Our story starts 24 years ago! We met at church and started dating when we were just 15 years old. We have now been married for 19 years. During our first 5 years of married life God grew us in more ways than we could have imagined. We went through years of infertility and loss. We now have 7 precious children waiting for us in heaven. 6 through first trimester miscarriage and 1 beautiful daughter named Annabelle, whom we lost through stillbirth. Through those years, He changed us in so many ways and for that, we are forever thankful.
Fast forward all these years later, God has blessed us more than we can imagine. We have four amazing children, Isaac, Micaiah, Zeke & Amelia. God is good, He is faithful and He knew the whole story He was writing for us long before we even saw the first page.
WHY THE MOVE TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FROM HAITI? We have been missionaries in Haiti since 2019 and recently God has put it on our organizations hearts and ours as well, to move to the Dominican Republic side of the island that Haiti is on. RMI will continue to do ministry in Haiti just like they always have. They have an amazing team there, mainly ran by Haitian nationals. They are now opening up a new field in the DR and sending our family to that side to serve. There is a big need for helping the Haitians over there who have escaped and fled their country that is filled with such turmoil, to the DR for safety. However, they quickly find life is not much better over there for them and so many of them have such heartbreaking stories they have shared with us.
We are partnering with the Dominican Baptist Convention to come alongside them and work with the Haitians churches and pastors and do ministry with their wisdom and guidance in how culturally things are done there. There is a very REAL and BIG need. There are so many needs physically and spiritually. We will first be figuring out where all of the Haitian churches are, spending time getting to know them and seeing what the needs are. We want to eventually establish with Haitian AND Dominican churches in the DR, our C3 partnerships program we do with churches in the USA, that we have done in Haiti for so many years.
Already we are seeing a huge need for discipleship and pastoral training, medical, construction, and all of the wonderful things we have done in Haiti. Equipping the local churches and encouraging them so they are more ready to go out in their local community and share the good news of Jesus and help their communities. Seeing the everyday needs and seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance on a day to day basis on where He wants us to be, what He wants us to do and who He wants us to show His love to that day!
FUN FACTS ABOUT THE STARKEY CLAN:
Jim is the Director of C3 Partnerships where he helps maintain communication between the church partnerships in the states and Haiti/Dominican Republic. He will be going out with teams, and overseeing day to day operations of our organization in the Dominican Republic. Jim loves The Ohio State University football team. He likes Manchester City soccer. He loves playing with his kids. He is quite the cook and can make the best Eggs Benedict! Favorite food is fajitas.
April goes out to schools and churches to take video footage and then edits them into videos to send to the partnership churches back in the states. She does the social media posts on Facebook & Instagram for our organization. April has homeschooled our children going on 9 years. She has a passion for singing & worship. She enjoys taking photos as a hobby. She loves to read both fiction & non. She loves all things nature, especially mountains.
Isaac is full of energy and loves to make people laugh! His joy is contagious! He REALLY loves Legos! He loves building new creations with them. He enjoys playing baseball, soccer and loves to swim. His favorite food is Shrimp tacos. He is quite the chef and has built up a collection of his own cooking utensils and items including several cookbooks. He has a love for food and creating all sorts of masterpieces. He hopes to go to culinary school one day and open his own food truck!
Micaiah (Kiah) is quite the adventurer. He is an encourager and so wise for his age. He loves all things nature, playing outside and exploring all day. He loves camo everything. He has been slowly building up his collection of tools because he enjoys building things as well. His favorite food is pizza. He loves playing sports, especially soccer but he loves football and basketball too.
Ezekiel (Zeke) loves to serve and help others. He gives great hugs. He loves playing with his brothers outside. He is full of spunk and silliness. He is our daredevil and is very persistent with trying to figure something out. He likes to help us cook. He enjoys playing with cars and digging in the dirt and making up all sort of concoctions outside. He is becoming quite the soccer player as well, probably with all the practice he gets in at home with his big brothers.
Amelia is full of joy and cheesiness. She adores her brothers and they love her even more. She brings so much laughter and joy to our family everyday. She loves to be outside watching her brothers play soccer. She cheers them on and gets so excited. She loves to sing with mommy. She loves to wrestle and be silly with daddy. She’s more reserved when she meets new people or is in a new setting. She will just watch contently and observe but once she warms up and starts opening up, she shows her true silly self. She loves to clap and blow kisses.
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