My wonderful missionary sister just showed up in the local newspaper! What a surprise! You can read all about it here:
http://www.ydr.com/rss/ci_15731725
It seems that my mischievous dad made the connection between the York Daily Record and Kelly. Please read the article and comment!
Late news by now… but on May 29 my best friend and his wife received a wonderful gift from God. For the first time ever, Kendall and Jessica have been entrusted with the miracle of a human child.
My moment of glory with Julianna Shrock
From her father’s words:
Born on 5-29-10 at 9:15 A.M.
7.5 lbs.
20 -3/4″ Long
100% Beautiful
100% Loved by both parents = 200% Loved
Big congratulations Kendall and Jessica!
Every Friday since I’ve come home from California, my family has hosted an free community food and fellowship event which we’ve named Share and Care Cafe. The turn-out for this night has been incredible, and we savor the wonderful time spent with old and new friends.
These nights have been incredibly handy when the need arose to ship hundreds of Esh Family CDs. I organized a shipping party for three of the Cafe nights so far, and because of the help I’ve received, I’m finally feeling caught up with the orders.
I wish that I could have captured more footage as a tribute to the wide variety of people who helped with this effort, but I only finally pulled the video camera out this last Friday. From the clips captured, I’ve produced a small YouTube video for you to enjoy:
CDs may still be ordered through visiting EshFamily.org
Words cannot easily express the amazement and gratefulness that I feel towards God right now.
Last week I started courting a wonderful woman by the name of Naomi Swarey. She is currently living near my sister in Chang Mai, Thailand.
This is incredibly exciting news for me, not because we are already committed to each other, but because we are both sincerely examining the possibility of life-long friendship. Even better, we believe that God has led us to this point, and we’re both committed to accept any outcome that He might bring. To top it all off, my sister started courting about a month ago. Now that I have started with her best friend, we have become one big happy circle of love bugs! 
Through the whole process, which started in my own heart during my visit in Thailand, and led to many extensive conversations with God, parents, pastors, friends, and finally with her, I have been awed by the way that God worked out each detail.
As we move forward together, there are many unknowns, and the path ahead has low visibility at this point. God has led each step so far, however, and I know that he will continue to do so in the future. We are in dire need of prayer, but every time you think of us, please pray for the unsaved people around you. God-Bless you all!
To the left, my sister, to the right, my courter.
P.S. I started this blog to keep my family and friends updated while I was on my trip in California. Now that I’m back, its hard for me to tell if it’s still worthwhile to keep this site updated. If you are reading these posts, and interested in my updates, please comment and let me know! Thanks 
Dear readers,
Because of an overwhelming response to the Esh Family story, as well as a flood of requests for their audio CDs. I volunteered my services, and God made all the connections for the opportunity to construct a website for the Esh family.
After days of labor, the site is finally live, and I’m so excited! Info on the family and the accident are available, and CDs are available for purchase NOW.
You can visit the site by clicking here. Please help spread the word!
Blessings,
Kevin
Esh Family photo: (Top row, left to right) Anna, John, Amos and Mary and Abner. (Bottom row, left to right) Rachel, Sadie, Betty and Rose. Photo by Rebecca Barnett. Linked from kentucky.com
Yesterday at work I listened for the first time to a music CD produced by the John Esh Family. I enjoyed the music very much. The gospel message was clear, and the music uplifting. The music never had so much meaning, however, as when one of my coworkers came out and told me that she had just been informed of the death of most of the members of that family in a automobile accident.
I listened to the CD over and over again, marveling over and over again of the beauty of the situation. Most of the singers had died just hours before I first heard them, yet they continued to testify and minister through their music here on earth, as they praise the Lord around the throne above.
Especially touching is their song which is available on YouTube. It was written by one of the members of the family. The lyrics are tremendously relevant, as they sing over and over again, “I’m Going Home… We’ll soon be there”.
Of course for those left behind, their death is a very painful experience, yet God’s name is already being glorified through their passing. I’ve watched this YouTube video below shoot from ~5,000 to almost 9,000 views in just a few hours. Many news agencies are covering their story (just search for “esh family” on google), and many of the reports include the testimony of those in their community, exalting their faith in God, and also the testimony of their pastor as he promotes Jesus through their legacy. Well done Esh family. Very well done.
My heart is sinking quickly, steadily. In fifteen minutes I will leave for my journey to the aircraft which will take me away from the woman I love.
Kelly, I don’t know how to describe our times together. I honestly can’t pinpoint another time in my life when I can guarantee that I had more good times that what I’ve had with you here. You are a very strong woman with a brilliant, Godly, countenance. You will do damage.
Nothing can adequately describe our good times together. These pictures and videos are my tribute.
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Hi friends, associates, and international spys.
After my return from the Faith Trip, I worked on small projects at home, church, and Tidings of Peace school for about a month before God blessed me with a job at a welding shop in Bird In Hand, Pa. I drive ~ 40 min to and from work every day. Which takes some adjusting to.
Below is a video clip giving a small taste of some of my work.
Meanwhile, an annoying dental condition gave me an excuse to go and visit my sister in Thailand. I kept the visit a surprise, and what a surprise it was!
I have been having the time of my life over here. The last few days have been filled with amazing adventures, the best of which is the fact that I get to see Kelly again after seven long months.
I do not regret coming home. There could have been many more adventures available to us if we had stayed in California, but I do feel like God was guiding us to this decision. First of all, I feel like this “faith trek” was a smashing success. God had some real hardcore lessons to teach us out there, and I pray that we will continue to learn from what we heard, saw, and experienced.
When we left, we were planning on being “mega” missionaries. We wanted to go to the worst areas, confront the worst kinds of people, be met with the worst hostility, etc, etc, etc. Needless to say, God had other plans. As we travelled along, we gradually realized that many of our ambitions were motivated by less-than-holy motives, but that God had higher plans.
We weren’t given much grace for our “mega missionary” project, but God still poured out his power into our lives through this experience. The trip was an amazing personal development time, and God controlled the events to show me how big He is and how small I am.
After we arrived in Reno, our conversations ventured more and more towards home. We finally sat down and decided to talk seriously about it. We attempted to honestly gather and analyze all of the facts, and discern all the pros and cons of each decision. We broke down the reasons to go home like this:
We tried to prevent a rash, emotional decision that we would regret later by listing all the possible cons of going home and all the pros of continuing our traveling, and finally, we prayed for wisdom and guidance. We both agreed to “cast” a “situational lot” that would determine whether or not we would go home at this point, and we asked God’s blessing on it.
We were going to walk to the Reno International Airport, and see if they would sell us tickets to go home. If they could fly us to Harrisburg, Pa by my birthday with tickets that we could afford, we agreed that we would go home. If not, we agreed to continue travelling across the US. This is what we defined as our “situational lot.”
The airport was about two miles away and by the time we got there, the ticket stations were out of commission. We tried calling some airline numbers, and at first it seemed that they would book us with flights that we could afford, but later as we called around, details changed and possibilities looked less hopeful.
We finally found a computer that would book our flights for us, and we reserved our tickets at 2:00 AM on Sunday morning, August 30. We boarded our first plane at 6:00 AM, and flew to LA (of all places), had a very extensive layover, boarded a plane for Atlanta, Georgia, waited there for another long layover and a delayed flight, and then flew to Harrisburg International Airport. We got off the plane in Harrisburg at about 11:45 PM that night.
Jonathan Allgyer was the only person from home who knew that we were returning, and he wasn’t informed until our layover in Harrisburg. We weren’t expecting him to come and pick us up, but he volunteered and we gratefully accepted. We found him waiting for us when we got off the plane, and he got me back to my home in York shortly after Midnight on Monday morning. I snuck up and slept in my bedroom, but my room was torn apart so I slept under my mattress instead of on top of it. I can assure you that the carpet in my room never felt better.
The last week of our adventure was an excellent experience. After the second “house of peace” I mentioned earlier, we stayed one night with a very nice family who took us to church in Sacramento on Sunday morning. This Chinese church was a very neat experience. The church service was held in Mandarin and interpreted into English, and later when our hostess told the pastor about our adventures, he spoke to the whole church at the fellowship meal, and they asked me to give a testimony through an interpreter. Soon a large group of believers gathered around us, laid their hands on us, and prayed for us. It was very moving, encouraging, and inspiring; we felt unworthy of all the attention.
At this point, we had made a commitment not to ask people for jobs or money, but some people from the church gave us some money. I tried to communicate that we didn’t really need it, but they were insistent, and we were very grateful for the blessing. Soon after the meal, a woman came up to us and asked us where we were going, and if we would like to come with her to her house in Stockton. We accepted the offer, and soon we were riding down the road towards Stockton, swapping testimonies and encouraging each other. This woman and her son were only recent residents of the US, and even more recent members of God’s family. They both manage a business which she started in China years before, and they provided work for both of us while we stayed with them in Stockton.
These new believers were incredibly inspirational to us. They were very passionate about seeing other people meet Jesus, and especially about seeing the gospel spread in their native land of China. They also had committed their business to God, and operated it completely for His honor and glory. The other Chinese Christians from their church who lived in Stockton were also very generous and hospitable, encouraging us and providing our meals. The Chinese food was always delicious, and even though I gained for myself a bad reputation of eating far more than the average eater, there was always more food available than could be finished.
When we told them that we’d like to head out on Saturday, they bought us bus tickets to Reno, NV, paid us over-generously, and sent us out with prayers and blessings. We arrived in Reno, NV, just in time for America’s largest tomato fight! We didn’t join in, but we found it to be very educational We walked into a few casinos and deposited quite a few money tracts until a security guard found that we were underage and asked us to leave. At this time, we had no idea that by the next day we would be in Pennsylvania, but I will have to expound on this monumental step of our adventure some other time.