:: lots of stuff ::

we have been staying busy with lots of great things lately. never a dull moment! we are thankful to where the Lord has us in our lives right now.i know i say this every time but eden is just growing up so fast-it's amazing all the changes that happen to this little body in just one year! she just turned 11 months a couple days ago! cant believe it! she has experienced lots of new things and accomplishing a lot this last month. she went to Kings Island for the first time and actually got to ride a few rides-as little as she is! she is starting to repeat words now-which is so cute! "ball" being one of her favorites. eden is walking pretty good with her walker toys-not on her own yet, but that will come soon enough im sure! she went to the pumpkin farm with her nana and papaw and had lots of fun there and then the other day we got to go to another pumpkin farm with all her friends. she is lots of fun and definitely keeps us busy with her curiosity and busyness.

as far as ryan and i-we have stayed busy with the NANC classes in mid-September and the KCA banquet we attended. also we are in the process of learning Swahili. ryan also just finished the project for church-creating a very large cut-out of the world map to hang on the wall and display all the missionaries that Grace Baptist of Mason supports around the world. it looks pretty amazing if i don't say so myself! :)

we have a few churches we were able to make appointments with this month-so we are very excited about meeting with them. please pray as we present our ministry that God would touch hearts and that we might be a blessing to those churches.

our first missions conference

This past week we had our first missions conference as a team. It was at our home church-Grace Baptist Church of Mason, March 22-25. It was such a special and amazing week.

GOOD OLE BRUCE
Each night Bruce O'Neal challenged the congregation. Bruce is the president of Manna Worldwide-the ministry we will be partnering with for the feeding centers aspect of our ministry. He is an amazing man and someone our team has definitely grown to love in such a big way!

HOW THIS WEEK WENT
After Bruce spoke, some members of our team took a turn to speak about a certain aspect of the team - Sunday night the Guzmans and Shantelle spoke about 'compassion', Monday night Ryan and I and Alisa spoke on 'spreading the Gospel', and Tuesday night the Boons and Brittany spoke on 'discipleship'.

Wednesday night was a little different service-our commissioning service. It was an amazing service to be in. Our team got to share our testimonies and the church voted on commissioning us. They also had to vote on the support aspect-by ballot, which came back unanimous-everyone was for it! So humbling an encouraging to know that our church is so behind us and supportive!

There was also a time of prayer. Our team went up to the front of the church and sat-facing the congregation. The officers of the church spread out and prayed with us-laying their hands on us. Then they opened up the opportunity for the congregation to do the same. It was such an overwhelming experience-so many of our church family came up to pray with us. It was amazing! We were there until about 9:30pm.


There really aren't sufficient words to express our feelings of gratitude right now. We are so blessed to have the home church and the families that we have.

So, lots has happened these past few weeks. So many great things!

THE NEXT STEPS
Our next step now is just to call churches and get connections to set up meetings to raise the support we need. Please pray as Ryan will be contacting many churches-that we will get the meetings needed to raise support and as we start traveling-hopefully later on this year.


THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS!

our testimony

The Kuenkels
Ryan and Jayme Kuenkel were married in December of 2005. Together they surrendered their lives to God, not yet knowing what His plan would be. They began serving God in student ministries at Grace Baptist Church, Mason Ohio.

In 2008 they were blessed with their first little girl, Eden, and have enjoyed the learning process of being parents.

Our Calling
Ryan was saved at the age of 13 and felt God’s call into the ministry at a mission’s conference two years later. Since then, Ryan has had a heavy burden for missions and even had the privilege of living on the mission field in Puerto Rico during his childhood.

Jayme was also saved at 13 years of age. One year later she met Ryan while attending a Christian high school. It was in high school that Jayme surrendered her life to God. She attended Trinity Baptist College and finished her business degree at the University of Cincinnati.

In July of 2007 God began working in both Ryan and Jayme’s hearts specifically towards missions. After much prayer, they realized that God was leading them to the mission field. Their calling was confirmed after returning from their survey trip to Mombasa, Kenya in 2008.

Our Goals
The Kuenkels are a part of a team of believers from Grace Baptist Church. Their passion is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the Kenyan people. Through the local church, they will be establishing various methods of ministries in efforts to reach the Kenyan people more effectively.

An area of ministry near to the hearts of Ryan and Jayme is to start a youth camp in the city of Mombasa. This camp will serve a variety of different purposes in efforts to reach the neglected youth in Kenya.

Please pray for the Kuenkels in their pre-field ministry as they work to get to the field of Mombasa, Kenya.