Native American Field Council

Last week Howard and I were invited to participate in Mission to the World's NATIVE AMERICAN FIELD COUNCIL. It was held in Atlanta, Georgia this spring, and will be meeting in Lethbridge in October. The Native American Field Council consists of all of MTW's on the field Missionaries and invited consultants. 

We were so energized by this meeting for so many reasons.  We will share a few of those with you here, and be sure to read through to the end and watch the video of the gift the participants and staff at MTW were given by Huron Claus.

The first thing that we were blessed by when we arrived was the fact that there are 6 missionaries/couples that are currently working with the Native American/First Nations people in the United States and Canada, and there are 4 other families that are raising support to join teams working with the Cherokee in North Carolina, the Lummi in Washington, and Moose Factory, Canada. There are also many short-term projects being held around our countries. If you click on the links in orange below, you can find out more about the areas where God is working through his people.

Native American

MTW seeks to walk with indigenous peoples of the Americas, wherever they are found, growing together in the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Blackfoot First Nation     Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada  • Eastern Band of Cherokee    Cherokee, North Carolina • Mokahum Ministry Center    Bemidji, Minnesota • Chippewa Nation     Red Lake, Minnesota   • Colville Nation, Nespelem     and Omak, Washington • Cree First Nation, Maskwacis, Alberta,     Canada  • Cree First Nation, Moose Factory,     Ontario, Canada  • Omaha Nation, Walthill, Nebraska  • Lummi Nation     Bellingham, Washington  • Suquamish Nation     Bainbridge Island, Washington  • Tohono O'odham     Sells, Arizona

Did you know this? 

We knew that MTW has some presence among Native Americans, but didn't realize the extent. We are so encouraged and excited to know others have a heart for the Native populations to know Jesus.

The next big thing that blew me away was the fact there there is already a ministry, in Bemidgi, Minnesota, working to train Native Americans in the gospel and raise up leaders who will return to their tribes to share the gospel. 

Mokahum Ministry Center

One of the greatest needs of the Native American church is spiritual leadership. Mokahum Ministry Center is responding to this need. Located in Bemidji MN, central hub of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, White Earth Indian Reservation, and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, Mokahum's programs emphasize theological education, life skills, and ministry experience. "Mokahum” comes from an Ojibwe word meaning “sunrise” or “new day.” The vision for Mokahum Ministry Center is that Native people will come here to experience their own new beginning, moving forward with hope into the future God has planned for them. MTW missionaries Bill and Susan Carr serve at Mokahum. Bill serves as educational director for the center. Susan teaches enrichment and study skills classes for the students.

Lastly was the privilege we were given of meeting Huron Claus.  Huron is a Mohawk Native American and a Fifth Generation Christian.  His wisdom and knowledge was so great to learn from. You can learn more about his ministry to the Native American people and Chiefs through CHiEF Ministries.

Here is the gift of song he shared with us.  The song is sung in the Seminole language and is a song that celebrates the union of all Christian, Native and other in Heaven someday singing Hallelujah to our God.

Huron Claus song

We are privileged to be able to work with many awesome fellow Christians among the Native American populations. We look forward to welcoming many of you to visit us in Lethbridge to share in our work with the Blackfoot people there.

An Evening walk in our Tennessee Neighborhood

Howard enjoys walking down Julian Road regularly.
I joined him last night.

I had no idea that we had an old, small cemetery on our road. Check out those dates - the war of 1812. The stories that the land our house is built on could tell.

Howard was sitting on the tracks waiting for train number two when all of a sudden the gates came down,  and there was no train...eerie.

Our finds for the evening include 3 golf balls, one used glow stick, and a dinosaur.

In a month we will share a walk through our Lethbridge neighborhood. More specifically, we will be prayer walking through our neighborhood as we prepare to Show Them Jesus.

May is THE Month!

    A lot of celebrating goes on in our family in the month of May.

          As the Matriarch of the family (being the oldest by 8 months) I start it off with a Birthday on the 12th, followed by our daughter-in-law Holly's Birthday on the 13th, then our son Mike's Birthday on the 24th, and our Anniversary on the 25th!!    

          By then we are all ready for the Memorial Day weekend and a break.

This year is a bit different!

Why?

 Because we added another Celebration date to our month: on May 1st, 2015 we received the pledge that took us to 100% of our support.

Yes the fireworks went off - 
                                    literally!

We attended a Chattanooga Lookouts Ball game right after we found out, and  - as it was Friday night - there are always fireworks after the game!







We give a big shout out to the Platt family for taking us over the top!






And so now begins the new countdown....



To help you put this in perspective, let's go  to the engaged couple - Howard Vander Griend and Sandy Statkus. 34 years ago at this time. Sandy was in Florida preparing for the upcoming wedding date, May 25, 1981, Memorial Day.

 Howard was in Michigan finishing up his classes at Calvin College.
The excitement was palpable...as every engaged couple knows.

The planning was finally all complete, and all the parties had arrived.
We had the rehearsal in the morning of the day we were married and a cookout lunch by the pool and then went our separate ways to put on our finery.

And then there were those thoughts...and butterflies...

...WOW! I am really getting married. In a few short hours. To the person I will spend the rest of my life with - am I ready?

It really makes you stop and think - you know the feelings you had, right?

That's what it is like for Howard and I now.

We have spent the last 10 and a half months telling folks about our passion to go and serve and share Jesus with the Blackfoot people in the Lethbridge area.  So many of you have encouraged us and are now supporting us prayerfully and financially.

But now, WOW! we are leaving for Lethbridge in 31 days.
We plan to leave Chattanooga on June 10th and begin the 3 day drive up to Canada.


 Are we ready?  
         I have butterflies.
                   But we are so excited and ready TO GO!

Praise and Prayer  - 
1. Finding enough time in the days and weeks to pack.
2. Saying goodbye to our kids, grandkids and friends here.
3. Staying healthy in these busy days.
4. Thanks to all our prayer and financial supporters.
5. Thanks to our Heavenly Father who has provided the means for us to share the gospel in Lethbridge.

Once again and always....God's plan

Excitement - Tiredness - Laughter - Pain - Joy - Annoyance

These were the words from last week.

Why all those words?

Excitement from visits with new supporters.
(Wait for THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT coming later this week!)

Tiredness from the spring allergies finally winning - the runny nose and post-nasel drip (oh how may family hates that word) moved into my chest last week and I lived on dayquil and nyquil for six days. And then I passed the joy of sickness on to Howard. We have been limping along

Laughter and Pain because when I finally felt good enough to go to the YMCA last week Monday - on my third exercise I wrenched my lower back somewhere and had to limp out of the place and Julie drove me home to sit on a heating pad. It was so sad it was humorous.

Joy because of the sunshine shining through the beautiful green leaves while I sat on the heating pad. Joy from the re-reading of my Bible study from last week where I really put God's Covenant story together in my mind in order to share with others.

The Annoyance of having to sit on the sofa with a heating pad  when I couldn't do everything I had planned to do.

My Plan - out the window...

God's plan - probably better anyways.

Instead of my To Do List - I did the sit-down list:

Writing for this blog,
Thank You Notes,
lots of assigned reading for our summer training in Belgium,
looking for cheap tickets to Belgium in the summer (such a thing does not exist),
resting.

Pray for Howard and I as we continue to prepare for our work in Lethbridge.

Pray for hearts that are being prepared for us to share Jesus with them.







.

9 (yes nine) more suitcases!

We are at 89% of our support pledged. Excited.
Awed.
Blessed.
(And trying to figure out what to pack.)

Taking Myself out of the Picture

“If only I could take me out of support raising and have someone else do it for me!”

  If only you knew how many times we have thought this and said this.  But then we are chastised by God - through his words in scripture, friends, and fellow missionaries - that WE aren't raising the support for the work God has called us to do. HE is raising up supporters for us, just as HE has raised up people to serve him.

   Although most fellow missionaries we have known and met throughout the years are very humble and self-effacing in this area, they have a tendency to fall headlong into the trap of the enemy: feeling and acting, as though support raising is both all about themselves and totally up to themselves. Satan wants us to feel like beggars who think everyone is running the other way when they see us. He wants us to forget that God has already promised to take care of those He has called into full-time kingdom work.

In reality, very little of the whole process of support raising is about us, the missionaries. 

Success is certainly more dependent on God than on ourselves. 

Thus we can take heart in the biblical promise found in 1 Thessalonians 5:24,

 “God, who calls you, is faithful; he will do this.” 

And also in Philippians 2:13, 

"For it is God who works in you, to will and to work for his good pleasure.

  God has called Sandy and I to work in Lethbridge, Alberta with the Blackfoot people in the city and on the reserve just outside of town. As we have shared with many of you, the need is great. Discouragement, loneliness, addictions, single-parent homes, families who don't know what a family of God looks like, people who don't like white folks. 

It is our privilege to invite you into the joy of making disciples among the nations, to see what God is doing to push back the lostness in this world, to be part of the God-sized endeavor, and advance his kingdom in the hearts and lives of those he has called us to serve.  

Even though God has called us to “climb down into the darkness” for the ministry, he is calling many of you to “hold the ropes” to fulfill the Great Commission. Thank you once again to those who have done so. We invite others of you to join us. 

 **** Many of these thoughts and words are from an article we recently read by Mike Riggins of  Support Raising Solutions which we recently read and which convicted us.

Suitcase Challenge

   I love our 1946 house. I love that we had a place to stay for a whole year while we built our support team. I love that Julie, our youngest daughter, is going to stay in the house while we spend several years in Canada.




 One of my favorite features of the house is the attic.

 We have never had an attic in any of our homes.

  When we first moved in we debated about figuring out how to add an extra room to the house in the attic. I envisioned a playroom for the grandkids, a sewing room for me, a romantic bedroom, but, unfortunately, the downstairs floor plan does not allow for adding a staircase anywhere...so the attic is the storage place for our extra earthly goods and boxes of memories. (Oh, yes, and the Christmas stuff)





  Yesterday I went up into the attic to scope out the suitcase situation.  Yes, we are getting close enough with our support to think about packing suitcases.
   This is what we have so far.....about 15 bags, boxes, duffle bags, and real suitcases. - and five garbage cans...

(from the Farm - held chicken feed etc...)

I don't think that will be enough, but it is a start. 

So I thought, hey let's turn that pile of suitcases into our last challenge - the challenge to get us packing those suitcases, and boxes, and the U-Haul and get to Lethbridge in June!!

We have 83.1% of our monthly support raised at this time - each of the last 2 challenges we had for ourselves (and you) helped move us about 15% closer to our totals each time!

14.7% of our monthly support!!
(not all totals are in yet!!)

12.6% of our monthly support!!
(not all totals are in yet)

One more group of 15 new monthly supporters should get us there!!!!!

Here is our tentative timeline for the next few months:

April - Continue building our support team - having many of you over for dinner, lunch or coffee. Babysit grandkids.

May - Start packing up the stuff we ARE NOT taking with us to Canada - bring to Christ Presbyterian Church in Sweetwater's garage sale for Missions!!  One more visit to Florida.

June - Vacation with our kids and grandkids, trip to Cherokee NC to volunteer as associate staff, pack suitcases for Belgium and boxes for Canada.

July - Spend the month in Belgium for training in - Cultural Interpretation,Language Acquisition, Church Planting, Evangelism Techniques, Spiritual Health, Team Dynamics, Conflict Management, and Real Life Application.

Arrive in Canada....TBD - we hope in June, but maybe August!! Pray for us in these last few months that we continue to rely on God's plan and timing.

NOTE:  We have added a new section to our blog - PRAYER CORNER.  We will update that daily and weekly as we have prayers and praises and as we share the prayers and praises of our supporters. Be sure to check it often.