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.