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!
07 November 2012
06 November 2012
Newsletter Update
God is good!
Hello Friend.
I wanted to update you all on how the Lord has blessed us this past month and also make you aware of some needs that are in front of us.
I was able to drive back to our home in SD and take a trailer load with me full of coats, blankets and the rest of our furniture. The house is set up and ready for us to be there living in it. I am so grateful to many of our friends who have been gracious in giving us their time and other resources for us to be able to have the house ready for us.
We were able to bring together several coats and blankets that have been given out in the last week or so and the timing is great considering they already are starting to have snow on the ground.
The gas for the trip up there was a large exspense and I am grateful to report that half of it has been taken care of but there is still a chunk that is needed to cover the rest. It was around $1600 total to get moved in up there.- I guess that is not bad for a move of 1500 miles.
We were able to get all of the siding on the building that we have been working on for the kids camp as well as all of the rough hvac in. We are almost ready to insulate and Sheetrock. I am excited to see the end result and how it will be used for the glory of God and a testament to His love.
One of the goals we have for the spring is to be able to teach some music lessons after school in the church and with that, one of our needs is instruments that we could use. Such as guitars and recorders, hand drums, whatever we have we will use. If you have any instruments lying around and would like to donate them to this need please feel free to let me know.
We are looking forward to the months ahead of us in seeing some of you in person and being able to fellowship with you all. We are still in need if monthly support whether that be through a commitment from some of you or a job for me there on the reservation. Please pray with us that our faith would not grow weary. God is faithful.
I am also looking for work to do through the next few months as this will help us while we are continuing raising support for next year while we are home.
We will be in Columbus OH in Nov and in Chicago in Dec still with the plan to be in MS and along the gulf in Jan. And then on to Nashville.
I am taking a trip with a good friend of mine to help do some work among the Dene people in the Northwest Territory in February to encourage the people there and offer supplies. After that we will make our way back to SD stopping in a few cities along the way.
I have decided that it is not easy fully trusting the Lord, it is easy to say I trust the Lord, but my life does not show it. It seemed that Paul stresses in his letters to the church that he did not want to be a burden to them, I hope you know that my heart is the same and I don't ever want to be burden on any of you but rather want to keep you informed of our journey and the needs that are in front of us and to give opportunity for you to have a part in what God is doing in Pine Ridge. We are so richly blessed and honored to be a part of something so much bigger than we can see.
Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions or would like to just catch up.
We love you all.
Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,
Matt, Amanda, Jacob and Leah
22 August 2012
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.
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.
21 August 2012
Email update...living life on a mission!
Hello Everyone,
I have been asked by several people about what life is like here on the reservation, it is hard to answer until we were living here for a little while, I feel I can answer that a little better after being here almost 4 months. This email is to share with you some of our experiences here over the summer. Some of it is not very pretty but that is why God has us here I believe.
When we first set out to come here we didn't know where we were going to live. Our original place to stay was going to be in a barn loft that I was going to add some water to make a little apartment out of. That fell through in the last few weeks before we came and God opened another place for us to stay, which was the parsonage beside the church. I am so grateful for this, we could not have asked for a more practical place to stay. It is spacious and in really great shape. it needed a lot of cleaning up and some minor work with holes in the walls and such, but I just so happen to be gifted in that area as well as there was a wonderful church around 2 hrs north of here that wanted to be a blessing to us and came one Saturday and helped me paint and all before Amanda got here back in may, and such a great blessing they were.
It is directly across the street from the busiest gas station on the entire Reservation at an intersection called Sharps Corner. Sharps Corner is considered the most central place here not so much because of where it sits geographically but because of the convenience to get to pretty much anywhere here.
The back door had a sticker on it that says "We do not give out gas money" That should have bee a hint as to how many people we would encounter on a daily basis that come by our house asking for anything you could possibly imagine. Because we are at the parsonage we have people stop that need to get in the pantry for food and baby supplies. Baby supplies, such as diapers, wipes and formula go faster than anything else. We have a lot of teenage moms that come by needing help. We are blessed by people that put boxes and such together to help keep this pantry stocked. We have been working on a clothes closet that has plenty of room to be able to stock clothes and coats for winter and such, it has already been put to use but is still a working progress.
The weather has been a crazy thing to experience here. It can be totally sunny and over 100 degrees outside and within a few hrs be seriously cold and hailing. The wind is always blowing, 60 mph winds are nothing here. we have experienced several days of winds around 80 100mph. I told them, where I'm from we call that a hurricane! It is a constant job cleaning trash and such that the winds blow all over the place. We keep a ratchet strap on the trash can to keep it at a minimum.
Rapid City is the closest city to us. It has around 80,000 people and has everything you could need. It is home to the busiest wal-mart in the world is what am told at least, and I totally believe it, there has never been a slow time to go to that store. it is because it is the only one for so many miles that people use that one from so far out. Rapid City for us is about 80 miles away,so we are learning to make good use of our trips to town. I am becoming a much better list maker!
The people here are very passive and easy to get along with. Most of them have light hearts and cut up all the time. When you are talking to them about something might not agree with at all, they will just shake their head and smile and probably agree with you just to not have any argument at all. It gets aggravating sometimes when you are trying to teach them because you don't know if they are getting it or just shaking their head for fun, so I am learning to ask them a lot of questions.
I believe we have been well received here by most. There are some that just look away from you and you can tell some bitterness and hate with "white people", but even then they just wont talk to you or even look at you I have noticed, never any words or other actions to show that.
Gang activity is pretty much in every community here, there is graffiti on pretty much every house and playground in every one of the government housing communities.
Drugs and alcohol are a huge detriment to this society. There have been several cases I have gone out in the morning and heard from some of our neighbors about all the things that have transpired the night before and I didn't hear or see anything. That confirms for me once again that God has a hedge of protection over our house and family. some of the things I have heard that have happened even in the last few months that we have been here are too grotesque to share in this email and are very upsetting, but just know that it is not pretty things.
Last Saturday morning I had gone to a friends house in a community down the road that they have nicknamed "mini Baghdad" (I think that is a little stretched but it still gives you the idea) as I was coming in, there were people out standing in the streets and something seemed a little out of the norm. I had asked my friend what was going on and he had told me that a 24yr old a few houses down had hung himself that morning. I don't know if any of you have looked at or remember us sharing some of the statistics here before we came, but the suicide rate is insane here. This was the most recent but I have heard of so many more in the last weeks and all are of young people. In Rapid City at the Lakota housing there a few weeks ago they found a 12 yr old that had killed himself and while the coroner was still there they had gone back in the house and the boys 8yr old brother had done the same. Even as I write this it grieves my heart sharing this with you, but I do feel the need to let you know of the condition that is here. People ask more than anything else "what do you think is the main #1 problem here, is it the drugs, gangs, alcohol?" I have heard Pastor Mike say - You cant one dimensionalize a problem this big, there isn't just one thing, all of these problems are symptoms of a much deeper problem I believe.
We have had a little boy about Jacob's age named Daryl come and hang out at our house for a little while and he would eat lunch with us after church, I have never met his parents or anything and he had kind of disappeared, when I had asked around about him I was told the other day that his mom had abandoned him and his 2 other siblings and they had put them in separate foster homes because nobody wanted them all together. I hear of this quite often, even with the teens they are always being moved around to different relatives to stay with.
All of this to say, we know without a doubt of why God has us here. These are a people that God loves and He likes them. He chose a very similar culture to call His own, so much of the culture here is so close to Hebrew culture, and I don't believe they are far off from the truth from what they believe, but you can have almost the whole Gospel without Christ and you would have nothing. Pray for the ministry here. I am sad to be leaving next month but it is something that we have to do. I feel that we are going to have to almost start over building relationships here when we get back in March.
Pray for our family, for continued protection. I have had to explain so many things to Jacob that he has heard and seen and doesn't fully understand, I pray that God guards his little heart from things that he shouldn't be exposed to, as well as Leah. We are getting ready to make our journey home leaving here September 14th heading to Chicago for that Sunday the 16th. from there hopefully going to Columbus Ohio, Louisville KY, Radcliff KY, Nashville TN, Huntsville AL and then home. if you are in any of these areas please give us a shout we would love to come see you. God's people have been so gracious in opening their homes to us and we are excited about making new friends along the way.
Thank you all for your prayers and support for us to be able to minister to the Lakota people.
Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,
Matt, Amanda, Jacob and Leah Hadden
16 August 2012
Resting in Him.
Hey everyone!
Wow, the last week of camp was last week and it was definatly bitter/sweet! We have really started solid relationships with the kids that attend, and we are going to miss them. Some of them we will see at church but most we won't. So the end of summer camp is a bit sad for everyone. On tuesday we got to pick up Rebecca and Daniel, two of Matt's siblings, from the airport. They will be staying with us for a few weeks right up to the time that we head home. For them it is probably going slow, we aren't used to having much free time, so we have enjoyed the last few days of rest and a little boredom!! haha! But all is needed.
Tomorrow we get to enjoy a full day with some of the youth. We are taking them to a local lake and spending the day there, then coming back for a girls lockin. MAN!! Am I going to be worn out! haha!! We are excited to get to spend this time with them. As I've shared with some of you, we are just now taking our friendships with the youth to new levels. We hope when we return in March that we wont have to start from scratch. We pray that we can still keep up with everyone and still be positive relationships for them. We will have pictures to post of all our fun this weekend!!
Soon, we will be packing up and preparing the house for the winter and the time that we are gone. We are thrilled to be able to visit with alot of the wonderful people that we have come in contact over the last summer. We will be in Chicago, IL, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, then GEORGIA! In the fall we are planning trips to North/South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Lousiana, Texas, and that's not including our trip back to South Dakota and the northern states we will hit. This is going to be crazy!!! All of this to share the amazing ministry happening here in Pine Ridge. God has truly blessed us with like-minded ministries and we are truly pumped about getting to spend more time with them.
A few weeks ago, we were pleased to find a great deal on a family vehicle. We dont have a vehicle back home, only Matt's truck. With our sweet growing children, it was going to be a tight 3 week long trip home on a bench seat, and we had a peace about moving forward with the purchase. With that, we have 2 vehicles to get home, and two gas tanks to fill. We aren't pulling the trailer home, because we are leaving alot of our stuff here, but we are planning on about $600-$700 for fuel, per vehicle. Please rejoice with us that our financial needs will continue to be met. I say rejoice because this need is already before the Lord! And we trust that He is faithful. We have learned not to worry or fret. If we are faithful, God is ALWAYS faithful!
More updates on the youth event to come!!
Love,
Amanda
Wow, the last week of camp was last week and it was definatly bitter/sweet! We have really started solid relationships with the kids that attend, and we are going to miss them. Some of them we will see at church but most we won't. So the end of summer camp is a bit sad for everyone. On tuesday we got to pick up Rebecca and Daniel, two of Matt's siblings, from the airport. They will be staying with us for a few weeks right up to the time that we head home. For them it is probably going slow, we aren't used to having much free time, so we have enjoyed the last few days of rest and a little boredom!! haha! But all is needed.
Tomorrow we get to enjoy a full day with some of the youth. We are taking them to a local lake and spending the day there, then coming back for a girls lockin. MAN!! Am I going to be worn out! haha!! We are excited to get to spend this time with them. As I've shared with some of you, we are just now taking our friendships with the youth to new levels. We hope when we return in March that we wont have to start from scratch. We pray that we can still keep up with everyone and still be positive relationships for them. We will have pictures to post of all our fun this weekend!!
Soon, we will be packing up and preparing the house for the winter and the time that we are gone. We are thrilled to be able to visit with alot of the wonderful people that we have come in contact over the last summer. We will be in Chicago, IL, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, then GEORGIA! In the fall we are planning trips to North/South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Lousiana, Texas, and that's not including our trip back to South Dakota and the northern states we will hit. This is going to be crazy!!! All of this to share the amazing ministry happening here in Pine Ridge. God has truly blessed us with like-minded ministries and we are truly pumped about getting to spend more time with them.
A few weeks ago, we were pleased to find a great deal on a family vehicle. We dont have a vehicle back home, only Matt's truck. With our sweet growing children, it was going to be a tight 3 week long trip home on a bench seat, and we had a peace about moving forward with the purchase. With that, we have 2 vehicles to get home, and two gas tanks to fill. We aren't pulling the trailer home, because we are leaving alot of our stuff here, but we are planning on about $600-$700 for fuel, per vehicle. Please rejoice with us that our financial needs will continue to be met. I say rejoice because this need is already before the Lord! And we trust that He is faithful. We have learned not to worry or fret. If we are faithful, God is ALWAYS faithful!
More updates on the youth event to come!!
Love,
Amanda
30 July 2012
Aug Update!!!
Hello Everyone,I hope this letter finds you all well.
I want to thank everyone of you for supporting us through prayer or finances or just words or letters of encouragement. We could not be here in Pineridge if it were not for all of you guys.
This summer has flown by, it is hard to believe that we have been here for 3 months already. We have been so blessed with many opportunities to stay busy. If you would like to see pictures, you can check out either mine or Amanda's facebook page or you can 'like" the Chanku Waste kids camp page for pictures from camp each week. if you dont have facebook, let me know and I can send you some!
We have been working with a ministry called Team Effort, they do mainly construction ministry in different locations all over the country. We primarily worked on the new chapel and dining facility for the Chanku Waste Kids Ranch but were also able to do some things in the community. We helped an elderly lady get running water for the first time in a long time and then through the graciousness of some of the group we were able to bless her with a water heater so that she could have hot water for the first time in many years as well. We were able to bulid a wheel chair ramp for someone who has just been put in a wheelchair. Things like this are not uncommon at all. I have received a list of several people in this area that do not have running water much less hot water, my hope is to be able to steadily work on that so that each one of these elders can have running water in their home over the next few months.
Friday nights is our teen night at the church. It has been so amazing to see how they have began trusting us and confiding in us. We started our studies out two months ago with "How much are you worth" I feel that many of the young people here, as well as the adults, have placed a very low value on themselves, when we know that God paid an amazing lop sided amount for us so that we can be with Him. we are worth whatever someone is willing to pay. I think that it really stirred some interest among them and each week we have grown with newcomers. I am looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in their lives as they continue to give their lives over to Him and as He frees them from so many lies that have been told in this place.
We have been helping with the Kids camp as well. Jacob is loving it because he is at camp everyday and partaking in all of the activities, people are always coming up to us telling of how wonderful he is and has a sweet spirit and is always the first to volunteer to pray, I am so thankful for this and am very proud of him as he learns so many new skills and is challenged in new ways.
It is such a blessing to see how things work out. I honestly don't know how things are going to happen sometimes but they do. My dad has always said that "whatever God orders, He pays for" that is so very true, we have seen God answer so many prayers and even some that we didn't know was a need yet. the camp is able to run the bus in every direction everyday (And nothing is close here) as well as feed every child that comes through a breakfast bar as well as lunch everyday, I look at this and say I don't know how you do it, and then I am told by Mike and Monica "we don't". They have so many testimonies of how God has provided for them over the last 20 years and it is amazing. God is so good.
After being here for 3 months Amanda and I have been praying about what the Lord wants us to do for the next season of our lives. We have been answered and wanted to tell you that we know that God wants us to come here full time. We plan to leave here in the middle of September to head back south and hopefully be able to stop in with some of you along the way and visit with your church if you would like us to. we will spend the months over the holiday doing whatever the Lord leads in raising support. Possibly going down through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas sometime in October and November. I have been blessed with an opportunity to go to the Northwest territory, Yukon area in February with a dear friend of mine that has planted a few churches up there. This will be a difficult trip to make. it has to be made in the winter months so that you can drive on the ice roads to get there. Please pray for us concerning this, I am very much looking forward to this as well as a little unsure, when you start talking about -50 f I am at a loss and really cant comprehend that. but there are about 47,000 native Americans that live in that region and are mostly forgotten about a lot of the time.
Once I get home from that trip our plan will be to head back here to Pineridge sometime the first of March hopefully visiting in some of your churches again.
I know this might be a lot for some of you, but know that this is where the Lord is leading us and we value you and your support in any way. You having a bible study in your home has no affect on these people here, but you praying in your home for these people has more of an impact than you could probably imagine. There is power in prayer and we covet you praying for us as God leads us into a new place.
Here are some things you can pray for specifically -
1. Sharps Corner Church
2. Us as a family
3. The Brennan family
4. That we would be able to raise support by March
5. We are in need of a van of some sort to travel to these places as God opens doors
6. Wisdom
If You are interested in supporting us at all, feel free to email or call us and let us know.
if You would like to make a donation towards any specific thing, such as toward helping us get a van, lunches for the kids, the materials for one house to have running water or even fuel for the bus (which costs around $500 a week) Let us know and we will see that it goes to that.
If you would like for us to come visit your church and share what God is doing here in Pineridge, let us know so that we can try and make good use of the trips we are taking in the months to come.
God is so good and I know that He has already provided everything we need. We are grateful for your friendships and your support.
Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,
Matt, Amanda, Jacob and Leah Hadden
I want to thank everyone of you for supporting us through prayer or finances or just words or letters of encouragement. We could not be here in Pineridge if it were not for all of you guys.
This summer has flown by, it is hard to believe that we have been here for 3 months already. We have been so blessed with many opportunities to stay busy. If you would like to see pictures, you can check out either mine or Amanda's facebook page or you can 'like" the Chanku Waste kids camp page for pictures from camp each week. if you dont have facebook, let me know and I can send you some!
We have been working with a ministry called Team Effort, they do mainly construction ministry in different locations all over the country. We primarily worked on the new chapel and dining facility for the Chanku Waste Kids Ranch but were also able to do some things in the community. We helped an elderly lady get running water for the first time in a long time and then through the graciousness of some of the group we were able to bless her with a water heater so that she could have hot water for the first time in many years as well. We were able to bulid a wheel chair ramp for someone who has just been put in a wheelchair. Things like this are not uncommon at all. I have received a list of several people in this area that do not have running water much less hot water, my hope is to be able to steadily work on that so that each one of these elders can have running water in their home over the next few months.
Friday nights is our teen night at the church. It has been so amazing to see how they have began trusting us and confiding in us. We started our studies out two months ago with "How much are you worth" I feel that many of the young people here, as well as the adults, have placed a very low value on themselves, when we know that God paid an amazing lop sided amount for us so that we can be with Him. we are worth whatever someone is willing to pay. I think that it really stirred some interest among them and each week we have grown with newcomers. I am looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in their lives as they continue to give their lives over to Him and as He frees them from so many lies that have been told in this place.
We have been helping with the Kids camp as well. Jacob is loving it because he is at camp everyday and partaking in all of the activities, people are always coming up to us telling of how wonderful he is and has a sweet spirit and is always the first to volunteer to pray, I am so thankful for this and am very proud of him as he learns so many new skills and is challenged in new ways.
It is such a blessing to see how things work out. I honestly don't know how things are going to happen sometimes but they do. My dad has always said that "whatever God orders, He pays for" that is so very true, we have seen God answer so many prayers and even some that we didn't know was a need yet. the camp is able to run the bus in every direction everyday (And nothing is close here) as well as feed every child that comes through a breakfast bar as well as lunch everyday, I look at this and say I don't know how you do it, and then I am told by Mike and Monica "we don't". They have so many testimonies of how God has provided for them over the last 20 years and it is amazing. God is so good.
After being here for 3 months Amanda and I have been praying about what the Lord wants us to do for the next season of our lives. We have been answered and wanted to tell you that we know that God wants us to come here full time. We plan to leave here in the middle of September to head back south and hopefully be able to stop in with some of you along the way and visit with your church if you would like us to. we will spend the months over the holiday doing whatever the Lord leads in raising support. Possibly going down through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas sometime in October and November. I have been blessed with an opportunity to go to the Northwest territory, Yukon area in February with a dear friend of mine that has planted a few churches up there. This will be a difficult trip to make. it has to be made in the winter months so that you can drive on the ice roads to get there. Please pray for us concerning this, I am very much looking forward to this as well as a little unsure, when you start talking about -50 f I am at a loss and really cant comprehend that. but there are about 47,000 native Americans that live in that region and are mostly forgotten about a lot of the time.
Once I get home from that trip our plan will be to head back here to Pineridge sometime the first of March hopefully visiting in some of your churches again.
I know this might be a lot for some of you, but know that this is where the Lord is leading us and we value you and your support in any way. You having a bible study in your home has no affect on these people here, but you praying in your home for these people has more of an impact than you could probably imagine. There is power in prayer and we covet you praying for us as God leads us into a new place.
Here are some things you can pray for specifically -
1. Sharps Corner Church
2. Us as a family
3. The Brennan family
4. That we would be able to raise support by March
5. We are in need of a van of some sort to travel to these places as God opens doors
6. Wisdom
If You are interested in supporting us at all, feel free to email or call us and let us know.
if You would like to make a donation towards any specific thing, such as toward helping us get a van, lunches for the kids, the materials for one house to have running water or even fuel for the bus (which costs around $500 a week) Let us know and we will see that it goes to that.
If you would like for us to come visit your church and share what God is doing here in Pineridge, let us know so that we can try and make good use of the trips we are taking in the months to come.
God is so good and I know that He has already provided everything we need. We are grateful for your friendships and your support.
Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,
Matt, Amanda, Jacob and Leah Hadden
16 July 2012
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.
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
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
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