us, and Ron, and see the kids for the day. We visited for a time and then Ron and his friends, Seth and Jared, invited me to come along with them to lunch at the Pelican Bar in Black River. I've heard about this place and accepted immediately. This little shack of a place sits about a half mile off shore, on a shallow reef. You get there by boat and it's all cobbed together out of mahogany planks and old trees and a thatched roof. Totally cool! you can have a beer, or rum, or you can have a great meal of grilled fish and rice(like i did),or lobster and rice( like the other guys did).
But this is the strange part, as the title eludes to. When we got there we were the only "whiteys" in the place. BTW, that's what Jamaicans call us. It's not an insult, just a recognition. About forty five minutes later , around 16 or 18 tourists show up and start piling into the place. I said hello to most of them and then went outside on the deck part to visit with Seth and Jared, and this guy comes up named Marty. I introduce myself and he proceeds to tell me he is an Atheist and how misguided Christians are. So, I listen intently for quite some time and he has some very interesting things to say. Then he finally asks what I'm doing in Jamaica. I tell him I'm a Christian missionary and I've been involved with helping Jamaican children. I'm starting to tell my story, when a friend of his comes up and announces that, he too, is an Atheist. Well, before too long I'm surrounded by self professed Atheists! There had to be 8 or so of them , all asking me questions and telling me what good things I'm doing here and how unusual it is for them to actually see a Christian doing what Christians say they're supposed to be doing. I tell them that this is not unusual, just not talked about. We are to be humble about our service and loving to everyone we encounter. That's how Christ teaches us to be. When they all left, we were hugging and wishing each other well. I hope I was able to show them that we Christians aren't nearly as bad as Atheists think we are.
Hopefully, Jared will forward some pictures to me. He was the only one with a camera.
Then, I came home to the most magnificent meal of pork roast and potatoes and carrots that Kim had made! Wow! I hope we can find more of that pork!
I love God, don't you!!??

Success

Long day, but certainly worth it. Our day started off with working in the basic school. Mark and I first went over to the school to measure and look at everything we want to do for the school. Our team that is coming in April is going to be the lucky ones of re-doing the inside of the school. Paint, shelves, bins etc. They are in such need of a face lift. Jenni was at home, getting a lesson together for Veritas. Then we both came over and worked with the kids. Still working on plants and how they grow. Very fun. After school Jenni and I went back home to get Mr. Mark to go volunteer at the soup kitchen down in Whitehouse. But Dontae had a 102 fever. So Jenni and I went, and left the boys at home. The soup kitchen was amazing. We have been wanting to help for quite some time now, but this was the first we made it. The soup kitchen is worship and testimonies and prayer ending with a very nice hot meal for the homeless. It was just wonderful. I asked Jenni to take a picture of me serving food, so it looks like I do some thing around here, lololol, but lets just say her picture taking skills did not come through. LOl so you will just have to take my word.
After the soup kitchen we went to the meat container and to market and to the school book store to get some things laminated for the school. Then back up the mountain to decide whats for dinner before youth group. Tuna casserol it is, which Mr. Mark made since Dontae would not stop crying. This same thing happened when his first tooth was coming in, so we think the second is close. Anyway dinner was fantastic, Anita was being tutored in math by Jenni, and Felix was writing a sentence 25 times for a punishment. I was cleaning the kitchen and Mark was tending to the baby. Now its youth group. But since the baby has a temp. and Felix really needs to go to bed, the three of us stayed back at the house. I was kinda bummed because the lesson Jenni picked out sounded amazing.
OH my GOSH, they had 18 teenagers. The other night it was 12, so we gained 6.
For the most part, it went wonderful. We all think they will learn after getting to know us more on what is acceptable behavior.
Well we couldn't be more pleased. The turnouts have just rocked.
We love you all, thank you for reading our blog, if you aren't a follower, please sign up to be one. If you can help support us each month,give me a shout.
Hope all is well,
Blessings

The Flames youth group

Tonight was our second attempt to have a wonderful youth group with the kids. I think we did it! Monday we had 18 children, and tonight we had 20.
It is obvious to us the NEED of Jesus Christ up in these hills. The kids are starving for it. God sure did give us a tall order to fill.
With very limited resources we are doing our best. Thank you to Trinity Lutheran Church for all the blankets you sent, they are coming in so handy for the children to sit on. We are in need of chairs badly. With 20 kids and some of their parents, we just don't have anywhere to sit, except on the floor.
VERITAS could use some clipboards to do their lessons on.
So as you can see, there are some things we are praying for. There is so much need here in Jamaica, I can't even begin to tell you.
Blessings to all,

Basic School/ "VERITAS"

What an exciting day we had today. Jenni and I worked at Jesus for Jamaica Basic School. The little kids are so adorable and so willing to learn. They might not listen so well, but they do want to learn. LOL
We read the children stories, we took them outside and gathered leaves. All types of them and all shapes and colors. Then we went ba

ck inside and used the leaves for math. Counting them by size, counting them by color. It was great fun. While Jenni and I are working at the school, Mr. Mark takes care of Dontae and does Mr. Fix it things. Works out pretty darn good.
Tonight was "VERITAS" (means truth in Latin) for 12yrs. to 19 yrs. With the loud christian rap playing before it started seemed to work out pretty good. We had 12 teenagers come tonight and I only prepared for 10, but really thought we would only get 5, so YIPPPPPPEEEEEEE!!!!!! Our lesson was on sins. At the end of the class all the kids wrote on a piece of paper 2 sins that have been bothering them. They folded them up and threw them in the garbage can and we lit them on fire asking God for forgivness as we prayed. All in all, I think it was a hit, I guess we will find out come thursday.
Blessings