Recent Pictures

May, 2010 Prayer Letter

Kasalehlia! A lot has happened since our last prayer letter and we are way past due in giving you an update.

In mid January, Susan began having some complications with the pregnancy – early signs of labor as well as an irregular and high heartrate. With medication and rest the labor stopped, but she continued to have problems with her heart. The baby was due March 20 but to make a long story short, due to the heart condition, Susan delivered by cesarean on February 25 and we were able to welcome little Kaylinn Alora into the world, weighing 7 lbs., 6 oz. Susan only needed to stay in the hospital slightly longer than expected due to the heart condition and now is completely off the heart medication and doing great. Kaylinn did fine through her first two weeks, then began to have severe jaundice, later than is normal for newborns. She was readmitted into the hospital for an infection which was causing the jaundice and was there for another week. We thank each of you who were following all of this on Facebook or our blog and keeping us in your prayers through this difficult time. We ask for continued prayer as Kaylinn is still experiencing some problems that the doctor is concerned about.

We also request special prayer for our ministry. We have been seeing lower attendance lately. We usually do have lower attendance during the spring months as there is such a strong pull from the Catholic and Protestant denominations for the people to be involved in their Easter activities and other things they have going on this time of year. We ask for prayer for our church people to take a stand for what they believe and stay faithful to the Word of God.
We have seen, however, a great deal of growth in some of our college age young people. They have been a great asset to our ministry in working with the youth, Sunday school, and music. I also have the young men preach from time to time. They helped a great deal during the times Susan and Kaylinn were in the hospital and I needed to be there with them.

Summer is coming up quickly and we are starting to plan for VBS, youth camp, and other activities. We are also looking forward to a visit from Susan’s parents as well as some men possibly coming to help with the planning for our new church building. We have not been able to complete the filling of the land yet, but are still working on that as funds are provided. We are anxious to get started on the new building!

Susan and the kids are also looking forward to summer to enjoy a break from homeschooling. The time in the hospital did put them a good bit behind but they are working hard to catch up and finish the school year sometime in June.

We thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. Please continue to pray for us and our ministry here on Pohnpei. May God bless you.

Because of Calvary,
Rickson, Susan,

Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn

More Kaylinn Pics

Kestra and Kaylinn - what a good big sister!

Kaylinn's not sure about this sister yet!

Daddy's not missing having another boy, is he?

Twins?

Pictures of Kaleo's Tennis Tournament

Update on Kaylinn

Well, again I am behind in keeping this blog updated. A lot has happened since little Kaylinn was born. She came home from the hospital with the usual mild jaundice, but after a week or so it progressed into severe jaundice and the doctor decided it had to be more than just the usual infant jaundice. After having some blood tests done, she found Kaylinn had some sort of infection (what exactly we were never able to find out). So Kaylinn was admitted into the hospital again to be put under the phototherapy lights and to be on IV antibiotics. We went to the clinic for what we thought was a routine checkup - EIGHT days later we finally were able to go home! Thank the Lord though that Kaylinn is fine now and doing great at home!

I'm posting pictures here for whoever is interested, but primarily for the benefit of grandparents, aunties, and uncles who aren't able to see Kaylinn in person! Enjoy! (These two are of Kaylinn in the hospital - poor little thing - it was a rough week.)

She's Here!

I know it's been a LONG time since I posted here but things have been a bit crazy around here. In January I went into early labor so really had to take it easy for awhile to keep the baby from coming too soon. I also started to have problems with my heart which got progressivly worse and finally I was admitted last week with the heart problem. The doctor then decided the best thing was to go ahead and take the baby c-section as the heart medication was also lowering her heart rate. So, Kaylinn Alora was born via c-section on Thursday, February 25th at 9:25 AM. Things have been up and down since then with recovery and all but Kaylinn is doing great and I am starting to feel much better now. My heart is also doing much better and hopefully I will be able to go off the medication soon. We came home from the hospital on Monday and are now adjusting to life with 5 kids.

Here are some pictures of our new little angel. Thank you all for praying. Please continue to pray as we are facing challenges from every angle. There has been a drought on the island and our water is being turned off often. We didn't have water at all for about 24 hours after getting home from the hospital so that makes life a little "extra interesting".

December, 2009 Prayer Letter

Merry Christmas! We are enjoying the holiday season here on Pohnpei and trust you are enjoying this blessed time of year as well. The holidays here bring heavy wind and rains and this year has seemed even more than usual. We are thankful for the somewhat cooler temperatures though.

MINISTRY NEWS

This year has been a good one for our family and ministry, and we are looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2010. I am including photos of the work done on our land here in preparation for our upcoming building project. It’s been exciting to see the progress and we are anxious to have our new church building completed. We are consistently running 90 to more than 100 on Sundays so we are especially eager to have more space for services.
Fall has been busy for us here. We started out the season with our annual missions conference. We are praising the Lord for the great response we had from our people and the largest Faith Promise budget we’ve had so far! We were able to take on a new missionary family for support, the Boylston family, who will be coming here to work with us in the ministry.

FAMILY NEWS

Our family is doing well. Susan is progressing in the pregnancy without any complications and we are thankful for that. Katrianne turned 3 in November and we sure are thankful for this little blessing in our family. She is a sweetheart. Kyler will be turning 5 just 2 days before Christmas. He’s been excited about his birthday for the past month and regularly “practices” blowing out candles, every time Susan has a scented candle lit.

CHRISTMAS!

With Christmas right around the corner, our young people have been working hard at preparing for our Christmas cantata. This year they performed Ron Hamilton’s cantata, “The Greatest Gift.” I translated the speaking parts into the Pohnpeian language and the young people did a fantastic job with the program. The church building was packed out for the performance with many having to stand! We pray that the seed was planted in the hearts of some of the unsaved that attended.
We pray that each one of you have a blessed holiday season and a wonderful New Year. We thank you for the blessing that you all are in our lives here and the part you have in our ministry here on Pohnpei.

Because of Calvary,
Rickson, Susan,
Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, & Katrianne

PRAISES

• The large attendance we’ve seen lately in our services!
• The Faith Promise giving promised for this year.
• Growth in the ministry here on Pohnpei.
• Progress on the land project for our new church building.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• The Boylston’s to be able to raise their needed support quickly.
• Continued growth in the ministry here.
• Funds for the land project for the new building.
• Susan’s pregnancy.