Amanda's Update :)

Yes yes...this isn't old news. I haven't updated in a while! Summer Camp at Chanku Waste Youth Ranch starts up and just about nothing else gets done.  We had a fantastic summer, and had some smaller numbers some weeks but we were able to see more one on one discipleship which was so powerful. He had a few come to know Jesus, and we planted seeds every day. During the summer, the kids get to hear the gospel everyday. And some weeks we slow down on the long bible studies, because the kids have heard, and more times then not, our actions, our love, our life living, shows them more of Jesus then what we speak.

This summer was also our second year as Camp Directors with TEAMeffort Missions out of Jacksonville, FL.  It's a mission organization that just celebrated  20 years of ministry this year! They organize youth construction mission trips. God has used this ministry so much for us personally with new relationships and friends, and also with getting so far in our construction aspect of the Kids Camp. A quick overview of what we accomplished with their help this summer: we built a storage garage behind the main garage, built an archery shed, enclosed the camp side of the garage for camp storage with shelving, accomplished SO much in the Motorcycle Ministry side of the garage, built a stage in the Chapel area and sound booth, helped finish drywall, painted the first coat of paint, painted the trim, built a nice food pantry in the green building beside the church, along with a few other small things! All of that Matt and a few other TE staff leaders organized while camp was going on.  We would not be where we are in the building without the servents of TEAMeffort Missions. We are so blessed by their ministry and all the groups that came from all over the country to serve our people. 

On a personal note, Leah this year was not stop at camp. Last year, it was a good day if she stayed to til lunch time. Which this year, has really been much more of a mild summer, heat wise.  We definiatly had hot days but nothing like last summer. At the end of the day, it was a challenge to get her to come back inside to rest.  Jacob was in his element!! He thrives in every area.  This year, we had a lot of chances to teach him examples of leadership.  Sometimes, our little ones get separated out because they are missionary kids, but the reality is that they are in the heart of ministry as well.  They go to camp everyday throughout the summer, and they get tired and overwhelmed just like us.  Matt and I were so proud to see our kids setting examples, and leading while still being kids. Jacob and Leah both start school on the 9th.  Jacob is in first grade, and Leah will start pre-k.  Sharing with a friend of mine, I stated that this school year is all about GRACE!! Adding a sweet little baby, traveling and speaking, I do not have unrealistic expectations of how it will go.  We will do what we can, and lean on Jesus!! haha! 

We are reaching 34 weeks on Sunday with our pregnancy.  It seems like it has flown by, but at the same time...now it seems time is slowing down for sure!  It is amazing how God designed pregnancy and allows us to bond with Noah even in the womb.  God is creating a love between us and him like no other. We get excited thinking about the changes, and the new things He will bring into our lives, and also enjoy thinking about how he will so much enrich our lives even more.  A few weeks after Leah was born, God gave me a vision of Noah.  I knew we would have one more son one day.  I know that God knows the beginning and the end, and everything in between, but it is so amazing to catch a little glimpse of that and be reminded that he holds every piece of our lives and weaving even the smallest details together. As with Jacob and Leah, I can't wait to see what God has in store for Noah and how he will impact the Kingdom.  I pray that our kids are always eternally minded. 

Matt has made some changes in his health over the summer.  He has decided to be intentional about his health and over the summer lost about 40 pounds total. We have been so proud of him! It's so neat to hear Jacob choose salad over something else with the reasoning of being more healthy like daddy.  "Things are caught by kids, not taught." Matt is leading by example and it has been a joy to see.  I am so thankful for Matt, we are celebrating our 8th anniversary on Aug 20th, and reflecting on where we have come from is overwhelming.  God has been so gracious in our marriage. I have seen so much growth in Matt over that last few years, and seeing him thrive in this ministry it is so evident he was designed, created, and called for this. God gives us the grace to grow in our marriage everyday and I am totally excited for the rest of our lives! Matt enriches our life so much and I am more proud to be his everyday. 

This week, which is why our blog is being updated, we are enjoying a vacation with our family in Branson, MO. My sister came up from Texas, and my mom and dad, brother and his new bride came up from Georgia.  Leah and I are heading down to Alabama for our cousins wedding then heading back up to South Dakota. After that we welcome Matt's family and some dear friends of ours to help build our room addition and get ready for Noah's arrival. Then we just get to rest, and be together as we wait for baby.

God has been providing in every aspect of our ministry.  He has been so faithful!  We don't even have time to question or grow concerned with how we will do it, He just does it! It has been so awesome to see that. We have no doubt he will continue to grow our faith as He follows through with His promises!

Most importantly, Thank you all for your prayers! I wish we could thank you all individually.  Your financial support has been a huge aspect of us being here, and we are so grateful!  It takes the body of Christ to carry out ministry, and we could not do it without the obedience and support of the body of believers.  Thank you over and over!

In the coming weeks, we will have a website that will tie all our social media, contacts, updates, ect in one place and we will let you know that as well.  We love you all and are SO thankful for each of you in our lives!

Amanda <3

End of Summer Update!

Hello everyone,
Wow how the time flies when your having fun.
I cant believe the summer is pretty much over. The kids at camp are talking about school and getting ready to start back in just a few weeks.
Kids camp has been going so well this summer. I can tell a huge difference in the respect and the tone from the kids compared to last year, that comes from the trust and relationships we have been working on building. 
Another encouraging thing I have seen this summer is the growth of our teens. Last summer we were having maybe 3-4 teens, this summer we have had over 15 pretty much everyday. For our teen night Amanda and I do on friday nights, we been having 25-30 every week and some weeks more than that. This is exciting because this has been a very hard age to reach in the past and I believe If this younger generation ever grabs hold of the gospel, it will be revival on Pine Ridge.

We have been doing a study on truth with the teens. What is truth? Does it matter? The bible says it will make you free. Free from what?
So much of our issues within the body of Christ today is because we so many times are not willing to embrace truth but rather cling to how we were raised or what we have believed our whole life regardless if it is what the word of God says. This is so hard for the majority of Christians I believe. It requires acknowledging that we are wrong perhaps and then require a shift in our theology.
The Lord has been growing me in this area over the last few months. Do I really believe what I say enough to act on those beliefs or am I just saying Lord, Lord and not doing what He says. I have seen God work so much in our lives over the last year and am amazed that He remains faithful even when we are lacking in our faith. The bible says to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. There is much power in belief, what you believe is the difference in your eternity as well as the difference in blessing or curse in your life for today. I challenge you to do more than just say Lord, Lord but also do the things He says and act on what you say you believe.

We have just 8 more weeks til baby Noah will be with us, and we are excited for his arrival. With this, we also have school starting back for Jacob and Leah. After this full summer we are ready for a couple of weeks in between to rest a little before we go into the next season of ministry here. Next month we will be starting our ministry garage program where we will be working on local cars while teaching some of the young adults how to do this as a practical skill while also discipling them in the bible. We pray this will open opportunity to pour into this age group that we have had a hard time reaching in the past. Pray that God will bring the right young people into this program and give us wisdom on how we are to go about it. So much of this we are learning as we go as well.

We have come a long way on the building. We have got the power turned on and all the lights and recepticals are in and look great thanks to a team of electricians.
We have just got all the walls painted this week and have been doing a lot of minor things to finish it out. Next week we will be hanging doors and start trimming it out.
We are at a place of needing flooring and a septic tank put in to go to the next step of finishing the kitchen and bathrooms. Thank you so much to everyone who has been working with us on the building it is such a blessing and we have already been using it all through the summer with the kids at camp. Many of you have put your hands to work on it, some of you have donated materials that you had at your house or shop, some have donated the finances and some have been praying it through with us. We could not have been this far wihout all of you and we are so grateful.

We hope you are all doing well and look forward to trying to see some of you in a few months.

 

Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,
Matt, Amanda, Jacob, Leah and baby Noah Hadden

 

 

Things you can pray for and also things we are in need of.
1.  A headset microphone for doing children's church
2.  A handheld wireless microphone
3.  Any old motorcycles or cars that can be worked on in the garage for learning
4.  Folding tables for the dining area of the camp bldg
5.  Projector and screen for the new chapel
6.  Septic system and flooring
7.  Cabinets for the kitchen
8.  Monthly support

His Grace Abounds

Finally it's time for an update.  I've waited a while to update on purpose because I wanted it to be real and to really have my thoughts together, so here goes...well everything!  We spent a few months here last year and had such a great time.  We hit the ground running, our schedule was so crazy, we had family and friends visit and work for most of our time last summer, and this time has been different. I am going to warn you, this is not my pity party, this is me being real, vulnerable, moldable, and teachable. 

God gave me the name for this blog "refined by design", for a very real reason.  He knew better than anyone else that this journey was going to take me to places I have never been before, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.  He knew the areas in my life that would be refined according to HIS design for my life. He knew areas I would struggle, and areas that I would excel.  He knew the areas where I would need him most and the areas that I was going to try and "handle" on my own.  He knew every challenge I would face.

We got here the first of March, so going on two months.  We have experienced weather and snow days like I have never experienced before! The challenges of moving and settling for the millionth time, homeschooling, the fun of the first few months of pregnancy, feeling homesick, and just being in a new place takes some time to adjust. With the weather, we haven't been able to do all of what we have wanted to ministry wise, so this time has been more of a slow go.  Last summer, Leah and I flew in and the next day Camp started, there was no time to adjust it was just all in.  So it caught me by surprise when there were weeks where we were snowed in for days at a time.  I had a plan when we moved that it would be so much easier to keep to a schedule, finish school earlier in the year, accomplish my to do list, actually DO a few pintrest projects, read, have a solid quiet time, organize, plan, reach goals.  After all, we can't run out and kill time window shopping or lunch dates, or play dates, and we don't have a schedule packed with social stuff, we can just be home and accomplish things here. But also to my surprise, I was really sick (still getting sick some days) with this pregnancy.  All I wanted was to lay down and keep my lunch in...too much? haha!  I was tired.  I was annoyed. I was discouraged.  I wasn't accomplishing anything. "No one will know if the dishes aren't done, no one will see that I've been in bed all day...so I'll just be here if you need me." was my line of thinking.  Honestly, I allowed myself to believe the lies I was hearing.  "It won't matter, Amanda." But when I noticed my thinking, I quickly realized I wasn't in a good place. I wanted to physically feel like myself again, I wanted to have energy, I wanted to get the things done that I wanted to.  It wasn't the to-do list that I wanted to 'do well' on, that's just what it translated to.

I love the Lord, truly.  I know that this is a time of growth, and all I wanted to do is dwell in my woes, and just "be".  And the things in my heart that I knew were finally starting to overwhelm my flesh...because I let them.  I decided that I wasn't going to dwell in the fact that I am here missing my family, missing my best friends having their first baby, getting engaged, and seeing all my nieces and nephews grow.  I am here to flourish!  You may be like whoa...she sounds like she is weak.  Well then you would be completely correct!  I am weak, and through my weakness I have experienced grace, growth, strength.  I understand that we are called here for ministry, to be used mightily for God's kingdom, but I didn't know that I was one of His biggest ministries. By that I mean, I had no idea I would be the one being poured into.  Not by others, but by Him, by my husband, by my kids. I was the one being taught. I was the one being held up. I was the one being freed.

I have a friend, Suzanne, that posted in her blog recently about freedom. I feel we are in similar places in life. Parenting is hard, pregnancy is hard, sitting still is hard, homeschooling is hard, ministry is hard, waiting is hard, but I know in my heart that when we are faced with new challenges GRACE ABOUNDS ABUNDANTLY!  To be honest with you, our biggest ministry thus far has been ourselves. And through that God allows us to be beacons of light in a dark and dying world. He allows us opportunities to share His mercy, grace, and love. If I could do this life on my own, I wouldn't need grace. But I can't, why would I want to?  When God is pouring out abundant grace?  Please understand when I say this...I hope in areas of my life, I am always weak. I am always seeking direction, and guidance, and that I am always dependent on Him. We live in a world that is claiming to be self sufficient.  Well so far it's not going so well, if you haven't noticed.  We are in need of a Savior. We are in need of His wisdom, and so in need of His grace. 

Yes, I will have blah days, I will be discouraged at times, but I have to know in my heart and believe above any circumstance that in Him I am strong, and I am being refined in a beautiful way.  In all my shortcomings, He is real and alive, and active in my life.  In all my failures, He is stronger.  Over all my fear, He has overcome.  Over my flesh, I am made new. He is so worthy, and I am humbled by His love and patience for me. I am thankful He sees WHO I am, not what I do. I am giddy over His passion for me and His people.

Leaning and learning,

Amanda

April Update!!

Hello Everyone,

I know this is a little later getting to you than usual and I apologize. It is amazing how fast time goes by. I cant even believe it is already April.

I am so grateful to everyone that has supported us being here and has committed to supporting us monthly. It humbles me every time I think about God having us here and that other people would want to invest in what God is doing here in Pine Ridge. It honestly is overwhelming in a good way.

The last month and a half have been busy getting settled in as well as getting back into the groove of ministry. Mike has been traveling so I have been blessed with the opportunity to preach on Sundays and the last few Wednesday nights. We have started the teen night back on Friday nights and have been having a good turn out. We are in the process of kicking off some addiction accountability group meetings on Sunday nights as well as Amanda starting a ladies bible study on Tuesday nights focusing on forgiveness.

In the mean time we have been blessed with a groups that have wanted to volunteer their resources and time to still work on our building projects. Last week we were able to pour a full size basketball court for the kids camp this summer. We are looking forward to picking back up with our building, starting the insulation and sheetrock in the next month and working on it through the summer as the time and resources allow.

Being here in the winter has been a new experience for us. Last week we got around 26" of snow and as I am writing this now I am watching the snow fall outside as it has done all last night. We are expecting a few more inches today. Pastor Mike told me last summer that there is more ministry to be done in the winter as far as serving and disciplining. I have found that the ministry between summer and winter is just different types of ministry, but there is definite opportunity to counsel during these months.

Amanda is doing fine, she has had some ups and downs with morning (afternoon and night) sickness, but it seems to be subsiding the further along she gets. Hopefully we will find out what the gender is in the next few weeks or so and we will let you know. We have got some baby chicks and plan to be having some fresh eggs by the end of summer. it has been fun watching them grow and I know Amanda is having a blast chasing them around the house. (I can see it in her eyes)

I have been meditating on Nehemiah lately, what a beautiful picture of restoration. In Neh 1:4 it says that Nehemiah wept when he heard the news of Jerusalem and the shape that it was in. It is so easy as Christians to complain about the shape our church is in, our nation or even the shape that we as individuals are in, but there is delight in knowing and understanding that we have a God that did not design us to be in shambles even in spite of our ruin He has plans of restoration for us. Our response to ruin should be the desire to run to the One who makes all things new. Restoration is needed not just here in Pine Ridge but is something each one of us should be longing for as individuals so that it can overflow into our churches and corporations to bring life into these dry bones. My heart breaks for the people in Boston, as Christians it is an opportunity to weep at the brokenness and ask God what can we do to go rebuild and bring restoration to a hurting people. I hope this challenges you in the same way it has me to have a different response to brokenness in our lives.

I am looking forward to see what God is going to continue to do here and through our lives. As a whole we are super excited for summer to be here.

Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,

Matt, Amanda, Jacob, Leah and Bump

March Update

Hello Friends,

 

I hope you are all doing very well and each of you are experiencing much grace in your lives.

 

I am excited to let you all know, we are back here in Pine Ridge. It is so good and refreshing to be back here. We didn't skip a beat getting here. Amanda, the kids, and I left Feb 23rd, we stayed in Nashville one night and moved onto Memphis and stayed until Thursday morning. We drove around 12 hrs Thursday and came the rest of the way on Friday and boy were we all glad to be here. Jacob and Leah did wonderful in the car and throughout our stays in different places, we have been so blessed with great children. Along those lines I would like to let all of you know that Amanda is carrying our 3rd child of which we are so very thankful and excited for. She is due Oct 6th and we are already thinking of some native names. We have been referred to as gypsies in recent times, I don't deny that because it sure has felt like we are.

It was great to be at church here yesterday, we have missed the people so much and there was great joy to see the small group of believers that are here. we had a good service, Mike was preaching on constantly stumbling over the gospel and afterwards a man who was from Oklahoma, who was here for a funeral came forward and received Christ.

There were 7 funerals going on in our area alone yesterday. One of them was held at our church, it was the sister of 2 ladies in our church. It is so heart breaking and sad to watch a funeral here, there is so much pain and hurt in their lives and then death just adds to it when you have no hope of eternity. All of their belief is in what they can accomplish in themselves, and if any of you have been around at all you will know that people will always let you down, we will always let ourselves down apart from Christ Jesus. We can never be good enough to merit righteousness before a holy God. Jesus is our righteousness.

We have a lot of work ahead of us. We continue to ask you for your prayers, that we would experience much grace in our family and ministry and that we would continue to grow our support to be here. We are here completely on faith that this is where God wants us to be and leaning on Him to take care of us as we should do anyways. I am hopefully going to get a part time job at the school as a teacher, pray that my interviews and such will go well.

One thing we would like to start doing is a quarterly newsletter that we would actually mail out, some people have asked us about this and we would like to put pictures in there so that you can have a more visual aid of what is going on. I will still include it to all of you that are on our email contacts but if you would like to receive a newsletter in the mail every 3 months please send me your physical address as I plan to work on this in the next few weeks.

I am so very blessed by so many of you. many of you have been a rock to lean on for Amanda and I and we are so very grateful. God is so good, He fills my heart with joy and peace. Our prayer is that the Love of God and His compassion will spill over into the lives of the people we meet along our journey through life. What great examples many of you have been of just that.

Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,

Matt, Amanda, Jacob, Leah and Peanut

Feburary Update

Hello everyone,

Wow what an incredible time in our lives, it has been so busy and rewarding.

We ended last month with the benefit concert that we hosted for our ministry, what a blessing we received. We are so blessed with so many people around us that care for us but also care for the ministry and it shows with their giving and sacrifice of time and efforts to love people and share the gospel.

I left the country on the 27th to head to the Northwest Territory with Jake Ayers and David Hahn, we flew into Edmonton and drove 1500 miles north of there to Deline and then back down and east to go back north to Yellowknife and then back to Edmonton to fly home. altogether we drove around 3500 miles on Ice roads to get to these remote places to minister to various pastors and missionaries to encourage them and to find out how we can help them.

I think this mission trip probably blessed me in a very unique way from other mission trips I have been on. I was encouraged but also very challenged. Challenged to wonder and think about what we are doing as Christians to accomplish the Great Commission. There are over 7,000 people groups in the world that are still unreached. we have gotten so overwhelmed with the comforts of our own homes and churches that we have lost the desire to be uncomfortable and put ourselves on the front lines of reaching the unreached and loving the unloved. When Jesus came, He came to seek out the lost, and He put himself with them, dined with them and loved them. I see how far our church has come from that. we are no longer concerned with what brings glory to God but rather what is most convenient to me right now. However, I do see a generation rising up to take the place of the generations that have been before us. I see a progression of people in our church moving past our agendas through denominations, race and so many other things that I believe have slowed the church from growing and reaching as to what Christ intended His bride to look like.

I challenge you my friends as I am challenged, to allow God to be bigger in your lives. Look past all the stains that our culture has to see the beautiful work of God in our daily lives and have an eternal perspective on life.

Now to update you on where our family is.

We leave two weeks from today (Feb 23rd) to make our way toward SD. Tomorrow we will be in two different local churches and next weekend we will be in MS again.

when we leave the 23rd we will head to Nashville to be at a church that Sunday morning and that Sunday night we will be at a church in Memphis. We will be there until that Thursday and then arrive in Pineridge on that Friday March 1st.

once we get there we are having to move out of the parsonage into another house. we knew that this was a possibility but didn't think it would be this soon.

This is the busiest we have ever been and we covet your prayers. That God would go before us and that we would learn to embrace His grace each day. Pray for Jacob and Leah as well that their hearts would always lean on Jesus as their sufficiency that they would learn that from Amanda and I as we seek the Lord for provision.

God is so good, I cant explain it, I can only say you just have to take a bite and try it for yourself.

we are so blessed and so needy all at the same time and I thank God for each of you.

Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,

Matt, Amanda, Jacob and Leah

Donation Info

Online - www.youthevangelismstratagies.org

Check -

YES

HCR 49 Box 242

Porcupine, SD 57772

Paypal - athadden@gmail.com

Jan UPDATE

Happy new years to you all!

 

It is always exciting at the new year for me to be able to look back at the old year and see where you have come from in just a short year. It is always amazing how fast the time goes by. looking back on this old year is very humbling for me, to be surrounded by so many great people and having so many opportunities to do what you love is also very humbling, considering there are so many people that lack such opportunities that we take for granted so easily.

This last year has brought us all a year older - a creative 6 yr old Jacob, even if it was at the end of the year. (His birthday is Dec 31st) A vibrant 3yr old Leah, and Amanda and I didn't get a year younger either. We are blessed and healthy and are looking forward to a new year to see what God has for us this year.

December was a wonderful month, we were able to see all of our family and spend some time together with all of them. We had opportunity to be at a couple of churches local to us here in the Newnan area, and then after Christmas, Amanda and I drove to Chicago to be at a youth retreat for the youth ministry of our friends at Grace Church. Where I had the opportunity to speak with them each day, and saw several give their heart to the Lord.
We left Chicago and drove to Detroit to visit our friends at Riverwood Community Church. We are so grateful for these opportunities to share about the heart that God has given us for our friends in Pine Ridge this last month and are looking forward to the busy month ahead of us. We have been blessed this month with Coats and blankets as well as a whole van load of personal hygiene products that will make their way back to Pine Ridge in a couple of weeks. Thank you to all who have gathered this stuff together for us.

We now have a date of when we will be heading back. We are leaving Feb 23rd to head back to Pine Ridge. This is very exciting for us and we are very much looking forward to being back there. Please pray that as we prepare for this, that the transition would go well for Jacob and Leah especially. Sometimes I think they handle the back and forth better than we do even though they don't fully understand what is going on all the time. We can probably learn from that and just not try and fully understand everything but in all our ways lean on the Lord and trust that His ways are always good.

I have been so challenged these last couple of months by having a heart that desires to have a Big God. I know that God is big whether I believe He is or not and my beliefs do not change God but they do however change the way I live my life. I want to live my life knowing and believing that God is everything that I am not, and in Him I lack nothing. The bible says that without faith it is impossible to please Him. My heart wants to please Him by living a life that says "my God is greater than ______" when we realize this truth there is nothing that can stand against us because of His greatness. Our needs have been met by the greatness of God, I don't know where it all comes from and I don't know where it will come from next month, all I do know is that God is faithful to Himself and that means he cannot go against His word.

We have a lot going on this month and ask that you would continue to pray for us as we head into getting ready for the transition back to Pine Ridge.

Something that we are really looking forward to is at the end of this month and I would love to see everyone of you there and we love for you to invite your friends and church family as well. We are having a night or worship on January 25th to worship the Lord and to make aware of the needs in Pine Ridge. We did this same thing last year and were blessed by it and had heard from many of you how it had blessed your heart as well. This year we want it to be a time where you can catch the vision that we have for the Lakota people. A good native friend of ours in Pine Ridge, Mike Brennan (Pastor Two Shadows) will be there and share some of his heart and we hope to have plenty of pictures for you to check out and then just have a sweet time of worshiping together in song.

January 25th at 7:00pm

Crossroads Church -

2564 Hwy 154

Newnan, GA 30265

Our schedule for January is -

9th - Carrolton Performing arts Center

12th - 14th Leesburg, MS and Gulfport, MS

19th - 21st Memphis, AR and Danville, AR

27th - Feb 9th - Northwest Territory (Matt only)

If you would like to support us monthly or just a one time donation you can donate

online www.youthevangelismstratgies.com

paypal athadden@gmail.com

check:

YES

HCR 49 Box 242

Porcupine, SD 57772
Memo - Hadden Family

Thank you for all your prayers and support, we love you all

Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,

Matt, Amanda, Jacob and Leah