Never know where to begin......

We haven't updated this for a while so there is so much to tell......

The Christmas party was very chaotic ---- we had approximately 42 kids working at the tables.....making their gift jars and decorating their bag to take all the goodies home in. But we had great help and even though panic struck a couple of times...."oh no! we don't have enough oatmeal.." it all turned out good in the end, and we are pretty sure the kids had a good time. It's possible that some heard the Christmas Story of Christs birth for the first time that day.

Our grandsons are still having a great time. They do admit to being homesick "a little bit at night". They had a blast playing in Dwights big round hay bales. Going in and through where they weren't stacked tight and so on. However, when they came in from the cold they weren't so happy. Those hay bales are full of "cheek grass" and the seed heads stick to everything they come in contact with. So their hunting suits and stocking hats are FULL and it takes hand picking to get them off!!! Not exactly their idea of fun.

We visited the JDC on Sunday and met with 7 kids. One gal, Winter, was hurting inside because her favorite uncle had just passed away from lung cancer and no one in her family told her --- the funeral was over and she didn't get to go. Another gal, Gina, will be moving to Oklahoma and going to an Indian boarding school in January. She said she was glad to go because she would get away from all the trouble on the reservation. Another gal, Jalynn, had been released a week or so ago but was back in. She had sassed ?? a judge (probably more to it than that) and ended up back in the center. We told her about the passage in the Bible that says we are to obey those in authority over us. We tried to do this instruction in a "fun" sort of a way but assured her that it was something she needed to do. Another gal admitted to alcohol abuse...... We also heard that one of the boys was told he "had to leave". (The guards have told us that some kids don't want to leave.) He had been there for 200 days. He was one of the boys who knew the answers on our review time and also one that we had so much fun with.....he also loved our snacks and always asked for more. We are very concerned for him.....where is he now --- are things OK wherever he is...... We can only leave him in God's hands....but we do hope that as we drive through St. Francis that we might spot him and be able to make contact with him.

????? Is there more you should be told about. Time goes by so fast ....what have we forgotten.....

Oh Yes! School in Todd County was canceled for Monday and Tuesday of this week because of the bitter cold (the buses wouldn't start).....so that meant we didn't have Release Time this week. We feel bad because we had a special little gift for the K-4 kids and now they won't get it until after Christmas. Plus our lesson was about the Wise Men.... Those are disappointments that the kids also share because we know they love to come to "Promised Land".

We hope to leave here for Michigan on Friday morning. Gary has been watching the weather reports and it looks like a storm will be going in front of us. So please keep our travels in your prayers.

Thanks!!!!! Gary and Barb & Trenton and Austin

So much to share!!!!

We took our two grandsons - Trenton and Austin - back with us from Michigan and we have been busy ever since!!! They have totally taken to hunting everything that flys or hops.....pheasants, turkey, grouse and jackrabbits. Grandpa is having as much fun as they are!!! And I stay busy cooking ---- we have eaten wild game every night for a week now!! NO!!! not the rabbits! I draw the line there.....plus it's reported that some have a disease.

Release time has gone well....everyone has enjoyed an Ice Cream Sundae for good behavior.......topping of choice, whipped cream and a cherry for good measure. We will be having a Christmas Party for the older kids that we are involved with this coming Saturday - the 13th. We have a lot of help for this and it should go good. The kids will be putting together a "soup in a jar" and "cookies in a jar" for their familes and receiving some type of family fun game.....along with the donated blankets and slippers, and could be more that I'm not even aware of. So many people are sharing the love of Christ with the kids. :-)

Saving the best news for last....... We went to the JDC tonight. The lesson was on Noah and it is a powerful lesson ---- maybe you'd like to hear it sometime :-)
We had about 17 kids tonight - 6 girls and the rest boys. All 6 girls stayed to ask Christ into their hearts. Cheyenne had already prayed the week before and she remembered but it's good to have her stay --- reinforces it for the other girls. It is so awesome to see their smiles knowing they are now a child of God. It is ALWAYS a joy to go to the JDC --- we have a lot of fun with the kids.....many have been there from the beginning of our time there. We always get handshakes from the boys. The guard who prayed to receive Christ has been there for the past few lessons. He said some of the guards don't want to be there but he enjoys it.

As we left tonight for the JDC the sky looked VERY threatening!!!! And as we got just north of St. Francis it started to snow. The roads became terrible!! But it was a short storm and by the time we got to the JDC it was done...but had left 2 inches of snow behind. The trip home was on VERY icy roads......no salt trucks out here. They do put down some sand on the steep hills near town. We got behind a couple of cars going 5 miles an hour. Gary couldn't stand it!!

We ask you to pray for the girls. We never know how long they will be there -- but we talked about the fact that God knows their hearts (and they nodded in agreement)... and we leave them in the hands of a loving heavenly Father.

Gary and Barb

So much to share!!!!

A Sweet day -- in several ways

We had a grand day at Promised Land again this Tuesday. As you can see the K-1 kids get just as close to me as they can. (a side note for my relatives.....does that look like mom sitting there or what!!!??? Knew I looked like mom but not that much!) Anyway....... We had another little boy - Kendall - ask Jesus into his heart. He was sitting right next to me and I could just about feel the Spirit at work in his heart. It is so amazing to be used by God!!!!

This was the day that we were all waiting for.....ice cream sundaes.....this was a treat that was promised the kids if they were all good--all the time. This was the first day for the little gal - Liv - on the left. She wanted to come all along but her mom never got the permission slip back to school....FINALLY she got to come. And on the best day too yet :-).


Thanks again for your lavish support!!! Keep lifting everything up in prayer!!
Gary and Barb

to Michigan and back again.........

We had a wonderful time over Thanksgiving visiting with our whole family.....Yes! even Rick was home from the Netherlands. And a nice bonus was meeting Tim's (Marti's financee) parents who came up from South Carolina.

Meeting with our church family was also GOOD! Such awesome support from everyone!!! And a special thank you to Sally Hulsman's Sunday School class for the big cards for us and the bookmarks for the kids out here. They put 6 REAL special verses on a "spot" of paper and hung them from ribbons. It will be so much fun to share these with our group of the same age.

Traveling back to South Dakota was something......!!!! We started out after dinner with snow right away, but nothing too worrisome. We got through Chicago in fine shape....and we were very happy to be heading west because the east bound traffic was tied up for about 9 miles. We continued on with sloppy wet snow --- Gary drove all the way and that made me very happy!! By evening the temperature stayed at 34 degrees so we felt rather confident that ice was not forming. We made it to Iowa City and decided to stop -- driving at night is not something either one of us enjoy. Oh! and if you did know --- we took our two oldest grandsons (Trenton and Austin) along with us -- they will stay until Christmas...... So the boys were real happy to know that we had landed at a motel with a pool.

Morning brought BAD roads. All the slop had frozen and there were spots that were awful!! From Iowa City to Des Moines we counted 70 cars in the ditch....some were in worse shape than others.....some had rolled....some had gone down into steep places and so on. We KNOW that God was watching over us once again because we made it through all the bad stuff and on through to dry roads where I could take over driving.

The boys got to bed rather late because excitement is high :-) so this morning has started rather slowly. And now they have gone "down the hill" with Grandpa to have a tour of the ranch. It looks like it will be a beautiful day as you can see with the glorious sunrise.

At Release Time today we will have the younger groups and we will be having ice cream sundaes today. This is the treat that was promised for good behavior.

We cannot say Thank You enough!! All the prayers that are being lifted!! We praise God nightly for his faithfulness.

Gary and Barb

JDC - a visit we always look forward to.

Today started out in a very beautiful fashion!!! ------Just to let you know - we have this type of beauty out here a LOT!!! :-) Also -- a better picture of the Detention Center.

At our noon meal our devotions were on Romans 12:9-21.....some really hard things to hear-----"love those who persecute you"..... But we felt that it would be a good place to start with the kids at the JDC.....Not directing this passage at them necessarily but that the Bible is full of directions for us on how we are to live our life for God. And so we headed back to the JDC with a little bit of a direction for our visit with the kids that have prayed to receive Christ. When we arrived we gave the guard a list of the people we wanted to see. He took it and left ....but then came right back. "You want to see a guard??!!" Well, yes we did. But unfortunately he was not working that shift. But we had to laugh at his response. Two of the kids were no longer there....Tiana and Nicole. But we were able to see the other 4. After seeing some of them several times they are much more open with us....not that they share a lot about themselves but it just seems like they feel more comfortable with us....we get a lot more smiles! We had told the kids it would be good if they would begin reading the Bible in the book of John. Jalynn had read to chapter 8 and Robert had read to chapter 15.......he said "I just kept going". He also said that he was in a part that was about "how to live". Cheyenne and Lelana were still not real comfortable with us it seemed.

We might not get to see these kids again. We will miss 2 weeks with them while we go home to Michigan. But we did get several of their addresses and so hope to communicate with them in that way.

Thank you for keeping these young people in your prayers. :-) See some of you real soon!!

Love to all! Gary and Barb

Wanbli Wiconi Tipi - JDC

It's Thursday and we were able to go to the Juvenile Detention Center once again. We always get there and want to get a good precise count of the number of kids....... but for some reason it never happens. Plus it's different every week. But we had approximately 16-17 kids there tonight. The lesson was on Enoch and how he had a close friendship with God..... "Enoch walked with God" We asked "How can you be a friend with the Almighty God - Creator of All things??!!" Well, Enoch would show us how. The Bible verse for the night was Colossians 1:10 Then you will live the kind of life that honors and pleases the Lord in every way. You will produce fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God. The kids really listen --- every time! They aren't afraid to look at you and let you look at them. We also listened to a song by "Broken Walls" - a group of Native American singers who use the native sound and drums along with a Christian message. The song talked about "the River of Life that's flowing from his throne. Won't you come on in and see - this river will set you free". When we gave the invitation to ask Christ into their hearts there were
seven hands that went up. One was the guard!!!! Three of them were kids that had already prayed to receive Christ the last time we were there. But we discussed it with them.....Robert said " yeah, I really wasn't sure if I had to again " But it was still something he wanted and so he indicated it again. We gave them Bibles of their own and asked them to begin reading in the Book of John. Gary asked them to read a chapter a night and when we come back in 3 weeks they should be about done....(Jalynn checked that out...how many chapters there were).

One of the young men who had indicated he wanted to pray to receive Christ didn't stay with the rest of them. It could be that the thought of the peer pressure was just too great for him.....because I had noticed how intently he had listened..... maybe next time. Please pray for him -- sorry but we don't know his name - but God does!!

The guard said that he was pretty much "traditional" (I took that to mean traditional Lakota)... but he wanted to know God more. And so I told him that he had to truly believe that Jesus had died for him and rose again and that He was the only way for salvation. "Do you want to do that?" He said "Yes".

So if you would add these names to your prayers....Cheyenne, Tiana and Tom.

When Gary and I leave there we are so in awe of God and the work he is performing in these young peoples lives. We feel so overwhelmed that we can be used in such a way. PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!

Thank you!!!! Without your prayers....... we hate to think what would be!

Gary and Barb