November Update from Matt

Hello friends,

I am so thankful for so many things. I know it is easy to start saying how thankful we are because it is that time of season and then be so very forgetful of how blessed we are as soon as the dust settles from the holiday season, but I truly am thankful for so many things and pray I never lose sight of all the grace and blessing God has poured out on us.

We have a sign in our house that a friend gave to us that says "Look at what love the Father has lavished on us", it is a constant reminder that we are so loved and nothing can ever separate us from that love. I don't know at what point in the Christian faith that the message of the gospel and the mission of the church strayed away from the fact that God loves us so immensely that he gave His son Jesus to die for us. The Bible says that when we lift Him up He will draw all people to Himself. This should be the heart cry of every missionary, church and believer that we would live lives in such a way that lifts the Name of Jesus up and allow Him to draw people to Himself. the more I grow in my walk with the Lord the more I realize that it is all about Jesus and that I am usually not doing God or anyone else any favors by straying away from that.

A few weeks ago we left SD and headed to GA for a dear friends wedding that our whole family had part in and was able to see our families while we were there. Along the way we stopped in Memphis and had stayed with wonderful friends and I was able to have some dental work done that I have been in need of for a little while. I am grateful for dentists and doctors that use their skill in ways that glorify God in other countries and in the US. I am back in SD while Amanda and the kids are still in GA until Christmas. I will fly back for Christmas and then head to Chicago for a youth conference and then we will head home. Pray for grace while traveling and for the youth conference I will be speaking at, I am super excited about the opportunities God has opened up for us.

In just a few weeks we will have our first weekend getaway for the teens. It will be December 6th - 8th. I will be able to take 30 local teens and have a weekend at the camp where they will come in on Friday evening and then go home on Sunday morning. It will be a fun time and also a growing time. We want the kids to be able to come at no cost to them so that money is not a concern or reason to why they would not be able to come. The theme will be "Great escape to nowhere" - how God restores us right where we are. It will cost roughly $35 - $40 per person to do all the things that we would like to do with them over the weekend. if you would like to sponsor a teen feel free to let me know or you can donate to YES (address at bottom) put teen camp or Hadden family in memo.

One thing I have been super encouraged by is seeing more of the teens and the kids coming to church on Sundays. It is such a blessing to be able to see the kids outside of school and them run up to give you a hug, or even when i got back to work the other day they were in the halls excited to see me and I excited to see them. It has been great over the last few months being able to build relationships with a lot more of the kids.

I am excited for the holiday season for all the ways that God can use us to be a blessing to so many families here. Last Saturday Rob and I helped pack over 200 boxes with all the fixings for a thanksgiving dinner for 10 people. I also have a list of families that need firewood that we have been working on getting them set up for a little while to meet those needs. God has promised to provide all of our needs according to His riches and I choose to believe that because I know of His faithfulness. He never goes back on a promise, I am so grateful for a great God who proves Himself over and over again.

I pray the Lord keeps you all safe through this season and that your hearts are truly filled with gratefulness and that you go about glowing with the presence of the Almighty resting on your lives.

I am grateful for each one of you and how you continue to bless us with your generosity and kindness.

Learning to serve the lord in all we do,

Matt, Amanda, Jacob, Leah and Noah Hadden

A friend of ours has been faithfully working on a website for us - if you would like to go check it out or donate there or keep up with more pictures and such I want to begin using it more for you guys to be up to date more and be able to see more through the technology God has given us. I do not think it is %100 but hopefully will be within the next month or so. Check it out and feel free to give me any feedback on how his can minister to you better.

www.haddenjourney.com

Things to pray for:

The families that work in our ministry

That we would lift the Name of Jesus up constantly

A tractor with a front end loader.

The teen weekend coming up

The families that are faithful in our church

A generator for the building

As always, I so appreciate you holding out for our posts and updates. We've been home about a month now and we are adjusting to everything well.  Who would have thought it would be an adjustment to being home, coming back to where you are so comfortable, but it has. We have missed our family and friends in South Dakota and the urgency of being back has only grown stronger. Some of you are asking what we are up to while we are home.  Our schedule is only getting more busy, thankfully. While we are home, we have events and churches scheduled for us to come and share about our ministry in Pine Ridge.  Our main job has been to share our hearts and trust the Lord for our financial needs.

This is a very uncomfortable place for us to be, to be honest.  It's hard raising funds in this economy but we have a God that has far more than we could ever need. We do have a goal that we are trying to reach.  It's a goal that is above what we require monthly, and the reason for that is one month someone may not be able to meet their commitment.  We raise a certain percentage expecting to get 60% of it. While also being completely dependent on the Lord. Being a full time missionary is like being a full time Pastor. We dont have a 9-5 job, we are on the clock, creating ministry opportunities, partnering with the schools and education departments, community service, Co Pastoring, and Co Directing the Chanku Waste Youth Ranch during the summer. As our full time job we are ministering to the Native Americans and showing the gospel through our lives.  This takes money to allow us the task of ministering and reaching the Natives full time. It's definatly a strange place to be, and it's such a testiment to Gods provision. Regardless if we have what we need, we are heading back early March to set out to do what God has called us to do.  If we need to get jobs we will do what it takes to complete the task set before us.  Please be in prayer for us.  We will be traveling the weeks after thanksgiving and Christmas and we will be gone all of Jan and Feb.

We will do our best to keep you informed of what we are doing, and how things are going.  Thank you so much for your thoughts and Prayers!

God is Good and ALL things are possible!

What are we portraying?

This was a message from Pastor Mike a few weeks ago and I've soaked it in for a while.  I wanted to share this with you.  So often, and I've experienced this more than ever in the recent weeks, as Christians we take what we want of God and paint a picture of Him that is inaccurate.  For unbelievers or those that set out to make Christians look foolish, it "proves" their point in their eyes.  If we believe in THE God, then why on earth wouldn't we take Him in all that He is. Caricatures are those pictures painted that take qualities or characteristics of a person and exaggerate it to the fullest. I have an example for you....

Now that is FUNNY!!!!! Haha!! Now the bottom picture exaggerates the most dominate features.  Let's get real and honest. How often do we take the most dominate features like Gods love and mercy, and forget God's sovereignty and Justice. We paint a picture of God that is inaccurate and makes Him look foolish.  We make Him look like a clown, and discredit His most powerful characteristics.  If we want an accurate picture painted of God through our lives, we must take Him in all that He is. 

I hope that as Christians we paint an accurate picture of our Holy Saviour. In all His greatness, in all His mercy, in all His love, and in all His justice.  I want to show the world the FULLNESS of God. 

He who Sustains.

Thank you Jesus for another productive, patience - producing, God sustaining week!  It has been a while since we've updated you, and I'm so grateful you are still following our blog. We have had such a great time! For Matt and Jacob it has almost be 3 months in this beautiful place, and almost 2 months already for us girls.  For us, it has flown by!  We are growing everyday more and more in love with the Natives. Has it been challenging? Absolutely.  We have had our eyes opened to so many things here, things at home that we wouldn't experience.  Our eyes of ministry have been expanded. We strive everyday to see through the eyes of Christ, not through ours which at times turn judgemental or frustrated. Great things are happening, and God is truly blessing this ministry.  We have fallen in love with the natives and so appreciate their open arms to let us in to be part of their lives.

For Chanku Waste' Ranch, the kids camp put on by Pastor Mike and Monica's ministry is doing amazing things! Every week we get a few new faces in, and Jacob is learning so much too! He enjoys going every day, playing with his friends, doing crafts, and running til he's completely worn out, which seems to make bedtime around here a little bit easier. 

We are in our 4th week of TEAMeffort Mission teams, and boy have we been crazy busy.  Matt's brother and sister, Nathan and Laura, have been here for 5 weeks, and sadly we are taking them to the airport to head home tomorrow. I asked Laura to head back a share that we truly have had an unforgiving schedule, so everyone knows we aren't just ignoring everyone back home. This is also a reason this is the most recent post in a few weeks.  We have had fantastic groups and some challenging ones. Matt is running the work sites like a boss and we are making so much progress on the facility for the Ranch. I am making sure the budget and administration side is in tip top shape, as well as keeping up my work on my own company, JNL Bookkeeping Services.  I try to help on the job site a few days but that isn't always the way it happens. Leah enjoys going to the camp and the work sites but by 12 she is asking for a nap, and with our schedule we defiantly try to accommodate.

A glimpse into our schedule, We are up at the sites by 9, and we break for the day by 3pm Monday - wed.  On Thursday we have a half day, and Friday is a free day for the campers. Sunday - Thursday night we have dinner and Chapel starting at 6 and hopefully get home by 9:30.  On Friday, we try to catch up on our tornado of a house and if we are lucky we get a few clean clothes put in the closet.  Saturday, our groups check out and we head to Rapid City for supplies, groceries, and meal out with our staff.  Sunday morning we have Church, have lunch, and prepare for the next group coming in at 5.  Phew....what a week!  We are finishing out this week, then next week will be our last week and we will continue our ministry with Chanku Waste' and the local Church. Working with TEAMeffort has been such a blessing!  The Lord is using the teams that come in to really take charge of the facility progress. Over the past few weeks we have completed 2 bathroom facilities, both Mens' and women' complete with showers as well for the groups that come into work at the camp; finished out a FEMA trailer that we have filled with bunks and closet space; built 2 decks for the bunk trailer;completely framed up the large facility: got the trusses up, and this week we are working on the decking to prepare for the roof. We are making so much progress for their ministry and really looking forward to this part of Pastor Mikes vision for the reservation coming into fruition.  To God be the Glory!

We repainted the Camp bus to make it the most amazing Camp bus on the Rez!!

We named the Bus "debbie" in honor of Jake's mom, one of our amazing TE Chaperone's that came from Wisconsin.  He lost his mom the week he was serving with us.  We are honored to forever have her name on our Camp bus!

Nathan working OH SO HARD!!  We are going to greatly miss Nathan and Laura, we wouldn't have survived the last few weeks without them. Sad to see them go :(

Trusses up and going! Thanks to a few professionals that installed 39 trusses in 7 hours.

"Greater things are still to be done in this City!!"

Some have asked how we are in our Support.  There is always a need, because all that we have coming in is pouring straight into the ministry here.  We are still taking support through our church Harvest Park Baptist Church (memo: South Dakota Mission).  If you need more information on this, you can email us at athadden@gmail.com.  Thank you for your continued support, and your prayers.

A few prayer needs:
- Please Pray that the Lord prepares our hearts for what is to come in October.  We have had a few opportunities but know in someway we will be connected to this reservation. Pray that we are obedient and at peace wherever He entrusts us to.
- Pray for continued protection for our family.  We live across the street from a community that Satan has a enormous pull.  Our home has been surrounded by an Army of Angels, and don't hear or see anything that goes on until after the fact. Nothing that Satan has even comes close to our house and we know that we are so protected by the mighty Hand of God.  Rejoice in this with us.
- Pray that God will continue to give us wisdom on how to love and reach the Natives. It is a battleground and pray that we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and His leadings.
- Pray for our growth.  As we seek in all areas, as we grow in ministry, as we see through the eyes of Jesus, as we lay our desires down and take up His, as we fall more in love with our family and each other, as we study the word, pray that we are soaking in everything God has for us. 

We want nothing more that the best the God has.  We want to live a life of obedience, and we want to be a shining testimony of Gods faithfulness and Glory!  He has blessed us with more than we can imagine and He continues to give His best. Thank you so much for your prayers, as Christians, we make our prayers weak and think they don't make a difference. But prayers shake the walls of this world, break chains, destroys boundaries, and open the flood gates of Heaven. Prayer is power and we need them! This reservation needs them, Pastor Mike and Monica need them, our nation needs them. 

We love you all so much and So appreciate your support in all areas. The title of this post is "He who Sustains....", because He has never failed to do so over the past few months.  He has been our rock, our energy, and our drive. He is faithful to sustain, and we are so grateful for that.

Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,

Amanda

Lets Ride into the Sunset...

What an eventful week this has been! I know I say this every time I post but thank you for being patient with us. I know you are waiting on updates and we are trying to find the time to get them  to you regularly. Hopefully, after this week we can get on somewhat of a schedule. Last Sunday night, we were packing away and spending time with family and friends. A special thanks to Kathryn, Daniel, and Liam for staying up late with me, and to one of my besties, Nicole, for having one last sleepover with me (for a few months anyway). We were checking flights and they looked anything but promising.  So, after talking about it for weeks, anticipating the chance to see Jacob and Matt, and the emotions of saying goodbyes to everyone had me on the edge of a healthy breakdown. haha!! The thought of not making it out on Monday got to me.  After a sob fest and pity party, I decided to try a little later flight and try my odds. It was all the emotions of the stage of our adventure. We have been apart for 3 and a half weeks, the exhausting task of packing for a 6 month trip, and the emotional toll of bringing a few family and friends to tears with us heading West. It was wearing on me.

 We got to the airport after an emotional goodbye with my Grandparents and Nicole. Ugh.  It's never a good feeling.   We got the the airport with all our 7...yes 7 bags, unloaded and the Lords favor was on us from that point on. Small things, we were able to check the bags at the curb, which they dont do for standby passengers, and we were escorted to a 'behind the scenes' attendant that gave my parents gate passes to help me get through.  Which is almost unheard of.  They helped me through security and we were able to spend that much more time together. I cried at every opportunity that day I think!! And I'm unashamed! lol! I cried when I missed the first flight, I cried when I was told I'd probably get on the next one, I cried at the thought of having to head home. Long story, hopefully shorter, We decided to head to Memphis, then to Minneapolis, THEN to Rapid City, and hope I made all my connecting flights. I didn't think I got on the flight to Memphis, so I went up and said "is there anyway we are getting on? If not, we will head home and try again tomorrow." "You got on!" And then came the tears. Wow...I sound like a crazy person, but this was my flight out of Atlanta, if I got stuck in Memphis, it didn't matter. I was on my way to Matt and Jacob. I walked back to our seats where my parents had Leah and I just sobbed.  My mom put her sunglasses on so she could cry and not worry about it.  That was tough.  It's a short time to be gone, I understand. But we are embarking on new territory, leaving what's comfortable, leaving our support, and Trusting in Jesus like never before. Leaving my parents was the worst. We had the Gate attendants in tears, and the flight attendants once I got on the flight. Leah didn't understand and fought leaving Noni, which was so hard on me. She cried and we just had to pull her away. This has been tough on her, she doesn't understand quite what is going on.

 Don't get me wrong, it was joy and excitement as well, but that's the only thing I had the energy to do. After that, we were well on our way.  We made every flight and made it to South Dakota for our wonderfully perfect reunion.  I am so thankful that we don't have to be apart like this often. My military friends and family, I have so much respect for you and I'm grateful to not be in your position.  You are strong women!! Truthfully, this was a journey Matt and I started months and months ago, there was an urgency in our hearts to be there, as a family.  So I was ready, but it was very bittersweet!  And I'm sure we will have family and friends visit before we come home in Oct but the unknown is always an uneasy place to be. Praise Jesus He is the calm in the storm and our sustainer!

Ok, bear with me...almost time to wrap this up! We got to Rapid, and joined our handsome men, enjoyed a nice dinner, got to see Pastor Mike and Monica, and headed to our new home. Matt had made it sound rough, so I didn't have any expectations.  He didn't share with me that a ministry a few hours away had come and painted our house, helped decorate, and deep cleaned so all would be perfect when I got here.  Which was one of the sweetest things! I told Matt if I had any more tears to cry I would have cried when I walked in! haha!! The house is perfect for us, it's not in excellent condition but it has everything we need. I'm so thankful, God did this. He provided this home for us, which He knew was important to me. He cared and listened for the minor details, and once again poured His blessings out on us. On Tuesday we opened camp for the summer, so it's full swing ahead. We have about 70 kids a day and we are growing. We feed them, sing with them, teach them Gods word, play with them, and for Jacob and Leah it's a playdate everyday with tons of kids. They have made themselves known and Jacob is known as the football player...Leah is known for simply being adorable at anything she says or does. Blessing #5289451645641....Our children are flourishing!!  Another blessing, we get to work with Daddy everyday.  He is never far away and we have the fun of playing with him alot. We are so humbled friends.  We can't express the thankfulness we have in our hearts. God is so faithful and He is doing an amazing work here through this ministry. We miss our family and friends, but God has truly covered us in Peace and we pray that for our family back home as well.  Jesus wants to be evident in our lives.  He wants to be known.  The little things we do everyday make a difference and we want to strive to be Jesus everyday to these children.  Please pray for us, we do need that more than anything. You have all been so wonderful and we look forward to chatting with you more about the work here.

From the first day of Camp Chapel.  We had a wonderful group from Mississippi come to serve.

Our little ones on the front row, taking it all in :)

With love.

Who am I? - Part 1

I wondered today what to write about...not because I lack ideas but because I'm a little overwhelmed with things to write about.  This message overflows my heart and will be my life message to young women everywhere.  I have had a heart for young girls since I was in high school.  I was in high school and defiantly struggled with my self image but at the same time I was pretty confident and I'll tell you why as we get more into this. According to the image the media paints, I didn't have a reason to be confident.

 I had out of control curly hair, bangs that seemed more like a built in visor than bangs! I did have these rockin, gigantic, very fashionable (not!!) glasses that took up the majority of my precious little face.  I had wonderful friendships, most of which I still have today. I was involved in our Theatre department at my school and pursued music early on. I even modeled for a bit after my awkward stage.  I did a photo shoot, and got accepted to go to audition at one of the biggest events in New York City.  But at the photo shoot I noticed that they were picking out outfits that didn't reflect who I was in terms of modesty.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't always the most modest person, but I did respect myself enough to know that I wanted to be taken seriously.  I wanted to stand out but on my OWN terms. So I knew that for me, if I went into acting (which I still dream about sometimes...) and modeling I would set aside some of my standards that I had set for myself. So I turned New York down, and never did any more modeling after I won the award for Best Catwalk out of the whole school...lol, which I do manage to remind Matt of from time to time.  I did nail the catwalk!! haha!!

Your probably thinking, "OK, get off your high horse!!"  I say all of that to share this.  I had a wonderful dad that reminded me almost daily through either his teaching, preaching, or the stern verbal reminder that I was beautifully and wonderfully made.  That every decision we make is based on our self worth.

Yes...EVERY decision.

If we understand the position we have in Christ, the position of the Kings' beloved daughter, alot in our lives would change.  We wouldn't enter into meaningless relationships to feel valued.  We wouldn't allow others to take advantage of us in order to fit into a certain crowd.  We wouldn't allow the media to shift our view of ourselves.  We wouldn't expect our husbands to make us feel a certain way, or depend on him to make us feel valued, THEN be disappointed when he can't meet your expectations. We wouldn't wear our emotions on our sleeves to be quickly hurt or offended. We would see ourselves in a new light. If we understood our value stood on the truth of the Word, we would make decisions based on the truth of who we are in Christ.  We would know that we are valued by the King of Kings!  Question - If a big star or the cutest guy in town told you that you were beautiful, wouldn't you believe it?  Wouldn't your confidence be radiant?  Why don't we believe the Lord when he calls us beautiful and perfectly made? 

What in our lives would change if we understood who we are in Christ?