Camp 2011

This year camp seemed to turn into "conquering fears" camp. It started off, as planned....but then, oh my...major change of plans.(For those of you who don't know: I am deathly afraid of last-minute changes of plans...okay, I may have exaggerated a bit, but you get the point). We had planned to ride horses all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from location to location. Camping at two different places before finally reaching our destination for the weekend. Well.....the horses were acting strange. Riders were getting scared. One by one, each kid decided they didn't want to ride. Okay...so what to do. We have 8 children depending on us to provide them with camp.
Enter brainstorming session.
After approximately 15 minutes we came up with an alternative plan. Four of us would ride the horses that were behaving to our first campsite and the rest of the kids would stay with Pastor Charlie and help him get water and set up the camp. The two days we would conduct horse lessons, hiking, etc. and then on Sabbath and Sunday we would go ahead with our original plans.
So that's what we did. Or at least attempted to do. (Oh, and I'm obviously still alive....)
Thursday went well. We had some work time, horse time, hiking time, game time. And then came Friday. Bright and early we were informed that there had been a change in Pastor's plans. We needed to move camp. A flurry of activity followed. We broke camp and then left the kids (again) while the four of us rode the horses to the new location-our property up on Anvil Mesa. After we got there, we had to set up camp and get ready for Sabbath. When all work was done, we let the kids indulge in a water fight, which turned into a bucket fight, which turned into a mud fight. It was great fun! And of course, after everyone got muddy they all got to get clean again!
Sabbath, our families and friends joined us for church. We had a potluck lunch (where those who were camping didn't bring anything) of Navajo tacos (sort-of like haystacks). Then in the afternoon, we went for a walk and had fun throwing juniper berries at each other.  After everyone left, we managed to collect our kids and close the Sabbath with some games and a campfire.
Sunday we broke camp and everyone went home.
Camp was a great blessing this year. Watching lives change for the better brings joy unspeakable. It may have been challenging. It may have removed our comfort zones from us for that time, but it was worth it. To see Christ working in the lives of young people, to watch them begin to realize how much they are loved, to be able to love them.....That makes all the pain, stress, agony, leaping-off-the-edge kind of faith, worth it.

Thank you for your prayers!

Evangelistic Meetings

Starting on April 15, we began holding as series of evangelistic meetings in the town of Shiprock, NM as a joint effort with the Waterflow Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Monuement Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church. 
Pastor Charlie Whitehorse, of Monuemtn Valley, UT is conducting the adult meetings and people from Waterflow are doing the children's meetings.
This is a four week series, mainly based on prophecy.

Shiprock is a town with a Population in July 2007 of 8,746. There is no Adventist presence in this city. The closest Adventist church is 10-15 miles away (and off the reservation). Think of all the people who do not know Christ, think of all the people that are within our power to reach. That is the purpose of these meetings.

We are having a good attendance of around 20 non-Adventists each night. Please pray that God's Spirit will move mightily and will convict hearts, both of Adventists and non-Adventists, to surrender their all and prepare for the soon coming of Jesus. Pray that these people will continue coming even when they hear the messages that usually turn people off. Pray for the guidance of the Spirit of God on the people conducting these meetings and pray that God will speak through them.

We fight: but not against nations, we fight: but not against the principalities and powers of this world. We fight against sin, against the powers of the devil, and yes, against Satan himself. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.