Day Three -- Wednesday at PLYC

Today, once again was a really good day with the kids.... and by the way we DID compliment them on being such a wonderful group of kids....attentive, respectful, fun...... We still have one young lady who we wish we could get more of a smile from. She is very shy and reserved! She just might turn out to be the one that will tip Gary off his kayak on Friday..... you know you have to watch those quiet ones :-) :-)

This was a "hot day game"..... The kids were broken into 3 teams and each team was given a 2 cup size ice cube. The goal was to be the first team to melt the WHOLE cube. Kids rubbed the ice on their arms, legs, under shirts, ....breathed on it...... One team was called on for cheating.... they broke the ice cube on a tree.. OOPS They were done first but had to take a penalty (which by the way they didn't agree with------).

This was our craft. They were given the "Footprints" poem and made a plaque out of it. As we read the poem before starting the craft --- one young gal had tears in her eyes. What a special sight.

We have "asked" (could say "advised") the kids to say Thank You to the cooks at dinner time. At that time they get their name tag "punched"......that and participation......will be looked at to see whether or not each person "wants" to go on the kayak adventure. So far -- everyone wants to go....some do need a bit of encouragement (on the "thank you")....but Julie is real good at that job. She's had lots of practice :-)

Today we handed out permission slips for our kayaking adventure on Friday.....so the excitement is mounting.

We would ask for prayers for safety for the kayak adventure......for safety for our travel time and....... time on the water and...... time at the cabin having fun and games.

AGAIN-thank you!!! from the 7th & 8th Grade Crew-Gary, Barb, Mike, Julie, Sue and Kathleen

Onto 3rd day.....of PLYC

KEEP THOSE PRAYERS COMING !!! We can feel them! The kids are so well behaved and attentive. And we see smiles from one who came looking so dejected!!
We had a contest with the A-Frame Walk------ the kids loved it .....AND our equipment held up once more...BONUS!!!

This is Diondra - isn't she cute!?!?!? This was called Tape-Head. And Oh Man! I had to apologize to the volunteers....I forgot an important part of the whole deal. We were supposed to supply each "tapehead" with a large baggie to put over their hair..... OUCH!!!!! (the tape WAS put on sticky side out but still caught their hair!) I am so sorry!

The kids are even singing along this year. And that is so cool! We are singing "I am a C (CHRISTIAN- spelled out)" I am a CH, I am a CHRISTIAN, And I have CHRIST in my HEART, and I will LIVE ETERNALLY".......start out slow and then increase and increase and increase the speed. WOW! can we go fast! The other song is "There is Victory for Me". We also sang "When I am afraid"..... Our lessons are the story of Daniel - chapters 1 - 6. Each one of us are doing a different lesson each day and we also start out with a Bible Verse for the day and a "Gospel Activity".

Thank you for your awesome support!!

My cousins daughter Hillary - one who went with us to CYIA training this past June....has had the awesome experience of praying with a 1st grader and a 3rd grader to ask Christ into their heart. She, of course, was thrilled. GOD IS AT WORK.....blessing the worker and the camper!

Gary, Barb, Sue, Mike, Julie, and Kathleen (a former camper who has helped us EVERY year since the time she was with us the first year :-)

Prairie Light Youth Camp begins.......

Today is the day........PLYC begins. Sue Pfnister arrived on Saturday after a 13 hour drive.....but she as usual arrived SMILING!!! Mike and Julie (our son and daughter in law) and Austin, Sidney and Colton arrived Sunday afternoon. My sister Ethel and her husband, Jim arrived Sunday ...... Everyone else (as far as we know) had a safe trip. There are MANY volunteers ----from Wisconsin, Michigan, South Dakota, Nebraska.......

There have already been those Monday morning klinkers....but we are used to them by now.....but we still don't like them AT ALL!!!!

We have a LOT of kids ready to come! Camp will be full!

Please keep all of this in your prayers. God is in control and so all is well.

Gary and Barb and ALL!

Wild Flowers ..........

Before we share the wildflowers with you --- we want to share this little tidbit. We were talking to a young man at the JDC this past Sunday and we asked him if he went to church. Yes- He did. He went to the Carpenter Shop Church. But -- we said -- you live in Rosebud and that church is in Mission.... how do you get there? I walk or I catch a ride. WOW -- that's at least an 11 mile trip....and he walks! He said that church starts at 11:00 and Wednesday night starts at 7:00. Any one of us willing to start out walking to a church that far away?!


Have to remember how to put pictures in order....... any way --- that was an awesome end to a beautiful day!!

Our streets are lined with flowers!!! Love those sunflowers!!!

We took a side trip to Rapid City -- right after the ORC Youth Group left us.... Visited Mount Rushmore, my Aunt Vernona, and the Mammoth Dig.... very interesting!

This is THE flower of the Rosebud Indian Reservation. These little prairie roses are the most fragrant roses around!!! They grow everywhere!!

This is the Meadowlark...... love hearing these little guys sing --- especially as you drive past them in the car!!

And this little treasure --- we found out thanks to Aaron Klanderman --- is the Orchard Oriole. He and his mate have a nest in a tree in the middle of our garden and we see him every morning.

Even cactus have a beautiful flower. I missed the Prickly Pear flower -- didn't have our camera along on a recent cattle drive. Each flower is only out for one day.....such beauty for such a short time.

And then THIS pesky weed..... Constantly pulling them out....and yet God gave them some beauty too. Cute little white trumpets and some with a touch of pink.

Ah!! The Cone flower....the pastures are full of them. And I got to catch this butterfly resting on one. It's a beautiful time of the year. We are told that soon the grasses will be turning brown as they "head". The ranchers are VERY busy haying and so we enjoy the smell of fresh cut hay also. We have totally enjoyed what God has blessed us with.

Hope you enjoyed some color on this blog. I believe we are ready for Prairie Light Youth Camp. Have a few more items to pick up at the store.....cement for the stepping stones, and so on. And now we await the arrival of all the volunteers and THEN ..............the kids!!!

Please keep all of this in your prayers!

Gary and Barb

ORC Youth Group has headed east....

This magnificent thunder head was the object of a lot of photos last night. And as the night worn on into midnight the lightning show was awesome. You get to view such things when sleep escapes you. Gary missed it all --- he was busy snoring!!!

We had a grand time with the ORC Youth Group. We are sure that the Detention Center kids will have many memories of the fun times they shared and the Bible Lessons heard. It had to be hard for ALL of them - ORC and JDC to say good-bye! We thank you Overisel Reformed for your support of this trip and all the prayers lifted on behalf of everyone. The group headed east this morning for more adventures on the Mississippi.

We know that you were hoping for a good update from the Youth Group. Andre' was planning on coming to our place to "steal" our internet.... But things can get very busy and hectic working with a group of that size and it just didn't happen. So we want you to know that --- all is well !! They had a lot of fun experiences but I'm not going to share something that belongs to them....and spoil their stories. So you will just have to wait.
:-) Sorry!

As far as the meetings with the released JDC kids goes...... The program put together by the tribal group has to be OKed by the South Dakota Alcohol and Substance Abuse and so we are on hold until we hear that it is a go. You can keep that in your prayers.

We have gotten into HOT --- 90 degrees the past couple of days. The countryside is so lush and green that it is truly beautiful here!! And we are enjoying all the sightings of new life. Baby antelope, pheasants, turkeys, killdeer, colts, have all been added to our long list. YUP!!! This is God's country :-) :-)

Continue to keep the youth group in your prayers as they travel and spend time on the river.

And now I am going to try to post this...... have really been having problems with this lately. Not even going to take time to proof read it this time!!!!!!

Gary and Barb

Power outages and computer freeze up......

I am on my third try to update..... It's been far too long! My first attempt was zapped by a power outage and the second --- the computer froze and I just finally shut it down. :-( Now I feel like all my news is too old to go there anymore.

Our Christian Youth In Action training camp went from very stormy (and not the weather) to very good. That update is going to have to come by word of mouth...... too long and too much...... And it's all over and things ended on such a positive note that we aren't concerned anymore about what the devil tried to do. He failed --- God's plan won. So we will just leave it at that!!! Two from our group --- Ethan and Bobby---- stayed for the second week and went out as groups for Five Day Clubs and VBS. They said they "want to do it again next year!!"

We can home to an email asking if we would do a "service of Hope" at the Alcohol Treatment Center -- for 12 adults. We didn't really feel prepared nor adequate to work with adults... But Ed said "use the same format as you did with the teens".... So we agreed to do it. We were blessed in wondrous ways again. Eight of the twelve prayed to receive Christ as their Savior. The four women asked for Childrens' Bibles for their little ones at home......so those are on order. We talked to Ed a week later and several had reported what had happened in their "highlights of the day." So they are receiving more materials from Ed and discussing the need to find a good Bible believing church.

Our Overisel Youth Group has arrived in fine shape. They left in a storm (and that WAS the weather).....actually they left the morning after all the rain....and arrived late Saturday night. I won't tell about what all they experienced yesterday --- will leave that for them ----- but it was a big memory maker I am sure!!!

Today is a beautiful day and the group will be going for their "work" at the Juvenile Detention Center. It should prove to be a wonderful experience!!

The country side is in glorious array!!!! The pastures all so green....sometimes brown is the shade -- but not now. The rains have been a blessing. The ranchers are busy with haying.

Thank you for keeping everyone and everything in your prayers.

Gary and Barb

So very cool!!!

It can be so neat going into the JDC to visit with the kids on a Sunday afternoon. Today we really only had 2 kids to visit --- ones that had previously asked Christ into their hearts. So we said -- "send in anyone who would like to visit with us." One young man came in carrying a Bible -- like the ones we give out....but we knew we hadn't given it to him. He said he found it in Booking and he was lonely and depressed and so he picked up the Bible and started reading in the Psalms. The Bible also had a sheet in it that we had handed out with "helps" of where to find certain passages - like .....if you are afraid...or angry....or lonely , and so on and he said he liked that. I guess that first appearances made us think - a hard case......but what a different view you get - once you get to talking to someone. We really shouldn't just assume things by what we see on the outside! We were blessed by getting to know this young man just a little bit in the 20 minutes we had.

Well, it has been raining lightly for the past few days....did get about 1/2 inch the other night, so that made the roads a mess again. Now today - right now -- it is pouring down rain. (The ranchers are VERY thankful - the rain is needed badly!) We are glad we are back in for the night......HOWEVER, tomorrow morning we need to be out bright and early to take some kids into Mission for a Basketball, Running Camp with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.....could be very interesting...anyway for the first 3 miles of dirt road.

Then on Tuesday morning - earlier yet -- we will be heading out for our week of CEF training with the young people from the Lakeview Church. We will be there thru Saturday.

Thanks for keeping all of this....JDC, CEF, FCA, and US :-) in your prayers .

Gary and Barb