Daniel and Cherish Benedict

Daniel and Cherish both graduated from the School of Discipleship and then joined our staff team in 2019. Daniel is the Assistant to the Director of the School of Discipleship. He is involved in teaching Bible classes, helping with school admissions, and assisting the students on a daily basis. Cherish serves in the office as our part time Receptionist and Registrar. Her job entails answering phones and emails, registering people for retreats and summer camps, and assisting in finances as needed. They have a daughter, Caroline, and a son, Edmond.

News From The Benedicts

Winter 2025

Dear friends and family,

I am taking advantage of naptime to write this newsletter. Naptime is truly a blessing from the Lord! As I type this, I am realizing that our intended quarterly newsletters are turning into annual newsletters. I do apologize for the silence from us. Neither Daniel or I are big social media users but we’ve tossed around the idea of starting a ministry update facebook group. If that interests you, could you shoot us a message? Ideally, we’d be able to put quick updates and snapshots of our ministry and lives on there.

Hebrews 10:23
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

Ranch Update:

My last letter was sent out right after our new group of students had arrived. That group (class of 2024-25) have since graduated…but I’m getting ahead of myself. Our Christmas Party 2024 was a wonderful success and we were able to visit with many people from the community as well as several alumni. In January we had our Youth Winter Blast Retreat, S.A.L.T. Retreat, and Men’s Retreat. February came and went along with our Couples Retreat and two conferences that we send our students to (Faith Biblical Conference, and a Christian camping conference). In March we had our Quilter’s Retreat, Family Fun Weekend, and our Mother Daughter Retreat. April brought our Photography Summit Retreat and our Mexico Missions Trip. During the Spring months we are busy with getting ready for our summer camp season and when May hits we are full throttle prepping and counting down the days until that first week of camp! We also had our Father Daughter Retreat, Horse Lover’s Retreat, Father Son Retreat, and – my personal favorite – our Open House. Our Open House is the perfect event to come see what we are all about and it’s FREE to attend! Then BAM June was upon us with our first week of summer camp and the craziness of staff training! And wow, what a wonderful, grace-filled summer it was! Daniel mentored one of our guy programming staff over the summer, he also preached for one week of Summer Camp and led music for chapels. The theme for the summer was “Draw Near,” taken from Hebrews 10:19-25. He was very busy with admissions and recruiting students for the next school year (which paid off as you’ll see later on in this is letter). I was able to meet with four different girls each week during summer as well as host a fellowship group composed of half of the girl counselors. I loved those sweet conversations and even though I was technically the mentor I left those meetings so encouraged by each of those girls’ dedication to serving their God. I also worked in the office two mornings a week. The kids tagged along with me to the office and I was surprisingly able to get some work done each day.

Summer camp ended with our Family Camp weekend and the following weekend we said goodbye to our class of 2024-25. Caroline adored Savannah and Esther (our advisees) and it was so sad to say goodbye. Savannah and Esther made such a big impact on Caroline and her favorite day was Tuesdays when they would come down for dinner.

We welcomed the next group of students in September. It is a large class of 37 students! The girls in our group are Kathryn (a 2nd year in the barn), Cassidy (a 1st year), and Maddie (a 1st year). We have really enjoyed getting to know them! We are looking forward to our Christmas Party in December. Caroline will be joining the kids’ choir that I have the awesome privilege of directing!

Personal Update:

Daniel is currently taking, and quite busy with, Hebrew 1 and Exposition of Isaiah in Seminary. He is learning so much but we are counting down the days when he can finally graduate! Daniel is often the office’s hero as he is the “tech guy.” Every time the internet has gone out or someone doesn’t know how to create a pdf from a word format, he swoops in and saves the day! That along with his normal admissions work keeps him quite busy. He does pulpit supply for a church in NY along with preaching once a month at our church. I have been doing a lot of harvesting and preserving of my garden (Caroline loves to help). I am working each morning in the office while our current receptionist is on a 3-month missions’ trip. It’s been fun being back in the office daily but it is rather difficult with two littles running around. Thankfully, we have a big gym in our office building and the kids love to run around, ride bikes, and the like in there while I work.

Caroline turned 3 in August and is now basically a teenager…at least she acts like it most of the time. She is very helpful around the house and loves to color, read, ride horses, and dance! Edmond turned 1 at the end of October. He is all boy! He loves to demolish Caroline’s towers, throw balls, and play in the toilet when my back is turned. The two are unbelievably fun and Daniel and I have learned so much about God’s patience and lovingkindness toward us through parenthood.

We were able to have 2 little getaways this year to spend with family. In May we went to the part of New York where Daniel grew up and stayed in a lovely house on the river with the Benedict in-laws. Daniel was able to get a lot of fishing in with his Dad and brother-in-law, we did a lot of singing, got together with some amazing friends, and the cousins were able to play and have a great time together! In August we went to Maine to spend a week with my whole side of the family. We played a lot of ball tag, pickleball, went camping, floated down the river, visited Story Land (which brought back so many memories of my childhood), and Daniel and I were able to hike a mountain without any kids! We are so incredibly blessed with wonderful families that love and support us. Our families are our biggest supports and greatest cheerleaders.

Thank you for all the love and support while we do life here at MMR. We are so blessed by not only our local community but by those far and wide who are praying for us and encouraging us along the way.

Serving our Lord together,

Daniel, Cherish, Caroline, and Edmond Benedict

Prayer Requests:

• Daniel as he begins to teach Apologetics to the students in December
• Health for the family as we have been dealing with one sickness after the next
• The new group of students that they will be receptive to discipleship and desire to be equipped to share the gospel
• That all of us staff won’t grow weary but that we would serve joyfully and courageously