Welcome Mark and Emily!

Like I said earlier in the week, Won By One To Jamaica just added two new staff members, Mark and Emily Boespflug. They arrived on Monday with Loudoun Valley, and I wanted to dedicate a post to introduce you to them and let you know what they are all about.

Mark and Emily have been married for 15 months. They met at Geneva College in Pennsylvania and graduated together in 2005. Mark has two degrees, one in philosophy and one in music, and Emily has a degree in human services. After they got married in 2006, they moved to a cabin in Colorado in the mountains.

Emily first experienced Jamaica in December of 2002, when she came on a trip with her school over Christmas break. After that trip, Emily fell in love with the community of Harmons and ended up spending three summers in a row here on summer staff! Mark first came to Harmons during Spring break of 2005, when he and Emily led a trip together. Since then God has given them a huge heart for the Jamaican people and now they are living here!

Mark and Emily will be living here for 2 years (if not longer!) Though they have gained the title, “missionary couple,” they will just be living their life here. One of my favorite definitions of “missions” is “living life in another place,” and that is exactly what they’ll be doing here in Harmons. During their time here, they will have several different roles, all of which focus on Jamaicans. They will be engaging with Jamaicans on emotional and spiritual levels, really pushing and pursuing Jamaicans to strengthen their life with Christ. They will also be overseeing the school sponsorship program that Won By One To Jamaica has. School here is about $40 a month so Won By One To Jamaica set up a program in which Americans can sponsor children to go to school. They will be checking up on over 60 families here, making sure the children are doing well in school. Another unique thing that Mark and Emily get to do is show the community of Harmons what a loving and biblical marriage should be. Marriage is very uncommon in Jamaica so this will be an awesome way to show a community what a love and marriage that honors Christ looks like. As you can see, Mark and Emily are going to do amazing things here in Harmons!

While visiting with Mark and Emily this afternoon, I asked them what they were most worried about and what they thought they would miss the most from home. Mark is most worried about getting some kind of jungle rash, and Emily is worried about driving. (Driving in Jamaica is CRAZY!) Mark said he will miss the Colorado mountains and wildlife more than anything, and Emily will miss having clean feet!

So there you go! I hope you now know a little more about Mark and Emily and what they are doing here! We are very glad to have them on staff and super excited to spend the rest of the summer with them!

One Love,

Lacy