Incredible People

We have started the process of saying "goodbye", soaking up our last experiences.  We were able to worship with our friends at Indonesian church in Indianapolis.  One of the most amazing women at that church is our dear friend Hilda.  She is a loving and caring friend.  She is also a godly woman who has demonstrated true sacrifice and service as she has cared for her husband who has Alzheimers.  I love talking to her because she shares about how God has been faithful to her.  She has been determined to care for her husband at home, even when her own body can barely stand it.  God has given her strength and has helped her find an amazing helper.  We are really thankful for our friendship with her.   It was hard to express fully what a great impact her testimony has been to us.

We also spent our last Sunday with one of our church families.  Celebration Church has been a part of our work since our last time overseas.  They have supported us and prayed for us.  While we were in Anderson these two years, we attended there on Sundays.  We have gotten to know the people their personally and they have become a family to us.   Ryan and Niko were baptized there and they prayed for us.  We have been so blessed by their love and encouragement.  They challenge us to grow with the Lord and we are thankful for each and everyone in that congregation.  We  will miss them so much.  

We have two more church visits to make.  On the weekend of June 9th we will be with our supporting church in Glen Burnie, MD.  On the weekend of June 16th we will be with our Madison Park Church of God family.  God has blessed us.  We are so thankful for these churches and they way that they have supported us--financially, emotionally, and spiritually.   What an encouragement as we face our final weeks here!

Worship at Indonesian church

Our amazing friend, Hilda and her husband James

Prayer at CCAH

Pastor Mike

Pastor Mike and Lady Melanie

Sister Juanita

Two precious girls from Sunday School- Erika and Natalee

This Last Year

God gave me the greatest opportunity this last year, to teach at a local Christian school.  It has been a good experience for me.  As I walk away from it soon, I am most impressed by the students that I have met.  Some of them come from difficult walks of life.  When I hear some of their stories, my heart aches.  Some of them have met the Lord, and He is making a difference in their lives. Some of them don't really know much about who He is or what He has for them...but they are hearing about Him. I hope some day they will experience His love for themselves.  Some of them have struggled with seeing authenticity of faith at school, and I think that was the case for some of the kids we worked with overseas too.  The chapel speaker this last week really made me pause to think about that more.  He talked about the parable of the talents and the three servants.  What stuck out to me this time was that the third servant (who buried the talent instead of investing), was also a "servant of the master".  He was also a follower of God, yet the master condemned him to hell because he did not live in obedience to God.  The speaker challenged us to think about if we are really living for God, or are we just paying faith lip service.  I do want to be a person who lives for the Lord in all ways, and in doing so I want others to see Him.

I will miss the students at this school and I will be praying for them as they learn and grow. 

The student body worshipping together 

The worship team

Hands for Jesus--an incredible sign language worship experience

My dear friend who leads this ministry

Some of my craziest 7th grade girls

And, one of my craziest 7th grade boys

Information

We just want to thank you for all of your encouraging words to us since we announced our plans to accept a position at Tri Tunggal school in Semarang, Indonesia this year.  You have really been a blessing to us and have been one of the ways that He has confirmed this plan for us.   We are thankful for your encouragement and support.  

One of the most amazing pieces of news to share with you is that Madison Park Church of God, Anderson, Indiana, which is one of our “home” churches and has supported us since we first went overseas in 1998, is going to be helping us in our process of heading to Indonesia.  They are going to be filling in for us in some of the ways that the Church of God mission organization did.  If you feel led to help us financially, you can make your tax-deductible contribution to us through Madison Park Church of God.  They will make sure the funds get to us and will provide you with a receipt for your giving.  They will also be contributing some funds to get us on our way and will be handling some administrative things for us.  We are so grateful for this and love the family of believers we have at Madison Park!  This is another affirmation for us, that God is providing every step of the way.

We are in the process of sorting, selling, and packing.  However, currently we are doing that alongside school and work so we are not progressing very quickly!   Casey will be finishing up at his job in another week and will hopefully be able to focus more concentrated energies on getting ready to go.  We will also be doing some traveling over this next month and a half.  We have family and friends to visit almost every weekend until we leave.   We are excited that Ryan and Niko are going to be baptized on May 26^th with our other local church family, at Celebration Church in Anderson.  We will be saying goodbye to our “family” there on the 26^th.  We hope to spend time with our friends at the Church of God in Glen Burnie, MD on June 9^th and then say goodbye to our Madison Park “family” on June 16^th.  Our plan is to start our long drive to Washington state on June 17^th.    

As you can imagine there is a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time!  Please pray that we will have the energy we need to get everything done.   Please also pray that God will continue to put the pieces together for us in this transition, as He goes before us.   We would ask for prayers too as we will all walk through our own difficult “goodbyes” in the weeks and months ahead. 

We know that God has great things ahead.  We know that He wants us to make a difference in the world, and we take this new assignment with excitement and with the intentional focus of being His hands and feet. 

Thank you for love and support,

Casey, Sharon, Ryan, Niko and Chase   

For financial contributions:  Madison Park Church, P.O. Box 2479, Anderson, IN   46018 *make a note- For Casey and Sharon Bernhardt

(We will provide a mailing address for mail and packages to Indonesia when we arrive, but any financial gifts or donations should go to us at the above address.)

The Art of Packing

In my family, Dad was the "packer".  With great precision and care, he packed everything that we would need to transport over the ocean to Thailand.  He had excellent packing skills.  He was packing in metal barrels.  I remember the rusty look of the barrels and how he carefully wrapped the Corelle dishes, taking great care to keep anything from breaking.  He did that with our books too.  Everything made it to/from Southeast Asia, and I think only one dish got broken through all those years.  He had skills.  He also took the same care with packing when he would get ready for a camping trip.  He would wrap all of his food and supplies, taking care to get them in the smallest packages possible so that he could fit it all in his backpack.  You might say it was obsessive, but it had a goal.  He wanted to take as much as possible in his baggage.  The same was true if he packed for the airplane trips or he packed barrels to ship.

Packing is an art.  It takes a lot of precision to get things to fit the right way and to use the least space.  It is hard to pack right to keep things from getting damaged.  Somehow I picked it up from my Dad, but not through directly being taught.  It is either genetic or came from watching him.  It probably also improves with experience, and I guess I've been moving somewhere a lot in my life.  I know about how full each trunk can be and still meet the 50lb weight limit for the airplane.  I have learned to pack with dessicant packets and plastic to keep things safe for the shipment or for storage.  And I've learned about the art of getting the most possible items in.  Yes, I might border on obsessive about it and I end up with a lot of the packing work for myself, but it has been successful.  And maybe, through watching me, the boys will become packing geniuses.  I'll have to get ready to entrust the job to them some day!   (Dad, thanks for the instruction!)