Fall is definitely in full swing! Over the last two weeks Sean has been in meeting after meeting with pastors, church volunteers and principals. It seems like everyday he has another meeting with someone. All of these meetings are happening because five Good News Clubs are starting this October in five different primary schools! ALL of these Good News Clubs are church partnerships!
TCE
The Fall TCE class (Teaching Children Effectively) began last week with eight people enrolled and one is a local pastor! The class is held on Friday night and Saturday mornings for the next six weeks. Last year we had it on Tuesday and Thursday nights which meant we literally had something going on every night of the week. So far, we are liking this schedule a lot better… and those taking the class prefer it too.
The first TCE Class this Fall
Fig Tree Good News Club
We started our Good News Club in Fig Tree again. We had always met for club at 7pm which meant we wouldn’t get home until almost 10pm! It was hard on us, but especially hard on Maddy. Thankfully we moved the time up to four o’clock and actually got home last week before six! Before, the kids had already eaten dinner and finished their homework so there was no reason to start or be finished on time. But with them getting out of school at 3:30 we MUST be done by dinner time. The kids have just enough time to get home, change out of their uniforms and get to club… so they don’t get distracted. Plus, they aren’t nearly as tired!
Snack time after Good News Club in Fig Tree
Local Boy Found Dead
We also have some very sad news. Over the weekend a 10 year old boy went missing and they found his body on Monday… on his birthday. He is from Tyrell Williams Primary school, an area where we’ve had 5 Day Clubs and the Grayson’s have their Awana Program. The boy was not involved in either ministry but his friends were. Grace Gospel Hall church (Mavis’ church) is adopting the school and will be starting their Good News Club there this month. The situation is so sad and we are currently getting 800 Do You Wonder Why? booklets shipped to St. Kitts for the school. We had to pay for these books ourselves, but we were able to afford it because of the support we receive from you all. You can read the news report about it here… http://www.thestkittsnevisobserver.com/2013/10/04/child-abduction.html
Doctors Visits Galore
Other than working, we’ve had a time of “visiting the doctor” for all of us!
When Sean’s family was visiting a few weeks ago, I unfortunately lost my glasses. We looked everywhere for them and called the places I went and… nothing. After a couple of weeks we decided to try out the eye doctor here. The frames and lenses are EXPENSIVE so we decided to get contacts instead. We have been to the doctor now three times and I still don’t have it all situated. In fact, I still have at least two more appointments scheduled.
Sean went to the dentist for a cleaning and found out he has another cavity. While there he made an appointment for Maddy. It was her very first visit to the dentist! Our friends the DuValls live here in St. Kitts. Yuki teaches at the Ross Prep School and Michael is a dentist. Maddy loves their daughter Meg and they have been wonderful friends. So, Maddy wasn’t as nervous as she might have been because she knew Dr. Michael. She did a great job but she has a very tiny cavity and will be going back next week to get it filled. She will be getting a shot so we would appreciate your prayers for her. She will actually be getting her filling the day after Sean goes to get his cavity filled.
She was only a little nervous…
She calmly laid there letting Dr. Michael look at her teeth
Also, last week I made the mistake of eating some suspect hot sauce. I opened a new bottle at lunch and it was a little fizzy… but I ate it anyway. When I opened it at dinner time, it was like a volcano spewing out. We were then on botulism watch for a few days… lovely. I started getting sick to my stomach within 24 hours but fortunately that seemed to be it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t getting better so off to the doctor we went. The diagnosis? A parasite. Either Giardia or Cyclosporiasis. Both apparently are similar and not even worth testing to figure out which one it is. Usually you get these by drinking contaminated water but we’ve been careful not to do that. However, they put water in the hot sauce which wasn’t handled properly. I am taking three prescriptions but I should be fine by next week.
I guess October is reserved for doctor visits!
Between ministry and personal life, things are never boring around here…
