Is it Sunday yet?

As of yesterday, March 8th, we have been on the Rez for two months, and now that we are here, I feel like I have a constant mental countdown until Sunday. Every day that passes signifies one less day until I am able to worship with little people surrounding me, praising Our Father for His goodness. As I had hoped and prayed, I do get to help with the preschoolers on Sunday morning, and last Sunday we had eleven little people sitting in our row during church! I love all of the kids, but the preschoolers have a special place in my heart. My heart is full to hear them, the littlest ones, singing praises to Our Father. One little girl in particular leans her head really close to mine and listens to hear which words I'm singing, and then she sings them aloud when she has them memorized. I wish you all could hear her tiny voice too; it is a continual reminder that God's eye is on the sparrow so how much more does He care for each one of us?

Another little girl who is often found sitting next to me during church doesn't sing. She rarely speaks. She's had a green runny nose for the past month and it was at least a couple of days of springtime Kids Club before I saw her smiling. She has been coming to church regularly since I've been here, and each Sunday I get tiny, tiny glimpses of a tiny friendship between us. The past two Sundays we have spent considerable amounts of time on the monkey bars after church. She can't do them all by herself, but with my help she can pull herself across. The moments we spend together on the monkey bars bring my heart so much joy - she smiles, even laughs some, her little tongue sticking out in determination where two front teeth used to be. Just last Sunday, she was telling me when she wanted me to let her dangle from the bars and when she needed help, a huge change from just two months ago when she wouldn't even tell me her name. The Lord heals brokenness, and that's what's happening, little by little, on those monkey bars.

In the Midst of Chaos

It has been awhile since we've posted.  As you can imagine, things have been very busy.  I'd love to bring you up to speed on how we are doing and what is going on with the ministry here at Sacred Road.

Where to begin?  

Our family is definitely in the middle of the "chaotic" stage, as we learned at our missionary training. This stage can feel messy, crazy, unsettled, unknown and scary.  I have had all of those feelings since we arrived.  

I saw this picture at Hobby Lobby and it made me smile

We found a place to rent on the reservation and we are so thankful!  It has been a bit of an experience for this "city" family but we are grateful to be about 20 minutes from the Sacred Road church.  We have a goat, llamas and chickens in the backyard and we are learning how to outsmart the mice in our house. The house is an old doublewide with no screens on the windows and a tin roof, so we are wondering just how hot this house might feel in the dead of summer.  Oh, and how could I forget the bugs.....we have spiders, fruit flies, and wasps in and out of the house.  "Mom, I found another spider (or weird bug) in my room," is a phrase I hear almost daily. 

Lest I make it sound too awful, we are truly having a great adventure together here as a family.  We laugh at so many things about this house, the llamas that suddenly appear right outside the window,
and our whole experience here.  The memories we are making while here together in this house are absolutely priceless. 

We have found a home to purchase here on the reservation.  It is a "for sale by owner" home but because of a divorce happening with the seller, things are moving slowly on their end.  At this point we have no idea how long it will be before they are ready to move ahead and sign papers with us.  We do love the home and hope it might work out for us to purchase it.  We are trying to hold it loosely in case the Lord has a different plan.  Please continue to pray that the purchase of this home might be soon if that is the Lord's will.  If not, pray we will find the house He's planned for us.

Amidst the chaos, we love being here!  We are taking in so much as we observe and participate in the ministry activities.  Our Sundays are full as we are learning our roles and where to help out.  The Sacred Road youth group meets every Tuesday night.  I am amazed at how many teenagers come eagerly each week.  I assist Mary Granberry in the kitchen on Thursdays as we prepare meals mainly for the Sunday after church meal.  As summer begins and mission teams arrive, the cooking schedule will pick up and several summer interns will also help us.  Friday mornings there is a staff women's Bible study and a few native American women attend as well.  This time together is precious and the Lord is working in each of our hearts.  Darren is really enjoying his work and will be blogging about that very soon.

Sometimes I stop and glance around and can't believe we are actually here.  Thank you for partnering with us to make this possible. Living here, we have been given a great privilege to love these children and youth.  I love each one so much even if they don't know it yet.

Today I read Luke 15:8-10 about the woman hunting for the lost coin.  She sweeps the house, looks for it until she finds it and rejoices by calling her friends and neighbors when she finds it.  Then comes the verse, "I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents".

I watch the children who are the lost coins.  I'm seeing them hear the truth of the Gospel each week through Bible stories.  I watch the Sacred Road staff sweeping and I pray that many lost coins will be found. Your prayers are a vital part of this ministry.   

Thank you for your prayers and for journeying with us.  Your support means so much to us.  

In the Shadow of Mt Adams

Over a year ago we came up with the name of our blog, "In the Shadow of Mt Adams." Little did I know how true that statement is.

When we would go to the Reservation, the mountain was always there. Even if behind clouds, I always knew it was there. A part of the Reservation; a part of the people.

After being here for almost a month, I feel the mountain's presence even more. No wonder there are all the myths and folklore concerning this mountain. We constantly live in its shadow.

One of the things we learned at training in February is how the world is full of both brokenness and beauty. It is something we talk about a lot on the Reservation. God graces us with beauty in this world: His creation, art, love, a smile. But even in the brokenness of this world, He uses that for His glory as well.

This lower Yakima Valley is place of severe brokenness. The children of the Reservation are born into neglect, abuse, poverty and despair. They are a people of hopelessness, mixed with beauty.

And yet this is a beautiful place. A place in which Jesus Christ has been active well before Sacred Road came here. We are arrogant to think that He is only active here because we are here. The land is beautiful. The people are made in His image, just like you and me. The mountain daily shows us a reminder of God's creative and sustaining power and sovereignty.

I was recently shown this viewing spot via Instagram by Beth Granberry. My fascination with this mountain was only magnified once I saw this location. It is on the way to Hope Fellowship so I'm able to drive by it each day as we drive to the church. It is a perfect symbol of the brokenness of this community with the beauty of this place.

The Lord is gracious to remind us each day His purposes for us. Show and tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to people like myself (broken and sinful) in a place of beauty and brokenness.

a full heart

My heart is full. At the end of week three, I am overwhelmed by the glimpses of true hope and the love of God the Father that I see descending on the Yakama Reservation in these clear times of beauty and of brokenness. These three weeks have come with their joys and their sorrows, but His grace will never cease to be sufficient.

 

Kids Club this past week broke my heart and refilled and overflowed the cracks of leaving home behind for a new home more times than I can count. I'm making new tiny native friends and laughing as if no time has passed with native friends from the past. As I watched the team members this past week, many of whom came out here for the first time and had no idea what they were getting themselves into, I was reminded of my first trip out to the Rez in 2013. The constant reminders each afternoon of the Lord's everlasting, abundant faithfulness to His beloved children blessed my soul again and again: the kids I interacted with who didn't speak or smile or laugh two summers ago are the ones jumping up to reach my shoulders and give me hugs. They're the ones giggling hysterically and giving high-fives, the little the ones getting a running/jump-start to a piggy back ride and "claiming" their spot in my lap for story time. Such a significant, obvious change has taken place here, and I know I'm not alone in saying that I feel so blessed and privileged to see it as a "local." The Lord has been and will continue to be a solid foundation of sufficient grace and mercy for His people. My heart is overflowing with the knowledge of the unconditional love and forever promises that God has made to all of us, His children; thank you for your prayers for this community. God is faithful, and He is answering the prayers and cries of His people.

The Lord is blessing the people of White Swan with a knowledge of Himself and His unchanging nature, and He is working through and in and among His people from all over the world. He who called you is faithful, and He will do surely it. What a joy it was to be able to say see-you-laters on Friday afternoon with the knowledge of the fact that we finally live here, that these relationships will grow in the hope of the Lord.

 

 

First Week on the Rez

We are HERE!  Our first week has flown by.  Amazingly, our first week just so happened to be the first spring mission team week so we were able to participate each afternoon in the Kid's Club that happened at one of the housing projects.  I spent a good part of the Kid's Club helping turn the jump rope.  Most of the jumpers are ages 6 to 10 years old -- this is an age category I just adore.  I love their smiles, giggles and excitement as they learn to jump in or improve their jumping record.  They are precious.  I found myself sometimes just looking at each child and praying that Jesus will fill their little hearts.  There were about 50 kids each day at the housing project we helped at and about 100 kids each day at the other housing project.  During the Kid's Club, the children are loved on as everyone enjoys games, crafts, baseball, four square, snack,s and a Bible story that the children help act out.

Our mornings this first week were spent driving around looking at homes for rent or sale.  We are staying with a very generous empty-nester couple with two extra bedrooms.  This has been such a blessing to us.  We have been living out of suitcases for almost two months so we are anxious to find something to settle into.

There is not much for sale on the Reservation.  We saw one home that had possibilities but it was across a highway (sort of like Aurora -- for you Seattle people) and no light there to help with crossing.  We were not feeling peace about it.  The very next morning I felt like the Lord gave us an answer.  We happened to drive by a home we had not seen, with a "For Sale By Owner" sign.   I felt like the Lord was showing us to wait for His timing and He will bring along a house for us.  This particular home is in a much better location than the one across the highway.   (The owners will be ready to sell it in the next month or two and we have let them know we are interested.)

We currently have an apartment on hold in Yakima but our first choice is to be living on the Yakama reservation.  We also found out about a mobile home for rent on the reservation so we are pursuing that as well.  Thank you for continued prayers about our home.  

Off We Go

It is a very bittersweet night thinking about our plane ride to Seattle tomorrow. MTI has been an experience of a lifetime: it is not often that you are plunged into a group of 60+ people for 4 weeks, to be with them for such a chunk of time, and then possibly never see most of them again. The shortest span of time with a person can have the biggest impact.

We have been blessed and encouraged to learn how to deal with conflict, how to experience healthy hello's and goodbye's, and how to transfer into a new culture. We have learned so much about ourselves, which is the first step in entering the mission field. One of the hugest blessings received is learning all of these techniques with some amazing believers and serving hearts. As we head off into the next stage of this transition, I cannot express what a gift it will be to have these lessons and memories with us.

And with that, we are looking forward to Kid's Club in Yakima in THREE DAYS.

I hope you can get a glimpse into this past month with the pictures below. :)

MTI Family

Arrival

Beautiful scenery along the Santa Fe Trail

My buddy, Marty

All of the Teens out on a Field Trip

Field Trip to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings

New Family Friends, the Shanks, also serving Native America

I got the privilege to lead worship each week with a few of the other girls

Ebenezer Goodbye Project

Manitou Cliff Dwelling Field Trip with the Kids

Enjoying three weeks of snow

Narnia!

Class Time

MTI Building

The Sabbath: A Time to Grab Hold of God

What a blessing our time at MTI has been. Not very many people have the opportunity to "step out of life" for a period of four weeks to learn about God, yourself and how you interact with others. This weekend I have the privilege to meet with four other men that have been part of my growth group and have them tell me one weakness they have observed and 3-4 strength areas. I have the opportunity to share the same with them. What a privilege!

Last Friday we spent the day thinking a lot about the Christian Sabbath. It was a very helpful time rethinking through why we set aside the Lord's Day for worship, hospitality, fellowship, acts of mercy and rest. It was a bit convicting as to how we, as a family, have slacked lately. We haven't been as purposeful and intentional about how we spend the Lord's Day. So instead we end up spending the time for our own purposes and not the Lord's.

The discussion got a bit lively as we talked through what the Lord's Day Sabbath means for believers today. All of us here come from different Christian backgrounds, different denominations, and different understandings of Scripture. Some have been part of traditions that have a more developed view of the Sabbath and some don't. But, we are all part of the family of God, adopted sons and daughters, called by God to serve Him throughout the world.

It is interesting to me though, how the modern church has lost sight of the Sabbath. The culture around us gave up on the Sabbath long ago. Now, we go to soccer practice on Sunday, watch football all day, and if we feel like it, actually go to church.

I find it curious that we often act like there are only nine Commandments. We read in Scripture that Jesus came to fulfill the law. While that has many applications, one is that we understand that the ceremonial and sacrificial law don't apply to us as New Covenant believers. For some reason, we also throw in the Sabbath as part of that ceremonial law that doesn't apply to us.

But I wonder if we can think about it differently.

What did Jesus do in the Sermon on the Mount? He didn't eliminate the application of the ten commandments, he broadened them.  He broadened them to apply to more than our deeds and externally, but to our inward thoughts, heart and mind.

The day of rest was initiated at creation (Genesis 2:1-3). God applied Sabbath principals when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and collected enough manna on the sixth day for two days (Exodus 16:22-30). Both of these were before the Ten Commandments were instituted. The principal of the Sabbath rest was instituted before the Ten commandments, was included in the Ten Commandments, and applies to believers even today.

Take a look at Isaiah 58. In the first five verses God is chastising the Israelites for their faith without works; for their inward focus and their neglect and abuse of those under their care. He then goes on to tell them in verses six through twelve what true faith and fasting looks like: outward focused, feeding the hungry, freeing the oppressed and sheltering the homeless. If they pour themselves out for the hungry, "the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places. . . ." (v. 10, 11)

And then here's the part I haven't understood until a couple months ago. The last two verses of that chapter address the proper observance of the Sabbath. Why are there verses regarding the Sabbath in this section in which God tells Israel the proper way to fast unto the Lord?

"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Isaiah 58:13-14

I think the only way we can have a faith that is active, outward focused, and selfless is to find rest in the Sabbath of God. The only way we can work with all our might in our God given vocations and also live a life pursuing the mind of Christ, is to ground it in the Sabbath rest of God. If I can't trust that God will provide for my needs, my schedule, my to-do list, how can I trust that He is sovereign over all of our lives? It takes faith. But where else should we place our faith than in the Creator of all the Universe?

So next time church contemplates canceling service so people can stay home and watch the football game (which some churches did in Seattle when the Seahawks played in the playoffs), or even the next time I contemplate turning on the Mariner's game on a Sunday afternoon (which for me is not healthy, but may be fine for you), ask whether you are "doing your pleasure on my holy day" or pursuing after God?