WHAT A MESS!!!!

This past Monday (June 6) started out in beautiful fashion. Zero percent chance of rain --- nice and sunny......good crew of young men (and old). And so the shingles on the south side of the church came off. Gary was able to able to get up in the bell tower and check out the bell....... As you can see - the tar paper is being put on (at about 7:00 p.m.).....tractors are used for a multiple of tasks :)






We are wondering if this inscription on the bell is the same as the one on the Overisel Reformed Church bell.....so - someone out there - check it out.

Now what happened in the middle of this day was NOT good. About 4:00 as the men were taking an iced tea break - sitting in the Community Center looking out the windows......they saw a rather small area of dark clouds come toward the church and then actually go on around. But out of the blue -- a storm formed...... and a good inch of rain fell on the bare boards of the church.




























And that rain had to go somewhere ---- guess
where it went ---- YUP --- all over the church sanctuary......down the walls....through the ceiling....onto the pews.....into the light fixtures.....and a very small amount made it all the way to the basement (thank goodness the new carpet has not been installed - gotta see the good in it too). There are streaks down the south wall that don't wash off - so we will be painting walls ....and the ceiling - which is a textured steel (?tin) tile that was used years ago is full of nasty dark spots.....so the ceiling will need paint also --- yikes - that's about 18 feet high.

Another sad part is that our new Pastor is being
ordained in our church this coming Sunday (June 12). Steve and Lynn (figuring on 30 guests) seem to be taking it in stride --- what else can they do really. The church will be put back in order -- but the walls and ceiling .....well I told Steve - they will have their eyes on you - not on the streaks (hopefully).






Everyone has been very helpful and doing
whatever they can. Today the insurance assessor is coming -- so we shall see what the good news is. The insulation, of course is wet ------- Lots of things to work out.

We all thank God that it was not worse.....there are people in the Pierre/Fort Pierre area that have had to leave their home due to flooding. We have a mess that we can work thru and still use our church --- so we thank God!!! We also thank God for the safety the workers have had on the roof. We continue to think of the men who are putting the shingles on.

So for those of you who enjoy this blog to keep up on the local news ------ there you have it.

Keep those prayers coming :) Thanks!!
Gary and Barb

Thank you for Prayers lifted for Rick.....

Rick is doing really good. We talked with him this morning ---9:30 am our time is 9:30 pm his time --- so does that make him exactly on the other side of the world?!?! Anyway, he said as he boarded the plane he told himself -- "you can still turn around Rick.......you can still get off Rick". But now after almost a week there - he is enjoying it. Says it's a beautiful place --- flowering trees and so on......monitor lizards (6 foot long ones) to stay away from (but enjoyable to view) and the people seem to be treating him very well.

He's gotten a hair cut, eaten from the street vendors without any ill effects, seen 3 of the monitor lizards, enjoys the Thai food........however, there are some troubles --- sizes are small there and he has found it difficult to find some important items in his size. :) We had some good laughs over that one!!! Yes, he's on an adventure.

Classes start tomorrow..... he has 4 classes to teach. If I remember correctly --- two classes with about 60 students each, one Masters class with 1 student and one Doctorate Class with 6 students. He WILL be getting very busy.

And so we thank you for the prayers you lifted for Rick. God is GOOD!!! all the time!!

Today here ---- taking the shingles off the church roof...and that is a VERY steep roof! I'm afraid that as I type we are getting a ?? short shower --- and they had better be off the roof. I haven't seen lightening -- but hear thunder. I suppose there's that grief of a bare roof and now rain.....

Our Pastor and his family are all here now.... Benjamin is 13 and a hoot!! Gary said that Benjamin was wandering around by the church this morning and asked if Dan and Gary (standing around looking up) were the foremen or something.....they said "well, yes". Shortly after, a shingle came off the roof and landed on Gar's arm. So Ben yells out....hey be careful you just about took out one of the foremen --- they might quit on ya. :) :)......... we are enjoying them !!

Plans are moving forward with Prairie Light Youth Camp. I will be sending out Registration Forms tomorrow....and Robbi is doing the same for another group.

Gary just came home --- not good!!! Roof off -- rain and 60 mph winds predicted until 5:15 (it's 4:30 now) ...perhaps the wind will miss us. He took some awesome pictures so I will get them downloaded and send some your way.

Again---- Thanks for the prayers for Rick.

Gary and Barb

Prayers asked for ---- for Rick

Our Son Rick is flying to Thailand today to begin a new page in his life. He will begin teaching at the Mahidol University which is located just outside of Bangkok. On of the classes he will be teaching is Comparitive Religion. He is excited and scared both. So if you could lift him up in your prayers we would appreciate it. He is the one on the far right - if you need a reminder :)

Thanks!
Gary and Barb

reminder

a quick reminder --- if you click on the photos -- they will pop up in much larger form.

:) Barb

90th Birthday Party was - GREAT

We had such a fun time at Mom and Alma's 90th "Birthday Party. These pictures are in helter skelter form.......... For those of you who missed coming --- You were missed!!....but we understand why you didn't make it. I hope these photos bring back some memories of past times for you. After the party I realized that I was having so much fun that I never filled a coffee carafe or anything -- OOPS!!! I guess Linda and Ethel did their part while I just had fun. SORRY!
Made me think of Mary and Martha -- no I wasn't sitting at Jesus' feet .....but I wasn't worrying about the kitchen details either.

This first photo is of Donald and Alice Verduin. Donald's father-- (Uncle Will) William Verduin was my Grandpa (Peter) Verduin's brother. Donald spent many years growing up in Todd County and shared some fun memories with us.


We had lots of lovely flowers thanks to many of you. We also had old photos of mom and Alma's younger years and each of their families.....these produced LOTS of fun!! :) :)










Ethel played "Happy Birthday" - I didn't know she still had it in her. Her son and granddaughter do --- but it was Ethel who did the playing.











These are the Post family -- Kathy, Sandy, Donna and Vi. There is never a dull moment when they are around.......LOTS of laughter! Growing up in Michigan we would always get together with them for Thanksgiving......now there is a summer picnic.....which I am sorry to say Gary and I always miss out on...... So it was good to catch up with them again.






All of our children were present and accounted for......and some of the little ones wanted in on the photo moment. Back row --- Clayton and Holly, Halle and Mike, Rick -- He came the farthest for the party --- all the way from the Netherlands (and then on the 31st of May he will fly to Thailand to take a teaching position in the Mahidol University----always moving further away it seems!!!) and then Marti and Oliver and Mom.




Mom (Edna Verduin) and Aunt Alma Post -- the two stars of the day. They both said that they had a lot of fun.....more than they had expected. So that made it all worth while. Those who didn't know Alma very good couldn't believe she was 90 -- said she looked 75. :) Sad to say her eye sight it not good at all.










I love this picture. Mom is doing very good for being 90. She doesn't get around so good anymore but her mind is still sharp as ever!!
She got lots of card and even 2 surprise letters from former classmates!!! Thanks Jean for putting her announcement in the Todd County Tribune!!

Our visit with our kids was maybe the best ever. Rick was home .....we went to lots of events - like Trenton's Birthday party - Austins "Authors Day " at school, Sidney's "girls on the run", Mike's 1st hockey game...(they won and we were the CHEERING section - you have to know Rick to understand that :) :), and we had "donuts at dawn" with Clayton at his school. We also got to spend some time with friends.

We came back to South Dakota and had 3 inches of rain in our gauge. WONDERFUL!! Of course, that meant the lawn needed mowing - but that was OK. Our garden didn't do too good. We must have had a hard frost while we were gone (and we just HAD to get our garden in before we left!). So --- we have to start over with the tomatoes......everything else survived....oh yeah my little flower starts died too.

Back to JDC last night. The boys asked about our trip and sang beautifully..... Jeremy - who is changing before our eyes - wrote on his prayer request - "I see love in me and in you -- see me"
Jeremy can't read (at 15) and his home life is VERY sad. But we are encouraged by what we are seeing take place in Jeremy -- PRAISE GOD!! Several of the boys were released and we hope and pray that they will be able to resist the temptations that will hit them. Dana has to "stay out of trouble" for 90 days and then he hopes to join the Job Corp. Would you please pray for him! He too is such a nice young man -- living in such a bad environment. Now - what about the girls??!! Well - for some reason we just haven't connected with them - is it that they don't trust us yet???? We don't know. The boys did the motions to our verse last night --- the girls just looked at us like we were looney! So pray for them also.....and pray for us that we can some how connect with them.

Thank you so much for the prayers that are lifted on our behalf! It is only through prayer that we are able to do what we do.....and God makes the burden light!!!

With thanks and love to all of you. Gary and Barb

p.s. (post script)

This is a photo of Garys' bridge. So now you know what we are talking about in the previous update. A 5 gallon pail will hang from the hook ....the pail weighs about 2.8 lbs. ...and then we will add water slowly until the bridge destructs. Should prove to be interesting.

later............ G & B

Last Release Time for the year --- and a Praise

We had our last Release Time today. Our lesson was on Jesus Ascension into Heaven. The verse was I John 2:28....continue in Him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. Last week we had 6 pray to receive Christ and today we had 2. We haven't been giving the invitation each week......and so now after hearing about Jesus all year ---- we felt the need to present it to them. These were kids that were new this year - so it was thrilling to see them accept Christ - and - to see that the ones who did it previously - remembered it!! :)

We had a meeting this past Saturday --- a planning session for Prairie Light Youth Camp. We are making some changes this year.....some out of necessity. With gas at $4.00 or more a gallon and a shortage of buses available - we need to make some cuts. We will be focusing more on the Lakeview School (Release Time) kids and the ones who have faithfully attended camp each year.

The church basement has gotten another repair job almost finished. The walls in the kitchen area were in real bad shape. Those walls were removed and now new drywall (it is called sheet rock out here) has been put up. Vern Walkling and his sons, Matthew and Dakota, were the drywall installers and it is looking good!! A little more "mud" and sanding and then some paint and.......soon we will have the carpet laid. It WILL be finished before camp starts!!! :) :) It is such a wonderful fix....the whole downstairs looks grand!!!!

The Juvenile Detention Center continues to be a joy. There is one young man there right now whose attitude has taken a total turn around. He used to be so negative......now he is full of smiles - like all the time! His prayer requests usually said "hello god I do not no you". Now we saw him write on the poster board we use in the room "we say HI love God". We know that God is at work in his heart. We have also gotten a couple of letters from one of the gals who used to be in the JDC....now in a placement in another town. This is what she added as a p.s. in her last letter ... "The first duty of love is to listen." I guess that is something that we can all remember and ponder....

As to ranch life......many of the herds are out to pasture - or will be soon, although the grass is not very good yet. We need rain badly, and it seems that we watch the heavy clouds go past us. We helped move Dwight's (my cousin) herd this past Tuesday. When the cows and calves can't find each other - they panic! and figure the other one is back there where I last saw her. Well, we lost one cow and 2 calves.......they can hardly move anymore - so tired from this long walk without mama/baby.....and then they can high tail it in the wrong direction literally with their tail held high and running faster than the horse. So it was----but we did make it and then sat on the hill side watching as they SLOWLY paired up. We haven't heard whether or not anymore found their way back thru the fence and the 4 miles to "home".....hope not!

We have one more item to take care of before we head for Michigan. The 7-8th graders (Release Time) were building a bridge out of thin wooden sticks (1/8 inch strips). . . . and Friday we will be going to school to see how much weight they can hold before they destruct. We have 3 bridges to test (they worked on them in pairs) so it won't take too long --- and the teacher gave us permission to come and have a little fun with it.

About supper time here --- so I better get busy!!!

See you soon!
Gary and Barb