Camp Sonshine

As many of you may know, Mexico holds a very special place in my and Daniel’s hearts. We have been going to Camp Sonshine Mexico every year since 2011. It was the first missions trip Daniel and I did together as a dating couple. In fact, it was one of these trips that Daniel proposed to me and we came back to a year later as a married couple. It was also the place that we decided was worth coming back to year after year because of the relationships we built there with the missionaries and community of Mezcales.

Daniel has been fortunate to continue that tradition the last 3 years while I’ve been home with the kid(s). But this year, we plan to leave the children with my mom so we can continue to build relationships and do missions as a unit back in Mezcales, where it all began.
 
This year we are teaming up with a group from Camp Sonshine Nebraska and the local missionaries of Mezcales, Lee and Carol Short. The Shorts live among the amazing people there, where they established a center called Vida International that was safe for the kids to come to once a week for a few hours to enjoy a free meal, learn about the Bible and learn English. Many of these kids have to work every night to help with their families’ finances, so the opportunity they have in the center helps remind them that they are children of God and loved and cared for deeply. We want to help the Shorts by providing the kids a whole week of a program built with a theme, free meals, prizes to take home, and most importantly- a better understanding of who God is in their lives.

The trip will be taking place January 4-12 of 2020. That’s just around the corner! There are a few things we would love for our family and friends to do to support us before we go:

1.    Pray- A. For the hearts of the community to be open and receptive of our team and the message God is bringing through us.

B. For our team- that we would do everything to show God’s love and be His hands and feet to the children, families and missionaries there. That our hearts, minds, and physical bodies will be prepared for what this third world country has in store for us.

C. For our children, Urijah and Lenya, who will be in my family’s care while we’re gone. That they would be safe, enjoy their time with my family, and be a joy and light to whoever is with them and caring for them. (God bless my mom for offering to be a blessing and watch them while we’re away- her own personal mission field!)

2.    Financial support- Daniel and I each need roughly $2,600 to purchase plane tickets and food/housing while we’re there.

3.    Encouragement- the enemy often tries to derail us prior to and even during our mission. If you have any words of encouragement or God gives you an encouraging word for us, please call or message us. We would love to hear all the positivity you have for us!

Thank you all for taking time to read this and prayerfully consider how you would like to support us this year. We know everyone can support us at least in one of these 3 ways above, so just know that not one of them is more important than the other.  Let God use you today!!

We love you all. God Bless!

THIS IS OUR CALLING - 
Camp Sonshine isn't just our job. We don't just work there in the summers and then do something else the rest of the year. This is our calling. In the summer, of course. But also during the year.

We've heard that we're crazy, that we work too hard, or that maybe we should get "real" jobs. But God is at work everywhere in the world, and when we find a place where he is active, we can't help but get involved! Any chance we get!

Camp Sonshine is a place where campers make memories that last a lifetime and experience the love of God that changes their lives because of the staff who genuinely care for the campers!

THE BEST NEWS - 
The God-moments that campers experience at Camp Sonshine don't just happen in Nebraska. God is at work everywhere in the world and Camp Sonshine has a number of locations around the world in which God is active and alive in the lives of children!

We are excited to return to Western Australia again in January of 2020 to participate in Camp Sonshine - Perth! Last year we saw campers accept Christ as their Lord and make genuine friendships with those different than themselves, and we saw staff who really caught the vision of Camp Sonshine and what it means to care for children in Jesus' name.

JOIN US - 
We are raising money to cover the cost of our plane tickets. This is the most expensive part of the trip. We have determined that any expenses necessary during travel and while we are in Perth we can provide for ourselves. Any donations over the target amount will be given to Camp Sonshine - Perth to be used for program costs.

WILL YOU PLEASE SUPPORT US FINANCIALLY AND THROUGH PRAYER?

THANK YOU!

Kyle & Lauren Schwerdtfeger

Ves and Jessica are dear friends to so many of us.  They are the kind of couple who jumps at any and every chance to help others and many of us have been on the receiving side of the Reiches' giving hearts.  Due to the upcoming medical expenses surrounding the difficulties with Josiah and Selah's health we have created this fundraiser to help relieve a little of the financial strain that they are facing.   

We are also so excited to announce that the Modern Woodmen of America will match up to $2,500 of the amount donated for medical expenses on this fundraiser!  

We would like to raise as much as possible before Jessica is scheduled to check in at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in mid-April.

Here's a list of the known financial expenses the couple will be faced with in the coming months: 

- Medical bills for both babies and Jessica
- Hotels/rent while in Cincinnati
- Gas - Ves will be traveling back and forth (over 3 hours each way)
- Funeral costs for Josiah
- Moving costs (From West Virginia back to Lincoln, NE)
- Possible loss of income while in Cincinnati and before moving to NE
- Reconstruction costs for the house (Home in WV is currently torn apart for mold repair.  It needs to be fixed and put back together in order to sell) 

Here's the latest CaringBridge post from Jess and Ves,

"We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and prayers for our little family in the last couple of weeks. We are blessed by each one of you.

We have decided on names for our twins and thought we would share that with you so you can pray for them by name. Our baby boy's name is Josiah Wayne. Josiah means Jehovah heals and Wayne is Ves' father's name who recently passed away. Our baby girl's name is Selah Grace. Her name comes from the Psalms and means to ponder on or reflect on God's grace.

On Thursday and Friday of this week, we visited Cincinnati Children's hospital for some testing and a consult regarding Josiah and Selah. The following is the information we learned:

We were given a name for Josiah's condition and a cause for his abnormalities. Josiah has what they call amniotic band syndrome. Sadly, his case is very severe. He never detached fully from the amniotic sac when he was forming. This has caused all sorts of issues throughout his body. He is attached to the amniotic sac on the left side of his face. He does not have a left eye and his right eye is very small. His left ear is pushed farther up his face than normal and his right ear is lower than normal. He doesn't have nasal passages (which means he will not be able to breathe without a trach when he is born) he has an encephalocele which is an opening in the skull that allows the brain to protrude. His brain formation is severely malformed. His brain stem stopped forming at a certain point and has not continued meaning most likely most of his organs will not function on their own (lungs, stomach, bladder, etc) his spine is curved and has a cist on one end. His spinal cord is too low which means he most likely will not have sensation in his legs. He also has a left club foot.

All that being said our team of doctors has advised us that he will most likely not survive until birth and if he does survive will not have a good quality of life and will be on life support for however long he lives. Because of this, we have chosen to opt for comfort care and make him comfortable and feel loved and cared for if he is born alive until he passes away.

Selah, we also found out has a couple of minor (in comparison) issues we need to keep an eye on. She has a small hole in her heart as well as excess fluid around her brain. We have been told that both of these may go away before birth and not cause issues. If not, they most likely would just keep an eye on her heart and unless it is causing her issues, not do anything about it. The fluid around her brain may require a shunt if it gets bigger or causes problems. They are hopeful it has not caused any brain damage as her brain has good formation.

We will be delivering in Cincinnati and I will be relocating in four weeks in order to do the rest of prenatal care up there. Please pray for that transition and for God’s provision over our stay in Cincinnati financially and otherwise.

Please pray for peace over the upcoming loss of Josiah and for healing and wisdom for the doctors for Selah.

We were able to share some about our relationship with the Lord and His sovereignty with the doctors during our team meeting yesterday and have seen God already begin to work to glorify himself through Josiah in other ways as well. His name means Jehovah heals which will ultimately be true for him, even if it’s not in the way we hoped. Our prayer is that God would use his life to heal others lives as well.


Selah means to ponder or reflect on God’s Grace, which is what she is to us and what we have been reminded to do again and again throughout this whole process.

Thank you!"


Let's come together to bless this amazing family in a really BIG way!!!
Thanks for your support!