:: BERACHAH BAPTIST CHURCH ::

sunday evening we were able to spend some time with pastor lamar ferrell and his congregation at Berachah Baptist Church in Middletown, Ohio-with the whole team. they were having their missions banquet competition. each class got together and made food from a particular people group (such as african, german, polynesian, etc) - team kenya were the judges for this intense competition. there was TONS of food-lots of great stuff! we were stuffed. turns out we voted the polynesian group as the winners!

during this time shantelle and ryan and i were able to share our testimonies. actually ryan and i missed the morning service here since we were at another church that morning-the rest of the team was able to share in the morning.

we had a great time visiting with the people here-they were all so nice and inviting. THANK YOU for having us Berachah Baptist Church. you all were truly a blessing to us!
www.placeofblessing.com

:: CELEBRATION BAPTIST CHURCH ::

we were invited to visit Celebration Baptist Church in West Chester, Ohio. we have known Pastor Rick Groover and his family for several years-ever since they moved to Ohio in 2000. we had a great time getting to see them and the ministry God has blessed them with. celebration baptist church was definitely a blessing to us while we were there-we were able to talk to so many encouraging people.

this month is missions month at the church - so every Sunday they have another missionary come and share their ministry. ryan taught in the Sunday School hour then for the church service hour we gave our testimonies and shared our DVD. it was a great service and I am so glad we were able to be a part of it!

THANK YOU Groovers and Celebration Baptist Church!!!
www.celebratehim.org

:: FRIENDSHIP BAPTIST CHURCH ::

tonight we had the opportunity to visit FRIENDSHIP BAPTIST CHURCH in colerain, ohio. it is actually where my aunt and uncle-marla and dave veatch attend. while we were there we met so many friendly people that we actually had connections with that we didn't know about before.

ryan and i shared our testimonies and showed the dvd and then ryan did a great job presenting our ministry and giving a message. he always does! afterwards we were able to talk to many of the members - it was just so encouraging to us how kind and generous these people are. knowing that all these people will be praying for us is so encouraging!

we hope we were a blessing to these people as much as they were to us!

:: 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.

:: TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH ::

yesterday we were able to visit Temple Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Ohio. jayme's mom's aunt and uncle-and cousins-are members there. it was a great visit with the people there. everyone was so kind - it was a blessing to be there.

ryan was able to give a brief testimony in the morning service then in the evening service we both gave our testimonies, presented the ministry, and ryan preached a message. we were able to visit with the Norman family in the afternoon as she prepared lunch for us and her family-and Pastor Goudy and his wife Leigh came as well. it was a great time for all of us! jayme's parents also came to the evening service - thanks for your support!

thank you to Temple Baptist Church for all your kind words, generosity, and encouragement!

a little piece of paradise

on may 13th we started on a road trip to ft. walton beach, fl - the reason was for my cousin's wedding, but we also made a family vacation out of it too! my parents, brother, sister and her husband and our family all stayed in a condo together-it was wonderful to have a nice, relaxing week with my family. the weather was great. we were able to just walk out of the condo right to the beach or the poolside-whatever mood we were in that day! the week went by way too fast-as we headed back to "real life" on the 20th!

ryan turns 25!

on thursday, april 23rd ryan turned 25 years old. we were able to go out to eat for a nice dinner while ryan's parents watched eden.

that weekend we was able to go on a guys weekend out to springfield, missouri for a Mark Driscoll-Song of Solomon Conference. he had a great time and said the conference was amazing. so that was a nice little get-away for him

the next week we celebrated with his parents by going to one of his favorite places-Qdoba, a mexican burrito restaurant. then we went back to his parents house for dessert and presents!

i think he had a pretty good birthday! :) it's all downhill from here!

HAPPY EASTER

We hope everyone had a happy Easter! It is such a special time of year-especially because of what this holiday represents - OUR RISEN SAVIOR!

We got to spend Easter with both sides of the family-it was a great time with everyone!

Just wanted to share some pictures of our family on Eden's first Easter

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.