Pictures of our Kids

Kaleo - Age 11

Kestra - Age 7

Kyler - Age 6

Katrianne - Age 4

Kaylinn - Age 14 months



Random Photos

Our backyard after the mudslide behind our house!

What we woke up to the morning after the mudslide - talk about a shock!

K-Bird, the newest member of our family!  (Pohnpeian parrots, called the serehd, actually have long green tails but the people who caught this one for us cut the tail off to keep him from flying away - it will grow back eventually).

Kestra and Katrianne at our nephew's wedding

Our boys and Kimo at the wedding (Kimo is our songleader at our church)

Our littlest princess




Spring Revival Photos

Our outdoor "building" we use for revivals and special meetings

Rickson interpreting for Evangelist Randy Chovan



Update

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've updated this blog!  BUT, I have great news!  We now have entered the era of civilization and have hi-speed internet out in the jungle where we live!  We have been anxiously waiting for it to be available on our side of the island for a long time and are so thankful to finally have it!

A lot has happened over the last couple of months and I will be sending out a regular prayer letter this week to update on everything but will briefly mention some things now.  We had revival services in March with Evangelist Randy Chovan.  It was a great week and we saw many come to know Christ that week.  And as the seed was planted, we have seen quite a few more come to know Christ since the revival!   We've had several baptismal services since, including one today and it has been great to see these new converts coming to services and growing in the Lord.

We're looking forward to the end of the school year.  Kyler will be graduating from kindergarten in a couple of weeks.  Kestra has about 5 weeks left of school and Kaleo, well, we're hoping he'll finish in time to have a little summer break!  Sixth grade has been a tough year for him but we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! 

Will try to get some photos up here soon!

Recent Updates!

 Trying to catch you all up here at once! Lots of things going on here on Pohnpei!

February 22nd marked our Ten Year Anniversary living here on Pohnpei! Wow! Has it been that long already?!! God has truly blessed in these 10 years and so much has happened, there is no way I could list it all in this one post! We have seen the beginning and growth of Ambassador Baptist Church, numerous islanders saved and baptized, the birth of 4 of our children, the building of our new home, the beginning of the Bible Institute, and so much more! We praise God for bringing us here and for what He has done in our lives and ministry.

We celebrated Kaylinn's 1st birthday on February 25th. Traditionally, here on Pohnpei, the 1st birthday is a HUGE celebration so we had a big BBQ and invited our whole church as well as other friends and family. We had a great time and Kaylinn enjoyed all the attention!

We have a total of 45 enrolled in the Bible Institute now! They all got to experience their first exam last week. So far God has really blessed with the Institute and we are so thankful for these students who have joined with such an eagerness to learn more about Him!

On March 13th we begin revival services with Evangelist Randy Chovan. Please be in prayer for these meetings. We are praying for God to prepare the hearts of the people here and that we would see good attendance to each service. Satan has been hard at work lately so these meetings especially need your prayers!

Have a great weekend! We're praying for some great pre-revival services this Sunday!

Mommy and the Birthday Girl

Our pretty angel

A new toy!  Does it bite?

February, 2011 Prayer Letter

(Sorry I'm posting this so late!  Our internet has been down a LOT lately and it has been hard to keep up with things.)

Kasalehlia! We trust you all had a wonderful New Year and are looking forward to a great new year in the Lord!  It’s hard to believe that we are already one full month into the new year! And much has happened this first month of 2011!

Ministry

Our attendance has remained high over the past month, with some services over 100! I want to share with you a huge answer to prayer. For the past year we have prayed for a young man named Jun who started to attend our church with his wife. He was unsaved but really liked what he saw in our congregation and for a year simply came, observed and asked a lot of questions. I spent time with him, encouraging him and witnessing to him during this time. I am excited to tell you that at our very first service of the new year, Jun accepted Christ as his Savior!

Another huge answer to prayer is the opening of our Bible Institute! On January 29th, we had the dedication service and on January 31st, we held the first class session of the Baptist Bible Institute of Pohnpei (BBIP). We are praising the Lord for the 36 students that attended this first session.

In upcoming events, we will be having revival services with Evangelist Randy Chovan in March. We ask that you pray that the Lord will prepare the hearts of our people, and that we will see many islanders saved and Christians revived during that week.

We have continued with the jail ministry on Tuesday nights. Over the holidays we were able to be a blessing to the prisoners by getting together gifts for them. This really touched them and we pray will be used to soften and open hearts to the Gospel.

A big prayer request that we’d like you to partner with us in praying for is the building of our new church. We have prayed about this for some time and are asking the Lord to provide this in the year 2011. It is a huge step and may look like an impossible request, but we know that our God is the God of the impossible. Please pray for this with us!

Family

Our children are growing like a bunch of little weeds! Kaylinn will be turning one this month and after the choking ordeal we had with her in November, we are especially praising the Lord for the chance to celebrate. She is quite the little joy in our life and keeps us laughing with all the new things she is learning each day. Kaleo is doing fairly well in 6th grade, though he’d much rather be outside playing, and he is surprising us with his talents musically, especially on the guitar. Kestra is as opposite Kaleo as can be and loves school. She is doing exceptionally well in 1st grade and enjoys playing the piano. Kyler is in K5 and quite the little intellect. He never appears to be paying attention but then surprises us by getting all the answers correct. Katrianne is a typical 4-year-old and loves trying to distract her siblings from their school work. Each one of our children are unique in their own way and we thank God for them all.

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

Because of Calvary,

Rickson, Susan, Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn

December, 2010 Prayer Letter and Recent Pics

Kasalehlia and Merry Christmas! We trust you all had a blessed Thanksgiving! We had much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

I’m sure that most, if not all of you have heard about the miracle that God performed in our little girl. The Thursday before Thanksgiving, Kaylinn began coughing, choking, and turning blue. We rushed her to the ER and after working on her for some time, they were able to get her in a stable condition, though it was obvious that there was some sort of object caught in her windpipe or lung. To make a long story short, the doctors felt it necessary to try to get us off island as soon as possible for medical help. The next 24 hours were a flurry of paperwork and stress trying to get passports together and clearance to get her on the next flight. During this time, she was unable to swallow and appeared to be in a lot of pain. We are amazed at the way news traveled around the world and so many were praying for our little Kaylinn! Just after all the paperwork had cleared and we were set to leave, Kaylinn coughed up the object! Even the doctors were amazed! Her pediatrician kept the piece of plastic for a ‘souvenir’. We are so thankful for this miracle! Thanksgiving was an extra special day this year as we also celebrated Kaylinn’s 9-month ‘birthday’.

Another thing to be thankful for was the opportunity to see our little Kyler accept Christ! He came to Susan one afternoon and, with tears in his eyes, said he wanted to get saved! She and I both talked with him for a time and he prayed, asking Christ to save him. He was baptized the following Sunday, giving such a sweet testimony to our church.

You may remember me mentioning in a previous letter a young girl named RJenny who accepted Christ at our VBS this past summer. She was also baptized when Kyler was. We are thrilled for her testimony and faithfulness. However, tragedy has struck her home. During the time Kaylinn was in the hospital, RJenny’s mom suddenly became ill and died. We are unsure if she was saved or not. This has been a difficult time for the family, yet RJenny has continued to come to services faithfully. We are praying for her father to accept Christ as well.

We are working with the youth on our Christmas cantata. This year we are doing 10,000 Hallelujah’s by Ron Hamilton. It is a difficult program and we ask for your prayer in our preparation and that it would be used of the Lord to bring hearts to Him.

A new ministry that we have become involved in is a jail ministry here on the island. Every other Tuesday, the preacher boys in our church and I are able to hold a service at the state jail. It is a great opportunity to reach those who have faced hard times and made wrong decisions as well as a great training opportunity for these preacher boys.

In January, Lord willing, we will be holding the first classes for our Bible Institute. We especially ask for your prayers as we move into this phase of our ministry. We have several young men on the island desiring to be trained in His Word, as well as older men who are unable to go off to Bible college. We pray God will use this ministry to further His work here in the islands.

We thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. Please continue to pray for us and our ministry here on Pohnpei. We hope that you all have a blessed Christmas and New Year.

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