On the busy Sunday of June 12, Ashley Bostrom and Brett Chandler gave a presentation about their work and lives in Ethiopia. They each served two years in the Peace Corps, from summer 2012 through summer 2014. They shared about the culture, communities, and people they worked with and about their lives working and teaching in the 14th poorest country in the world. “Community” was a key word they used; everything they experienced revolved around it, peoples’ identity was bound to it, and faith was an extension of it.
Ashley and Chandler talked about their upcoming move to Ghana, where they will teach at Lincoln Community School, an international school that partners with organizations like Beacon House – a home and school for orphaned and vulnerable children, providing a family atmosphere to meet physical, educational, emotional, and spiritual needs. They will live and teach in Accra, the capital and largest city in Ghana, for two years.

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This was Ashley and Chandler’s last Sunday at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. As they leave us, they will be married in Minnesota and begin that life journey together. They will move to Ghana at the end of July. In our 10:30 am worship, the Rev. Susan Slaughter led us in prayer as we sent them forth with our community’s blessing over their lives and work:

We pray that God will go before you, stand beside you, watch over you, cover you with himself, and give you shelter beneath his wings. We pray that you will share that Good News of Jesus Christ who brings freedom to all people. We send you forth carrying that Good News, that seed to scatter, that it will bring forth fruit to glorify God and feed the world. Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.  Amen

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Ashley is an occasional blogger; follow her online at https://standwhereistood.wordpress.com/
See photos on Flickr.