Hello from Grenada, It's been a while since I've posted about our lives here. Time continues to fly and life goes on. I will try and give you a brief update from each month so you can have a little picture into our lives.

June 2025

One of the highlights this month was having some visitors. Two of my cousins, Rebekah and Julia, came down for a week. It was so much fun to show them our lives here in Grenada! We did some touring around the island, got a few projects done around the house, as well as including them in the outreach things that we had planned. The week went by quickly and before we knew it, they were headed back home.

As far as church activities, we had a few extra things planned this month. One was for Whit Monday on the 9th. As a church we went to a playing field and played games and had supper. On the 29th we had a fellowship meal at church.

July 2025

The month of July bring the WATER students from SMBI. This is a program that gives young people a chance to experience life on the mission field. They are normally here for most of the month. As we plan the schedule for them, we try and balance it between work projects and ministry projects. It's enjoyable to interact with these young people for the month.

We also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary! God has been so good to us over the years! It's been an amazing 13 years together!

August 2025

August is sort of a transitional month for us. We transition from the summer activities to looking ahead to school starting in September. Every year as a church we go camping over Carnival time. This is a chance to get away from the Carnival activities as well as connect as a church. This year was quite a bit drier than last year and that was a blessing since some people slept in tents.

As a family we did take a few days of down time. It was a good time of playing games together and being intentional with investing in our family.

September 2025

School started this month! It was nice to have our little school room completed, so the children have space set aside for their school. It's nice that it is in the back of the house, away from the distractions and loud traffic outside.

During the summer months we take a break from doing Bible Club and Boys' Club. September is the month that we get back into doing these outreach programs again. It's always good to reconnect with people after not seeing some of them as much over the summer.

October 2025

One Saturday this month as a church we walked around the village and passed out Gospel tracts to people. It was enjoyable to meet some new people and talk with them about God. Our prayer is that the people of our village would desire a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! We also celebrated Thanksgiving on the 25th.

We celebrated Jodi's birthday this month! I'm so blessed to have her as my amazing wife. She unselfishly serves so many people in so many ways! We took a little family day trip and visited Welcome Stone at the top of the island. The hike was rather steep since we couldn't drive all the way up, but the view was well worth it!

November 2025

We got to start out the month with celebrating Quinton's birthday. He joined our family four years ago! It's hard to imagine it's been that long. He has now lived in Grenada longer then in the U.S.A. He continues to bring lots of laughter and energy to our family. It can take a lot of energy to keep up with him! Our prayer is that one day he will use that energy to serve God!

This month had the normal church activities of cottage meeting, family night, prayer meeting, Girls' Club and Boys' Club.

December 2025

This was a fairly busy month. We were involved in a week-long Bible School for the youth. Each day had three different classes. There were two teachers that came and taught the classes. It was a good time of being spiritually fed. There was lots of good teaching and good interactions with the youth that were there. I served as camp pastor for the last couple of days. It was encouraging to see the youth interested in investing in their spiritual lives.

We had a few extra church events because of Christmas. We went Christmas caroling a few times and also went to a mall and sang Christmas carols as people were shopping. The day after Christmas is also a holiday here, Boxing Day. As a church we had a meal together and then played games.

We also celebrated my birthday. God has truly blessed me this last year. He has been teaching me to rely more on his strength and not my own.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Brian for the Kauffmans

Hello once again from Grenada. We are still alive and well here in the Caribbean. It seems that updating the website has been on the low priority section of my to-do list for a little while now. I have some time now that I will try and bring you up to date on our lives here. My goal is to cover the highlights from each month and add some pictures. So here we go.......

March 2025

One of the highlights in March was a birthday for Natasha. She turned 7 this year. She brings lots of life to our family and we love her dearly. Her dolls are well taken care of and she loves caring for them. She also enjoys playing in the playhouse in the backyard. There are two to three neighbor girls that come over and play with her as well. It can be difficult for her to persuade her brothers to play with her, but at times they join her in cooking and mixing up "juice" and mango "smoothies". This year for her birthday she wanted a cake full of rainbows. Jodi does an amazing job making their cakes. With the heat it can be a challenge, but they turn out very well.

The next highlight was being able to visit the Logos Hope. It's a floating book store that goes around the world and visits places that don't have easy access to books. We planned on going on a Thursday but woke up that morning to news that it was closed that day. We found out later that it had to move from the port so that a cargo ship could come in and unload. Friday they were back in port and open for visitors. We showed up in good time, only to find out that it would be awhile until they opened because they had to set everything back up. After waiting "patiently" for an hour and a half in the hot sun we were able to go on and shop. There were a lot of people there. We were able to get some good books. It can be a little dangerous taking a former teacher through a book store, and our arms were full as we exited the ship and went home.

The schools at LaBorie and Limes had Sports Day together in March. It ended up being on the same day that we went on the Logos Hope. I was only there for the last part of the day. It's always enjoyable to see the students put their all into the different events. There were several records broken this year. Lots of good, healthy competition.

April 2025

The big highlight for April was VBS. School is on holiday for two weeks. During this time we have VBS at church. This year our friends, Ruben and Miriam, brought a group of young people down to help. It was so much fun to have them bring a group down. They have a son that is close to Jaymi's age and he was able to come along as well. VBS was Monday - Thursday, and we had over 70 children several days. In the afternoons after VBS we did different outreach activities with the group. We passed out tracts, went to a children's home and told a Bible story and played games, did some singing for an elderly lady, and visited the hospital and sang for the people there. The group did a really good job at teaching VBS as well and participating in the various ministry opportunities.

Several church activities included a sunrise service on Easter Sunday and an afternoon/evening out on a point to try and fly kites. Unfortunately there wasn't enough wind that evening to fly kites. However, we did enjoy a campfire and roasting hotdogs. It was a good time of being together as a church even though no kites were able to fly.

Since we were traveling to the States in May, we ended Bible Club with a reward trip the end of April. Those that get to go on this trip are the ones with good attendance and good behavior. We took them to a playing field that had a playground. A water balloon toss was among the activities that afternoon. For supper we had homemade pizza, chips, and cookies. We started Bible Club back up in June.

The end of April found us hiking back to a waterfall with the youth group. Our family has come to really enjoy hiking. Most times even Derrik and Quinton do well. I believe on this specific hike though Quinton wasn't into hiking, and he ended up riding on my back most of the time. Once we hiked back out we all ate our packed supper.

May 2025

We celebrated Jaymison's birthday this month. It was extra special to be able to celebrate it with friends and family back in the states. Jaymi brings lots of life to our days. He enjoys playing football (soccer) in the front drive with the neighbor children. There are many laughs and cheers as they try to make the most points! Playing in the backyard area is also a highlight. He has instigated making numerous trails back there and has found some trees to climb. There are also crabs to be caught in the one area, so that keeps life interesting. It seems like he is always inventing something, either with Legos, string, tape, or sticks. It's amazing what all he has created!

We were able to be in the States for three weeks. The weeks went by quickly but there were lots of good memories made. We all enjoyed connecting with family and friends. We were able to meet a new addition to our extended family. Jodi's sister had a baby girl while we were gone. There were lots of days that the children spent at their grandparent's or cousin's homes. Many good memories were made! It was hard to say good-bye to friends and family, but at the same time it felt good to be coming back to Grenada. It's good to be where God has called you.

I want to thank each one of you for your prayers and interest in our lives! Keep serving God where you are at!

Happy New Year! The new year started off on a good note for us. We had some visitors come! Jodi's parents, Terrill and Cindy, came for 10 days. It was a very good time of connecting and spending quality time together with them. They flew in on Dec. 31st and that night we had an Old Year's Night service at church. The night consisted of a time of bible reading, group games, and a snack afterwards. It was a fun evening. Jodi and I made a piñata for the children. That turned out to be a big highlight. It took quite a bit of effort for them to break it open and get the candy. It only lasted until about 8:15, then we cleaned up and took people home. The older I get the less often I'm still awake to see the New Year in. Somehow staying up till midnight doesn't seem as enjoyable as it once did.

The next day we spent hanging out at our house, playing games and opening a few Christmas presents they had brought down. It was such a relaxing day! It was fun to catch up. It had almost been a year since we had seen them. The children loved having them around. There were lots of games played and many storied read during their time here. One of the things that Terrill did was build a play kitchen out of pallet wood for Natasha. It turned out really nice and Natasha enjoys playing with it. We enjoyed showing them different aspects of our lives here. They did some visiting with me, came along to our weekly Bible Club, and Terrill shared the Sunday morning message for us. Leonard's family was gone over that time so it was nice to have him preach one Sunday. We made so many good memories together and it was especially hard for the children to see them leave. There were a few tears shed as we dropped them off at the airport.

Jodi also had a friend come and visit for a few days. They had fun spending time together and catching up on each other's lives.

At the end of January we had a fundraiser for the youth. We sold BBQ chicken meals which included a roll and a salad. There was also bars, cookies, and juice for sale. The chicken didn't sell very fast but eventually we did get it all sold, thanks to the help of the whole group!

February started out with a birthday in our family. Derrik turned 5 this year. It's amazing how fast time goes! His birthday was on a Sunday so for lunch we had his cake and some ice cream for dessert. He wanted a camping cake this year. Jodi does a great job at decorating their cakes. Derrik enjoys "helping" me when I'm working outside, cleaning the fans, or anything else I'm doing! He has the biggest smile and loves to sing. We are so thankful for all he adds to our family!

February 7th, was Independence Day. As a church we went to a little spot by a river. We cooked a pot of Oil Down for lunch and the children enjoyed playing in the river. In the evening there was a drone show and fireworks at the stadium. We didn't actually go to the stadium but we found a little side road up on the side of the mountain that we were able to see the drone show. It was late enough after the drone show that we didn't stay for the fireworks.

The children's imaginations have been put to good use, which I love to see! One day they made some horses out of some scrap wood and buckets! They used markers to draw faces on the pieces they used for the horse's head. They spent a lot of time "riding" the horses around the front yard. They also enjoy having Ginger (the dog) here at our place. She gets lots of love and attention. They enjoy helping to give her a bath as well.

Jodi's cousin and her family came to visit in February. They spent a week here with us. We had them help us with our school room project. They got it all painted, plus a dresser painted. Matt helped me cut the wood out for the school desks and we got the one assembled. Many hands make the work disappear quickly. It was a big boost to the project to have them come and help and they were such a blessing to us!

This month we got Natasha moved into her new room! She was so excited to be able to have her own room now. There are times that she wants to play on her own so she goes in her room and closes the door for some quiet time. The mornings find her sleeping in a bit more since she doesn't have her brothers to wake her up at 6:30. There are still things to do in the room, but it's nice to have her sleeping over there now.

January and February were pretty normal months for church events. We had family nights, Sunday evening point services, Wednesday evening prayer meetings, and Bible Clubs with the children.

Thank you for your interest in our lives here in Grenada. Continue to pray for us and the church here as we live for the Lord and show others His love!

Brian for the Kauffmans

Greetings from Grenada! Life has been busy for us, but it's now time to sit down and write another update. Time continues to move faster then we would like it to. The children grow up and come to different stages in life, and as parents we observe this and sometimes wish that we could freeze time for awhile. Speaking of children, November started out with Quinton's birthday. He turned three on November 1! When we asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, his response was "Go to the beach", so that's what we did. We had a good time together playing in the sand and swimming. Quinton is full of energy and life. He seems to always be running and jumping around! He enjoys the water, but even with a floaty on he still insists on someone holding on to him. Since he has turned three, he has learned how to hold three fingers up and he is so proud of that! We love his energy and goofy faces and we are so glad he is part of our family!

The school here in LaBorie had a field trip to the fire station in November. The three oldest children and I went along. It was a lot of fun to see the fire trucks up close and see how the work. They even let us use the fire hose to spray some water. After the fire station the children and I rode public bus into town. We got some lunch and then bused back up to LaBorie.

Also, in November, we had a church picnic with the churches in Limes and Laura. We had to change the location due to the playing field being to wet because of the rain. We were able to go to Quarantine point and have our picnic there. I was introduced to the game of cricket. It took a little bit to get used to how it's played, but it was a lot of fun once I figured it out. Towards evening we gathered for the meal. There was lots of delicious food and plenty of it as well! Everyone left with full stomachs and heart's full from the good fellowship!

During the day the sun can be intense and it can be pretty warm outside. The children don't always enjoy playing outside when it's so hot. One evening they took all their farm toys outside and set up a farm in the sandbox and on the picnic table. They enjoyed playing in the cool of the evening. It's great to see them use their imaginations like that!

The last Saturday in November, the youth had an evening of playing games. We went to the golf course and played human Dutch blitz, kick-ball, and frisbee football (after dark with everyone wearing a glow stick). The golf course was wet from the rain so it made playing games a little interesting, but we still had fun. We just got a little wet in the process. Then we went back to LaBorie church and had some snacks and played a few games to end the evening.

Games have been a highlight for the children lately. A favorite for Jaymison and Natasha has been Ticket to Ride. Derrik and Quinton don't want to be left out of the games so they quickly grab the memory game, and with a little help to set it up they are soon playing together.

Our back yard continues to be a fun place for the children to play. They have the dollhouse back there and now they have a play kitchen set in the doll house thanks to Grandpa Yoder's hard work while they were visiting. They have found a new climbing tree and are working on clearing some trails for the nature land they are making. They often come in from playing back there rather dirty, but that's part of having fun at that age!

We celebrated my birthday by going up the island a bit to a play ground. We took along our ball gloves and jump rope. The boys enjoyed playing pitch and catch and Natasha enjoyed jumping rope. It was a good time as a family. We ate our packed lunch out by the ocean.

Right before Christmas vacation at school, we took the Bible Club children to a playground for the evening. It was a reward trip for those who had good attendance. We had a good time of playing together. After a little snack we took the children back home.

A few church highlights included a baptism in Limes, school Christmas programs, and Christmas caroling.

On Christmas Day, the staff went out to a point to spend some time together. We took stuff along to cook lunch over the fire. The children enjoyed playing in the water and us adults enjoyed some time relaxing and talking. For lunch we made mountain pies and for desert we made cookies in the mountain pie makers. That was a highlight for me!

December 26th, is Boxing Day in Grenada. We had a meal together as a church family in the evening, followed by playing games. For the main part of the meal we grilled chicken. It was a new experience for me to grill chicken over charcoal but it turned out pretty good and we had an enjoyable evening together.

The back room project is getting closer to completed. Natasha's bedroom is done except the door needs painted. The school room part has the tile laid and the walls are ready to paint. I need to start moving Natasha's things over to her room so she can get settled in.

Thanks for your interest in our lives! Continue to pray for us as a family as we serve God in Grenada. Satan is busy trying to distracting people from having an eternal focus. Our prayer is that people would be drawn to a personal relationship with God!

Brian, for the Kauffmans

Hello, from the sunny southern island of Grenada! September began with high anticipation of having some visitors at the end of the month. My parents came down to visit for 10 days. It was so much fun to have them here and show them what our life here in Grenada looks like. It was nice and warm for them but they didn't complain and we had a good time. One of the things on the agenda to get done while they were here was working in Natasha's bedroom. Dad loves to organize and sort things, so I put him to the task of organizing all the random nuts, bolts, and screws that were in the back room. He did a great job of getting them organized so that they are easily accessible when I need them. We also cleaned all the stuff out of it so we could wipe the walls down and start painting. We didn't have a good place to go with some of the stuff so it's sitting in the uncompleted school room till we find a good home for it. We wanted to get Natasha's bedroom completed first. With everything cleaned out and some fresh paint on the walls and ceiling it's starting to feel like a bedroom now. One of the things in the back room was a work bench. The legs of the bench weren't in good condition but the top of it was, so we removed the legs and put the table top aside till I was able to take it apart and put the wood in storage somewhere. Before I was able to take it apart it became a basketball pole and backboard. It's fastened to our picnic table at this point, but plans are to make it more permanent sometime. It was hard to drop my parents off at the airport, but it was a refreshing time for us as a family.

October was full of little adventures. Jodi's birthday was on the 16th, so we went and did some hiking. There is a small island off the coast of Grenada called Hog Island. It's not far from shore and there is a bridge that connects them. You can't drive a bus across the bridge so we drove as far back the road as we could, then parked and hiked the rest of the way. We had packed a picnic lunch, so once we were on the small island we found a shaded spot and stopped to eat. We hiked across Hog Island to a small beach on the other side. It was about a 2 mile hike there and back. The children have learned to enjoy these adventures and they do well at hiking. That evening Jodi and I had the privilege to go out on a date for her birthday. It was an enjoyable evening with just the two of us.

October 25th was Thanksgiving Holiday in Grenada. As a church we went to the beach and cooked a big pot of pumpkin soup. It was an enjoyable time together. We did get some rain showers but we were able to shelter under some trees.

Later in the month we spent a Saturday in Carriacou. We went over there with the youth group to help with some cleanup from the hurricane. There is a mission over there with a school, church, and a radio station. The men worked at pulling sheet metal from the trees that were by the ocean. The mission had a shop that the roof had blown off of and the wind had blown the metal into the trees. It was amazing how the wind had twisted the metal around the trees. The ladies were kept busy cleaning windows, sweeping and mopping floors, and organizing some of the school things. We enjoyed a two hour boat ride over the Carriacou and back. All in all it went really well. The children even enjoyed the boat ride and the adventure of getting to the island of Carriacou.

Jodi stays busy with homeschooling, house work, and some ministry opportunities as well. Jaymison and Natasha are settled into the homeschool schedule and are normally done by noon. Quinton and Derrik are best friends one minute and throwing punches at each other the next minute. They love each other dearly but sometimes that love is overshadowed by the desire to have the toy the other one is playing with. They are very busy little boys and for the most part love life and love being brothers. For myself, the church and ministry responsibilities keep me pretty busy. I do several personal bible studies with people, preaching, teaching Sunday School, and getting out in the community to meet new people. I enjoy meeting new people and pray for opportunities to talk about God with the people I meet. As a family we do Bible Club on Thursday evening in a local village. The new teacher, Kurt, has been helping us with that as well. We are grateful for his help.

It's hard to imagine that 2024 is coming to a close soon. God has been so good, even through all the transition we have went through as a family. We are thankful for each one of you and your prayers for us. Continue to pray for us and the work here in Grenada. We are thankful to be part of a great mission organization. It's only because of them that we are able to be here furthering God's kingdom in Grenada. If you would like to help out financially, consider donating directly to OBMM. https://www.obmm.org/donate/

May God bless each one of you as your shine the light of Jesus to those around you!

Brian, for the Kauffmans

Time really does fly when you are having fun! July was a really busy month for us, but it was a lot of fun! We had four W.A.T.E.R. students down here from SMBI for the month. We were in charge of planning out their schedule. It can be a little complicated to plan a month worth of activities or work projects and have everything work out. There were times we had to be flexible with the schedule, but overall, it went well.

The month started off with Hurricane Berly headed our way. Sunday, June 30th was the day before the hurricane hit the island. I spent the afternoon helping board up a couple windows on the teacher’s house as well as some of our own windows. It was a beautiful day and it was hard to imagine a hurricane was headed our way. On Monday morning it was raining when we woke up but it wasn't too windy yet. The worst was supposed to be between 11-2. The electricity went off mid-morning, and we passed the time by playing games and other indoor activities. The children played with Legos and listened to an audio book that I had downloaded before the electricity went off. Throughout the day the wind and rain came and went. It never got really bad on the lower part of the island, but it definitely wasn't something you would want to be outside in. By 3:30 the storm was over, and we were able to go out and look around. We had a lot of leaves, branches, and mangoes down in our yard but that was it. We gathered the mangoes up hoping some might ripen but we ended up having to throw most of them away. As we walked around the neighborhood there were some trees down here and there. We are thankful that there wasn't a lot of damage locally. Father up the island there was more damage. The island of Carriacou (which is part of Grenada) was about totally flattened. While there weren't a lot of lives lost in the storm there are a lot of damaged buildings in Carriacou. We are thankful for all your prayers for protection during the storm.

The hurricane was July 1st, and the W.A.T.E.R. students from SMBI were scheduled to come in on July 2nd. We were unsure if they would still be able to fly in or not, but flights were up and going again on Tuesday. For the first week we had planned for the WATER students to be at school some and help in the different activities that were planned for the last week. The hurricane changed those plans, and we ended up having to totally change the schedule. Thankfully it all worked out okay. We went up to Y.W.A.M. at the top of the island to help with clean up. They had a lot of brush to clean up and the roof had blown off of the one building, so we helped put a tarp on that. It was a day of hard work, but it was a blessing to be able to help someone out like that. We also had them help clean up around our house, as well as assemble a playhouse that I had gotten for free. I had to take it apart to get it to our place. They helped carry it to the back yard and reassemble it. The children have had fun playing in it.

The rest of the month was busy but went pretty well. We had a lot of activities planned for the students, which included ministry opportunities as well as work projects. We also had the opportunity to host them at our house numerous times throughout the month. It was a blessing to have them here! They were a great team and brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Although they stayed here in LaBorie, the schedule of projects was split between Limes and LaBorie.

We continued to do Bible Club through July to the end of the month. The students helped out with that. Towards the end of the month, we had a reward trip for the children that had good attendance. We took them to a beach and had a hotdog roast. After supper we played some games with them. Bible Club will start back up again in September.

July 14th was our 12th wedding anniversary. We spent the day together as a family. We went to Concord falls. A lot of tourists visit this waterfall during tourist season. We hiked back to another water fall behind Concord falls. The hurricane had blown a lot of trees down on the path, so it was an interesting hike. Once we got back to the waterfall, we played around in the water some. The pool at the bottom of the waterfall was full of trees so we couldn't really swim, but it was a good time together as a family. On the way home we stopped and had supper by the ocean.

August was a fairly slow and laid-back month. We were the only staff in LaBorie for the first week and a half. Leonards arrived back the second week in August, and it has been very good to have them back again. The second week in August we had church camp. Carnival holiday is over that time and a lot of sin and wickedness happens on the island. As a church we plan something to go away for a couple nights. There were not many from LaBorie church that attended this year and so we joined the Limes and camped by the river in Beausejour. There ended up being a Tropical Storm over that time and we had a lot of rain. It was hard to keep everyone (and our things) dry, but thankfully it was so hot that no one felt cold when they were wet. The water was also turned off for most of the time, so we collected rainwater for washing dishes and got water from the river to flush the toilets. After a couple days of roughing it, it was good to go back home. But we had a good time!

I (Brian) got dengue fever the week after church camp. I ran a fever for about a week and was pretty exhausted for a couple weeks. It was a discouraging time, but I am thankful to be feeling better now. The week that I was running a fever we had planned to go away a couple of nights as a family. We already had the Airbnb booked so we decided to go anyway. I was disappointed that I was not feeling better, but the rest of the family still had a good time. Some highlights were: playing lots of games, air conditioning, swimming, a bathtub, lots of space in the house, special snacks, and quality time together as a family. It was a blessing to have the opportunity to do this as a family.

When we got back from being away a couple days there was a lot of construction going on in the backroom. They have cut through the wall coming into the house, put plaster on the walls, and ceiling, added steps for us to go up into those rooms, and put in two windows. It is exciting to see it getting closer to being completed and Natasha is very excited to have a room that she doesn't have to share with her brothers. We are now waiting for the electricity to be put in, paint on the walls, and tile on the floors. We are very blessed to be able to have this extra space.

The end of the month Alana came back, and we also have a new teacher, Kurt. It has been so good to have almost all the staff back in LaBorie and we are so grateful for each of them! Pray that this next school year will go well and be a blessing to the students and teachers.

Thank you for your interest in our lives here in Grenada! May God bless each one of you as you serve Him where He has called you.

Brian, for the Kauffmans

The month of May started off with Labour Day holiday. As a family we went and found a place along a river to spend some time together. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed several hours of playing in the river and using our imaginations. The river had big rocks in it so we were able to climb around on them. The children enjoyed it a lot. In our exploration we found a perfect little spot to have our picnic lunch. It involved carrying the cooler of food across the river, but it all turned out well and we had a good time.

The first Fridays of May and June we had Family Night at church. We played a variety of games, Bible trivia, a gum relay, spoons, and Pictionary. There was some good competition, and we all had a good time. These evenings are always a lot of fun! The ping pong table was set up so after devotions, and after a little snack some people enjoyed playing ping pong. A godly family is such a vital part of the church. Please continue to pray for godly families worldwide.

May was still really dry, everything had turned brown, and the water continued to be off except on Mondays and Fridays. Into June it started to rain more, and we enjoyed a week of the water being on all the time. It is now back to Mondays and Fridays, but we continue to get rain so hopefully before too long we will have more constant water.

Thursday afternoon Bible Clubs continues to go well. It's so good to get to know these children better. There is so much potential in each one of their lives. Our prayer is that they can surrender their lives to God and live in obedience to Him. After a couple songs and a Bible story, we play games with them. The games range from limbo, jumping rope, dodgeball, and freeze tag.

The one evening there was a basketball game down at the court, so I took the three oldest children and watched. There were some really good plays and we even got to see a dunk! I enjoy attending community events as it's a great way to meet new people.

On May 17th. Jaymison turned eight years old! It's hard to imagine he is that old already! He is a good big brother to his siblings, and he has a great imagination that he uses outside as well as when he builds things with Legos. I love to see how his mind works! He is very much a problem solver, so he is always coming up with solutions for things. We love the energy and joy he brings our family.

On the 20th of May, we had a holiday called Whit Monday. We went with the church on a hiking trip. We hiked Mount Qua Qua. There is a lake at the bottom where you start and it's about 1.3 miles up to the top. It's not a real long hike but parts of the trail are fairly steep and more difficult for the children to navigate. We weren't sure if our whole family would make it to the top, but we did! The three oldest children did an amazing job. All three hiked all the way up and back down with very little complaining. Quinton got to ride on my back in a carrier, so he enjoyed the hike a lot and even got a short nap in on the way back down. After the hike we had a picnic by the lake.

The 31st of May, I drove bus for a school field trip. We took the students to a beach that had black sand. We had to hike a little way to the beach, and we hiked by a cave. I looked into the cave but didn't venture far into it. The low flying bats aren't something that I enjoy trying to dodge while in a dark cave!

The last weekend in May we had street meetings in one of the local communities. It was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening. The weather was nice, and we didn't have to worry about trying to escape the rain. Pray for the seeds that were planted through those meetings.

We've had a couple more workdays for the bedroom project. The dirt was really hard, so we ended up renting a small electric jack hammer the one time to help break it up. That worked really well. It made the job go a lot faster. I think all the dirt is dug out. We will need to cut the door out into the house and see what kind of steps will need to be built in order to access the back room.

I also helped work on two of the mission buses one day. It was good to get back into working on vehicles again for a couple hours. The driving conditions down here create a lot of wear and tear on the buses.

Thanks for your continued interest in our lives here in Grenada. Pray for our family as we serve the Lord here. I hope each one of you actively seeks opportunities to share the gospel with people wherever you are!

Brian, for the Kauffman family

It's hard to imagine that May is here already. I honestly find it difficult to keep track of the months here. I'm used to the change in seasons and that helps me keep track of the months. The seasons do change here just in a different way. I will adjust to that eventually.

The beginning of the month we had a workday here. We are making the back room into another bedroom. The room is part of the house, but it only has an outside entrance. We cut a hole in the wall for a door and found the space was full of dirt and broken cement blocks. For some reason there is about six feet of dead space that we will have to dig out in order to make the room accessible from the inside of the house. I will post some pictures and that should help you understand the project more. With the help from many hands, we were able to get four dump truck loads hauled out. Now, I must inform you that we had to dig the dirt out with a pickaxe and carry it to the dump truck in small buckets. It wasn't a job for the faint of heart. The four dump truck loads got us about halfway done. Hopefully with one more full workday we can get it mostly cleaned out. At this point the house only has two bedrooms. This would make a third bedroom for Natasha to have her own room. There are times she asks for her own room to be able to have some alone time away from her noisy brothers. 😄 Also, as she gets older it will be nice for her to have a room by herself.

This past month I filled in a couple times teaching at school. I enjoy getting to know the students, but I'm not sure that I'm cut out to be a schoolteacher. Despite my feeble attempts at teaching, the children did get most of their lessons completed. I do like getting into the school and it helps me appreciate all the work that the teachers do every day!

The temperature continues to get hotter. Just sitting in the living room on the couch will make you sweat. There isn't really anyway to not sweat, unless you sit right in front of a fan. Speaking of fans, I'm realizing that they need to be maintained just like cars do if you want them to last. Two of our fans quit working. They started smelling hot and then just quit. I realized once I took them apart that one of the bearings just needed some oil. I put a bit of oil on it and they both started working again. I guess that will be part of the monthly cleaning they get. It's crazy to think about how much dirt gets on the fans. The cages around the fan blades soon become clogged with dust bunnies and make the fan inefficient. The fan then gets taken all apart and brushed off.

The water continues to be off more then it's on. We have finally figured out a routine that doesn't use too much water while it's off. It's normally on Mondays and Fridays for part of the day. The days the water is on makes for big laundry days. We try and get three loads or so through before it gets turned off. This makes for a busy morning getting everything through the washer and out on the line to dry. A family of six makes a lot of dirty clothes, especially when it's so hot. We do one load midweek even though the water isn't on. Our storage tank is big enough to allow that. I also try and get the bus washed on Friday when the water is turned on. Some areas have not had their water turned on for over a week and don't have any water. Pray that we would get some rain.

The Bible Club in Belle Plain is going well. The last couple of weeks we have had some new children coming. We are enjoying getting to know everyone. One of the boy's dog had puppies so we have enjoyed seeing them grow. Little puppies can be so cute! Our children love playing with them. Pray that the children and their parents would desire a relationship with Jesus.

The work of preaching, teaching Sunday school, and other speaking responsibilities, can keep me busy in my office studying. My office consists of a desk in our bedroom. Our bedroom is in the back of the house, and it doesn't get a lot of breeze from outside. Even with a fan going it can make studying challenging at times, but I'm getting used to it.

Hannah Hofstetter from our home church moved down to teach for a couple months. It was fun to go to the airport and pick up someone we knew. One of the teachers (my cousin actually) went home early due to her mom battling cancer. We will miss her here!

Thank you for your interest in our lives here in Grenada. Pray for us as a family as we serve the Lord here. There are times of homesickness, and we pray that God will help us through those times. Pray for the church here in Laborie, that we could be a shining light to the world around us.

Keep showing God's love to those you meet wherever He has called you!

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

Brian for the Kauffmans

Greetings from the Kauffman household.  The month of March has come and gone very quickly for us.  We started off the month with Bible Conference at church.  It was a refreshing time of learning and growing.  The theme for the week was the Body of Christ.  We learned that Christ must be the head of the church and love is the building block that builds the church.  It was a good challenge for us individually and as a church.  For a family with young children, it can be a lot to have a week of meetings, but overall, it went well.  The week before Easter and the week after Easter there is no school.  The first week of Easter holiday (which was the last week of March) we had VBS.  A family that used to live in LaBorie came down to help.  We had an average of 55 children that came.  It was an enjoyable time of getting to know the children in the community.  We pray that the seeds that were planted will grow into fruit for the Kingdom of God. 

            We also started doing a Bible Club in Belle Plain.  There is a family from this area that comes to church.  The children are enjoying that and we are enjoying getting out into different areas and learning to know the people.  Several years ago, some of the staff had been doing a club there, but over time it had come to a stop.  The children were eager to come and participate again. 

            Natasha had a birthday in March and turned 6!  We went to the beach for her birthday and had a special birthday supper in the evening.  We are so thankful to have a daughter.  She is growing up so fast and we are so thankful for her and all she adds to our family.

            Life here as a family has been going well.  We enjoy the children that stop by and chat.  Some of the boys have been borrowing our football (soccer ball) some evenings to play in the pasture.  When they return the ball later in the evening, they normally need some water and like to sit outside and chat a bit.  Our desire is to build relationships and be a positive influence for Christ in their lives.

            We are in dry season so things are turning browner.  We still do have rain some just not as much.  During dry season they turn off the water during the day.  We do have a storage tank that we can use water from when it’s turned off.  Normally every couple days they turn the water back on and our tank gets refilled.  Last week we were having trouble with our tank not filling.  The water was turned on but no water was going into our tank.  After a couple days I was able to figure out why.  There was a pressure regulating valve in the water line that had malfunctioned and wasn’t allowing any water through.  I was able to bypass the valve temporarily and get our tank filled again.   

Sports Day was this month as well.  It was a big day filled with lots of events.  I enjoyed seeing the children put their all into the races and relays.  Did you know that a family of six people can drink over two gallons of liquid on a hot day? Well, I didn’t either but by afternoon we were out of water and had to walk down to a little shop and buy a couple bottles.  By the end of the last race, it was late in the afternoon, and we were ready to be back home.   

            Easter Sunday our church went to a point to have a sunrise service.  After spending time singing at the point, we went back to church and had breakfast.  We were blessed with a good message from Pastor Leonard about the resurrection.  Monday, we spent the afternoon as a church out on another point flying kites.  During dry season it is windy and its excellent weather for flying kites.  For supper we roasted hotdogs and had marshmallows for dessert.  The kite flying was a lot of fun.  I had two kites that I got up and they were flying great. Through the excitement the one got let go; I tried to quickly grab the string but I wasn’t fast enough and it went sailing off into the bush or the ocean.  Later, I was bringing the other kite in and about halfway in the string broke and the kite went diving into the bush.  I was disappointed but at least we were able to have fun flying them for awhile. 

    Thanks for your continued prayers for our family.  If God lays on your heart to give financially to the work here in Grenada check out the donate page and consider giving to Olive Branch and noting it for Brian and Jodi’s support.  God bless each one of you as you serve Him faithfully.

"He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved." Psalms 62:2

Brian for the Kauffmans

Good evening! It has been 3 1/2 weeks since we landed on the island of Grenada. Most things are unpacked and we are slowly adjusting to a new routine and different schedule. Jaymison and Natasha are finishing the school year doing Abeka online. It has been a bit of an adjustment for them since they were used to going to school. They all are enjoying spending a lot of time outside. We have a small front yard that they enjoy playing in. There is a small backyard as well. Jaymison and Natasha found a tree that they can climb and they have enjoyed making that their playhouse.

We have done several fun activities with the church congregation since we have been here. The first one was family night. We had an enjoyable evening playing group games and getting to know everyone. We had juice and a snack afterwards. Last Sunday evening we went to Fort Fredrick and spent the evening there. There was lots of room for the children to run and play. We enjoyed singing songs together as the sun went down. There is an amazing view over the water from the fort. February 7th was Independence Day. It was Grenada's 50th anniversary so there was a lot of celebration on the island. As a church had a picnic about a half hour drive from the church. There is a small river that flows through the woods and the children enjoyed playing in that most of the time we where there. The adults didn't get too active but enjoyed some good conversations. Some people kicked a soccer ball around and others took a few hits at a tennis ball with the cricket bat. It was a very enjoyable day together and we also enjoyed their national dish called Oil Down. It's a combination of breadfruit, chicken, pig tail, dumplings, carrots, callaloo, and other random things. It's very good! On the way home we got stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour. Although it was inconvenient it did teach us some patience. 😄

Derrik turned 4 on February 2. We celebrated as a family and enjoyed cake and ice-cream and some gifts. Although it was just us, he seemed to really enjoy the day. We are so thankful for him and all that he adds to our family.

Continue to pray for us as a family. It has been a big move for us and it has had its challenges. We are so thankful though to be where God has called us, and we rest in that every day. God is so good and we don't ever want to forget that! God bless each one of you as you serve Him in your own communities!

Today is our big moving day! Our flights are from Detroit to Miami, and then on to Grenada. Goodbyes are hard and we will miss our family and friends. We are also excited to see what God has for the future! Pray for safety as we travel and that our children would handle the transition well. Thanks for your prayers!

We would like to thank everyone for your continued prayers for us as a family as we prepare to move to LaBorie, Grenada. We will be moving in January of 2024. May you feel God close to you as you seek Him and serve Him in your part of the world!