A Passion for Jamaica

It has been a while since we have written on our blog page. I just want to share today that I feel God has shown me that I need to have more focus and a strong passion for the people of Jamaica. There are so many children in that country that need to know the Love of God in their lives. There are so many lost and hurting people that only God can complete, heal, bring back meaning and joy to their lives. I have a renewed passion to get there as soon as possible. God has called us to that country for this time, for a purpose. He has given us the gifts we need to accomplish all he will ask of us there. We need to continue to push through the tough times, rely on His power, strenght and ability to bring all things that we need to accomplish his dream for our lives. I love the Lord and am humbled to be called by him to go. I am excited for the work He is planning to do through our lives. I am passionate about the children and the people of the beautiful country of Jamaica. Please pray for us, that we will get to this country soon. To do the work God has planned for us to do.

We recently got an email from a missionary in Jamaica and this is an excerpt from that.

An area of your greatest concern (a prayer request): We recently had a change in government here in Jamaica and so far we haven’t seen a lot of difference. The murder rate is still extremely high, corruption among the police is out of control, more children on the streets begging instead of being in school. We do not want to get to the place that these things no longer bother us and we accept them as normal. We still want to be touched by the needs of our country. We still want to see the “lostness” of our people.

I have a passion to reach this country and I am blessed to serve a God that desires to use us, our gifts, our talents, our pasts, to do that.

Praise God!

AGWM Missionary Training

Savannah,Sharlotte and Stephen we made the 21 road hours home!!!!!

God is Good

we've just arrived home from 2 1/2 weeks of missionary school in Springfield, MO.
WOW!!! what an Awesome time of learning, fellowship and GOD!!! Not only did we learn alot of valuable stuff to help our family on our 2 year assignment, but we met so many wonderful people. The first night there we meet the Bushhorn Family from Ohio. The Bushhorn's are also appointed Missionary Associates called to the island of Jamaica. ( as you can see we make a pretty big team) Great People !!!!! Our kids hit it off so well... Like family. We meet other great people .... The Wiles also appointed to Jamaica as Career Missionaries. James and Rachael Courter, missionaries to Haiti. Dale & Patti Coad- AGWM Area Dir. to the Caribbean.. Dick & Cynthia Nicholson — Latin America/Caribbean Regional Director... These People and so many, many more were all great encouragement to us. What a blessing!!! -

What a Great, GREAT time ...

Shannon, the Kids and I are so excited about getting out and sharing what God has put in our hearts. WOW !!! God is awesome and knows what we need.. HE proved that to me once again... We serve a loving and mighty God.
MORE TO COME ABOUT THE TRIP SOON

LOOKIN' UP^ LOVIN'OUT<><

The People we meet

Over the past few weeks we have met some truly amazing people that only God could have put in our path. The most recent encounter came at the doctors office of all places. Sharlotte had woken up on a thursday afternoon from her nap screeming that her ears hurt. I called the doctors and was able to make an appointment for the next morning with a Nurse Practitioner (One I have never had in the past 5 years) At that appointment we discovered that she had nephews that had been abandoned on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica as children lived in an orphanage there and have now been adopted by her brother and live in a local town with Her and attend an area High School. Amazing!!!
We also met a man from a church in Connecticut that is also going to be a Missionary. Him and his family are going to Sicily. Come to find out he went to school with Steve Puffpaff Jr. (The directors of the City of Refuge's son) Through meeting Charles were inadvertantly set him back in concact with Steve Jr. and he would like to set up a missions trip to Jamaica.
All I can say is that it truly is Awesome to watch God clear the path for us to go down and see the amazing doors he has opened for us to walk through.

Awesome Worship Concert!!!

This past Sunday we had an unbeleivable worship concert in Pittsfield at the boys and girls club. There were over 1200 people in attendance and the crowd was amazing. Vicky Beeching, Rebecca St. James and Delirious? were awesome and I was amazed at the crossrange of people who came. There was a 4 week old baby all the way up to a 92 year old woman. Up front there were people of every age with their hands up worshiping God together. Even during Delirious? there were all sorts of people jumping like crazy. It was Awesome!!
We also got to have our Jamaica Missions table up at the concert and added many new names to our newsletter mailing list. Steve and I also got to talk to a lot of people about our trip. One girl in particular stands out to me as she and her sister are going on a missions trip to Jamaica to a school for the deaf this summer. Her name is Madeline and she is in our prayers. I beleive that God can do amazing things in the lives of people who are willing to step out on faith and do something for Him that is outside of their comfort zone!!
I want to say thank you to Matthew and Tara Sposato for all of their hard work, sacrifice and love. They worked so hard to make this event possible and we are praying that God would bless them for their commitment to Him. It was an awesome event and we are truly blessed to have friends like them in our lives.

As we begin

Well this is my first blog and I will do my best to keep it updated as we prepare for our move to Jamaica. The title of our blog is a Time of Preperation. "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven" Solomon writes in Eclesiastes 3:1. Right now in our family it is a time of preperation. Once we arrive on the Mountain in Jamaica sometime this fall/winter our season will change.
We are very excited about this time as we get ready for this huge change. We will be leaving behind pretty much all that we have ever known. Our friends, family, way of life, home, cars, everything. We will only be gone for 2 years and we will be making a difference in the lives of hurting children. I think that this will be an awesome learning experience for all of our children as well. Stephen will just be starting to talk by then and I'm sure he will have a Jamaican accent by the time we come home. Savannah and Sharlotte pray every night for their friends in Jamaica (or Maica as Sharlotte says it) Savannah is excited to start school there with her new friends. Sharlotte is expecting to see Jesus there. In some ways I think she's more right than we even know.
Not only is this a huge change for those in our family going to Jamaica but it is a huge change for those staying behind. This will be the longest time we will have spent away from Samantha and Sandra. I know that it will take a great deal of time to get used to. We do have access to DSL and Vonage phone so we will be able to talk via internet and phone all the time.
Samantha will be starting her freshman year at a local college in the fall. She has a heart for hurting children/teens and plans to study social work. She is a wonderful young woman with strong beliefs and a pure heart. I know that no matter what area she chooses to use her gifts she will do an awesome job and will make a very positive impact on all the people she interacts with.
Sandra will be starting High school this year and with that comes many new things. Sandra plans to try a new school and I'm sure will be making many new friends. Sandra is an awesome helper. You can always find her jumping right in to assist with out even being asked. She loves to help people especially those in need. Our prayer is that sometime during our two year stay in Jamaica she will be able to come and share her love with the children at the city of refuge.