Welcome to St. Kitts!

So recently here in St. Kitts we've had the awesome privilege of having my parents come to visit us on the island.  For any who know my parents, you will know that they absolutely love the Caribbean Islands and have been to many of them but this is their first trip to St. Kitts.  They've been here for almost two weeks and have one still to go.  It has been fun having fellowship with them again and also showing them around the island.

We have definitely been busy as of late with many different ministry opportunities.  The Bible Study is still going strong and we recently have seen an increase in attendance as we are journeying through the Gospel of John.  It has been neat to see who God has been bringing and how He has been bringing them.  The other day I was walking out to the car in front of the Grayson's house and there was a younger man jogging in place looking at the Bible Study sign.  It was as if the Lord just brought him right to us!  His name is Adler and he is from Haiti.  He told me he would hopefully make it one Wednesday and he came this past Wednesday and brought a friend! PTL

At the church we attend on Sundays, Caribbean Christian Fellowship, the students who lead the worship music are in their last semesters and so I have begun to start leading so that we can slowly start to have a smooth transition to where I will be organizing and leading different worship teams. Please pray for this ministry and the opportunity we have to fellowship with and serve the students.

AWANA has been a blast the last two weeks.  We have been having around 35-40 kids coming and the order and structure that AWANA brings has been really good for these kids.  They are all super excited to earn their books to begin earning points and AWANA dollars.  It is such an amazing tool we can use to get the Word of God engrained in these kids minds and hearts.  Continue to pray for the leadership and their sanity as it can get pretty crazy with 40+ Kittitian children running around!

Basketball has started! Brandon and I have started practicing with the team we coach and also with the team we play for.  The team we coach are all under 20 and the team we play for are over 20.  Pray for all these young guys hearts to be softened to the Good News that only Jesus brings.

I know this is a lot, but one other thing to keep in prayer is the opportunities that Brandon and I have to go into the prison and minister to nearly 300 people in a jail that was made for only 80!  We will most likely be playing basketball with them and hopefully starting a church service for them once a month. Thank you to all who take the time to read me blabber on about St. Kitts and thank you for those who pray for us and the people of St. Kitts!

Recently In St. Kitts...

     We thought we would update everyone on how things have been going the past week or so here in St. Kitts.  This past week, another missionary family moved here to St. Kitts.  The Millers are from Alabama and are with the organization Child Evangelism Fellowship.  We have been spending time with them and helping them get acclimated with island life. If you would like know more about them and what they will be doing here, click here for their blog.  We are excited to do ministry alongside them.

     This past Saturday, we had an AWANA kick off celebration where over 65 kids showed up!  The occasion was to celebrate that the Boys Club had now reached its one year mark since starting, and also we were celebrating new beginnings with the starting of AWANA.  The kids were very boisterous and we had one bloody nose, but all in all the night was an awesome time of fellowship and laughter.  Please pray as we move forward with the AWANA club because it will definitely be challenging with this many kids starting out! 

     This past Monday marked my (Luke) 21st birthday! We celebrated by cooking up the lobster Brandon and I caught the other day and making it into an Alfredo dish! Jamie made a chocolate crock-pot cake which was delicious.  We had a fun evening of fellowshipping and playing the card game Dutch Blitz!

     Through a number of events, Brandon and I had an opportunity to meet with the extracurricular activities officer at the prison.  He was very high energy and was excited about our interest in ministering to the men in the prison.  We had a basketball rim that the Bible College had brought down last spring and we had initially intended to give it to the prison but lost contact with them, so finally we were able to give it to them! He was excited about us coming in to do church services maybe once a month or so, and he also threw out the idea of getting a team of 5 and coming to play some of the inmates in some basketball.  Thank God for more opportunities to share His love!
    Our visas are approved and now we are simply waiting for our passports to be stamped. This has definitely taken awhile but God has been faithful and it looks like as of now they will be free!! PTL! We are sure to stay busy as basketball will be starting up here in the next few weeks and that will add to our full pallet of things to do.  Thank you all for your prayers and support!