Cool Water Ministries
June 2008
Dear CWM friends,
In our last newsletter I said that I would try and keep you updated monthly as to our ‘happenings’. So here goes:
We received a new ‘boy’ last week. He is named Saoul and is 19 years old. He comes to us from New Vision Children’s Home in the community of Christiana. His mother abandoned him as a baby, so he has spent his whole life in a children’s home. He seems to be a great fit so far and the other boys are enjoying him very much. Pray for him as he adjusts to our strict guidelines – issues of integrity, responsibility, etc. These are foreign concepts in this country! Please pray for David and Kedar as they are assuming a lot of the responsibilities for the young men, as Jay will still be the main man and teacher. We are training these two young men to be future staff!
Many people have asked how long we will keep the young men. Jay has the following guidelines as to their length of stay: are they learning, thinking, growing, and contributing.
Last Friday PM, our ‘first adopted Jamaican son’ (besides James), Marvin, called us at dinnertime, as he was on his way into Mandeville by ambulance with severe stomach pain. So David and I met him at the hospital with sheets, towel, wash cloth, and his toiletries. (these items aren’t provided here). I had to ‘fight’ to stay with him and to get him seen promptly, as his pain was so severe. Thankfully, one of our boy’s mentors is a doctor in town, so we contacted him, and he was able to get a doctor to see Marvin soon after. He ended up having appendicitis and they did emergency surgery at midnight, while David, his wife with their baby, and I waited outside. He is doing very well and healing up very nicely. Third World medical care is very risky and lacking in quality. Thank you to those of you we contacted and who prayed for Marvin.
It is so good to have Danielle and Matt back with us until the end of August. Matt enjoys helping with the boys and is involved in our daily CWM life. We are very excited to announce that we will become grandparents in late October. They are expecting a little one, and will be settled in the Vancouver, BC area before baby comes.
Our house building process is moving very quickly and is exciting to watch. I attached the pictures that show the progress since the last week of April when it started. Yesterday and all last night they hand poured the second floor/first floor ceiling concrete. It is very interesting to watch the way they build here. We are very blessed by our contractor – he lives right next door to the new house – so is on sight 24/7 to keep watch over the supplies and workers. We can actually see the house from our front porch. We are hoping to be moved by early October. In the pictures you can see another house behind the building – that is where the boys’ ministry house will be.
The boys’ ministry house is in need of a new roof, ceilings, windows and screens. We are asking for prayers that we have some church teams that would be able to help us provide these in the next year or so. Hurricane season began Sunday and we are already feeling the effects of the season’s first tropical storm. Pray that we don’t lose the roof of the ministry house this summer!!
Just for accountability – we’d like you all to know that the purchase of the property, ministry house and the financing of the new house are being taken care of by us personally. We were so blessed by Jay’s parents’ inheritance, and the sale of our Redmond house, which enabled us to proceed with a more permanent and suitable housing situation here in Jamaica. The ministry will then pay us a small amount of rent for the boy’s house. We are grateful to have two Christian professionals in Seattle advise us with our ministry and personal finances and tax situation.
Please pray for us as we decide what to do for James’ schooling next year. We put him into a local ‘international’ private school at the end of last year. It has been a most challenging experience! We are very concerned about their low academic standards, lack of discipline and quality teachers. This is the best school here that we had to choose from! So we are looking into an online school for him for sixth grade in the fall. Pray for him to adjust back to being home – to take more responsibility for his education – and for mom to have time to help him. I get so overwhelmed at times, keeping up with the ministry administration, finances, shopping and the outreach. We are so blessed by our friendships here – but so many of them have great needs. Often, I’m driving others to doctors, pharmacies, groceries, etc. None of our friends have vehicles, so we are often the taxi as well! We have had many opportunities to reach and help many more than just the boys in our home! God is so faithful and provides for our needs as well as many others.
Please pray for us to find a church or a suitable solution to the poor churches here in the country. Compared to American churches they are lacking in every way. Jay takes the boys to a church each week, just for the experience (they are learning what is lacking here!). It is impossible for us to receive any ‘feeding’ in them. We are blessed to have the study materials at home so that we can have our own personal studies. Sunday school is non-existent for James, so we provide his bible training at home, too.
We are so grateful for all of your prayers, encouragement and support. It is our prayer and dream to house 20 or so boys once we get settled in the new house and ministry building. There is a piece of vacant property (approximately the same size) just behind our new one – we are believing it to become CWM property someday to extend our borders and our sphere of influence! Our time here in Jamaica has been such an adventure – never easy – but always challenging and exciting to see where God will lead us.
Love and blessings,
Linda, Jay, and James
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