a pleasant surprise

Yesterday afternoon Keith called from the office to say the Seeleys  had invited us over for dinner.  This brought a smile to my face.  If you recall earlier posts, we have introduced the Seeley family and talked about their work here as missionaries. You can find them here: http://seeleyfamily87.com/

It was a good night of food and fellowship for us all.  Our friend Jen Rogers (whom we've also written of) and Marion, a missionary here from France joined us at the Seeleys as well.  In the midst of the many hurdles we've recently been facing, it was so helpful to be together with like-minded believers and talk about our challenges and our faith for being here.  The Seeleys arrived on 21/7 back in January and life here has been a whirlwind for them.  Trying to get a full-fledged camp ministry up to the bible camp standards they're used to back in Minnesota is a tiresome job.  Many demands seem to pull at them from all sides.   But although they would not choose this tropical location (like us, they prefer mountains, lakes, and places to hike!) they love the Bahamian people...and so they stay.  Hearing from them, as well as talking through our own challenges in living here helped us regain some perspective.

One of the things we evaluate from time to time is how effective our ministry is here.  Is it bearing fruit?  Are we doing things that reflect the culture?  How can Kingdom Life Church proclaim the gospel through music more effectively?  The Seeleys helpfully, yet simply explained that for them, our being at Kingdom Life was a draw for them to join the church.  Having a "multi-cultural" church with representation by two very different pastors helped them to feel comfortable in our church.  This was helpful to hear.  Since January, God has added three new families and one single to our church...all of whom are Caucasian American/Canadian.  Though we long to see God bring Bahamian people to build the church up, this is not how He has chosen to work right now.  Though many Bahamian visitors have come through the church doors, they do not come back week after week.  Why is this?  What can we do to change this?  We pray, asking for God's guidance.

We thank God for the ways He is working and we want to continually treasure the means of grace, such as biblical fellowship, which he provides in surprise moments like last night.  Our Father knows exactly what we need and when... He is trustworthy.

Left to Right: Logan, Keith, Kristin, Zach, Keaton, Kendall, Kara, Mindy, Tim
Front: Marion and Jen

prayers answered and requested

Can't believe today starts a new month...October!  It's been nearly a month since we last posted here.  So sorry for the long gap.  September was quite a month for us here on 21/7.  News about many things, both happy and not so happy seemed to be the theme for the month. 

Happy News:

• Delta is beginning a non-stop flight, Nassau to Pittsburgh, beginning this December.  This is a DIRECT answer to prayer for us.  Since Kristin's mom is oxygen-dependent 24/7, she needs a quick and direct way to travel here due to the difficulties of travelling with oxygen on planes.  This option of a direct flight is the only possibility for her to ever visit us here!  We praise God for bringing this into being.

• We have been praying for a way to cut expenses, and realized our home is the only thing we can cut back on.  However, knowing our lease was for 2 years, we figured we were locked in until this coming July.  BUT.....Our landlords want to move back into the home we are renting from them, provided they are able to break the lease of the home they themselves are in.   If we are able to find something cheaper in a safe locale, we could be looking at moving as early as January.  This will save us money, with the trade-off being we lose the "home away from home" we've had over the last 16 months. But the plus would be that we may be able to afford to turn on the a/c once in a while during the hot days and still save expenses.

Not So Happy News:

• Funds need raised in order for the Buntings to remain here at Kingdom Life.  If you want to hear a detailed break-down of what Kingdom Life is trying to raise to fulfill our salary through June, listen here www.kingdomlifemedia.org and go to the sermon from Sept. 22nd. 

• Our van is grounded for now.  Transmission issues as well as old cooling system issues resurfacing are causing us to look at possibly selling it for what we can and looking for something very inexpensive for Keith to drive to and from work.  (He was pulling for a little scooter-type thing, but out of great love for his children and his wife, he's decided against it.)

• Two days ago, Sunday the 29th, Kristin needed to go to the hospital here for an emergency endoscopy.  After sitting down to a meal we were hosting for the College students that attend Kingdom Life, Kristin began having swallowing issues.  This is something that's gone on for 22 years, but never to this extreme.  After 6 hours of trying other means to no avail, she was taken to the OR for the procedure.  Clearly it was the only solution, because when the doctor went into the esophagus he found all manner of food trapped in the path.  This will continue to be an ongoing issue due to the way her esophagus is unusually narrow and ribbed.  We praise God for helping us resolve this scary episode.  We thank him for the 2 doctors who attend Kingdom Life and their willingness to help us decide on what to do, as well as be an advocate for us once we entered the hospital.

SO, HOW CAN YOU PRAY?

We're SO glad you asked!!  Here's what we are praying for...please join us...

1. For funds to come in to support us here.  Pray that whether it be from Kingdom Life, or anonymous donors somewhere, God will supply through his people, the means to keep us on mission here.  We have faith to continue and we would not want something as trivial as money to stand in the way of fulfilling what we believe God has brought us here to do.
2. For a solution to our transportation needs.  Whether we try to fix the van or find a used vehicle, we will need God's help.  The size of the van was a true blessing here, where we do a lot of transporting people to and from church as well as transport visitors when they come!  If the van cannot be fixed, it is unlikely we will be able to replace it with another van.
3. For our insurance company to make good on payment for Kristin's endoscopy.  In the midst of all the other financial challenges, this trip to the ER was expensive.  The funds to pay our deductible weren't even something we had in reserve, and we really need for the insurance to pay the rest.  The hospital was "out of network" for our Aetna International insurance.  But it is the only option we have here.  Pray that God will give our situation favor before the insurance company.

Well, hopefully this was not a "downer" post.  We want to keep our U.S. friends and family abreast of the situation here without focusing on only the challenges.  We know that if God truly wants us here, He will continue to make a way in the desert.  He is MORE than able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or think.  All praise to Him.

a growing community

Keisha, Kristin, Keva, Jen, Karen, Aniah, Mindy, Demetria

We're so thankful for the ways God is knitting us in at Kingdom Life Church. And we're seeing God bring a beautiful combination of people to make our "home away from home" family. Two weekends ago we were invited to a birthday party for our new friend, Jen Rogers, who moved here in June from Denver, CO. (We were atonished when we found out Jen was a member of the Denver Sovereign Grace Church!!) She happily began attending Kingdom Life from the very first Sunday she was on the island. As a single lady in her mid-life, Jen is an excellent example of pursuing others rather than waiting to be pursued. She realized that celebrating her birthday could be a lonely time here if she didn't take advantage of the new friends and church family God was placing in her life. When she sent out the invitation to come for cake and fellowship, I was thrilled to see her reaching out to her new church family! And what resulted that Saturday afternoon was much more than a little birthday celebration. We laughed, we explored the native fruit trees at the camp where she lives, we talked of God's provision...we made some great memories. All because Jen reached out. Hope you enjoy the photo fruits of that day!

From left to right: Logan and Tim Seeley, Keith, Clarence and Demetria Rolle, Adalbert and Karen Ingraham, Kristin, Keva, Back row of picnic table: Kara, Mindy Seeley, Kendall, Aniah Ingraham, Andre Rolle.  Front row of picnic table: Jen Rogers, Alexandria Rolle, Keaton

Left to right: Mindy, Jen, Faye, Karen, Demetria

walking in the beautiful wetlands area

We stopped to look at the horses and donkeys at the Learning Center

for those of you who are visual...

Here ya go, folks.  A choice of videos for your viewing pleasure.  Both show re-caps of our wonderful week of Music Camp.  The first one is shorter and very well done by our own Clarence Rolle from church (works for Ministry of Tourism here).  The second was produced by the Metro Life team and is quite a bit longer (and also shows a lot of their personal mission experience).

ENJOY!

http://vimeo.com/72848212  

https://vimeo.com/72708139

finding our rhythm again

Happy Saturday to you.  I am so thankful for the last few weeks of busyness and guests in our home!  Just when we need it, God fills our lives with great people and wonderful experiences.  Music Camp, the crew that came to serve from the U.S. Sovereign Grace Churches, and having Gracie Brown stay with us over the last two weeks were God's provision to us. 

Gracie is a kindred- spirit- friend of Keaton's whom she met while we were at the Pastor's College.  I will never forget, upon leaving Lancaster for the PC, John Haughery telling us of his special childhood friend whom he had met years before when HE was a boy in Gaithersburg.  Same type of PC training model...families together for months, then sent out to churches all over.  John's boyhood friend ended up being a friend for life and stood with him on his wedding day.  Keaton had no such hopes for her year at the PC...yet God blessed her with Gracie.

 

Having her visit with us for two weeks was a reminder of how God can alter the course of our lives through relationships...and we never know when or where we are going to meet people who may become forever etched into our future. 

These past weeks and days, we've also had the chance to bond more with Chris and Stephanie Jessee.  Chris is the director of worship, youth, and children's ministries at Metro Life Church in Orlando.  He stayed with us back in April? when the Orlando prophecy team came.  We met up with he and his lovely wife and kids during our short stay in Orlando this July. Then we were able to work together during our week of Music Camp, and host them for a few nights after the rest of the team headed home. 

We also met some wonderful adults and teens from Niceville, FL, Philadelphia, Clearwater, FL, Miami, FL, Charleston, SC, and Gainesville, FL.  We were blessed to the gills when mission team members showed up with bags of coffee, 9 containers of Goldfish (which my girls requested), toiletry items, books, chocolate chips...the list goes on.  They already were serving us so amazingly just by coming to help staff our Music Camp, but they went above and beyond by bringing us treats!  God continues to amaze our children by the way he provides gifts like this that we often can't provide for ourselves.  It's our "manna" we tell them.  Can't keep it and horde it, but while it's here, let's enjoy it, share it, and give God thanks.

 

I meant to give a resounding "THANK YOU LORD!" for the amazing turnout we had at our Music Camp held August 6-9.  All in all, 97 children came at one point or another to our camp, with an average attendance of 85 each day.  Only 15 of those were from our church.  So...70 or so visiting children were exposed to the gospel each day.  Along with that, we had 83 children perform Friday night...in front of all their parents, siblings, and extended family.  I have never seen our church so full!!  We pray God will water and fertilize these gospel seeds that have been planted.  In conjunction with this Music Camp, Keith would like to begin a Community Children's Choir with practices held in our church either weekly or bi-weekly.  He mentioned this idea at the concert last Friday night, and it was met with hearty applause from the parents.  This would be a way to provide underprivileged kids with an opportunity to belong to something positive and skill-related.  They would receive musical training, social connections to Christian children, and ultimately be exposed to the gospel weekly.  We pray God works out the details and provides all that would be needed for such an endeavor.  Will you pray along with us?

 

filled to capacity

Kingdom Life Music Camp 2013 started off with a BANG this past Tuesday at 9am.  With over 80 kids in attendance the first day, we realized God had answered above and beyond the prayers we prayed for this camp's attendance.  Today was day 3of 4 and we are still in the 80-85 marker for kids coming.  WOW.  That's a lot of kids, you know? 

It feels as if every inch of our church building is filled with humanity.  It feels as if every inch of our strength is being called upon to love and serve these kids the best way possible this week.  Broken and spilled out...I think I said that a few posts back.  We are so tired we can't think straight at night (sorry, 'cause nighttime is the ONLY time I have to blog!)  I would love to be more eloquent, but for now I'll leave you with some names, numbers, and pictures.  

J-quan, Dave, Savannah, Maquanda, Stephen, St. Clair, Jermaine, Samuel, Keni, Kennae, Alisha, Ephraim, Paris, William...just a few of the many beautiful children I get to love on this week...pray for them...pray for salvation...for their parents too...

85 children!  We prayed for 60 and God gave us 85! 
6 hours a day...long days...kids come early and leave late....
24 hours...24 hours from now the camp will be over, the concert will be over, and we will have shared the gospel with 85 kids and all the moms, dads, aunties, uncles, grandmothers, cousins, and neighbors who came to see them perform. 

community day

WOW!  It is hard to imagine that just a year ago, we were doing our mall "Community Day" presentation for the first time.  Keith's parents and nephew Jess were here for it.  Today the same bench where they sat was just across from our booth, and I looked longingly at it, thinking, if I just stared long enough, Jackie would re-appear there.  But she didn't.  She's with Jesus.  And I wouldn't take her away from Him for anything.

  In honor of her, I wore the blouse we bought her for her birthday on that trip.  I was able to reclaim it on our trip to Florida last month.  And how Jackie would have loved to hear our Children's Choir singing today...  And maybe she did?

We must have handed out a hundred balloons today, greeted many families, and invited their children to our upcoming Music Camp/VBS this week.  I believe we received about 15 more registrations today, bringing out grand total to 69.  We were praying for 60, and 69 would be wonderful! 

Our worship team sounded exceptionally good in the mall, proclaiming the goodness of God and the kindness of our Savior.  Many people gathered around for songs such as "How Great Thou Art" and "Blessed Assurance."  Keith was even interviewed on a Christian Radio station!  He had mentioned to the radio guy in passing, that this kind of religious activity would never be welcomed at a mall in the U.S.  The man found that interesting, so they began interviewing Keith. Cool?  I think so.  It also provided an opportunity for him to pitch the Music Camp one more time!  God's ways are definitely higher than ours. 

All in all, we had a full but wonderful day as a church.  Gracie Brown, Keaton's dear friend she met at Pastor's College in 2011 is here for 2 weeks, and already she's been a blessing.  We look forward to our time with her and all she will add to our mission this week!

The girls and I will be serving dinner again out at Adventure Learning Camp this week, filling in for dear Mindy who just had her knee operated on.  Have no fear, the Bunting Girls (and Gracie) are here!  The camp is where our mission group from Florida is staying anyway, so by cooking out there, we'll only get to spend more time with them! 


Pray for us as we step into this week of serving, morning, noon, and night.  We know we will make some amazing memories and see God move in ways we haven't yet.  Pray for stamina, safety and health, resources, children to be saved, and for those of us who know Christ to be drawn closer to Him.  We couldn't do this without you all praying!! Keep up the good work.  'Til next time...

Keva and Kristin...kindred spirits

Beautiful Tia...2 weeks 'til college!

Kendall and Sarah...fun friends

Donovan loves Pastor Keith!