New Happenings

Nick and I started a Bible study today with a lady named Aleta. She has been coming to services regularly and she has even gone with us to the monthly Bible Study one weekend out of every month. During the monthly study, we go to one of the churches on the reservation and study for seven hours. Now this takes dedication so we know this woman is interested in the Bible. We will be studying with her every week so it will be exciting to see where this goes.

In other news, I will be traveling with a group of ladies down to Phoenix this weekend for a "ladies day" hosted by a church down there. Phoenix is about four and a half hours away so it will be a nice opportunity to get off the reservation and get into the city. I am excited to spend quality time with the ladies.

Josh and Divine's departure is coming upon us very quickly! It's going to be a whole different experience without them, but we are happy for their new opportunity and our new opportunity here. Many people in the church will miss them very much including us. We have to keep reminding ourselves that God has a plan and if we keep relying on him, the work will grow. It will be hard without a team, but we are also looking forward to Dan joining us next January. Dan is in preaching school right now and joining our team when he graduates in December.

Why are we here?

Sometimes its hard to put into words what we are actually doing out here. Most of the time our newsletters and this blog is filled with events. Over the past month it has been more about dealing with everyday events and people. There is no typical day out here although we have tried to create more of a schedule lately. This week, for example, we are putting a lot of focus on planning for the summer especially since Josh and Divine are leaving in April. We will have several groups come out from various churches. We have to decide what they will do, when they will do it, and how we get the members of our church invovled. Another strong effort is hiring an intern for the summer. Nick has contacted several Christian colleges to look for an intern this summer. We are making plans to first of all find the best candidate and then get the money to support this person.

Now to go back to the title of this blog. As I said before, we don't have a typical day and I don't think God opened doors for us here to do one specific event or routine. We are here to shine light in this community. I know this sounds cliche, but there is a lot of darkness here, meaning struggles in every aspect. I think we are here to show joy, which isn't always recognizable. Part of that is just trying to be a faithful Christian. We are also here to show people that we care about them and want the best for them. Sometimes this means giving some one a ride to the store who doesn't have a car. This might mean listening to them talk about the worries of their day. Sometimes it means serving them a meal and getting to know them better inside our home. Maybe it's a phone call to let them know we missed them at church on Sunday. All of these things are a part of our purpose here. I pray that we don't lose sight of this purpose. I know sometimes we get sick of being a taxi cab and doing people favors, but we have to remind ourselves why we are here.

I included a picture of me with my Sunday night Bible class. I am actually starting to enjoy the kids a little bit, which is a far stretch from where I started.