When Things Don't Go As Planned
We were dreading October. Not for any great reason, but we had been warned that it was the hottest month of the year. This summer was quite the experience in scorching heat and sweating 24/7, so we weren't super excited about it feeling EVEN hotter. Surprisingly though, October brought cooler breezes, lots of rain, and a drop in temperatures. This shift set the stage for a month of unexpected.
Our Celebrate Recovery Inside had been put on hold while the prison was on lock down after a violent incident. The women's side was cleared, and I have been able to be back with my ladies for the past few weeks. But we were no longer meeting in the air conditioned classroom next to the offices. Now I was being escorted across the men's courtyard, through padlocked doors and past high concrete walls into the world in which my ladies spend their day. We meet outside, me in my full length pants and shirts with sleeves (per the visitors dress code). We are more heavily observed, and I'm not allowedd to help the women with anything outside leading our group time. There were multiple new women and I hadn't been face to face with any of them in over 5 week when I started back. At first, in this new setting with new faces, I had so many uncertainties. Would the new ladies participate? Would the guards listening be a hinderance? Why wasn't I allowed to even carry my own chair?! Ok, I still haven't figured out the chair thing, BUT God was definitely ahead of me smoothing out the path. We have re-adjusted, we've gotten used to our new setting, and after a couple weeks we are diving in deeper than before. And I have had the blessing of understanding more of what these women experience on a daily basis. This unconventional meeting space has led to deeper questions and conversations, to some of the women opening up for the first time. One of the ladies, we will call her M, has been attempting to help read scriptures during group for the first time in 4 months! Another, P, has started asking questions with a heart that is sincerely seeking. We've gone from a group of women trying to "shock and awe" me to a circle of ladies who are starting to show me their hearts.
Our Celebrate Recovery Ministry on the outside was continuing on as normal. We had worked out some of the kinks, and we had a good rhythm in place. Our volunteers were doing so well and we were seeing some great community and growth starting to happen. At the end of October, we were informed that the church we had partnered with was no longer going to do CR. They had committed to an after school program for at-risk youth more than a year prior, and it was finally about to get started. We are so grateful to that church for their time, space, and encouragement over the past several months. We appreciate that they allowedd us to learn how to train and start CR, and that they made us feel so welcome! We didn't expect for them to step away from CR, but we know that they love God and are seeking to do what He is calling them to do. We also know 100% that God has a plan for CR here in St Kitts, but honestly it felt a lot like starting over. We understood, but we couldn't help feeling disappointed and left without options. "I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer." Psalm 120:1 Within a few days God provided a space for us to meet while we look for a new church to partner with. We are really excited to keep the momentum going, and we will be rebuilding volunteers and re-working out all the little kinks once again. Next week we start in our new space AND Aaron will be back at the prison with the men! It's going to be a good week.
On theme with the rest of the month, another unexpected decision was made. Aaron and I have been praying for a while about how to get our kids more connected with other kids here
Pleasantly, not all was unexpected. Aaron's time at New Horizon's Juvenile Detention Center continues to happen every week. This past month, two of the young people accepted Christ as their savior!!! This is a huge deal, because most young people tell us that they aren't ready to "stop having fun" so they'll be a Christian "later." Please join us in praying for this young man and young woman who are now part of our forever family!
The last unexpected event has been Aaron traveling to Dominica this past week! Our pastor, Brandon, invited Aaron to come along and to help seek out what we can do to help. Caribbean Christian Fellowship, our church here, will be planning a missions trip sometime next year to meet some of the needs on the island. With no electricity and almost no internet, we haven't heard much from the guys, but we did get a few pictures:
Our Celebrate Recovery Inside had been put on hold while the prison was on lock down after a violent incident. The women's side was cleared, and I have been able to be back with my ladies for the past few weeks. But we were no longer meeting in the air conditioned classroom next to the offices. Now I was being escorted across the men's courtyard, through padlocked doors and past high concrete walls into the world in which my ladies spend their day. We meet outside, me in my full length pants and shirts with sleeves (per the visitors dress code). We are more heavily observed, and I'm not allowedd to help the women with anything outside leading our group time. There were multiple new women and I hadn't been face to face with any of them in over 5 week when I started back. At first, in this new setting with new faces, I had so many uncertainties. Would the new ladies participate? Would the guards listening be a hinderance? Why wasn't I allowed to even carry my own chair?! Ok, I still haven't figured out the chair thing, BUT God was definitely ahead of me smoothing out the path. We have re-adjusted, we've gotten used to our new setting, and after a couple weeks we are diving in deeper than before. And I have had the blessing of understanding more of what these women experience on a daily basis. This unconventional meeting space has led to deeper questions and conversations, to some of the women opening up for the first time. One of the ladies, we will call her M, has been attempting to help read scriptures during group for the first time in 4 months! Another, P, has started asking questions with a heart that is sincerely seeking. We've gone from a group of women trying to "shock and awe" me to a circle of ladies who are starting to show me their hearts.
Our Celebrate Recovery Ministry on the outside was continuing on as normal. We had worked out some of the kinks, and we had a good rhythm in place. Our volunteers were doing so well and we were seeing some great community and growth starting to happen. At the end of October, we were informed that the church we had partnered with was no longer going to do CR. They had committed to an after school program for at-risk youth more than a year prior, and it was finally about to get started. We are so grateful to that church for their time, space, and encouragement over the past several months. We appreciate that they allowedd us to learn how to train and start CR, and that they made us feel so welcome! We didn't expect for them to step away from CR, but we know that they love God and are seeking to do what He is calling them to do. We also know 100% that God has a plan for CR here in St Kitts, but honestly it felt a lot like starting over. We understood, but we couldn't help feeling disappointed and left without options. "I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer." Psalm 120:1 Within a few days God provided a space for us to meet while we look for a new church to partner with. We are really excited to keep the momentum going, and we will be rebuilding volunteers and re-working out all the little kinks once again. Next week we start in our new space AND Aaron will be back at the prison with the men! It's going to be a good week.
On theme with the rest of the month, another unexpected decision was made. Aaron and I have been praying for a while about how to get our kids more connected with other kids here
and how to manage our time better between ministry, homeschooling, and keeping up with our home. We love homeschooling, and it has served our family so well for a season, but God has given us total peace about sending our kids to school next year. The school we are looking at is called SKI academy. It's an international school with kids from St Kitts and from all over the world! They have a great curriculum, sweet teachers, and small class sizes. It will help our kids to be able to be more engaged with other children, and it will allow time for Aaron and I to get most our work done during school hours. I'm excited about being able to disciple more women one-on-one, and Aaron will be able to spend the time it takes to prepare for 3 CR programs each week! Sending our kids to school will mean that we need to raise additional support for their tuition. We need prayers for the additional support to come in! If helping us send our kids to school is something you would like to be a part of, or if you know someone who might want to help, please e-mail us or give directly through Shepherd's Staff :)
Pleasantly, not all was unexpected. Aaron's time at New Horizon's Juvenile Detention Center continues to happen every week. This past month, two of the young people accepted Christ as their savior!!! This is a huge deal, because most young people tell us that they aren't ready to "stop having fun" so they'll be a Christian "later." Please join us in praying for this young man and young woman who are now part of our forever family!
The last unexpected event has been Aaron traveling to Dominica this past week! Our pastor, Brandon, invited Aaron to come along and to help seek out what we can do to help. Caribbean Christian Fellowship, our church here, will be planning a missions trip sometime next year to meet some of the needs on the island. With no electricity and almost no internet, we haven't heard much from the guys, but we did get a few pictures:
My friend Julia came to visit from TN this month!
We had to say goodbye to this precious family, the Hogans, who live on their boat and travel the Caribbean. It's time for them to move on, but we miss them so much already!
We got to celebrate Baby K's birthday with this sweet young family has recently started attending our church. Jamel was one of Aaron's students at New Horizons, and his girlfriend, Keona, and her baby have gotten super involved in youth group and on Sunday mornings. It was really special praying over Baby K and his next year of life.
Our most exciting news is that Dean asked Jesus to live in his heart and then he decided to get baptized!! Words can't accurately describe our joy as our little boy obeyed God and walked into that ocean. Seeing both of our kids make that decision is one of the biggest blessings in our life!
And lastly, MONKEYS! Because we still get excited about them :)
Love you all!
The Comers
Man guys I️ can’t be live how many years in the making this has all been. You have grown so much not only in your faith, but as people. We love you guys and are so excited and happy that God is opening door and will pray for financial help to come in for the kids schooling and we are so excited about little Dean accepting Jeus. Keep it up Comers!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!!! Love you all!
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