All Over in October

We hope your October has been as blessed as ours has been. We've continued to travel all over Western NY sharing our hearts and and our Czech ministry with some wonderful people with open hearts & open ears! We thank Pastor Ron Duttwieler and the Trinity Church of Nunda for hosting us, along with great missionary friend Steph Garey, for their missionary Sunday on October 4th! After the service, we united with the neighboring methodist church in the middble of the street for communion! What an awesome opportunity!

We're thankful for Haskinville Wesleyan Church who allowed us to share with them on Sunday October 18th! Not only did we get the chance to share with the welcoming congregation, we also got the chance to share with their WKFM (Wesleyan Kids For Missions) Sunday School class! Together we learned that God has given each and everyone of us special gifts, and He intended for us to use those gifts - to their maximum potential - to serve Him and tell other about Him! Thank you Haskinville Wesleyan and thank you Pastor for the delicious home cooked meal!

On October 25, Big Tree Wesleyan had us come and share for their own congregation. We met assistant pastor Rob Engler at Houghton's Family Camp this summer and through the connection, we were able to come and speak! We were also blessed again with the opportunity to share with their WKFM Sunday School class and even their youth group! Thank you to all those who joined our team and thank you Big Tree for joining us on this amazing journey as a church!

Waterford Wesleyan in Waterford, NY is currently one of our supporting churches! Last April, we were able to share briefly at their church during a zone mission rally. Since we had such a great time getting to know some the Waterford church family and not everyone in the congregation got a chance to hear about our ministry in Czech, we asked if we could visit again on November 1st! What a great time to reconnect with team members, meet new team members, and build on relationships! Pastor Barna and his family kindly hosted us in their lovely home the night before - and they're Philadelphia fans as well - so of course we watched the Phillies! GO PHILS! After a wonderful service on Sunday and some great fellowship, Mrs. Barna made us feel right at home by making Philly cheese steaks for lunch! Delicious! Thank you Waterford Wesleyan!!

Reconnecting with precious supporters! This man can make some awesome chocolate!

We even had some fun after church!
Here's Joel riding a pocket bike, a new hot little item!

A Family Affair

Last Sunday Joel and I had the privilege of sharing with the at The Vine Wesleyan Church in Lancaster, NY. The new church plant is currently meeting in a local elementary school while seeking out a place of their own. With wonderful worship and a welcoming group of people, we really enjoyed our time at The Vine. This particular Sunday, however, was a little different! Not only did we share, but Joel's newly appointed sister Jessica shared about her field in New Zealand and Joel's dad, Coach Skip Lord preached an awesome message on how we're all uniquely made for His Kingdom! What a blessing it was to share along side our family members! And a nice little treat that we didn't have to travel to a church alone! Thanks to Pastor Chris Baldwin, his family & the entire Vine congregation for having the Lord family share how God is working in our lives!

God Bless and thank you so much for your continued prayers & support! J & K

Sharing in September

As September rolls pass us, we can't help but stop and see all the beautiful colors of the season that remind us of how amazing our Creator is. Traveling from church to church can be tiring at times, but it is the colorful landscapes and the breathtaking views that reminds us who we're doing this all for.

We're so thankful for the busy schedule in Septmember. The first weekend of September brought the wedding of Rebecca & Nicholas Harne. Rebecca was Kerri's maid of honor and it was such a blessing for Kerri to be able to stand beside Becca as one of her bridesmaids. Congrats to the newlyweds!

Later in the month we had the great opportunity to visit Taylor Wesleyan in Cincinnatus, NY, Calvary Wesleyan in Harrington, DE and The Bridge New Life Church in Cortland, NY! A huge thanks to each congregation, for allowing us to some share, and for all of those individuals who have decided to partner with us on our missionary journey!

Also during September, Kerri became a leader for Girls' Awana Club at our home church in Houghton. She is really enjoying her time with the girls, along with the college girls who volunteer as teachers. This past weekend was the Homecoming parade for Houghton College. Here is a picture of the all the girls, boys and teachers that came out to walk in the parade!

This past month, Joel has kept busy with scheduling speaking engagements for us and God has definitely provided! We are speaking every Sunday until December! Praise God for his faithful provision. We pray that new hearts would be opened to the Czech ministry this fall and we would even closer to our target goal!

We're looking forward to what God has planned for us in these next couple of weeks. We're getting much closer to our goals and give all the thanks to our LORD! We look forward to more updates this month!

God Bless,
J & K

August Adventures

After a fantastic week at Houghton's 'Refresh' Family Camp during the last week of July, we began our August adventures by working as representatives for Houghton College at Kingdom Bound 2009. We had a blast meeting tons of potential Houghton students and of course representing our Alma Mater! We were also blessed to get the chance to see Newboys, Casting Crowns, and other great Christian musicians live!


August has also brought a lot of fun in the sun! With both of our families coming together, we had a WONDERFUL vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC. The beautiful beach and a fabulous family! What a week! Joel & his dad even got to rent a Harley for a day! We feel so blessed to have the family we have and to have the opportunity to vacation with them all!



After vacation, Kerri celebrated her 24th birthday and along with many other wonderful gifts, she was offered a JOB! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all our friends, family and team members for all your prayers!! As far as our speaking engagements, we had the blessing of sharing with North Park Wesleyan in Cuba, NY! Thanks to Pastor Jon, the missions committee and the congregation for having us!!

The last week of August was spent in the Adiorandacks in Newcomb & Long Lake, NY! What a blessing it was to not only see some college friends, but to speak at THREE churches in ONE Sunday!! We are so grateful to Pastor Carol of Newcomb UMC & Long Lake UMC and Pastor Humby of Long Lake Wesleyan for allowing us to share our hearts and our ministry! Your prayers and support mean so much!! And of course, thanks to our wonderful friend Lindsay for getting us connected!!

Kerri is loving her new job, and Joel is working hard at making our fall schedule fill right up! Check out our schedule on the the side of our page to see where we're headed this fall! Thanks so much to all those so are keeping us and our ministry in their prayers as new things begin this fall! Praise God for his unconditional love, mercy & forever faithfulness!

Journey to Jersey & Beyond!!

It's been over a months since we've written, so there's plenty of blessings to catch you up on! We hope you are all having a fantastic summer, wherever you might be! Despite some rainy days, Houghton, NY does have some beautiful summer days to offer us!

As June came to a close and July had just begun, we found ourselves immersed in the maddness of Houghton College Basketball Camp for two whole weeks! The tiring, yet enjoyable weeks consisted of non-stop basketball stations, clinics and league games. We both had the opportunity to coach our own teams each week and what a blast it was!

Kerri with her championship boys team!!

Joel coaching his team of High School guys.

On July 11th, Joel and I heading to Newville, PA so that Kerri could attend the bridal shower of my dear friend and maid of honor, Becca. After some fun games and tasty treats, we continued on our journey to New Jersey, Kerri's home territory :) Our first stop in Jersey...WAWA(East Coast convenience store) ! For all of our NJ friends and family, you may know how crucial WaWa is to your everyday life, but when you move away from it, boy do you miss it! We spent the week at Delanco Camp in Tabernacle, NJ as teachers for junior high campers. Kerri attended this Christian summer camp in her earlier years and so it was not only such a blessing to come our and teach some awesome Jr. Highers but it was great to see some old camp friends! We were so thankful to share about using our gifts to as ambassadors for Christ as well as a little bit about our ministry in Czech.

An intense game of Kan Jam at camp!

Joel acting as Activities Coordinator for the week.

And of course we HAD to visit the Phills!!

On Sunday, July 19th, we had the priviledge of speaking at Kerri's former home church, St. John's UMC. What a blessing to be back with her former church family- we felt so welcomed! Thanks to all the friends and family who made us feel right at home!

After a few more visits in Delaware and Baltimore, we headed back home for Houghton. We just want to let all of you know that we are soo very thankful for your prayers. In our updates, we've been asking you to pray that God would provide jobs for each of us to survive on during our home ministry. Praise God for is provision! Although it's only temporary, Kerri is teach Pre-K & K at Houghton College's Family Camp and we will both be able to work at Kingdom Bound 2009 in Darion, NY! That's right, for all our NY friends and team members -- if you're planning to attend Kingdom Bound 2009, look for us in the Houghton College tent!

We'll be sure to update you all of our upcoming speaking schedule for August-October! God certainly has his hand in this ministry, we feel him working, and we just can't tell you how excited we are to prepare to serve Him in Czech!

Happy Summer & God Bless!!

J & K

Pressing on...

After three months with a full schedule and none-stop travel, Joel & I were able to take a short break to visit friends and family in Myrtle Beach! We got the chance to kick up our feet, spend lots of time with loved ones, and of course have fun in the sun!!

Joel with friends Martin & Jaimie show off their hard work in the sand!

Now that we're back in Houghton, Joel & I are praying that God will continue to fill our schedule for the rest of the summer and throughout fall 2009. Please pray with us:

1. That we would remain encouraged and determined as we continue on with our Home Ministry Assignment.

2. That Joel & I would continue to grow in our own walks with Christ and get to know Him more as we prepare for the field.

3. That hearts will be touched for Czech people as we share about our ministry and continue to build up a network of solid supporters.

Grateful for your powerful prayers,

J&K

**The new picture on our site is the Main Square in Brno, Czech Republic. We'll try to switch up the pictures every now and again so you can all become more familiar with where Joel & I will be living!

Friends in Angola!

At the end of May, Joel & I visited Angola Wesleyan Church in Angola, NY and shared our hearts with some fabulous people. We enjoyed some wonderful patriotic worship as it fell on Memorial weekend. After the service, we had some delightful fellowship and were treated to delicious local hot dogs on the waterfront of Lake Erie! Thank you friends from Angola Wesleyan! We were delighted to meet you, and we had a blast in your company!