"Two Kids From Grangerburg, Ohio"

Social networking and viral marketing are terms that are commonly thrown around in today's workplace. They are methods that individuals, businesses and organizations use to connect, and reconnect, with people, customers and potential partners. Here is a story of how I reconnected with a friend from long ago.

I was raised in the rural countryside of north central Ohio. It was in a time when kids were free to ride their bikes anywhere they pleased and to explore the hundreds and hundreds of acres of farmland all around. It was there, in Granger, Ohio, that I grew up. Most days, in every season, my brother and I would end up at the old corner store in Grangerburg.

My elementary school was in the same building where my mother had graduated from high school in 1949. Then middle school and on to high school. All within a few miles of Grangerburg,

"I remember the very first day of elementary school. It was kindergarten. You and I sat together in the front seat on the bus", Jim recalled.

Jim and Mark at Jipe Orkung'u Mountain, Kenya

That was Autumn of 1964. Twelve years later, Jim and I walked across the football field of Highland High School to receive our diplomas. Then, off to college we went. Then careers and families. And as it so often happens I hadn't seen my old schoolmate since graduation day in May of 1976.

Thirty-four years later a message popped up on my MacBook screen from the Facebook Team. I read it and smiled. "Jim Kelly wants to be friends".

A few Facebook messages later, a dinner meeting in Atlanta, some phone conversations and Jim and his wife Gail, and their daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth and Nick Nolan were at our April 2010 howFar Ministries and How far Foundation Celebration Banquet.

Just like that, thirty-four years later, we were reconnected.

Another conversation, more planing, and Jim and I were sitting together again. This time far, far away from Grangerburg. This time in a Land Cruiser in East Africa. I can't tell you what a thrill it has been for me to have an old friend, who I hadn't seen in thirty-four years, join me to explore my beloved East Africa and to see my life's work...first hand.

In June, Jim, and his daughter Elizabeth, toured Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi with me. We visited several of the howFar Ministries churches and two of our How Far Foundation primary school projects. And we saw some of God's most beautiful creation along the way.

Elizabeth Nolan, Jim Kelly and Mark Maynard at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.

As we swam the Nile rapids Jim said, "We're just two kids from Grangerburg". He was right. We were a long way from Grangerburg. We both knew that we were very blessed to see and do what so few have ever experienced.

I thought that you might be interested in reading Jim Kelly's thoughts on our great mission adventure.

"There is an old saying in Africa, “What is true at first light, is a lie by noon.” I witnessed on the ground, in person, in Africa a true exception to this saying. Spending three weeks with Mark Maynard in the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi showed me first hand that when Mark starts something he sees it to its completion. Not only were my daughter and I overwhelmed by the kindness and admiration that the villages howFar has touched showed for Mark, and us as his guests, we were genuinely impressed and amazed by the dedication the people Mark has surrounded himself with in Africa.

It is extremely hard to get things done in the areas that Mark has chosen to do his work. But to see how Mark and howFar have been able to, for the first time in these villages, create a true community center with the planting of churches and the impact of his group of pastors is one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life. And then to see how some have been able to grow and blossom with the much needed addition of a school is truly a blessed thing to witness. We could see the genuine pride is the eyes of the people in the village at Lake Jipe, Kenya that had both a church and a new school and the overwhelming excitement of the villagers in Gihara, Rwanda that have a new school under construction. If you ever get the chance to travel to these areas and see the work Mark has done, it will be a life changing experience.

I not only was able to see and feel the many waves of emotion through my own eyes but was blessed to be able to observe them through the eyes of my twenty-six year old daughter. It is very hard to express in words the impact Mark has had on these beautiful souls on this magnificent continent but as I listen to the excitement and emotion in my daughter Elizabeth’s voice as she retells our experience I am continually drawn back to those wonderful villages and lives that howFar is changing."

Jim Kelly
Executive Vice President
Bil-Jac Foods, Inc.
Medina, Ohio

Elizabeth Nolan and Jim Kelly at Ologum Maasai Village, Kenya.

We are so pleased to announce that Jim Kelly has accepted our invitation to join the Board of Reference for howfar Ministries, Inc. and The How Far Foundation, Inc.

Jim Kelly is raising his family in the same little town where we grew up - in Grangerburg, Ohio.

And so...thirty-four years later, God has reconnected us and we are working together in a common global cause.

howFar will you go?