There and Back Again
Family Picture, Mazomanie, WI Here on Helene, there’s a song very popular with the church-going islanders with the chorus: “God is good”. It’s catchy and upbeat, but when I sing it I always feel like the word “good” falls so short of describing Him! After all, in just one word, how can we? Recently I [...]
Coffee Shop Talk
Recently, I met with a couple ladies from my bible study group at a coffee shop to talk about fundraising. While waiting for them to arrive, I noticed a gentleman setting his bible down on the table next to me, so I asked him if he was having a bible study. I know, I violated [...]
Home
On June 4thI returned home to AZ after completing Mission Encounters International’s Discipleship Encounter program. It has been exciting to spend time with friends and family and tell them of all the great things God did in and around me while on Helene! Since completing the Discipleship Encounter program, I have been invited to serve the remainder [...]
Helene Christian English School
Helene Christian English School (HCES) is in its eighth year serving the children and families of the small southern Caribbean island of Santa Elena! This year we have 89 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through sixth grades who are taught by five islander teachers, two islander teacher assistants, and two American missionary teachers (of which I [...]
Medical on the Move!
Like most days in Helene you do not know what will happen next. Today was just one of those days. This morning a 2 year old was pulling at his ear, upon closer inspection we saw a small rock inside. Someone had tried to removed it and just pushed it in further. The mom was going [...]
Stuff
How time flies― even when living in island time. Weeks, teams, staff, and even sadness have come and gone in the many days since I’ve last written. My grandmother, Florence Skemp, passed away quietly on a Sunday morning in April. She was ninety-eight and is dearly missed. She was quite a woman…a mother of ten [...]
Missionary Math
I have always loved Math and was one of the few people who enjoyed taking calculus. Math is such a beautiful language and such a perfect way to express so many things. Sadly in my profession, there hasnt been much need for integrals and equations. As a pastor running a church, I definitely did lots [...]
First Wave
Seven weeks. Nonstop. Six weeks ago today, we arrived on Helene. Psyched to just get here and get started, we had no power, no refrigeration, no fans at night, no drinking water except the bottles we had bought. Amazing what God has done in seven weeks. We are functioning now “as usual.” We have had [...]
Island Time
Being in a much slower-paced environment has been an amazing experience. At home in the states, I have found myself, more often than not, frantically running from errand to errand trying to keep up with a hectic schedule. Fortunately, the culture here in Helene is more people-oriented than task-oriented and it has taught me a valuble lesson of [...]
Teachin de Tree R's…
If there’s been one challenge in teaching the women here in Helene, it has been getting around a bit of a language barrier. True, they speak English here on the island, but “true” doesn’t mean “true” here – it means “through.” Counting is always an adventure because the number three doesn’t follow the number two, [...]
