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Jul 01

Three Generations from Ridgetop Church Embark on Mission Trip to Kenya

Paola Mora Zepeda

Cassandra Cassidy (left), Cyra Cassidy, and Brenda Dempsey pose together for a photo. Earlier this year, the family trio joined Maranatha for a mission trip to Kenya.

Cyra Cassidy (left), Brenda Demsey (second from right), and Cassandra Cassidy (far right), pose with some of the local people at the Kajiado Adventist School and Rescue Center. Volunteers helped paint five newly constructed school buildings and conducted Vacation Bible Schools in the community.

Three generations from the Ridgetop, Tenn., Church traveled together on a short-term mission trip to Kenya. Brenda Dempsey; her daughter, Cassandra Cassidy; and her granddaughter, Cyra Cassidy, joined with 52 other volunteers, including students from Madison Academy in Madison, Tenn., to participate in a Maranatha project in Kajiado, Kenya.

Throughout the two-week trip, the family trio helped paint five newly constructed buildings at the Kajiado Adventist School and Rescue Center, and conducted Vacation Bible Schools in the surrounding communities. This initiative holds particular significance as the Kajiado Adventist School provides a safe haven for Maasai girls, offering them refuge from cultural practices such as child marriages and female genital mutilation.

According to Dempsey, who had dreamed of going on mission trips abroad for years, their encounter with the local community was particularly touching. Schoolchildren expressed their appreciation by crafting gifts for each volunteer, including carved animals and personalized bracelets.

“It was amazing seeing firsthand the love and kindness of people,” said Dempsey. “You are left in awe at their enthusiasm to praise God and thank Him for what they have. I felt very blessed, especially as I shared [this experience] with my daughter and granddaughter.”

Cyra Cassidy is also thankful to have shared this experience with her family. She adds that being with them helped her get over her fears.

“It meant a lot to me to have gone with my mom and grandma and some of my closest friends,” said Cyra Cassidy. “I was worried that I wouldn’t know what to do and worried that I wasn’t going to be able to help, but I feel like [being with my family] helped me step out my comfort zone and try something new.”

As she reflects on the journey alongside her mother and daughter, Cassandra Cassidy emphasizes the importance of taking part of God’s mission as a family. For her, this mission trip was not only an opportunity for service but also a chance to instill in her daughter a desire to serve.

“We role model behaviors that we want our children to adapt to,” said Cassandra Cassidy. “My hope is that [my daughter] will see the importance of mission work … and that she will want to replicate that when she is a mother. My hope is that she feels that reward, and that it helps her to draw closer to Christ in the process.”

Kentucky-Tennessee | July 2024

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