The Same, But Different

Ah, we are finally back home! Back in our own beds, with our own kitchen, and the way of life that we have become used to. It's hot. I mean, so so hot. It's not the easiest time of the year to try to reacclimatize, but that's ok. Because it's home. And we love it.

Our arrival back to St Kitts was 1 week later than planned. Instead of having a few days to unpack and get settled, we rushed to get our kids back to school the next morning. New teachers and grades always bring us a bit of stress. We know our kids are awesome, but teachers are a bit less biased than we are. However it has been a great experience so far! We have a fantastic team of educators who love our kids and are helping them to be as successful as possible!

First Day of School

Addalyn now changes classes for science!

Grade 5 won the first "Golden Trash Can" award for keeping their classroom clean. Grade 2 (Dean's class) won it this past week :) He would want me to tell you that. Fairness is very important to him.

The school celebrated Independence Day.

Masqueraders and a Moko Jumbie came to help the kids celebrate. We haven't interacted much with either character much before, as one is a part of carnival celebrations (a season that celebrates sinning as much as you can before lent), and the other represents a spirit or 'god' from African folklore. However, we love the opportunity to talk with our kids about culture, and why missions exists - people all over the world believe things or celebrate things that go against the truth of the Word of God. Thats why we go, that why so many have gone, to wherever God calls us to declare truth and freedom and hope!

Each class performed for the parents as a part of the Independence Day program! This is Dean's class (Grade 2) and Grade 4 singing "Island in the Sun" by Harry Belefonte. It was a big hit with the parents! Addalyn was sick and at home, but her class did a great job speaking about how St Kitts has helped their Caribbean neighbors in the face of major disasters. They are even organizing a food drive to send needed items to the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian. 

Just after a week full of national holidays, SKI also had the kids celebrate the International Day of Peace.

We know that true peace comes from knowing Christ, and it's a peace that is better than what the world gives because it isn't based on circumstances. As a family, we prayed for that true peace to be spread all over the world!

Once we got the kids back into school routine, it was time for us to find our new rhythm and routine. We are so happy to be back to Celebrate Recovery St Kitts, Celebrate Recovery Inside (prison), and Celebrate Recovery New Horizons (juvenile detention centre). 

The prison has been a bit sporadic (what's new?), but one of my favorite new things with the ladies is that we have started incorporating worship music into our time together! I have wanted to for a while, but hesitated to do it. We didn't have a great way to bring in music, I'm not a musician, and I don't know many of the songs that the ladies are familiar with. Praise God for an amazing co-leader! Tannis had all the ladies write down their favorite songs, found them and put them on a CD, and even printed lyrics off for everyone. The ladies LOVE it!

With the prison and our Tuesday night CR group, we were launching new 12-Step Studies! Thanks to Faith Promise Church and FP Celebrate we came back with giant stacks of workbooks ready to be placed in the hands of men and women who are seeking freedom through Christ. Will you join us in praying for these individuals as they begin the process?

One thing we want to do a better job of this year is getting out and doing the normal St Kitts activities. How can we share Christ in a culture that we don't really understand? We have learned a lot in over 2 1/2 years, but we want to be more involved. So step 1, we went to a cricket match! I had a lot learn. I thought it was basically baseball, but that is not very true. There are pitchers and hitters, but beyond that's it's pretty different! And a whole lot of fun. Unfortunately, only a few of the CPL games are played in St Kitts, but we hope to get to some more next year.

Dean's best friend, Henry, came with us and patiently explained the game to me.

Our Mascot, a St Kitts Patriot!

Tarheim and Aaron were really getting into it! 

The girls! Addalyn used headphones and music to drown out the yelling and horns, and she probably played with snapchat filters more than watching, but she said she had fun! 

You might be saying, "Wait, I thought you had new responsibilities? That things had changed? This seems like the same stuff!" Well, you are right! Things have changed. In addition to the work we have been involved with, our roles at Caribbean Christian Fellowship have also changed. We have had the privilege of serving as leadership at the church for nearly 3 years, but being on a board and pastoring a church are pretty different. 

Aaron is doing Sunday morning teachings about every other week, I am in charge of Children's Church (I know, I'm also shocked, but you do what you gotta do), Aaron is over the AV team, we both still lead the prayer time before service, and we have helped take on all the weekly administration things. Do you know how many phone calls pastors receive and make? Yeah, it's a lot.

We have an amazing co-pastor family, Kistian and Cassie Flemming. They have also taken on major church responsibilities, and Kistian also teaches on Sunday mornings. I don't know what we would have done without them! Our other leadership team members also help out. Kendrick Brown is the only other one on island right now, but he has been awesome. He was already the treasurer, but now is also over our bus ministry and helping to host a new Life Group soon.

The amazing people who attend the church are being incredibly gracious as we work out all the kinks in our new systems. Please continue to pray with us for a full time Senior Pastor (missionary) to be called to CCF, and for wisdom for our church during the process. 

This month we had our Baptism and Beach service! What a blessing to live so close to the water that our baptismal is the Caribbean Sea. We were able to swim, eat, and just spend time getting to know more of the people who attend CCF. It was a blast! 

The best part of this event is the baptisms! I tear up every. single. time. Baptism isn't salvation, but it's an outward action that declares the inward change of giving our lives to Christ, and that is something to be celebrated! This past week our fiends Cynthia, Alexis, and Shaquel all chose to be baptized! 

Some fun family life updates:

Our banana trees are bearing fruit and being delicious! We have harvested bananas twice and plantains once. Did you know that once a banana/plantain tree bears fruit it never bears again? Luckily, little baby trees sprout off from the roots to grow and make more fruit. We have cut down the old trees and are waiting on the new fruit. I feel like there is probably a spiritual principal there somewhere lol

The Kids are loving life. We are trying to help them spend lots of time with friends and having fun as they transition back to life here. Playgrounds, gelato, and lizard catching definitely helps!

There is a sea turtle monitoring club in St Kitts and they invite the public when they release rehabilitated sea turtles! This guy was missing a back flipper, but he is healthy and ready for ocean life once again!

Our animals are lazy bums, but we love them so much. I snagged this while I was mopping. I was super jealous lol.

Thank you for checking in and reading all about our life and work here! Have a question? Let us know! Have a comment? Please share! You all encourage us so much in our work here. Want to be a part of what we do? It's super easy to donate online at Shepherd's Staff -Aaron and Katelyn Comer. It's because of God providing through people like YOU that we can be here sharing hope and declaring freedom. Love you all!

The Comers