Monthly Archives: August 2017

Summer Update

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It’s about time! Our summer has been fairly full, so here’s a quick review of the events we have pictures for.

Our home church from Illinois came and we partnered for VBS on the Red Lake Reservation.

VBS was in the afternoon…

…then we headed to a church in Bemidji to help with their evening VBS

it was a good week…and by the end we were ready for dairy queen

Next was Bible camp for Redby/Red Lake kids! A church from NY came to run it…here we are with some of the counselors after camp.

The end of July was the United in Christ conference in Bemidji, bringing together hundreds of Christians from all over North America, including people from many different Native American tribes/First Nations. It was a beautiful thing to see so many believers coming together for the glory of Christ.

our family kept busy behind the scenes

people from all over shared music in the evenings, including the Shugaks from Alaska

even locals got to join in the music

Paul Straubel and Huron Claus, the men who had a vision for this conference

so many people praying for Native North America

August brought the Lake Itasca Family Music Festival. It was another great year of music and fellowship. Mark your calendars for next year!

mountain faith

And we spent time with friends who stayed with us.

being outdoorsy

The week after that was the county fair, where we have a gospel booth. Last year we started using a Bible quiz as a way to get talking with people, and it went so well we did it again this year. We also sang on the outdoor stage…a great place to share the gospel.So that pretty much brings us up to date. Thank you to everyone who prayed for the different ministry opportunities we had.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

South Dakota Trip

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In June we were part of an outreach on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. A church we’ve worked with from Chickasaw country Oklahoma was going there to minister and invited us to join them. Three of the past four years we have been involved with their ministry trips to SD.  We were glad to be able to do it again!

crossing the missouri river to the reservation

The week started off with prayer, and then we headed to the community of Green Grass to hold the first of our scheduled church meetings that evening.

In the morning everyone went to Green Grass, and the activities began, including a kids club, a young people’s class, and setting up the church building for the outreach meetings.

Our days were full, with a schedule like this:

Breakfast early; begin the 45-minute drive to Green Grass shortly thereafter; set up for VBS and pick up kids; VBS/young people’s meeting begins; after those are done, everyone gather in the church for the morning meeting; eat lunch; all ministry team young people and kids teachers plus a few others drive to the community of White Horse for kids club over there; drive back to Green Grass; visit/play with whoever is at the church; eat supper; evening church meeting; equipment tear-down; head back to where we were staying (the Sanctuary).

early mornings and late nights in this beautiful place

kids club teachers in Green Grass

the gospel went out every morning and evening

we sang a few songs for each meeting

the cooks kept us well-fed…and made sure the flies stayed away

the meeting place

kids club at White Horse

basketball

lots of visiting before supper

football

we don’t often see horses just running across the road

God’s Word does not return void…

We rejoiced that a young man from the reservation put his trust in the Lord.  Also, we learned on the last night that a girl from the Oklahoma group also trusted Jesus.  Praise God!

Pray for the seeds that were planted, that they would find good ground and that there would be fruit.  Pray for the new believers as they begin their walk with the Lord.  And pray for more laborers in the harvest.  Only Jesus can bring lasting hope and true peace with God.

friends from past visits

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.            1 Corinthians 3:7 (NKJV)