We are in Wildwood!

We are in Wildwood! Our family is settled in. After a week of staff orientation and preparation, we are excited for students to arrive on Tuesday, June 1st.

And with Memorial Day weekend...summer has arrived! Overnight, the Wildwood population goes from a few hundred to thousands. One day, the shops are all boarded up and the only people on the boardwalk are the few local runners getting their daily exercise. The next, the shops are open and their loud music and flashy t-shirts lure in vacationers. The funnel cakes and french fries can be smelt for miles. And then there are the seagulls....well I am sure they were there before everyone arrived, but now they are in full attack mode at the sight of anything slightly resembling food. (probably my best motivation to not eat food on the boardwalk! They freak me out!) The beach is overflowing with families, friends, college students, high school seniors (celebrating senior week) and lots of international students. It is quite the atmosphere!

Joe and I are really looking forward to getting to know our neighbors this summer. The neighbor to our right is a girl from Turkey. The neighbors to our right are a large group of girls who just graduated from high school. Please pray that God would give us many opportunities to build relationships with them.

Please pray:

• for our outreach tomorrow on the boardwalk from 1-2:30; that we would follow the Lord's leading to the people He would have us talk to.
  
• that we would start relationships with many store owners, workers and vacationers
  
• that many people would hear the Gospel and have an opportunity to respond to Jesus.
  
• that each person on our staff team would have their faith stretched and would really lean hard on Jesus this summer.
  
• for the students as they arrive that God would continue preparing their hearts for their time here this summer.

Thank you for partnering with us! Stay tuned for more updates (and more pictures!).

Email us (Joe: joe.cassel@uscm.org or Jen: jen.cassel@gmail.com) and let us know how we can be praying for you.

-Jen

Wrap up!

Can you believe it? The semester is fully over. Students are in exams or on their way home. Today, as a staff team, we just finished our semester evaluation and fall planning. There is so much to celebrate and look forward to. Sometime over the next few days, you will be getting our April/May newsletter with a list of things to celebrate from the semester. Enjoy reading about what God has done!

Last night, we had some of Siena leaders over for dinner to celebrate the end of the school year. We had pizza and wings. Then, we walked up to the local ice cream shop. We finished the night by playing Monopoly Slam (card game). I am so thankful for each of them. They each bring such unique personalities and giftings to the table, and God has used each of them in a different way on the Siena campus this semester. It was great to invite them into our home and give them a chance to rest and have fun. It was awesome to be a part of a conversation they started at the ice cream shop about how they can more effectively reach their campus with the Gospel in the Fall. I was so encouraged by how THEY brought it up. God is doing something in each of their hearts to help them live out of an eternal perspective.

So...with that part of the year completed, we look to Wildwood. I am sure you have all received a letter from us in the mail about support for the summer and our goal of $3,500. We are praising Him as we see Him provide! Please keep praying for these funds to be raised up. We start our time in NJ on the 16th in my hometown of Moorestown. If you will be around, we would love to see you. Please let us know. We head to Wildwood on May 22nd. Please pray for this time of transition.