Start, Pause, Stop, Go.... Be Flexible

Flexibility n. the quality of bending easily without breaking, the ability to be easily modified, willingness to change or compromise.

Look here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and we will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like a morning fog -it's here a little while, then it's gone. What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that."

James 4:13-15

God has been teaching us much over the last year in St Kitts. Among things like humility, patience, self-control, and kindness-even-when-we-are-super-stressed-out, one of the biggest things we have been learning is flexibility. We can't enter the prison today even though we showed up on time, in dress code, with my own TV monitor and computer and prepared a lesson? Flexibility. Dinner party and the electricity goes out? Flexibility. We have to find a new place to meet for CR, and that place is only available 3 weeks a month? Flexibility. Pizza shows up 2 hours late? Flexibility. Kids need to see the doctor, but everything closes in December? FLEX-I-BILITY. You get the point. God has been teaching us that He is truly sovereign and that we can be flexible because we can trust Him and His plans for us and for St Kitts!

December is a time to slow down in St Kitts. Instead of the mad rush we were used to in TN, we found that many people leave the island, most offices and many business are closed, and very few locals think about much more than family dinner to celebrate Christmas. Our church loses about 80% of it's congregation when the grad schools are on breaks, so even church felt slow and small, but very special too. We soaked up extra family time and enjoyed some special visitors!

My parents came down for the first couple weeks of December! We celebrated early Christmas, as well as Aaron and Addalyn's birthdays. It was such a sweet time with them. We did normal life stuff and we loved having them be a part of our life here.

This airport-goodbye was in front of the nativity/snow/Christmas scene set up in the airport! That did not make it any easier, but definitely more colorful.

Aaron's cousins, Mary and Denis, came by cruise for the second year in a row! They brought us all kinds of wonderful gifts from Aaron's family, from themselves, and from their church.

The kids got Santa hats from Mary and Denis and wore them all day, even in the heat lol

Celebrate Recovery St Kitts moved to its new location at the Shadwell Outreach Centre. We meet upstairs in the office of another ministry, Child Evangelism Fellowship, all but 1 Tuesday a month. We decided to get creative and next week we will have our first "Second Tuesday Fun Day" and do group outings rather than our typical meeting. We are actually really excited about getting to "lime" with the group and get to know everyone in a different setting. Please pray that God will use "Second Tuesday Fun Days" to bring growth to our group and the the attenders of CR.

(we meet in the upstairs left apartment of this building)

We are hoping to see more growth as the new year starts, people return to the island, and now that we have a spot to meet regularly. It can be easy to get discourage when things seem to go slowly, or not at all. It was frustrating to need to "start over" with this ministry and it's frustrating when people don't show up. But God always knows what we need. One of the lovely women who attends CR told me a few weeks ago, "Katelyn, I'm sure it is discouraging when people don't show up, but please know that this ministry has made a huge difference to me, and I know God sent you here so that I could learn the things I'm learning here." I was blown away, and almost in tears. God knows who is supposed to be at CR and when. We will just continue to be faithful and allow God to do the work of changing lives.

We got our sign hung up at the building we are meeting in!

The prison has been one of our biggest sources of learning flexibility. Each week we show up prepared to teach and love, but we never know if we will be allowed to walk through that big metal door.

(the door was festive for Christmas!)

The men's side is much larger than the women's (about 200 men, only 6-8 women) and so Aaron is often the one being sent away. If there has been gang violence, behavior problems, low-staff, or any other issue, then they can't allow Aaron to come in. In late November Aaron was turned away 2 weeks in a row before he was finally allowed to come back and teach. Due to the push-backs, Aaron continued to pray and tweak his message. He finally landed on showing a powerful testimony, which was a complete change from the original message he had planned. That week God moved and 6 men gave their lives to Christ! We were in awe of what God had done and how he used the extra time to get Aaron to bring in the exact lesson needed for that day. On top of that, we had a local women we know reach out to me while Aaron was teaching. She told me the God had woken her throughout the night and the morning to pray for Aaron and CR! It was such a sense of joy knowing that the Holy Spirit has been moving to prepare the places and people He sends us to.

The women's side still has me teaching out behind the small building that houses the ladies. At least it's shady! For Christmas I was able to bring them a photo of our tree to hang up and we sang Christmas carols. They even taught me a different version of Away in a Manger! Luckily for everyone, I let them lead the songs I just sang quietly and followed along ;)

In addition to growing the CR program that we have on Tuesdays, we have been looking for churches to partner with and train to run CR in their villages. We were invited to come visit Lighthouse Baptist Church in Sandy Point, which is on the other side of the island from us, and is one of the most populated cities.

Unexpectedly, Aaron was asked to get up and share about CR. I've been so proud of how God has grown Aaron in his speaking abilities! He did a wonderful job!

We got a flat tire driving out to Sandy Point. Some men from the church immediately jumped into action to help us switch it with the spare. The body of Christ should always be this willing to care for each other!

The kids were mesmerized lol.

Please pray with us that God continues to develop that relationship and that He opens the door for CR to be in Sandy Point!

New Horizons continues to be our most consistent ministry opportunity. Aaron and Success had a Christmas/New Years party and game day with the youths and they all had a blast. Success will be leaving the island at the end of the month and we will be so sad to lose him, both as a helper and as a wonderful friendship here on the island. As the youths their continue to learn and to be discipled, please pray that they will see their need for God now. Help them to see past the lies that they are "too young" to commit their lives to Christ, or that they have to much "fun" ahead of them to serve God now.

We will be headed back to TN for a few weeks at the end of February! We would love to meet with you and tell you more about all that God has been doing with CR and us here in St Kitts. If you would like to spend some time with us, or if we could come and share with your small group/church/group of friends, then please e-mail us or Facebook message us and we will get it on the calendar! We are looking forward to time with friends and family, and the opportunity to give a report of the work God has us doing.

Upon arriving in Antioch (where they had been sent from), they called the church together and reported everything God had done through them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too.

Acts 14:27

We serve in an open country, so please feel free to "like/share/forward" this on to anyone who may be interested in reading it. If we can serve you or pray for you in any way, please reach out! Thank you for all you do to enable us to be here!

Blessings,

The Comers

Dean likes to let millipedes crawl all over him! YUCK! It's become one of his favorite activities lol

Aaron had a birthday!

So did Addalyn! She is 9 now, and her sweet friend Audri invited her to have a joint birthday party together with all of Audri's friends. We are hoping that Addalyn bring in school next year will mean that she will have more friends as well!