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How do you say the word envoy?
BY ANDREA BOWDEN –
Envoys, Ken and Maren Claeys, came to Mesquite, NV with one question in mind. “What can we do for you?” Although they’ve opened three outposts since they started with The Salvation Army 16 years ago, they made no assumptions about what this rapidly growing community needed.
During the year and a half the Claeys have lived in Mesquite, they’ve focused much of their energy on building youth programs. They have a high school-aged program for kids mandated by the courts to perform community service. They run an alcohol rehabilitation program for teenagers. And they started The Salvation Army Girl Guards and Sunbeams. The Claeys also maintain a clown ministry, which works with the League of Mercy, a thrift store and a food pantry.
It sounds like a lot but Ken said, “This is the joy of us.”
“Maren and I started serving for The Salvation Army after Maren met a Salvationist during her career as a nurse,” he said.
They fell in love with it, became soldiers and then through prayer and working with corps officers decided to take on full time work with the Army.
“This is where we’ll be for the rest of our lives,” Ken said.