Back on the Rez

We flew from Orange County, California  to Portland, OR then drove to First Baptist Church in Madras, OR which is home base while we are working on  the Warm Springs Rez. Long day for us but the team that arrived on Saturday had a great day of work in the morning and then at kids club in the afternoon. The members of the team that were ill are feeling better, thank you for your prayers.

In Yakama, there were about 50 kids at Totus Park and almost 80 at Adamsview. There will be some adjusting of team members to accommodate the numbers of kids at each location. The work in Yakama will focus on work on Hope Fellowship Church which is the mission church of Sacred Road Ministry.
Our weather forecast looks good all week here in Warm Springs and we are going to be painting and roofing for the next couple days.
Thanks for all your support which allows us to minister here on the Rez. We will keep everyone posted.
From Warm Springs Indian Rez,
Rob and Deb

Our orientation has been lengthy and it  involved team building and training. Last Monday the team went to a petrified forest and and a place called Ancient Lake which involved a nice hike back to waterfalls and 4 lakes.

 We arrived on a Wednesday and the Friday following we were  at Hope Fellowship Church with their youth group. They have almost 80 kids in their youth group which would be the envy of any youth leader. The kids in youth group are a lot of fun and full of energy. On Sunday we had group devotions at Chris and Mary Granberry's house. On Sunday evening we had church at the Longhouse in White Swan . Before church we fed about 85 people then had church and youth groups met again. The kids love their youth group. It's a safe place for them to experience a sense of church community.

We starting getting our supplies together to take down to Warm Springs. We don't know what we will be doing so we take a little of everything. Our team headed down on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Deb and I had a wedding commitment in LA so we left our team and flew down to Orange County last Wednesday. We will fly back to Portland Monday and drive down to Warm Springs and re-join ou team. We will be there through Saturday and then drive back to Yakama next Saturday.

Once our team week starts there is scarce time to email or communicate with the outside. We go from 0600-2200 everyday. So from Los Alamitos, CA I will sign off and jump back on in a week.
Have a safe week everyone. Please keep us in your prayers.

Rob

Arrived Safe in Yakama

On the Rez,

Here we are in Yakama,Washington. We left Enon Valley PA 0500 on Sunday May 19 and arrived in Wapato, WA on Wednesday at 1730. Lots of driving and one maintenance stop in Missoula to repair a bad left front bearing.
On Tuesday we got word of the deadly tornado in Moore Oklahoma which is where we lived for the past 2 years. There was alot of concern for our friends in Moore and we just found out today which is several days later, all our friends are safe even though they lost property.  Thanks to those of you who prayed about our concerns.

Chicago

Our drive on Sunday took us through Chicago which went smooth until we ran into an accident and got delayed about 40 minutes.
The weather was dry until Monday when we were driving into Rapid City. It was so windy and rainy we had to hold wind correction just to stay on the road. Lots of rain. We stopped at Wall Drug and it is quite a place. Debbie remembers stopping there as a girl and recalls how big it seemed. Well, its even bigger than she remembered.

Windy and rainy through South Dakota

Seige Hill at Custer Battlefield on the Crow Rez in Montana

Final Preparations

Final preparations are underway for our 11week trip to Washington and Oregon. Packing was challenging weighing the advantages and disadvantages of more clothes or less. When we were in school, we had a lot less "stuff" to be concerned with. I think about our college interns who are flying in for the summer. They were challenged with 2 bags, period. Laundry every week. We are driving so we have abit more latitude.

I checked the road conditions and there is seasonal construction everywhere. We plan to go thru Chicago Sunday midday hoping to miss some traffic. We'll let you know.

If you have teamed up to be one of our prayer partners we thank you and ask that prayer be given for travel safety and also our older Jeep make the trip without any mechanical problems. Seems as the devil has been busy throwing up distractions like tacks in the road. We have been able to swerve and miss most with faithful prayer partners providing essential support.

I think we are on track financially, we will find out more when we arrive in White Swan. Thanks to all who provided for our finances to make this call possible.

We have a few more thing to wrap up here before leaving. To our family, yes we've only been back home 5 months, we will be back home in August. Just in time for corn on the cob. Deb has planted a wonderful garden which we hope will be in full swing come August.

Thanks for reading, we'll report from La Crosse, WI on Sunday.

RP

2 weeks until launch

2 weeks until we leave for the Rez. Because of the spiritual mission, the enemy of our souls is laying distractions left and right like someone throwing tacks or nails in the road in front of our car. Distracting, yes but not enough to overcome the call from our Lord Jesus.
We don't know exactly what to pack for 10 weeks away but we'll figure it out. Consolidation and compression are important. We will need to have our aging Jeep serviced next week.
Please pray for:
1. Spiritual preparation
2. Vehicle in good running order
3. Kids and adults we will be serving
4. Team unity- 10 day rule in effect. Anybody can tolerate anybody for up to 10 days. 9 weeks takes
     Grace and patience
5. Support both prayer and financial.

How quickly time passes...it truly seems like but an instant.