Come With Us to Kenya (1st post) - Mark

We are excited to have you join us in this journey of faith to Kenya that we believe God is leading us to enter into.  Several years ago God gave our family a vision to go to Kenya.  I (Mark) have to admit that I was the last one to join the "race.".  I guess I was a little to comfortable with the familiar.  At any rate, God has gotten hold of my heart too, and now the four of us, including Cynthia, Maria and Jesse, are set to go to Kenya for almost three weeks from the end of December, 2012 into January of 2013.

We believe the actual trip to Kenya will be the culmination of a larger experience of exercising our faith as we live through the next 30 weeks of preparation.  We hope the sharing of our thoughts will inspire and encourage you in your own faith walk with Jesus. 

We've created this blog:
~ So you can see into our hearts (our struggles, hopes, questions, etc.) as God prepares us for this great      adventure.
~ So that you know how to pray for us.  Our prayer requests will be listed at the bottom of each post!
~ So we can share the the ministry story of the Cassell family, who will be our host in Kenya.
~ So we can share pictures and stories to keep you updated during our Kenyan experience.
~ So we can invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us by providing a financial gift.

The running theme is something God poured into my heart through my experience with running marathons and learning life lessons that connect the physical with the spiritual.  We need to raise money for the trip and for a special project, still to be chosen.  I will be training for my 13th marathon in Harrisburg in November, and would like to challenge you to consider donating a penny (or more) for every mile that I train.  I will be regularly posting my miles each week.  I anticipate they will total around 1,000 miles over the next 24 weeks.  One penny x 1,000 miles = a $10 donation!  We will be giving details in future posts on how you can make a tax-deductible donation through Bethany Baptist Church.

Upon our arrival, we will be hosted by Aundrae and Sheila Cassell, who are missionaries with Ambassadors Fellowship Kenya.  Aundrae was a member of Bethany Baptist Church, which is our home church, and went to Kenya in response to God's call on his life approximately 20 years ago.  He met Sheila there, they married, and now have eight children.  We will be sharing more about their story in future posts.

So look for my training posts once a week.  Cynthia, Maria and Jesse will also be occasionally sharing some of their thoughts over the coming weeks.  Please don't hesitate to contact us and let us know your thoughts!

Prayer Request:
That we will be able to throw off everything that might hinder us and run the race for Kenya with perseverance!