January 2017 

This month we were blessed to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary here in Hawaii.  We had dreamed over the years of coming back to Kona for our anniversary and laughed with each other saying, "Now what do we do for our 50th? We are already here." We were overwhelmed by the cards and gifts that poured in and were able to enjoy a wonderful weekend away in Hilo on the other side of the island.  We had a beautiful ocean view room and fun local food and spent quality time together reminiscing of God's love and faithfulness to us through the years.   Thank you everyone who contributed to our special celebration.

God is the God of small beginnings 

and makes things great in His time. 

50 years experiencing life together in God's love & mercy

Our view from hotel room in Hilo. Very relaxing,
peaceful weekend. 

Nice walking bridge by hotel.

One of Jim's favorite treats. Polish sausage with all
the trimmings from Costco.
Look at that happy face !!

This is a major answer to prayer.

Jim goes all over the campus fixing and troubleshooting things and getting to the buildings becomes a real challenge with pick up truck.  This has the nice extended bed to hold tool box.

Here comes Mr. Fixit

Another blessing came recently with this Dodge truck assigned to him for maintenance.

Thank you Lord!!

My days are spent in the Campus Clinic being available to discuss symptoms and pray with students.  We have two volunteer MDs that are serving 2-3 days/week in the clinic which is a huge blessing, especially for those students/staff with high deductible insurances and travel insurance that need free care.  I was blessed the other day to have a young mid 30's Mom come in with one of her 4 children.  As we talked, she told me her amazing story of how God had brought her and her husband together and how they worked in missions before marriage and were youth pastors most recently.  They felt the Lord calling them full time as a family to come to Univ of the Nations, YWAM, and do a Crossroads Discipleship Training School and be involved with couples with children and move out as a family doing missions full time.  She shared her heart and told how many people thought they were crazy to uproot their family and risk their children's health and future education by dragging them off while the parents tried to "find their calling".  We had such a touching encounter as I shared our story of doing the same thing in 1983 with 3 children at the same age as her and her husband.  I recounted our testimony of how many people verbalized the same concerns to us.  I also shared the amazing testimony of how God had led us all the way from St. Louis to Kona, Hawaii so our oldest son, who did not want to go at the time, could meet his future wife.  I shared how those 3 short years with YWAM in the mid 1980's changed our lives forever and all three of our children are very compassionate people and always ready to open their hearts and their homes to others and they have a greater faith and trust in God through their experiences living in a community environment.  We talked, laughed, and prayed together as God brought a Grandma together with a young mom to encourage her along her destiny path.  Only God knows what lies ahead for this special couple and their four little ones. 

This past fall quarter, the Introduction to Primary Health Care School was held at YWAM Ships in Kona. I got to visit in the classroom and meet the wonderful students preparing to go to Papau New Guinea for their outreach ministry.
Below are some of the amazing photos of this team.  We all share in touching lives across the globe as we do our part here.

Sleeping arrangements in Catholic Church in Angoram PNG

Floating village on Sepik River

Erika DeCarvalho (Pastor David & Kim's dau) from
Mokuaikaua Church here in Kona.

Holding clinic

Erika finding joy in serving.

Rebekka, a community health worker from hospital in Angoram
working with team.

YWAM medical ship Pacific Link arriving to work with teams.

Villagers lined up for first day of ship's Medical clinic.

Listening and building relationships with patients.

Screening patients to be seen.

Pastor Ken from Assemblies of God & Vitus church elder &
administrator of the Catholic Church. The main contacts in
Angoram PNG. Two amazing men with big hearts.

Jesus Film about to be shown on ship.

Thank you for your prayers and support for the University of the Nations.

If you are interested in supporting us and the work here, please click on the link and receive a tax deduction.

http://www.uofnkona.edu/support/missionaries/?id=6319