Mark and Shari Carpenter

Mark and Shari came on staff in 2001. Mark is the Director of Operations. Mark heads up all construction and maintenance, in addition to teaching the School Of Discipleship class on Servant Leadership. Shari enjoys assisting in the Buckboard store and hosting in their home. God has blessed them with six adult children (five of them married), and 10 beautiful grandchildren.

Carpenter Connection

March 2024

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30

This portion of scripture has been extremely challenging for me over the last several months. A book titled “Gentle and Lowly”, by Dane Ortlund, has been very helpful in gleaning what I’m sharing with you. The portion of Christ being not just along with us or beside us, but yoked together with us. He describes himself as being “gentle and lowly”; giving us true rest for our souls. When do you and I truly find rest? We can find it when we are allowing Christ to teach us how to take his yoke and learn from him. We can find rest while surrendering our will to his and working in complete unison with him. This helps us accomplish what his desire is for our lives without the fear of failure, insecurity, or burden of being alone; placing all our faith and trust in him.

Operations

Operations has been very busy this winter. We have been blessed with a great team of three female students and three male students. It has been great to work with them! They have all had the experience of driving tractor, making trash runs, and the opportunity to get some welding experience. They have also been learning the maintenance of the facilities, vehicles, and farm equipment.

We have begun some road clearing on the newly acquired Conklin property. The road will provide better access to the property from the ranch and allow timber to be removed. Pray that we can raise the funds to remodel the house for future staff housing. It will provide a wonderful home for staff!

The main construction focus for this spring will be the fort project. Money has been raised to construct a 24×24 two-story housing unit and an entrance gate. Our goal is to have it ready for use at camp this summer. This facility will provide an additional venue for added ministry opportunities in the future. When fully contructed, it will have a second “turret” and be a fenced in fort. We are very exited!

Mexico

The 2024 missions trip is happening as I write this. It seems as though the twelve months between the Easter trips passes more quickly each year. We have a large group once again. Praise the Lord! Lord willing, we have plans to drill a water well in another village. This small village is approximately 15 minutes from the mission in Rio Chico. Pastor Thomas had mentioned this village’s need for water and with being in Rio Chico for two days this year, we will try to drill there. Other work in Rio Chico will be greenhouse related, farming tasks, construction, and mechanical work. If we can accomplish a successful well in this village, the plan is to have the drilling equipment moved to another town called San Jose Babicora in anticipation of a return in April/May to drill in a remote mountain village that is currently carrying water from a source that is of great distance. After working in Rio Chico, we will go with Pastor Alex to Babicora to provide day camps and work on construction projects. Our plan is to finish the work on a guest house that was started last year. We have more block to lay and a roof to construct. A septic tank was completed last year, so we hope the house can be used after this trip. Our goal, after completing the needed water wells in this mountainous area, is to continue to support Pastor Alex and the church there.

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. We could not serve here without all of you. We feel so blessed to have your partnership in the work here and we pray God will continue to bless each of you.

In His Service,
Mark and Shari

Prayer Requests:

• Mark’s sister, Carol, has been diagnosed with bladder cancer
• Mexico trip
• Summer camp
• Vehicle decision

All gifts are tax deductible and can be made out to MMRM, designated for us, and sent to the Ranch at 101 Rodeo Drive, Spring Creek, PA 16436 or online using the ‘donate’ button below.