Nicaragua

Chris and I are officially going on our first missions experience TOGETHER!  I am so excited!  About 1 week after I arrived home from India in January, Chris suggested we go to the informational meeting at GCC about the family mission experience to Nicaragua.  I honestly had no desire to go on another missions experience so “soon” but, I thought it would be good to hear about Nicaragua in case it was something we felt led to do in the future.  After the meeting, I felt the “nudge” to at least entertain the idea that this could be the next right step that God was leading us to take.  We both decided we would pray about it for a bit to see if we felt like this is how God was leading us.  A few days later, Chris showed me the scripture in James 2:14-18 that says:

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?  So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.  Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

After we read this scripture we felt for sure that this was the next right step that God was leading us to take.  We stepped out in faith and signed ourselves up for this wonderful experience and we are so excited!

We will be heading to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua along with 13 other people (ages 6 and up) for 1 week in June.  GCC has a ministry partnership with a church called Christian Fellowship Church in the Washington D.C. area who has really been investing in Puerto Cabezas.  While in Puerto Cabezas we will be working with a man named Pastor Earl and his church who operate  a children’s home called Casa Bernabé.  You can learn more about the children’s home here.  At this point, we know we get to hang out with kids a whole bunch!  Beyond that, we’re really not too sure what we’ll be doing and that’s just fine with us.  We are just really excited to see what God has in store for our team and the people we meet along the way.  It’s gonna be great!

Chris and I would love to invite all of you to partner with us on this journey!  We would love your prayer support as we prepare for this experience.  We would also love your prayers for our team while we are gone from June 16-23.  It would mean the world to us to know that we are covered in prayer during this exciting time.
The other way you can partner with is if you feel led to do so is financially.  We have $1300 that we are still needing to raise during the month of May for this trip.  You can click here which will take you to the Mission Teams page.  You will click on the green link that says Nicaragua FAMILY Team, sign in, choose our names and follow the prompts from there.  Please let us know if you have any questions about this process.

We are SO THANKFUL to all of you for your support, encouragement and partnership with us on this experience.  We serve a mighty God who is capable of doing far more then we could ever ask or imagine!  We are truly blessed far beyond what we deserve!

 

No Foolin Around

April Fool’s Day 2012 has come and passed; however, this year, there was no foolin around at the Ramer home.

This particular weekend the Ramer’s, Porter’s, and Slager’s were able to come together for an early Easter celebration. Three families, coming together as one, for the feast of “roast beast.” Actually, it was ham, one of God’s wonderful and quite tasty creations.

With grateful hearts and full bellies the Porter and Ramer clans headed into God’s creation to do some creating of their own–building Skyler’s treehouse.

 Arriving at the site of Fort Skyler the two families set to work. Like busy beavers, Kevin, Matt, and Skyler set to work.

As the men work away, Kayla strikes a pose.

It’s a rare event but, even beavers occasionally run out of wood. When they do, union rules apply and they must stand around, pose for pictures, and discuss how hard it is to be an not-so-busy beaver.

No one is really sure how many beavers it takes to build a treehouse…one day we might find out. Until that day comes…these beavers are heading back to the lodge!

 

Green River

Chris and I got to spend most of St. Patrick’s day weekend in Chicago-it was great!!!
We went to Ikea, ate the best Italian beef at Portillos, stayed at the Drake, saw the green river, went to the top of the Hancock building and wrapped up the weekend by visiting one of Chris’ dear friends (whom he has known since he was 5). It was crazy busy but, SO FUN!!!
I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking…

 

Lottha

Meet Lottha…

She was one of the first people in the village to become a Christian.  She lives in the village with her husband and 2 children.  Here is her family…

When we were in Kalavai, we split the people in the village up into 5 teams.  Lottha’s family was a part of my team-the yellow team!  It was wonderful getting to know her and her precious family.  It is obvious that Lottha loves Jesus!  During prayer, it was common to hear her say “Amen” many times throughout the prayer.  When we had debrief times after an activity, she shared what the Lord had impressed upon her heart with boldness.  She often spoke on behalf of the village as well.

This is Lottha’s house.  She is one of the few in the village who have cement houses.  This is a one room house without electricity.  One morning we, as a team, visited Lottha’s house.  It is obvious that she takes pride in her home.  Everything inside was neat and orderly.  Lottha is a very hard worker.  She gets up early in the morning to prepare breakfast for her family, wash their laundry and get her children ready for school.

The Thursday we were in India, we took about 3/4 of the villagers to the zoo.  It was such a GREAT day!  Many of them had never been that far outside of their village.  It was so neat watching them experience many firsts.  We saw things like helicopters and trains on our way to the zoo and many had never seen those things before.
I had the privilege of sharing a seat on the bus with Lottha.  On the way to the zoo, Lottha led us in many different songs-it was great!  On the way home, it was pretty quiet as everyone was pretty tired from a full day outside the village.  I has my ipod with me so, I put one earbud in my ear and the other one in Lottha’s ear and we listened to some worship music together.  Lottha doesn’t speak English.  She understands a few words and phrases but, that’s about all.  After a little while listening to the music Lottha turned around, gave Dr. Jim a thumbs up and said “Jesus music, Super!!”  Such a small action, with such huge significance for me.  If I went to India just to listen to worship music with Lottha, to see such a big smile on her face, then it was totally worth it!

I am so blessed to have met her and her family-oh, what joy!

 

Unspeakable Joy

I returned home from India just over 6 weeks ago. I continue to process all that I saw and experienced in Kalavai. The journey to Southern India left a mark on me-a big one. I have never been so welcomed, so loved by people I’d never laid eyes on before. The people of Kalavai showed me how to love well. Yet, I couldn’t help but think about how much more God loves each one of us and how much I wanted them to KNOW that.

Our team went to Kalavai to show Gods love to the people in the village. We simply wanted to live life with them in the village for one week, to pour in to their lives and to love them. We went to have fun with them and to experience new things with them. We went to show them that even though people in surrounding communities say the don’t matter, they MATTER to us. More importantly, they MATTER to Jesus! We had a wonderful time singing camp songs, playing games, doing arts and crafts, acting out Bible stories, taking a trip to the zoo and watching the Jesus movie together. Camp songs still echo in my head. I still hear the kids saying “Good Job” or “Super!” When I close my eyes, I can see their faces.
These beautiful faces…