Prayer is so very important!!!

Last week our meeting with the JDC kids went so well again.

Everything is going so well......

Prayer -- your prayers --- are what is making this all happen!! Without prayer nothing would go well. The devil has had such a strong hold on the reservation for so long. But God is at work here in so many different ways. WHY??? Because so many prayers are being lifted. Not because of our work......we are just a small part of the big picture. We are blessed everytime we go and work with the kids. Seeing those eyes focused on us and the lessons.......seeing the smiles...hearing the thank you......getting that hand shake (at JDC)........feeling God's presence.....

Without your support --- your prayers --- none of this would be happening. And so we ask for you to continue your prayers!! NEVER feel that they are going out void!!! God is hearing and God is in action! We can hardly believe that we are getting to be part of this. KNOW that you are a big part of it also!

We can't thank you enough!
With love, Gary and Barb

A Day in the life of Ranch helpers / Ministry Workers....

What a day!! We started out the day helping my cousin Dwight vaccinate approx. 250 calves that he does "background work". Not sure that's the exact term but these are calves that belong to another rancher who has Dwight take care of them for the winter. The vaccinating process went very well and we were done by 11:00.....just in time to make sure we had everything packed up for Release Time.

Release time went good! The little K-1 are so precious....wanting to get as close to me and the flannelboard as they could. In a way it was rather distracting to the story telling --- so many little bodies --- so excited and wanting the best seat in the house. The 2nd - 4th graders.....it shows that they are older and I can still see Mark Long listening so intently to the lesson. It just warms your heart. One boy - Tyler - asked Jesus into his heart. Tyler was all smiles. And oh! do they sing.....I can't wait until they know the whole song....."I'm gonna take God's promises and hide 'em in my heart, so I don't forget I'm gonna hide 'em in my heart...." We gave all the kids a Bible. We were given money by one of our visitor/relatives and decided to use it to purchase Story Bibles for the K-1. One little girl (Faith, who told me she was at a 2nd grade reading level) was reading it as she went into the school building. We gave the 2nd - 4th graders an Early Reader edition - made possible by another good friend of the Boy Scout family.

We got home around 4:00....so I started getting supper ready to put in the oven. About the time to put it in the oven Gary came in asking "you want to go round up some calves?" Twenty of the 250 calves had broken through the corral (a big story in itself) and 7 were still missing. Dwight knew where they were - just west of us about 1 mile. So we headed out with the quads (in the rain) to get these delinquents. They were in with the neighbors herd of cattle so they had to be separated. They did not want to leave these new found "moms"and so it was quite the rodeo getting them separated and then to keep them from going back into the herd. We finally got them back to the ranch and into the corral.

We are enjoying ALL of the work we do and it is so good to stay busy. God has blessed us with health and strength - a beautiful place to stay - and many good neighbors that make us feel welcome.

We look forward to November 20th when we will be coming home for a visit and for little Sawyers baptism. It will be so good to catch up on all of our family and friends!!!

Love to all of you!!
Gary and Barb

And more overwhelming opportunities......

On Wednesday and Thursday a couple of guys by the name of Rick and Mick were out in the area doing school assemblies during the day and in the evening they would have a Pizza Blast party. You can find them on their Website: www.rickandmick.com. They are internationally known....have been all over the world with their program.....and it was great. We did not go to the school assemblies but were invited by my aunts sister to come and be Counselors at the pizza blast. On Wednesday we went out to Valentine and enjoyed a hilarious program. There was an illusionist and then Rick and Mick......and a group from the school who put on a "grecian urn" skit. Let me tell you there was a LOT of water squirting around as these men became a fountain......and then a bunch of people in the crowd were also recipients of the water...... How I wish we had had our camera along to get a movie!!!

Then on Thursday evening they were at the Todd County High School. We arrived late for the program but were available again as counselors.

Many people came forward at each invitation and we were able to go over the 4 Spiritual Laws with them. It is so overwhelming!!! Gary had all 5 of his chairs full and he went over the booklet with them and they filled out the response card. Then when the chairs emptied a little girl came over - Alexandria - and sat down and said "now it's my turn."

God is at work here on the reservation.....some would say that these people have heard this message over and over again and they respond over and over again. But perhaps it's going to take hearing it over and over again before it finally hits home and they fully understand. We must NOT grow weary in giving Gods Good News!!!

Another bonus of going to the TCHS pizza blast was that we got to see MANY kids that we have been in touch with.....and met a few parents.

God Bless!

Juvenile Detention Center

This picture isn't the greatest.....part of the building is covered by the "hillside". This is the Juvenile Detention Center (Wanbli Wiconi Tipi) --- a beautiful facility -- housing at this time about 20 young people. It has 47 available beds. It is a very new facility -- I believe it was finished in 2004. We had a tour of it on Wednesday and were VERY impressed with the programs they have for the young people. We asked if they would allow us to come in and do a religious program with their young people. "We would love to have you come and help us with our youth." And so we started immediately....last night (Thursday - October 16) from 6:00 - 7:00 we gave the "kids" our lesson on Creation. Again we wanted to start right at the beginning. We had a lot of fun with these kids....joking and laughing. The guard that brought them to the room was invited to stay and he did - so we knew things would stay under control.

I (Barb) went over a Bible verse with the group - Hebrews 11:3 It is by faith that we understand that the whole world was made by God's command. In the CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) way of doing things --- we should repeat the verse several times to get it "into their heads and hearts". So we worked on getting it said loud enough "so the guard down the hall could hear it". It worked pretty good because they said it pretty loud several times. Then Gary introduced the lesson with his snowshoes -- something he had made -- but only God can make something out of nothing......

After the lesson and singing the song How Great Thou Art, we went over the Review Questions. We had warned them ahead of time that we were going to check to see how well they listened. The very first question was "What does the word Genesis mean?" I thought that was a tough one!!!! The young man in the far corner shot his hand up....."beginning". I was very impressed. Gary had only mentioned that in passing right at the beginning of the lesson.

We passed out finger jello :-) and cookies at the end and sang one more song.

I really look forward to next week. You could tell that these kids have heard God's message before....one knew that we have to repent in order to go to heaven and everyone of the twelve questions got a correct answer from someone! Now they just need to change that head knowledge into heart knowledge. Perhaps we can bring them a step closer.

Please keep this group in your prayers (sorry no pictures of these young people - as you can understand it is not allowed).

Thank you once again for your awesome support!

Gary and Barb

CORRECTION

My goof!!! I shouldn't do things in a rush!!! I got the wrong picture of the 7-8th graders and missed one of our young people.

Marissa on the far left also asked Christ into her life.

THANKS! I will try to slow down and make sure on what I am posting! Barb

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSING FLOW

7th and 8th Graders ---Clayton (2 years ago), Floyd (Tues.), Timothy (2 years ago), Miles (did not yet), Jailyn (Tues.), Kelsey (this summer) and Shania (Tues).

Daniel, Jasper, Rodney, Tyra, Vera, DonShay, and Kelsey

5th and 6th Graders ---- ALL of them asked Jesus into their hearts - plus Matthew (who we didn't get the new full group shot because of our excitement).

It is so awesome being in service for God!!! We are so in awe of what is happening with Promised Land. This past Tuesday we had the older groups. Words just can't tell you what it felt like with the 5th and 6th graders. EVERYONE asked Jesus into their heart. We are posting their photo again just so you can see and pray for each one.

These kids are so serious about what they did. And again it is so wonderful that we will be able to hopefully nurture these young people. Pray for us that we give them God's word in a clear and truthful manner!

The sad thing......we don't have Promised Land next Tuesday because it is an inservice day for the teachers.

For those of you who have been praying so faithfully.....THANK YOU!!! YOU are the reason this is happening. You are praying for the kids and for us and God is hearing and answering your prayers. Please, Please keep it up!!! We can't do it without prayer!!!

Gary and Barb

P.S. If you have been praying for us just "being out here....and all that".... Rest assured that that prayer has been answered too because we are happy here. We MISS our family and friends but we know God is watching over them all and so we are good with that. Winter could prove to be lonely.....we shall see......

Sweet Sweet Sunday

Sometimes God just seems to be extra good :-). We went to pick up the Left Hand Bull children to come to church with us and this morning we had an added blessing......Mark came along. Last year he was one of the kids that I "sat on" (figuratively) for some poor choices I felt he had made (along with 2 other kids). On the way to church we got to talking about what adventure they had had this weekend and they said they had gone hiking again. I said they would have to show Gary just where they went because we needed some trails to hike on...... Mark said "you got time this afternoon?" YES! We made sure we had the time. We went hiking just north of their place - down in the canyons. There are deep washout that we decided must have gotten as bad as they were because of the cows making deep trails and then the rains washing out the sand. We had a grand time - just enjoying the kids' company and letting them show us "their" trails.

On another page.............My Aunt and a part of her family are here with us for about 10 days. She is much more alert and able to enjoy her little great grand twin babies (15 months or so). They sit on her lap, give kisses, and just make life interesting!!

GOD IS SO GOOD!!!

Please pray for our Promised Land on Tuesday. We will be meeting with the 5th -6th and 7th - 8th graders.

Gary and Barb