Our departure day is here!

We have thought about this day for over a year now, how it would feel to say goodbye to everything familiar, get on an airplane at Ohare airport, and watch the Chicago skyline disappear one last time. Now that it’s happening it feels surreal!

This past month we’ve stayed at 9 different places in 6 different states; IL, OH, PA, IN, NE, CO. We’ve been able to have a lot of fun memories followed by many goodbyes.

At our training at MTI, one of the teachers told us it should hurt to say goodbye.  He explained that when we are loved well, and we love well in return, it hurts to say goodbye.  As we look back at our last month it has hurt to say goodbye.  We have been well loved by you, thank you.  Our hope is that you have felt our love as well.

When we returned from our youth discipleship trip to Colorado on Sunday, it hit me that there were more goodbyes to give.  As I hugged each youth and said goodbye I knew that I was no longer going to be their youth pastor.  I fought back the emotion for the first 15 hugs but then that lump in the back of my throat developed that makes it hard to speak.   I will miss each of you and it was a privilege to be your youth pastor.

Today is the day we have prayed for, the day so many of you have prayed for with us.  We are so excited to begin this new adventure and feel thankful to be sent out by you to make much of Christ’s name to the nation of Kenya.

Psalm 105:1,3-5a,7a
1Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
3Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
5Remember the wonders he has done….
7He is the Lord our God;

Items for prayer and praise:

Travel: Pray that our flights would go smoothly and all of our 28 bags would make it safely to Kenya.

Transition: Pray that we would adjust and settle in quickly to our new home in Kenya.

Relationships with Naomi’s Village: Pray that God would help us to develop meaningful relationships with the kids and staff.    
 

For His Name,
Mark and Liz Sisler

³I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Phil 1:3-5
 
As we prepare for our missionary journey to Kenya this verse seems so timely.  Liz and I cannot express the joy that God has brought us through you as supporters.  Each day before bed time we pray for 4 of our sending partners.  Liz wrote down every individual or family on a card along with each child from Naomi’s Village.  Before bedtime we each take a card and pray for one family and one child by name.  We thank God for you by name about every three weeks!  We praise God that in His goodness he laid on your heart a desire to partner with us.  We praise God that you listened to His call and stepped out in faith.  We pray that God would use you to make much of His name in the areas that He has placed you.
Thank you for your encouragement over the last year. God has used this to grow our faith in Him immensely.  
We have felt God’s presence with us through your prayers as we’ve entered the “chaos” stage of this journey as MTI labeled it for us. This past week we’ve said goodbye to our two pet cats as they moved to another home. Said goodbye and packed everything going with us to Kenya as we moved out of our house. And will now live out of a suitcase for the next month.

Our departure date is only 29 days away.  July 29^th marks the start of a new adventure, a new home, and a new ministry.  Thank you for making this journey possible. 
       Here is a time line of our next month.
July 1:  We say goodbye to our house at 116 Cascade.  July 6 is the closing date to sell our house.

July 3-10:  We will be on vacation in Pennsylvania with Liz’s family and then with friends in Indiana.

July 12: I will be preaching my last sermon at Western Springs Baptist Church. If you would like to attend the service but don’t normally attend WSBC, our service starts at 9:30am.  The address is 4475 Wolf Rd Western Springs IL.  Liz and I would love to see each of you!  Following the service there will be a lunch reception.

July 18-26 We will be leading our last high school summer trip to Colorado.  Please pray that our group would experience God in a profound way that would draw us closer to Christ.

July 29, 2015 at 4:30pm:  We will be boarding a plane for Kenya, it’s a one way ticket, wow!

Items for prayer and praise:

House closing:  We are supposed to close on July 6th, please pray for a smooth uneventful process!

Mini van praise:  God provided a buyer for our van that is allowing us to keep the van until we leave, truly a huge praise!

Relationships with the kids at Naomi’s Village: Pray that God would help us to quickly develop meaningful relationships with the kids once we arrive.   
 
My Brothers family at MTI: Would you pray for their family that their time at MTI would draw them closer to Christ and help them to soak in tools that will help them adjust quickly once they arrive in Kenya in August.

For His Name,