All posts by sislersinkenya

Why are we moving to Iowa?

February 21, 2019 sislersinkenya Leave a comment

Over the next few months we will be sending out a series of updates that will help to explain what we will be doing in Iowa with Young Life.

February: Why are we moving to Iowa?
March: What will Mark be doing with Young Life?
April: What will Liz be doing with YoungLives?
June: Financial update and directions of how to switch your support over to Young Life

Why are you moving to Iowa? Such a simple question and yet its much deeper then that. The simple answer is God has called us to minister to students throughout Iowa. The longer answer is that when God called us to follow Him we began an adventure that would lead us all over the world.

We met during the first day of Freshman orientation at the Moody Bible Inst. and were married 2 years later in June of 1998.

We had gone to the Moody Bible Inst. in Chicago where Mark majored in Youth Ministry and Liz in Elementary Education. During our senior year God clearly showed us that we weren’t ready for a pastorate position and led us to Christ’s Home for Children outside of Philadelphia, PA in August of 2000. Liz and I, at the age of 22, became foster parents for 8 children that had been abused both emotionally and physically. We were given 25 hours of training and thrown into parenthood. We thought we were ready… but we weren’t and only lasted 9 months.

It was here that God broke us down so that he could build us back up in Him. Our pride was stripped, our ability was questioned and our walk with Christ grew. We were challenged to follow God in new ways and to not put our trust in ourselves. In many ways we completely failed as foster parents. We were beat down and stretched in ways we had never been before.

God gave us a respite in May of 2001 leading us to minister at Gull Lake Bible Conference in Michigan. For 2 summers Liz and I led the children’s and youth portion of family camp and God reignited our passion for teaching and working with students. It was while we were there that I met John Beukema who hired me to be the youth pastor at Western Springs Baptist Church (WSBC). In our first interview he told me he thought Christ Home was our place of seasoning for the Lord. He said you both are far more ready to serve God after your experience there. I had no idea at the time how right he was. Liz and I had been through our first furnace and God had been refining us in ways we could not imagine.

In 2002 we set out to Western Springs, IL to serve the youth and share the love of Christ there. During our time there relationships were established that are still strong today.

In our 13 years at WSBC we saw God lead many students to Christ and encourage many others in their walk with Him. We are truly grateful for our time there.

As I look back, I see Gods blessing on our ministry there in the form of so many relationships and lives that were changed. I had the privilege of baptizing many of the students over the years I was their pastor. It was such a joy for Liz and I to also be a part of the pre-marital counseling and weddings for some of those same students.

Our last 4 of years at WSBC we felt God stirring us to be involved in foreign missions. We prayed for years about an opportunity and God directed us towards Naomi’s Village in Kenya. It was in Kenya that God revealed more about Himself to Liz and I and called us into a deeper walk with Him. We had become complacent and a little self-reliant and God brought us to Kenya to serve the orphans and the surrounding impoverished community. At the same time He revealed more about Himself and drew us closer. God has used Liz and I to be able to teach, develop and help in countless ways here in Kenya and at the same time this ministry has had a life changing impact on our family in immeasurable ways.

We came to Kenya with no time frame as to how long we might stay. I wrote a few years ago about how we had “burned the boats” a reference to completely leaving where we were to embrace all that God had for us. We have loved our time here. Thank you to all of you that have sacrificially given to our family so that we can serve Christ here in Kenya. We cannot say thank you enough!

We have learned that God calls people into missions not just so that they can teach and proclaim the message of God but so that God can teach and proclaim His gospel in the life of the missionary. We have seen God gently and at times forcefully point out our sin, our poor attitude and our ungodly desires so that we can live a life that would be honorable to Christ.

As believers in Christ we are all on a journey, whether we are pastors, school teachers, businessmen, store clerks, or missionaries. God is constantly calling us to go deeper with Himself. He continually and faithfully pursues us to a more passionate relationship. We have seen that in so many ways during our walk with Him.

So back to my first question!
During the end of our third year in Kenya God started to turn our hearts back to student ministry in the US. We fought it, we prayed for clarity, we were confused, but in the end through a short conversation with Dave Goy and 5 months of prayer, God showed us a mission field in Iowa that he wanted to plant our family in.

What’s interesting about following God is that He gives you a passion for wherever he leads you. When we moved to Kenya people thought we were crazy and yet we have thoroughly enjoyed our years here. We know that because God has called us to Iowa He will continue to give us a love for this new place as we seek to make much of Him there.

So why Iowa?
Because we know that there are students there that do not know Christ. There are teenage girls that are pregnant right now that have no idea who their Creator is. God has shown us that Iowa is the place where he wants us to be. We want to make much of God whether we live in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Kenya or Iowa. Thank you, to all of you that have been a part of our journey. We have been blessed by your friendship and it has been a privilege to pray for you. We will do everything we can to strive to make much of who God is. Thank you for continuing to pray for us and helping us serve in this next stage of life that is coming soon.

December 2018 Update

February 21, 2019 sislersinkenya Leave a comment

Merry Christmas
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

This verse always reminds us of the meaning of Christmas. It’s all about Jesus! In Kenya things look a lot different this time of the year then in the midwest and yet the importance of our Savior’s birth is the same. Jesus came to save us from our sins! We pray that Jesus draws you close to Himself this year as you seek to serve the savior.

We nt to thank all of you that help our family to minister here in Kenya. December is filled with many opportunities to share Christ with the people around us and we are privileged to be here on your behalf.

This year we continued our yearly tradition of handing out care packages and praying over the people that receive them. This is always one of our favorite things to do and this year the Huebers were with us! It is such an encouragement to have great friends share in the joy of our ministry here in Kenya.

It was a blessing to join the Huebers and Horns (Bri’s parents) to help provide a bunk bed to one of our Cornerstone families.

The teen houses, which sit on the same property of Naomi’s Village, are finally done and the older kids have moved in!

On Dec 1 we prayed over the dorm parents and walked each teen to their new room. These 2 houses will serve as the new living spaces for our older children at Naomi’s Village. Each house has their own dorm parents that will pray for, take care of and teach these kids more about following Jesus as they enter their teenage years.

We had a graduation celebration for the outgoing 8th graders at Cornerstone last week!

The graduation ceremony for both the Kindergarten class and the 8th grade class was the first official time the new gym was used.

Items for prayer:
Family: Over the next 6 months Liz and I will continue in our roles as Director of Operations and Spiritual Care (Mark) and Sponsorship Coordinator and Early Childhood Coordinator (Liz). Our hope and prayer is to finish well. We both know that God allowed us to be here in Kenya this year to train, model and continue to further the ministry of Naomi’s Village. Next summer we will be transitioning to Young Life. In our upcoming newsletters we will write more about what we will be doing with Young Life as well as continuing to update you on what God is doing here.

The Children at Naomi’s Village: Continue to pray for the Children at Naomi’s Village that they would see God in a transformational way.

Cornerstone School: The new school year in Kenya begins in January. Pray for the teachers to exemplify Christ to the students.

LEAP Academy Preschool: Pray for the new students and families that will start preschool in January.

Final year in Kenya

October 9, 2018 sislersinkenya 3 Comments

As many of you are probably already aware, this is our 4th and final year serving in Kenya. We are so grateful that God allowed us this season of living, serving, and growing in Kenya. Over the past 6 months, through a lot of prayer, God has clearly directed us to join Young Life and move to Des Moines, Iowa in July 2019. Our mission will be to help introduce Jr. and Sr. High students to the gospel and help them to grow in their faith. Through a long time friend, Dave Goy (Young Life Regional Director of IL and Iowa), we heard about the unique opportunity to reach teenagers through Young Life in Iowa.

I will be the regional Initiatives coordinator for all of Iowa. Part of my job will be to help develop new Young Life areas and form partnerships with churches to reach teens with the Gospel.

Liz will be looking to lead YoungLives in Des Moines which is the ministry to teenage moms through Young Life.

We are very excited about this next journey, yet are equally thankful that God is allowing us this year in Kenya. We will share more about our mission in Iowa as well as how to continue financially supporting us next year. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement over the last few months.

One of our goals in serving with Naomi’s Village has always been to empower and train the Kenyan staff with new techniques and abilities to lead. Over the last year Mark has worked with Tony (the Cornerstone Chaplain) with his messages and overall spiritual leadership at Cornerstone. This picture shows Tony teaching the character trait “purpose” to the first grade students.

The teachers at LEAP preschool are continuing to embrace the importance of play. They along with an NV intern put on a program for the community parents on how kids can learn through play. Liz will be helping to train another teacher as LEAP will be expanding in January.

The gym/community center at Cornerstone is in it’s final stages of completion! This new building will serve so many purposes for us as we seek to reach our community with the Gospel.

The construction of the two teenage houses is complete! We are now beginning to furnish the homes so that they are ready for the teens to move in. It is such a blessing to have a place for our teens to transition in to.

IMG_6571 3.jpg — Jaden is now in 6th grade!

IMG_6572 2.jpg — Josiah is in 4th grade!

RVA has lots of activities throughout the year for the kids to participate in and spend time with their friends. We are thankful for such a great elementary school that the boys have gotten to be a part of. These two pictures are from a Saturday field day at school.

June 2018

June 12, 2018 sislersinkenya Leave a comment

4O2A1697 — We will be coming back to America for our annual trip in July. Its hard to believe that our third year here in Kenya is almost in the books! We have enjoyed the ministry and being a part of what God is doing here in Kenya. While there have been some tough times, we have clearly seen Gods hand upon the children and the people here in Kenya. Thank you for praying for our family and helping us to be able to minister here. We are so grateful for your love and support and look forward to spending some meaningful time together in a few weeks.

FullSizeRender 6 copy.jpg — Mark has been leading spiritual trainings for the teachers at Cornerstone to help them better understand the gospel and how to live according to God’s word.

Jospeh, also teaching the Cornerstone teachers about spiritual growth.

Liz was also able to do some trainings with the teachers at Cornerstone on the importance of reading. We were able to help implement both read aloud times with the teachers and silent reading times for the students. This focus on reading has been well received and enjoyed by both students and teachers.

Jaden and Josiah had the opportunity to read aloud to Kindergarten and first grade classes at Cornerstone during days off of RVA.

Jaden and Josiah, along with their cousins, TJ and Talia, helped serve pizza and soda at Cornerstone during our monthly birthday celebration in April when they were off school.

The rainy season this year started in early March and has continued through June. Last year Kenya didn’t get enough rain which led to a drought, this year, there’s been too much rain! 150+ Kenyans have died from flooding this year. The roads down to Naomi’s Village and Cornerstone have become a disaster!

A Turf War: Here in Kijabe baboons are a common sight, however, this is what happens when two troops descend on the same territory. This video was filmed right outside our house.

Spring 2018

March 16, 2018 sislersinkenya Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered what teams that come to Naomi’s Village do while they are here? A team from Liz’s former elementary school, Linville Hill Christian School, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, came to Naomi’s Village from Feb. 26-March 6. In this letter we thought it might be interesting to let you all know what people do when they come to Naomi’s Village and Cornerstone.

Teams stay at the guest house on the Naomi’s Village property. There are 29 bunk beds along with a large common kitchen and living area in the guest house.

Teams can help lead Sunday School at Naomi’s Village.

You can also spend time with your sponsored child! This is Liz’s mom with the 4 boys she sponsors along with Jaden and Josiah.

LEAP preschool is located on the Naomi’s Village property and teams can get involved with our 42 preschool students through games, play, and reading.

Nightly devotions with the Naomi’s Village kids is also a wonderful time to share biblical truths, love, and prayers with the children before they go to bed.

Wednesday chapel service at Cornerstone Prep Academy is a great way for teams to interact with all the students at school. Teams can lead singing, games, and lesson time.

Teams also have the opportunity to lead a simple math game or art activity in the classrooms at Cornerstone in the afternoons.

Teams love to read aloud to the younger children. This is a very important part of helping children enjoy reading.

We encourage teams to get involved in serving some of the community kids families from Cornerstone. Here the team was able to purchase, deliver, and set up a bunk bed for two of our students at Cornerstone.

Before this family was blessed with this bunk bed, the children slept on the cold hard floor each night. The family was overjoyed with the generous gift!

The first Saturday of each month, we have a discipleship program in the morning at Cornerstone.

Teams can help lead a bible lesson, here the team is acting out the story of Paul’s release from prison.

The Cornerstone students love when teams just spend time to play with them!

The team took a Sunday afternoon hike up the mountain with the middle and big kids at Naomi’s Village to see the water source for Naomi’s Village.

We were blessed by the way the team encouraged our family as well as how we saw them pray for and encourage the kids at Naomi’s Village and Cornerstone. We also enjoy hosting teams at our house for pizza. If you would like to bring a team or your family and see how God is working here in Kenya let us know, we’d love to see you on this side of the world!:)

Christmas 2017

December 19, 2017 sislersinkenya 1 Comment

Merry Christmas

We pray that this Christmas season would be joyful as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We are grateful for your prayers and remember you often as we thank God for each of you.

Can you identify the song that this tipper plays when it “backs up”?

IMG_5486.JPG.jpeg — Mark organized 4 “tipper trucks” (as they are called here in Kenya) to dump 45 loads of crushed rock over two days on the main road connecting Maai Mahu to Kijabe. Every year this road gets very muddy during the rainy season making it very hard for vehicles to get up to the hospitals and Rift Valley Academy (Kijabe). The crushed rock fills in holes, ruts and ditches so that cars can pass easier then before. Each load of rock is hand shoveled out of the trucks and hand shoveled on the road to spread it out. Oh how it would be nice to have a tractor to do this!

IMG_5478.JPG.jpeg — Workers safety standards look a bit different in Kenya.

IMG_5491.JPG.jpeg — Large dump trucks cause quite the commotion and entertainment in the small village along the road.

Thank you to everyone who supported this road project!

End of the year giving:
If you would like to make a year end gift on our behalf please click here to be given info on how to do that. If you would like to mail a check you can send it to:

Naomi’s Village
P.O. BOX 270057
Flower Mound, TX 75027-0057
please put Mark and Liz Sisler on the memo line.

Thank you so much for partnering with us and allowing us to serve here in Kenya.

We went with Naomi’s Village for their annual family beach vacation! 56 kids + 17 staff + 3 missionary families all enjoyed God’s Ocean creation together.

Josiah playing tag in the pool with Evans.

Monitor Lizards lurked around the resort we stayed at.

4O2A1739 — We are thankful to continue working alongside family as well this holiday season.

Fall 2017

October 24, 2017 sislersinkenya Leave a comment

4O2A9061.jpg.jpeg — As we enter our third school year here in Kenya I want to reiterate Gods purpose for Naomi’s Village and Cornerstone to you so that our purpose here is clear. We feel that the purpose of Naomi’s Village is to raise up a generation of orphans to push back the darkness in Kenya and beyond. Through discipleship, education, proper nutrition, and medical care we will succeed in training leaders that love Jesus and want to join Him on the mission that they were created for. God has brought our family to be a part of this incredible ministry and we are grateful to serve Him here in Kenya!

DSC_0175 copy 2.jpg — Cornerstone Preparatory Academy exists to provide the education not only for the children from Naomi’s Village but also to the impoverished kids in the surrounding communities around the school. Cornerstone provides education, discipleship, community development, and medical care to the least of these in hopes that we will one day send out many kids to the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the Early Childhood Coordinator for Naomi’s Village, Liz has played an instrumental role in helping to start a preschool here called “LEAP Academy.” It opened the end of September at Naomi’s Village for both the orphans at Naomi’s Village along with preschool age community kids. This serves as a runway towards entering Cornerstone Prep Academy.

Orientation day at the preschool, the moms of the community preschool kids were happy and overwhelmed with the resources that their children will have access to.

LEAP stands for “Learning, Enrichment, Academics, & Play” this is the basis for our preschool. We are using Kenyan curriculum but introducing the idea of learning through enrichment and play.

Many of you know that I (Mark) became the director of Operations and Spiritual Care at Cornerstone earlier this year. This is Barasa (the director of Cornerstone) and myself. We work closely together making sure that Cornerstone honors God in all that it does. I am now more closely involved in more aspects of Cornerstone such as hirings, vision, and overall running of the school.

There’s quite a few construction projects currently happening. This is the beginning of the gym and community center at Cornerstone Prep Academy.

Foundation is laid for the teenage houses at Naomi’s Village.

DSCF7135 (1).jpg — Construction of an open-air classroom for the preschool at Naomi’s Village.

The school year for Jaden and Josiah at RVA has being going well as they adjust to 5th grade and 3rd grade. Jaden even has a fellow Chicagoland friend, unfortunately he cheers for the wrong team. 🙂

Josiah and Jaden help us with discipleship Saturdays at Cornerstone.

Many of you asked if the monkeys were still around our house. Here’s a video of the audience I often have while making dinner.

June 2017 update

June 13, 2017 sislersinkenya 1 Comment

Over the last couple of months we have enjoyed the blessing of some much needed rain. Rain is so important to the people here in order for their crops to grow and their live stock to remain productive. Please continue to pray that God would send more rain as the amount we have received is less then normal.

I had a great time sharing about the ministry of Naomi’s Village and Cornerstone during my time back in Chicago. God raised up many new sponsors and one time gifts towards the ministry here in Kenya a caption

4152071297_651768da84_z — Our family will be coming back to America in July for our annual trip home.

Upcoming trip back to the States:
We will be coming back to America in July and August. I have listed some of the dates of where we will be so that we can see as many of you as possible.

July 13-July 22: We will be in Pennsylvania visiting Liz’s family.

July 23: Sunday Worship at Ebenezer Mennonite Church, Bluffton Ohio.

July 26-August 15: We will be in the Chicagoland area.

Please let us know if there’s a time you would like to get together.

July 30: Sunday Worship at Western Springs Baptist Church (We will be presenting about our ministry during a luncheon following the 9:30am service)

Jaden and Josiah helped with story time with the kindergarten kids at Cornerstone during their break from school. Liz is heading up a committee that is working to launch a new preschool for the community that will open in September. This preschool will serve as a runway to better prepare the kids for school at Cornerstone.

Liz is continuing her work with the preschool kids with regular sensory playtime. This picture shows many kids enjoying learning through their 5 senses with pudding painting.

The construction has finally begun on the new teenage housing. We are excited to get these two houses built so that our teens have a new place to develop adult skills and grow into the men and women God has created them to be.

The toddlers at NV all enjoy when Jaden comes down to play.

Josiah’s hanging out before church at NV with Onesemus and Eric.

Maasai Mara Safari

April 5, 2017 sislersinkenya 1 Comment

We had an incredible opportunity to go to the Maasai Mara, which is part of the Serengeti, about 3 hours from our house earlier this week. We enjoyed God’s creation and beauty on safari.

There were 3 male lion brothers in the pride we saw. To be that close to their might was terrifying and amazing!

Baby baboons are cuter here than my backyard!

The few resident wildebeest that don’t move with the wildebeest migration across the Serengeti.

The Rhinos had armed guards to protect against poachers.

the Crested Crane…national bird of Uganda

Ox Pecker birds eating bugs off Cape Buffalo

IMG_0272 2.JPG — So apparently giraffe do like to sit down sometimes!

Family Maaisai blanket photo…these blankets are uses by the Maaisai people for clothing/jackets.

Boom Sling Snake…one of the most poisonous in Africa!

The beauty and bigness of the African Savanah!

IMG_0148 2.JPG — Jaden and Josiah loved all the safari drives!

March 2017

March 8, 2017 sislersinkenya Leave a comment

Mark will be returning to the Western Springs area from May 4-15 in hopes of raising up new sponsors for the kids at cornerstone.

In January 2017 we welcomed 60 new students from the community of Longonot to Cornerstone Academy. These new students have joined the other 100 students that are currently receiving a first-rate education, proper nutrition, discipleship, and medical care. In just a short amount of time the new students have made so much progress. Each of these new students need sponsors that will be praying for them, and believing in the ministry enough to monthly support their journey out of poverty.

If you would be able to host a get together at your home where you invite your friends to hear about the opportunity to sponsor some of the new students please let me know.

Passing out food at Christmas. Living in Kenya has brought new traditions to our family. Starting last year our family joined the Naomi’s Village kids and their tradition of passing out food bags to the needy people that live around Naomi’s Village.

We are trying to instill in our own kids and the kids at NV that we are called to serve as Christ modeled. We packed our car with kids and bags and trekked from house to house bringing the message of Christ and a bag full of cooking supplies to brighten their Christmas celebration. The families were so thankful to be given a bag full of Kenyan cooking essentials to make their favorite foods.

Jaden holding a baby Croc at Mamba Village in Nairobi.

Liz is embracing her role as Early Childhood Coordinator with sensory play for the toddlers at NV, helping with caregiving trainings, and chairing the committee that’s planning a preschool for the community for September.

Sensory play with the toddlers at Naomi’s Village.

The first Wednesday chapel of the month is dedicated to the 1 of the nine character traits we are implementing. Following the chapel I go from class to class helping the students to better understand the biblical basis for the trait and how it can be learned. I also work with the teachers monthly to help them reinforce the trait. Zeal and curiosity were the traits for Jan and Feb.

Mark continues to lead the discipleship program at Cornerstone that takes place on the first Saturday of the month. We have seen some growth in the kids as we have continued to share the gospel and answer their questions about living out their faith.

Discipleship Saturday at Cornerstone, is a great opportunity to introduce new fun learning ideas to the Kindergarten class which is made up of a lot of new community kids.

	Rachel Putnam on Spring 2020 Update
	Carol Lenz on Move to Iowa–Fall 2019
	sislersinkenya on Final year in Kenya
	Becka Asper on Final year in Kenya
	Ken Mulhall on Final year in Kenya

Sislers in Iowa