Student's Farewell

Yesterday was a great day. Not only was it EK's birthday but the WISE students and faculty really spoiled us.  They made us our favorite meals for lunch and dinner (Roti and fish with breadfruit) and the students prepared a special farewell for us.  You can see the video below, it pretty long but its a good one!

We feel so blessed to have all of these wonderful people in our lives and we will carry all of them in our hearts wherever we go. 

New Ground and Planting Seeds

This picture above is a large field that is right behind our apartment. When we first moved here it was simply an over grown open pasture.  Many people would bring (and still bring) their goats and cows to feed on the land.  A couple of months ago a man started to till and weed this massive portion of the hillside.  We enjoyed watching him transform the land into something new.  He used only a hoe and machete and the end product was this! That is a lot of time in effort in my opinion and a lot of sweat in the hot hot sun.

I was admiring his garden this morning and watching the the plants begin to push out of the ground thinking soon they will start bearing a variety of veggies.

I started to reflect on the last year of our lives. A year ago today we were preparing to come to St. Vincent not really knowing what to expect or what God was going to teach us.  Over the past 11 months God had tilled and molded our lives; we have grown so much in our faith and with each other.  We know he has allowed us to produce fruits (and veggies :) ) during our time here by touching the lives of the WISE students, the preschoolers, and families in the community.  We are so thankful that God is our provider, our refiner, our Shepard, and our "gardener".

It is hard for us to believe that we only have one more week to spend in beautiful St. Vincent. We will miss all of the people we have been blessed to work with throughout our time here. We know that God has used this experience to make us new creatures and our prayer is that He will continue to do so as we move on to our next chapter in life (and we know he will).

We will be spending some time with family when we return to the U.S. and then our plan is to move to Atlanta, GA.  We are not sure what God will have us do in Atlanta yet but we know he will reveal his plans for us.  We ask for your prayers as we transition that we will find jobs quickly and become connected with our new community.  Please pray for safe travels for us this summer as we are visiting family.  We cannot express how THANKFUL  we are to all of you who have supported us, loved us, prayed for us, and encouraged us along the way we could not have done it without you. Thank you for being apart of the wonderful ministry of WISE. We love you!

Schools out for Summer

Well I woke up this Monday morning and was missing my usual walk to the preschool.  Last Friday was our final day of preschool and we also had graduation for out students that were moving on to elementary school, or primary school as they call it here.

It was a great last day we had lots of fun playing games with the students and then we had a nice turn out of family and friends to encourage the little graduates.

We had some fun handing out their diplomas...they first had to "slide down" into primary school and then they got their certificate!

I was proud of all of our students and they preformed the ABCs and sang "I'm in  the Lord's Army"...their favorite part yelling "yes sir!"

All of the parents were very thankful which was refreshing, and one of our students grandmother, Mrs. Tims, said many sweet words to the teachers.  She said she wished her grandson could continue to go to our school and learn about Jesus, she said she loved that we taught and showed him the love of God and asked that we would continue to pray for all of the children that they will grown to know and love God. I ask you to join us in that prayer!

Summer Fun

Though it always feels like summer here since the temperature stays parked at around 90 degrees everyday, we have had some new "Summer" happenings.

The preschoolers are having a fun time with their new teacher Miss Morgan, they love listening to her Bible stories. Especially with the new flannelgraph we received from my grandma and a close family friend, the kiddos love seeing the stories come to life with it! It is such a blessing to have Miss Morgan here and to see he love the kids so much.

EK's dad was just down for 2 weeks and was even able to teach a class, it was great to have family around.



The preschoolers are also enjoying new bugs we have discovered outside, they love collecting them and scooping them and taking them for a ride in the toy trucks.

 The preschoolers have started learning their first words, we started with CAT and then EGG, they really had fun with an egg relay race!

We continue to have fellowship every week with the students...below are some pictures of Human Tic Tac Toe.... Xs won!

A few of out students have started having soccer...or as they call it here football practice for the kids in the community every Sunday afternoon. We are so proud of our students and their desire to reach out to the community to share the love of God, and to lead people to Jesus!

Summer Has Started

Summer has started off with lots of fun!  My dance class had their recital and we had a great turn out.  The girls were so happy to have costumes and to be able to take them home. I also was able to present each student with a dance medal which was very special.

We have had lots of visitors too, my (Maddie) Dad and Stepmom came to visit and we got to show them lots of the island. It was my dad's first time seeing the ocean so he had a blast, especially at the black sand beach where there are lots of big waves.

EK's dad just came down last weekend and is spending 2 weeks here with us...but we are making him work for it :), he is an adjunct teacher for us and is enjoying teaching the WISE students, and they are even helping him with his French, since all of current students are from Haiti they all speak French.

Last weekend we said goodbye to the Wurdeman family as they travel the US over the summer to help raise support for WISE. It was sad to see them go since we will be gone before they return to St. Vincent. It has been such a pleasure working with their family.

Last week I was in the preschool alone since Amanda left for the US, but we welcomed in a new teacher this week! Miss Morgan is from Kansas and is spending 6 weeks here to assist in the preschool.  It is such a blessing to have her here and to see the love she has for the children.

Prayer Requests:
Please be in prayer for the Wurdeman family; pray for their safety as they travel and pray that God will bless WISE with needed support.

Please Pray for Morgan as she is here for 6 weeks and away from her family for the first time, pray that she is comforted during times of feeling homesick and that God will be able to use her to touch the lives of people here.

Lastly, please be in prayer for EK and me and we have just about 7 weeks left until our time in St. Vincent comes to an end.  Please pray that our transition back the the US goes smoothly and that we are able to find jobs quickly!

Road trip Entertainment

The students squeezing in the van and having a good time...who needs the radio when you can sing!

Ice Cream and Roadtrips

We had a fun filled weekend here in SVG. Our 2nd year students are graduating in just 12 short days and will be returning home to Haiti and Guyana. We will miss them all dearly but are so happy for all they have accomplished during their time at WISE.  To celebrate EK and I took them to get some frozen yogurt at Cafe Soliel and then we went to the Botanical Gardens for a "photoshoot", the students LOVE taking pictures...as you can see.

On Sunday we were all invited to Georgetown Christian Church which is about an hour away.  The church's minister is a WISE alumni. One of our students Bro. Jerry delivered the sermon and did an great job!

Here is how we traveled...piling into the back of the truck

Georgetown Christian Church

The view outside of the window in church...it was right off the ocean!

Jerry giving his sermon on God's faithfulness

Please be in prayer for out students and for all of the faculty at WISE over the next 2 weeks. We have a lot of people coming on campus for graduation and a lot of preparation to do.  Please pray for our students to finish strong, to have safe travels back home, and to share the love of Christ around the Caribbean.  We have 7 students graduating: Jerry, Samuel, Feler, Alertha, Marie, Germaine, and Rachelle.

Reflection

It is very surreal for us to think we will be leaving WISE in just a few short months and returning home to the United States. While our one year commitment at WISE is coming to a close, we continue to reflect on all the wonderful things God has allowed us to be a part of with this mission and how these blessings will forever be in our hearts!

Is there such a thing as a “Missionary Type”? For us, it was very safe to say working on a mission field was not on our radar.  I (Maddie) had been on a few short-term mission trips and EK had never been on any.  We always felt called to ministry but envisioned God calling us to work strictly in our local churches and communities.  Little did we know that there is not a “Missionary Type” and God had additional plans for us…

One day we were contacted by WISE’s director and his wife, Brice and Amanda Wurdeman, out of the blue, asking if we would like to teach at WISE for a year.  I will say it again, working in the mission field was not something we had ever thought about, but we decided to pray about it to give God a chance to tell us what to do.  Over the next few weeks God did so many things confirming that WISE is where He was calling us.  He gave us peace by allowing us to meet someone from St. Vincent and the Grenadines in our small town of Columbia, Missouri. We also asked Him to close and open doors for us…so He did. Once we made the decision to come to WISE God blessed our support-raising tremendously and made the overall transition go very smoothly.

God has taught us so much during our time here, we could write a book about it, but for the sake of space we will just list a few: to be flexible, willing, humble, submissive, culturally aware, joyful, thankful, and to try to be present in every moment God has given us. Our time at WISE has most of all taught us about trusting in God and how His plans are better than ours.  We are still amazed how God changed the trajectory of our lives in such a short period of time.  Often we get really stuck in our “plan for life” and we forget to look around to see what God has prepared for us.  Our encouragement and prayer for others is to lean on and trust in God and to always keep your ears and heart open to His calling because you never know what He might ask you…He may even call you to the Caribbean!

It is bitter sweet to know that our time at WISE will be complete at the end of June.  It has been a joy to watch God’s work at WISE. It has been a privilege working with the faculty and students along with the community and we will dearly miss them.  However, we are confident that God already knows His plans for us and we are excited to see what He reveals.

Christian Service

This semester we implemented "Christian Service" for all of our students.  The requirements are for each student to complete at least 5 hours of service to people in the community.  The goal of this was to encourage our students to get off campus and interact with new people as well as letting them learn they can serve anywhere!

We were not sure how it would go since this is the first time WISE has done something like this. However, our students are loving it!!!  I have been so proud of their initiative to walk the streets of the community meeting people and offering help in many ways. So far our students have helped cleaned people's homes (sweeping, moping, cleaning dirty dishes), babysat, cleaned up yards, and volunteered to help in activities such as children's Sunday School and Kids Club.

I met with the WISE student council last week and they thanked the faculty for introducing Christian Service to the students.  Many students expressed they would have NEVER thought of doing anything like this, [which is a little comical since we do talk about serving others at this school...it is in the Bible isn't it? :) ] Some of the students that are graduating in April plan to take the idea back to their home churches to encourage others to serve in many ways.  The student council was also inspired to do a Christian Service activity as a student body so next week all the students are visiting an area of town that needs a lot of cleaning up. They plan to help where they are needed and also meet with people to build relationships and pray for them.
I will let you know how this service project turns out and try to post some pics of it as well.

I know a lot of times we think we don't have much to offer to other people but sometimes simply sweeping someone's floor, or cutting their grass can make all the difference in someones life and most of all it is showing them the Love of Christ through you!

Have a great day!

Lesson Learned or Should I say Learning...

We have started the small group study workbook Living Crazy Love by Francis Chan on Sunday nights with our small groups.  Yesterday we talked about distractions and things that keep us from honoring God. I wanted to share an excerpt from the workbook that really settled in my mind and dug at my heart....

"But if you find yourself so focused on these things (good distractions ie: family, friends, church activities, work, etc.) that you aren't enjoying God's presence in the midst of it, consciously trying to honor God through the way you do these activities and pursuing the things that you know God wants you to pursue, then these things have become distractions." 

This really hit home for me. Being on the mission field there are always a lot of hats to wear. EK and I both teach at the college, I work at the preschool, EK helps with student issues, we are both campus coordinators, we have fellowship with the students, help lead student council....
All of these roles are important and we know God had chosen to place us in these roles for a reason. I find it very easy to go through my day to day routine and NOT "enjoying God's presence in the midst of it." Frankly, I forget to even invite him/acknowledge him in these activities. 

Today I made it a point to enjoy God's presence while I was at preschool, and boy did I see a difference.  I had more patience with the kids (though there is still always room for improvement :) ), I tried to see them as God sees them, as his dearly loved children which helped me to dearly love them. 


I invite you to evaluate the distractions in you life and to identify if there are areas
 you are not enjoying God's presence.  I am going to continue this challenge throughout the week to see how I do and what difference it can make while I work and interact with others.  

Now go and enjoy God... and from the words of Paul "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Phil 4:4

Sixteen Singing Students...

This was during a night of fellowship. I asked one of our students, Bro Jusme, to sing a song he wrote for our visiting group from Forum Christian Church. I love it when our students sing they are so talented and always have a lot of fun!  The title of the song is "I Love Jesus!"

Our Sweet Home Church

We had a great visit last week from Forum Christian Church, from Columbia,MO. I (Maddie) grew up at Forum.  EK and I attended there together for 4 years, before we came to St. Vincent. It was refreshing to see new faces on campus and comforting that those faces were familiar to us! Even better my grandma came on the trip! It was so nice to spend time with her. I was use to seeing her often before we moved to SVG so having her here in the flesh to give a big hug was awesome.

The group did a lot while they were here, the men worked hard at the preschool, preparing a new space for next year, others in the group helped paint around campus and helped in the office. My grandma brought me 60 rolls of tulle so we could make tutus for my dance girls.
I am so thankful to all the people that donated money to my dance class so they can have real tutus and leotards when they do their spring recital.
We also got to have a fun day with the group and took the ferry over the Bequia-a great afternoon in the sun! Forum took us all out to our favorite restaurant, Driftwood, it was such a treat to spend the evening with everyone and to fellowship over yummy food and a gorgeous view of God's creation, we even had the sounds of chickens in the background, since there were several below us from where we were seated :).


Our evening at Driftwood filled with good conversation!

 Thanks mom for buying washable paint for the kiddos-they had a fun time trying it out for the first time and only one 1 kid got it all over him, good thing it will come out :)

Story time with Miss Gwynette AKA Grandma, as you can see she had a pretty captivated audience

I took one finished tutu to dance class to begin "bribing" the girls to make sure they show up every week to dance class so they can get one if they learn and preform the recital dances-they were ecstatic and couldn't stop twirling 

Where we spent every afternoon last week-tying tutus in a sea of pink and purple, thanks Emery and Julie Crockett for your help and you too grandma! We even got a couple of the students to help, they were much faster than us...

On the ferry arriving at Bequia

Thanks again Forum Christian Church for being such a supportive and loving Church Family! It was so encouraging having you all here and to see your service and sacrifice while working with WISE and our students-WHAT A BLESSING!

Big Things in Small Groups

Every Sunday night we have small groups with our students; it is a great time to study God's word and to get to know our students on a deeper level.  A couple of weeks ago I asked our students to share their testimony with the group, so far we have gotten to hear 2 of our students and it has been awesome!

The first student opened by saying "I am special" I think this was a great reminder that all of us were made as part of God's plan.  What an uplifting attitude to have about yourself and your Creator-that he makes us all special.

Another student shared about his experience in the Haiti earthquake of 2011. He was visiting his 2 best friends when the earthquake hit, he survived, unfortunately his 2 friends did not. Again, this student feels God has a plan for him because he survived and he knows he must do great things for God.

It is such an encouragement to see the strength and courage that so many of our students have.  Many of them have overcome many hurdles in their lives.  I am overwhelmingly thankful for each and every one of our students and that they are all here to learn more about God and their purpose.

"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people." Philemon 1:4-7

I hope this encourages you to share your testimony and faith with others so they may see every good thing comes from Christ!

Trees and Flowers and Parrots Oh My!

Last week we took our preschoolers on a field trip to the Botanical Gardens.  We all piled in the van and truck and drove through town to reach our destination. The kids had a great time on the bus pretending to drive in their seats and saying "my car done beat you back!" AKA "my car is faster than yours!"  We were able to have a nice time walking through the gardens using all of our senses as they have learned about in school.  We got to smell a tall cinnamon tree and look at the fish in the lily pad pond, and listen to the St. Vincent Parrots squak and even say "hello".
Our only incident was when we asked all the preschoolers to stand on the roots of a tree to take a picture...They all stood their smiling and having a good time. When the kids began to break from their poses I noticed one of our boys was facing towards the tree "relieving" himself, I guess it was better than him wetting his pants :). Little boys will be little boys, and it was a somewhat funny too. All in all it was a successful day!

Dancing Queens

As most of you know I teach a dance class once a week to approximately 15 girls in the community.  Every week seems to have its blessings and challenges; as does everything in life.  Sometime the girls come very early to class or show up late, they always have a lot to say, which some weeks makes for more talking than I would like rather than dancing.  But every girls leaves with a smile and seem to be filled with joy from the art of dancing.  

I mostly teach ballet and a little jazz.  The girls are learning the technique of ballet and then I try to teach them a dance every week...this is their favorite part.  They also get really giddy when I let them "free dance" or to play "freeze dance" where they get to dance while the music is playing but have to freeze in a position when the music stops. 

Recently my dance class was TREMENDOUSLY BLESSED by Columbia Dance Academy (CDA), from my hometown Columbia, MO.  Before I came to SVG I taught at CDA for 5 years.  I cannot say enough good things about this studio.  It has such a wonderful family feel and a close community. Jeanne Szkolka, owner and teacher, was my childhood dance teacher.  She and others at the studio were so supportive and excited for our move to SVG, and very excited for me to teach a dance class here.  When Miss Jeanne and others found out that none of my girls had any dance clothes (there is no dance supply store on the island and secondly these girls would not be able to afford those things) they decided to have a clothes and shoes drive. 

Words cannot describe the girls faces when they saw the shoes, leotard, skirts, etc. I don't think their smiles could have gotten any bigger.  They all enjoyed picking out and trying on their very own shoes and dance clothes.  Everyone got a pair of tights too, I told them they didn't have to wear their tights every week if they didn't want to because where we practice has no ac and can get pretty hot and sticky.  However, the next week they all showed up with all their dance wear and put everything on.

I can already tell they are taking the dance class more seriously because now they feel like real dancers with their clothes. 

My main goal of this dance class is to show each girl the love of Christ, and I am so very thankful for everyone from CDA who donated to my class and for showing them love as well.

I am reminded when the children came to Jesus and some of the disciples tried to stop them. But Jesus said to them, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children"...then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them."  Mark 10:14-16.

Even though supporters my be thousands of miles away, thank you again for taking these girls in your arms, placing your hands on their heads and blessing them!

Our New Rommie

If you are deathly afraid of spiders I would suggest you DO NOT watch this video.....

Promised Pictures

Okay I am now able to finally upload pictures to the blog again so here they are!

The students working on the preschool ceiling

5:30am in Kingstown celebrating 9 Mornings!

Some of our students got called on stage and sang a song

Steel Drums...Love

Caroling around the community on Christmas Eve

Christmas dinner with faculty and students mmmmm

Students opening their presents

Clowning with Pip and Squeak (Mom and Sis) in the community, the kids loved their balloons

Salt Pond

Mom and Cal enjoying the black sand beaches

On our way to see Dark View Falls...had to cross the bamboo bridge, felt like we were on Indiana Jones, don't worry there were no alligators below us

Elephant Ears

Riding in the boat with Speedy at Wallibou Bay (where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed)

New Years Eve Party

Boat ride through the Grenadine Islands