Mission Work

We hosted another serve day to try to finish the clothing trailer, we went through like another 200+ bags of clothing. We had just as many volunteers as last serve day and it was a blast. Our volunteers were energetic and joyful and had a really great time. We got through so much and were finally able to start putting ONLY sorted clothing back into the clothing trailer in order to hand it out more efficiently! It was an exciting day. I am loving the joyful and servant attitudes of our volunteers, they are flexible and just want to help out where needed. They are so great!

The mechanic shop has been picking up a few extra car donations! We are so thankful as financial donations to the ministry have been on the slower side! These vehicle donations help keep the bills paid. We are so very thankful for them! If you know of anyone that would like to donate a vehicle, please send them our way! Please also keep finances for the ministry in your prayers. We could always use more help in that area! Thank you!!!

CMTS also started having Missions Opportunities for local ministries to start connecting volunteers with local partner ministries, One Luv from Reading for example. We have been able to make connections for reliable volunteers for them. Some go 1-2 times a month, others for the big events only, and some when they can. God loves a joyful heart while serving and we are thrilled to help fill a need for a local ministry with people that want to serve.

Mayreau Mission Trip

Parker and I would like to share about our time on the island of Mayreau in the county of Saint Vincent. Our journey to get there was challenging. We took a flight to Miami, and then a connecting flight to the main island. From there we stayed at a friends house before getting a ride back to the airport the following morning to jump in an 18 passenger prop plane to another smaller island. We then met our friends on that island and hopped in a small speed boat for a 20-minute ride across from Union Island to Mayreau. This island is inhabited by around 300 people.

We were hosted by Ben & Jes Tangert the directors of YWAM SVG. Parker and I were able to assist in some maintenance around the ministry. They have around 40 acres and multiple buildings to maintain (housing, gym, classrooms, etc.). We were able to help paint, clean, and assist around the ministry as things came up. We joined them in their weekly ministries as well. This included helping with the Kingdom Seekers program which was elementary age children. We led worship time with the kids by singing songs with motions. The kids really enjoyed it. We helped with the craft and joined in the Bible lesson about creation.

One of the other parts I really enjoyed was the young adult’s ministry. We had a campfire and made mountain pies (bread, sauce, meat, and cheese) roasted over the fire. There were 6 young adults there. They recently had a close friend pass away in an accident and they had been struggling to cope with the loss. They turned to drinking to numb the pain. This gave me an opportunity to share my testimony with them and share that there is another way to cope with this and it is healing through Jesus. They asked a lot of questions and I feel God used the words He gave me to connect with these men.

Some of my time there was also spent encouraging Ben and Jes and being able to share wisdom that I have learned over the past 5 years in ministry. We also were introduced to so many people on the island. Please keep the staff and the people of Mayreau in your prayers. There were so many other things that happened there but I can’t list them all on here! Thank you for your prayers and financial support that allowed us to go there and share with the people.

Home Life

It was a difficult birthday. A young man that was friends with a staff member and our 2nd oldest son, died in a car accident soon before and his funeral was on my birthday. It only felt right to postpone my birthday celebration and mourn the loss for our son, our staff member, and family in Christ. He was saved and is at home with our Lord and Savior, but it was such an honor to know him. 

Later that week we celebrated and my CMTS family made me a gluten free and dairy free fruit pizza. If that is not love, I do not know what is!! LOL 

I also got to attend our church’s annual women’s retreat and I really enjoy that time to get to know the ladies of my church and spend intentional time with them. We also get to have a sleepover again, like we are teenagers! We are getting older and the ladies in the next room told us to be quiet! HAHAHAHA

While Parker was away with Joel; Hannah and I took Kylie out for a girls’ night. We went to Bid Board (which I like to call “eBay in real life”), out to eat at The Mustard Seed, and then to a bookstore. It was Kylie’s kind of night! LOL The creepy bunny was Kylie’s favorite thing she saw at Bid Board, she had to send pictures to her brothers! LOL 

We celebrated Easter with both sets of grandparents this month. Unfortunately I got really sick and had to miss both. I was really sad, but the kids had fun with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents! 

We bought a camper for our family vacations. Normally we use our entire tax return to book our family vacations; this year, we could no longer do that, as it got to be too expensive. We prayed on what to do since NOT doing family getaways is not an option. That intentional family togetherness time is too important. Well, God answered our prayers and we got a really nice camper for under our tax return! To also help offset the cost of the camper, we sold our utility trailer that held all of the bikes and camping equipment as we will not need as much camping equipment anymore. Right before we left for the Mexico Mission Trip, God answered our prayers and a pastor that Joel was talking to said he might know a ministry that is in need of a trailer just like this! They reached out 2 days before we left and said they will buy it! A win-win! A ministry is being helped and we sold the trailer.  

We have also been praying about what to do about our smaller family car. It has a blown engine and it will cost too much to fix. The ministry was donated a nicer Honda Accord that needs a new transmission. I know this does not sound better, LOL. Joel said we will look into buying a used transmission and it will be cheaper. So, we decided to buy the Honda from the ministry and sell our Subaru for parts.  It’s been kind of a crazy month for us with all these transactions and everything else, but God is so good and is continuing to provide.

Homeschool Corner

Jase finished up his science for this school year, a study of astronomy. We watched how astronauts lived on the space station and ate different types of astronaut food. We found food in a tube, like French fries & Hamburgers, they were gross. The one documentary we watched showed foods astronauts like to eat and one was a pb & honey tortilla sandwich. We tried it; it wasn’t bad! 

Jase also completed his rocket. It was an experiment with 3 types of combustion. Baking soda & vinegar, water & alka seltzer, and mentos & Diet Coke. We had to see which would successfully launch the rocket. The diet coke one won. It really wasn’t a contest! LOL

We are studying the Industrial Revolution in our co-op history class and doing our final project, a presentation through video, on the steam engine and steam locomotive and how it impacted the Industrial Revolution. Here are a few photos of us building our train.

Prayer Requests

• Support: We are still not fully supported and are actively raising support.
• Homeschool: that is an ever going prayer
• Guidance, wisdom, and discernment as God leads us as we lead the ministry.
• Our smaller family car had the engine blow a piston rod, we need a whole engine repair or replacement. Prayer for finding an engine that is low in miles and affordable and funds to pay for this repair.

Ministry Prayer Requests

• Mission Trips: Prayer for getting connected with people to match needs for teams
• Shipping: We have many shipping containers going out soon full of supplies to help ministries share the gospel around the world!
• Staff: We are in need of another front office staff member and another mechanic to meet our growing needs in those areas.

Family Needs

Support

We are very grateful for the team of supporters we have. Thank you! We are currently at $2,500 monthly and where we need to be is $3,570. This covers what we need to live each month as this is our only income. It has been by the grace and provision of God that we are making it. We could really use your help. Prayers and awareness of this need to others is much appreciated!

Would you like to join our team? We need your help to continue to accomplish God’s vision for us at the ministry. Would you join us as a monthly supporter so we can continue the work God has started? We want to take you along for the journey and we would be honored to be able to share the experience with you. You would become part of the team and we would share how God is working and the impact it is having on His Kingdom. Please pray and ask God if you should join us.