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Monday, January 31, 2011

The Flames

Tonight was our first night of youth group with the 4-11 year olds. The name of their group is "The Flames". We all met up at Jesus for Jamaica's clinic @ 7:00pm. We didn't have all the power hooked up yet so we were working with a couple of lamps and a candle. But it sure made for a nice setting. Eighteen children showed up. Some of the older kids came too. I guess they were just so excited they


came a day early. LOL :-) A couple of Mom's stayed, which was very helpful.
We started the night off with a CD of kids christian music, then a introduction and an overview of our plans with both the youth groups. When all of a sudden Mazur the monster showed up. And with a pencil in his mouth to boot. Jenni just looked at mazur with a puzzled look on her face, and wondering what in the world he was doing. Well he said he wasn't born with an eraser in his mouth, so he was trying to get the eraser from the pencil to stay in his mouth to erase some bad things he said to some friends. It was soooooooooooooo good, and the kids loved it.
After the puppet show, Jenni took the kids over and had them play a game. Then we all broke out in song and dance. All in all I think it went fantastic! Dontae was in his front pack the entire time, and I think he loved it too. Enjoy the pictures of our first night. Please pray for us for tomorrow night. We have the older kids, and we want to make enough of an impact that they will want to come back.
Blessings

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Our New Church in the Ghetto

What an awesome night we had Saturday night. It was the dedication of Jesus for Jamaica's new church. It sits right in the middle of what they call the ghetto. Where the prostitutes hang out, and the rest of the folks that really need to be introduced to God. Its for the poor that do not even have church going clothes. It is a come how you are church. And Jenni and I had the honor to be at this


church for the dedication. Miss Linda spoke about how she was going to have church services on Sundays, when one day down in the market God spoke to her telling her that these people here that need Christ so much that they won't be getting out of bed on a Sunday morning, you need to get them while they are out Saturday night. So there ya have it, Saturday night it was. Miss Linda's good friend's were there to give testimonies and to praise God. The holy spirit was filling the entire church, you could feel him so much that I cried. Pastor Lee spoke and we sang some more. I just loved how it felt to be there. So please pray for this little church in the ghetto, that it can bring in many people who need Christ in there life.
Blessings

Thursday, January 27, 2011

More pics from our home





Come on in!






I thought I would post some pictures of our new place.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

??????????????????????????????????

For the life of me I could not come up with a title. So much went on today, you would think it would be easy, so question marks it is. First I want to give you all a little insight of our day today. Ok?
Alarm clock goes off at 6AM, really it should be 5:30AM but Anita and Felix want the extra half hour so they move pretty fast in the morning. So Breakfast is either done by Mark, Jenni or I, today it was me. So I fried up eggs and put toast in the toaster. While the kids are getting ready we get their snack, drink and lunch money together. 7:00AM their driver picks them up, but today Mr. Mark went with them and got dropped at the bottom of the hill. He was getting picked up to go and replace a womans roof that is in desperate need. Jenni was still house sitting and Dontae and I were home. The person that was picking up Mr. Mark had to go to the Dr. was very ill, so Mark came home and when Jenni got home her and I set out on foot :-) to Mandeville. Remember we do not have a car so this is going to be an expierence. But we NEED the internet.... We start walking and the motorcyle guy is coming up the hill with a lady, so I motion to him to come back and take us down. He comes and takes Jenni first and says he will come back for me, but then another motorcycle guy comes and takes me. We walk out to the main rd. and flag down a taxi which takes us to the center of Whitehouse right by the grocery store I have talked about before. When all of a sudden guys start running from all areas trying to get our business of driving us to the next stop Black River. It is crazy I tell ya. So we get in the cab and then we get to BR and the same stinkin thing happens again. Now we have figured it out, that when you get to your stop the next set of vultures are awaiting your arrival. But really they are all the nicest people. Next cab takes us to Santa Cruz from Santa Cruz on to Mandeville. I did say these were cabs right? Lets really say "how many people can you fit into a car and still drive?" LOL One really good thing is they have great speakers in their cars with great music playing. Our cab dropped us right off in front of Claro place.
Wait for it!!!!!!! WE NOW HAVE INTERNET FULL TIME!!!!! I can live without a lot of things in this third world country, but internet and phone are not one of them. Ok so moving on. Jenni and I are starving now, but we are so close to a sports store. On our wish list for youth groups are some different kinds of balls. So we were going to get one off our list and thought the sports store would be the place to go. We walk in and to my surprise I couldn't see any balls at all, so I walked straight up to the counter and asked the two young adorable men "do you guys have any balls?" they look at each other and say "sure, what kind?" At this point, I still didn't know what I did. NOW WHO DOES THAT? So then I got it and laughed a little, but I swear if those young men wouldn't of been so darn professional, when I figured it out, I think I would of been on the floor laughing so hard. So we bought a foot ball (soccer ball) When we left Jenni, just DIED and said I made her day. Yeah, chalk one up for me!!!!!
Moving on towards our food, we finally find a burger king to eat at. So we are just walking when all of a sudden Jenni just trips. Anyone who knows me, knows that when that happens it makes me laugh (but only if they are not hurt or anything) So right when I was ready to just die in laughter... I TRIP!!!!! Holy Cow, you would of thought we were crying we were laughing so hard. Actully a guy asked Jenni if she was Ok because he thought she was crying. So between the balls and the tripping and the zillion guys all over Jenni our day was pretty good. Burger King was fantastic (remember we never get beef here) so on our way back to the cabs we stop at another wish list place. The speaker store. We have a boom box that we brought from home, but we need a speaker and a mike. When we start our offical youth groups we want to play music loud and then announce to the community whats going on. We found out that what we need cost $38,650.00J that is about $400.00 US
We then would be able to use this in many other ways as well. Lets just say Jesus for Jamaica could benifit from this a lot.
Ok back to the cab, but we stopped by the market to get some veggies. Oh Boy! they have lettuce Yippeee!!!!! 5 cabs later and we are at the bottom of our hill. No motorcycle :-( I was bummed and car sick. The drivers on the way home were crazy. Then this car pulled up and asked if we were going up, of course we said yes and he took us. We did have to pay $50.00J more, but well worth it. With how tired we were, we would still be walking up that hill in the morning. Now its time to make dinner, then devotion on the front porch.
Tomorrow is the basic school.... More to come
Blessings

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Things are good

Our internet here has been not good as you can see. Something needs to change with this. So we are working on it, to be able to keep you all up on everything here.
Jenni and I made all the invitations and Saturday Jenni Felix and I went all around the community to pass them out. We met so many people. Anita was not feeling well so she stayed in bed and slept. Sunday we walked next door to have Anita measured for her new uniform dresses, that was cool. I loved being able to just walk out our door into the neighbors. Like Little house on the Prarie. Today Michelle came over and helped with the laundry, and just when she got done it started to rain. Not for long, but still. We have all been sick around here, passing it over to next person, good thing Miss Jenni is house sitting, or she would be next.
This thursday we are starting to work in the basic school, so the alphabet that Mary and Kit made are really going to come in for good use. Like I said Things are good.
We are still in need of donations, if you could do a monthly donation please let me know. Thank you
Blessings

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

So Amazing!

So Jenni started devotion on our front porch while we were gone. Is that cool or what? Now we are up to 10 kids, and we haven't even officially started youth group. We will be moving to the clinic building soon and then devide the days up by age. More to come.
A big thank you to Beth, Jenni's mom. She came and filled in when we were in the States. Well she was kinda just thrown in to the mix, but I think she came away with what its like to do some of the things we do. Love you Bethy Ann.
Blessings

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Heading home from home

We're sittin' in the Alaska airlines terminal at SEATAC right now, thinking back on the week we had. It was so fantastic to hang with our kids and put some things behind us with family. To just sit and talk with good friends. It all made for such a wonderful visit. Thank you all for your truly amazing support.
We will be back in our new home in Jamaica, making even more new friends and doing as much as we can to make a difference in their lives. Thank you all for reading our blog, leaving comments praying for us.
Blessings

Saturday, January 15, 2011

-------------------------------------OUR FIRST TEAM----------------------------------------------

I just got off the phone with a gal that I went to highschool with. It has been many years since the two of us have even talked. But get this.... Her family is coming to Jamaica. They are going to be our first team. So getting this all planned out is going to be sooooooo fun!!! We couldn't be more happy. So hopefully our internet problem will be all worked out by April LOL so that we can post lots of pictures.
So if there is any of you out there that would like to come either as a small team of 3 like my friend or a big team, let me know. You won't be dissapointed! Go to www.JesusforJamaica.com this is who Mark and I are with. Please check it out and then tell us you want to come and do the Lords work. We would love to have you.
Blessings

Friday, January 14, 2011

We missed it!

Jenni called today, and she said  "you will never believe what happened"?  ok. my heart sank and hit the floor.  She went on to say,  "Dontae's first tooth came in today"   I yelled  "You are lying"  Jenni giggled, then I was giggling and we really couldn't stop.  Until I told her to take a picture.   Yes, I am sorry I am not going to be there for his first tooth, but I will certainly be there for many of his teeth..
We are having so much fun while we are here, but freezing our butts off.  Well I am thats for sure.
Love and hugs commming your way.
Blessings
Mark and Kim

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

we are home

Well we boarded the plane eventually.  And at 6:00pm I was huggin on my girls.  Then the four of us went to eat.  Then they brought us home to show us the clothes they bought Mark and I and also Dontae.  What wonderful girls we have.
I am sure our house was a mess a lot of the time, but when we got home, it was Perfect, and that is all that matters.  I love you Matty and Calie  I Love y
Blessings

Sitting at the airport

Get this......Mark and I get to come home for a couple days.  Our passport stamp ran out on the 10th, so we didn't have a choice, plus we are getting the homestudy done for Dontae's adoption.  We left Jamaica on the 10th. which was yesterday, but there wasn't a connecting flight till early this morning.  So at this point we were going to be in Bellingham at 2:24.  And since we are on a buddy pass (Thanks Dorice) they said we had a great chance of getting on.  So all is well.  Until they tell us the flight is delayed for one hour due to fog......  then another hour......then another hour.......so our 8:15 flight is now supposed to leave at noon.  But I look out side and the fog is just as thick.  The lady over the loud speaker just said that the flight to the Cancun has now been canceled due to fog.  OH MY GOODNESS  (I feel sorry for them) So I can't imagine that we are leaving in one hour. But we will see.  We lost one day of our 5 by staying in Miami over night.  If we have to stay again, that will leave only 3 days at home. We could stay longer since Beth, Jenni's mom, is in Jamaica helping Jenni. But, if we did, then Beth would not be able to see anything other then our own litttle paradise.  So heck, whats a girl to do?  Pray that we get on the stinkin plane     LOLOL  But you know God is a funny guy.  We laugh daily.
Lets give you of an example of the way God works ok?  Last night when we went to get a shuttle the man said it would be about 30 mins.  After 20 mins. he called a town car for us, because he did not want us to wait any longer.  Well inside that town car was a woman by the name of Bruna.  She is from Bolivia.  We had the pleasure to ride with her in this beautiful town car.  Come to find out she works with kids with all kinds of handicaps, mentially and or physically.  She does alot of good things with the children there in the orphanage.  We talked and talked, since working in the same field.  She wants to come and work with us and volunteer her time for, wait for it......... a month or two. (WHAT THE HECK)  If that comes to be, WOW!!!!!  Then today standing in a long line I got to talking with another lady who travels back and forth to Haiti taking medical supplies. She has been there 17 times.  She does this all on her own and has been since 2004.  She gets donations from Dr.'s and Dentist's and others.  She stays in a boys home while she is there.  And she pays 40.00 a day for her room and two meals through donations as well.  Her airfare she gets with airmiles.  Everyone is getting to know her because she always has so much to give.  Is she with a non- profit organization?  No!  Just a willing missionary willing to give and go where God has called her.  7 Years now, and still going.  She is now in the process of adopting two little boys, 6 and 8, who are brothers.  Her adoptions should be done about the time ours is.  And get this........ she had 5 grown kids at home!  She is 5 years older then me, and it is so cool to see God working in such wonderful ways.  Her kids and Dontae may have older parents, but they will have a loving home with loving parents and siblings.  Something they would have NEVER had.   We also just got an email from a guy whom we have never met, but is reading our blog, who wants us to meet his very best friend up on the mountain we are now living on and to meet the two girls they are trying to adopt.  Do you see how amazing God is!!!!
Oh did I tell you that I froze my butt off last night in Miami!!!!!??????  Not good!!!!!  There is snow in Bellingham, whats a girl to do?  Freeze?  I don't want to.  
Update on our plane....... It just pulled in at 11:32am, which  means boarding will start about 12:15pm.  Then about 12:30pm we find out if we can get on this flight.  If we don't make it, you will hear about it.  LOL
Blessings

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Just to let you know

We do have internet, but its a catch 22.  So we will post as often as we can.  There are some exciting things that are going to happen with us and Jesus for Jamaica.  Stay tuned.  Love to all
Blessings

Our new digs



So, I promised I would get some pictures on of our new place. Here they are...  You can see our view, you can see our home, and the big building is the future clinic.  More Pictures to come.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

WE ARE IN!

I don't have a clue how in the heck we did it.  (well yes I do) but you know what I mean.  So  now we are up, up on a mountain with our front porch looking down on the Carribbean ocean.  This place is in the most beautiful place ever.  Plus our house is the first house people come to when coming up the hill.  So we are meeting new friends all the time.  Kids, did I say kids?  Well they love coming around, so yesterday when we were grocery shopping, I bought some small little sweetys so we could give one to the kids when they come over.  We were exhausted ! The first night ,and then yesterday, was the last day we had the car to rent. So we needed to go grocery shopping and to buy a few thing the house needed. Last night was another late dinner.  And at this time we didn't have a stove. We wound up having BLT's in the microwave. So our friends went out and got a stove for us.  Is that amazing?  So yesterday they brought up the stove, but we still don't have any gas to hook it up. 

With no stove you need to be creative for good dinners.  Lets see if I passed the test
First night dinner, I totally forgot about.  I was so caught up on all of this move.  Mark said "are we thinking about dinner tonight"?  That night supper was burritos we found at the grocery store.  Yippee!!!!
First day waking up,  The first day we had no water.  But I have to tell you that the kids were pretty alright concering not being able to shower or brush their teeth ,but they still rocked.  I am so proud of them. 
What we are doing now is getting this home clean and all fixed up the best we can.  Jesus for Jamaica is giving Mark wood to build a gate for our front porch.

Today we have just been organizing and cleaning. This way the kid's can actually walk barefoot on the floor and Dontae can crawl on the floor too. Still so tired that I, Mark, had to take over writing today's blog 'cause Kim kept falling asleep. And did I tell you, we are now paying by the minute to use our internet, but thank God we can still get it and communicate with you all.

Jenni comes home this Saturday with her mom, Beth, and the kid's are really excited! Poor girl doesn't even know what she's stepping into. We are definitely roughing it up here, but loving it too. We might even be Jamaican by the time we get home, mon. We will post some pictures soon.

Blessings.

Monday, January 3, 2011

one day to move

You know when God decides what he wants done he makes it happen!  It's crazy sometimes.  LOL
You all know that we are struggling to stay where we are.  But am very thankful that this house was available, and furnished to boot.  The woman who rented it to us, didn't even meet us.  Just took our friends word that we were good to rent to.  The owner of this house is in town, and she told us that this house might be sold, and so we would have to move if it does sell.  It just so happened that another friend and her husband were taking us up a mountain to see their lodge yesterday.  Their ministry is called "Jesus for Jamaica"  It sits right in the middle of a wonderful community.  Right next door sits a huge building they built to someday house a medical clinic.  On the other side sits a basic school they got up and running.  The children there had to walk three miles to get to school, so it was very much needed.  Like I said it is a lodge, very rustic (rustic to the point that critters can get in)  lol but it has a stove a fridge, showers and pottys.  Its quite nice.  Just no furniture.  Well it has bunkbeds.
They said we could stay there for free.  FREE, can you believe that one?  So that evening we went to bed and I didn't sleep much thinking and praying about this.  When I woke up I had my answers, Mr. Mark was depressed, because he didn't have the answers. We talked and talked this morning and we came up with many ideas of things we could do for the community up there and before I knew it Mr, Mark had a big smile on his face.  So he now knew this would be really good for us.  So we talked to the owner of this house this morning, and we were telling her about what we have come up with, and just when we were ready to give her our 30 day notice, she asked us if we could be out by 9AM tomorrow morning.  Mark and I looked at each other, knowing of all the work involved and Jenni being home and the kids at school.  But she continued to say that if we can be out by that time she wouldn't make us pay January rent and she would give back our damage deposit.  PTL!!!!!!!!  And then, get this...... she gave us a couch, table and chairs, blinds, TV, microwave, TV stand, desk, and a corner shelf.  Also we can buy the DVD player for 25.00.  Holy cow!
We might have to buy a washing machine, the ministry does have one, but someone is using it.  We will have to get a iron for the school uniforms (very important) fans, (because otherwise we will surely die from the heat) lol.  But the biggest thing is a car.  Like I said, it is waaaaaaaaaay up a mountain and the car we are renting now is not available.  We will be able to use the Jesus for Jamaica truck in March when our friend goes back to the states, so for now we need prayers for something to come along that we can afford.  Did I tell you there is no hot water?  But you know what? we are so excited its nuts.  Talked to Jenni today, who is just estatic, she is soooooooooo excited and she hasn't seen a thing.  We will be living right in the middle of the community.  So for the next 6 months one of our goals is to hold  a teen youth group and a  younger childs youth group.  The other idea we have is to start a community garden.  So those are the things that we will focus on for now.  Jesus for Jamaica have a couple teams coming, so we will of course help with that.  Plus there are children everywhere up there, so friends for our kids to play with. Our other issue is internet, since that is the way we communicate the most with people and this blog.  So tomorrow we will be checking out the highspeed thumb drive thingy.  LOL  I hope its like the cell phones here, pretty darn inexpensive.  So what do you think?  Our mission here in Jamaica has changed once again, but we are going where God leads us, we have said that from the very first day.  Please praise the Lord with us in thanks giving for laying this opportunity right in our laps and for our new friends here in Jamaica that just never cease to amaze us with their generosity.  Have a glorious evening.
Blessings

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Miracle's happen!

Today was the start of a wonderful afternoon and overnight.  Remember Marquez and Marlaina?  The children of Marlon and Donnaree who worked with us at MFH?  Well Mr. Mark went to pick them up today to come and spend the night.  Little Marlaina is SO in love with Mr. Mark, it is so darn cute to watch.  Made me sad to, because we used to see these kids everyday, and she just followed Mr. Mark around everywhere.  She loves to steal his hat off his head and then run away and tease him saying "you can't get me"  with a huge smile on her face.  Now Marquez, well he is just Mr. cooooool, but when we get him to laugh, it just brightens up the room.  Felix was in the show off mood, if you all know what I mean.  Was kinda funny,  and was not kinda funny.  LOL  Anyhoo, the day was going just great, I had made pizza dough, so it was ready for our dinner, and was right in the middle of making Chocolate chip cookies for the kids snack, when I heard Mr. Mark kinda make a funny noise, but was saying something too, I really don't know what he was doing, until I turned around, and he was holding Dontae head down.  Dontae was choking and his entire face was covered with saliva.  So I ran over to them.  Come to find out that little baby boy with just a couple of fingers managed to pick up a piece of Felixs flashlight and put it in his mouth.  It was the little light bulb with two wires on it.  Mark had tried to get it, and couldn't so I tried, all while there is blood coming out of his throat. (not serious amounts) and I couldn't get it either, but between the both of us trying to get it, we seemed to push it down rather then up, but he was now breathing fine and his mouth quit watering and bleeding.  Luckily our Dr. friend was next door, so she came right over and looked down his throat and said that she could see where he was bleeding from, but she encouraged us to take him and get an x-ray, because with it being wires, they could puncture something on its way out.  Sooooooooo  with a house full of kids, only one of us could go and that would be the mom.  Back to Black river with Dontae in tow.  As I am driving he starts choking.  I swear I almost put my foot through the pedal.  But soon realized that if I kill us, what would be the reason for taking him to the Dr.  So I just prayed that he was fine.  Praying that they won't have to surgically have to remove this stinking light bulb and wires. So here is the miracle..... two sets of x-rays...... and guess what?
NOTHING, AND I SAID NOTHING IN OUR BABIES STOMACH!!!!!!!!????????????  And some people say there is no God.  I say HogWash.   God was with us and our new baby Dontae, once again.  We are blessed.  And Satan will never win!
Blessings