Pictures from Montana

Hey guys! I wanted to post some pictures of the Montana trip (especially of the youth serving) that you guys might not have seen or taken yourselves.  Enjoy!  Also, this is a reminder to be at all 3 church services this Sunday for testimonies from the trip. 

Wednesday/Thursday

Sorry we weren't able to send an email update from yesterday. We have found it to to be quite a challenge working in a community without frequent use of cell phones, internet, and easy transportation. Sometimes it feels as if we are set back in time 50 years! Yesterday was an action packed day as we were able to host our community cookout at the Boys & Girls Club for anyone who wanted to come. Tim Brock cooked us up some hamburgers, the youth shared their human video's, and we were really able to interact and spend quality time with the residents of Lame Deer. The human videos were very powerful and it opened the doors to speak to some of the younger children about drugs, alcohol, church, and Jesus. Definitely the highlight of the evening would be the annual basketball tournament that most of us participated in. Since there is not alot to do on the reservation, the people play basketball alllllllllllllllllllllllll thhheeeee tiiiiimmmmmeeee:-) And they are REALLY good!!! It was a great night getting to share in living the life that these people do on a daily basis. The youth met other teens their age and I even saw some of our youth praying with them before they left. It was a wonderful outreach night.
The leaders came together late Wednesday night with what we realized was a huge spiritual attack straight from the enemy. Through lots of prayer, intercession, discussion and encouragement, we woke up today with a fresh spirit of unity and excitement for the rest of the trip. We encouraged the youth this morning to completely give their everything for the remainder of the trip, asking them to come on board with the new vision of unification that we have been praying for. So far today, it has been incredible. It's awesome to serve a God that shows up when we ask him too!
Today is our last day to work with the Boys and Girls Club and also with the Outdoor Camp. The Lame Deer children are already saddened to know that we will be leaving in a few days but I know that that just shows that relationships have been made. The youth are doing so great and parents, I think you would be proud to see them working so hard (especially in this 100+ degree weather!) Thank you again for all your prayers! Pictures to hopefully be posted later this evening!

The computer is about to die but I hope to put more pictures up soon!

Tuesday, July 21

Another great day here in Montana! All the teams jumped into action this morning and I heard great testimonies from each group on what's been going on with their interactions with the people of Lame Deer. Please continue to pray for divine interactions with the Cheyenne people. Each group has had different opportunities, but all purposely intentional by God. The construction team finished up their work at Christ the Rock church, helping them turn a junk room into a cafe. This group was also able to participate in a prayer walk around Lame Deer this morning. They would stop at houses and ask people how they could pray for them. One of the youth was so excited that he was able to share and pray with a 5 year old little girl who was struggling with alcoholic parents. To see his face light up as he was talking about this opportunity was awesome. The Boys and Girls Club team had a fun day of loving kids and swimming at St. Labre. It is a challenge trying to stay afloat with 5-7 kids attached to you at all times! The kids really brightened up when they saw us return on the 2nd day, so I feel as if we are making an impact with relationships. The Outdoor Camp really stepped up today with a homeade curriculum created solely by the youth. They taught the kids about the importance of trust, along with the armor of God. The children participated in a blindfolded obstacle course where they learned about the importance of trust and love for one another. It was a really cool day for the the outdoor camp.
For our fun activity tonight, the bus actually made it 45 minutes away from our camp to General Custer's Last Stand. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and after a brief history lesson, we broke into small groups to debrief the day. After a gas station junk food stop (sorry parents!), we headed home for a night of rest to prepare for Day 3 of ministry. Thank you for your prayers!!
**On a sidenote, their is no cell phone service in Lame Deer. Diane Wood has provided the youth with free prepaid phone cards but we have had difficulty finding phones for the kids to call on. There has been no injuries or emergencies with any of the youth so please be reassured that everyone is doing well. We hope to make phone calls throughout the week if the opportunity arises.

Monday, July 20

Well, we've officially delved into our work here in Lame Deer! We have the youth divided into four subgroups all working on different projects while here in Montana. The first is the outdoor camp at Crazy Head Springs which is where the youth are holding a daycamp for children 12 and under. It consists of activities, bible stories, and lots of games and food for these precious children. They are going to be illustrating learning to put on the full armor of God daily. I feel as if these children are going to have a truly amazing experience this week. The second and third groups are ministering through community service- consisting of painting, lawn mowing, church repair, etc. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves today and showed a great sense of teamwork getting their jobs done. The last group is actively involved at the Boys and Girls Club organizing crafts and sports for ages 10 and under. I (Shawn) was able to be a part of this today and I can tell you the children love for us to be there. Sadly, you can feel a sense of separation or annoyance with some of the workers there as we are trying to bring Christ into these children's lives. We are strongly praying against the attack of Satan this week.

Which brings me to our highlight of the day....:-)

On our way out to Buffalo Jump (a hiking trail and overlook) for our fun activity of the night, our faithful schoolbus that we have been borrowing from Pastor Dean's church decided to stall out. Thankfully Anthony Wood is a diesel mechanic and immediately got to work. We sent a few people back into town and the youth were all safely transported back to Lame Deer with the help of a borrowed 18 passenger van and some of the wonderful youth workers here. It turns out that the gas gage doesn't exactly read the correct level of gas and we apparently just ran out of gas. The bus is fine and we will attempt to hike Buffalo Jump tomorrow. We ended the day with a good time of prayer and small groups and are about to head to bed for Day 2 of ministry. Thank you for your continued prayers..... we can feel them!

We've Arrived in Lame Deer!!

Sorry for the delay in writing to all the parents, but we've officially and safely made it to Lame Deer, Montana! We arrived here last night around 10 pm, with all kids and ALL luggage safely. Our flights were uncomplicated and thanks to our neon yellow shirts, we were able to share with alot of people about what we are coming out here to do. We are staying in separate Head Start buildings with guys in one and girls in the other. It always takes a little adjusting to the time difference (2 hours) and we crashed late last night. This morning we split into groups and had the priviledge of attending 3 local churches (Christ the Rock with Pastor Michelle, Morningstar Baptist Church with Pastor Dean, and the Pentacostal Church with Pastor Luther Yellowrope ). All of the churches were very welcoming and I hope that we were able to bless them as much as they blessed us. This afternoon we headed out to Crazy Head Camp to swim in the lakes, play some wiffleball, and have a cookout for dinner. After dinner tonight we will have our first opportunity to break into small groups to pray for the impact of our upcoming week. We are super excited to begin the camps and community service tomorrow and appreciate all prayers for God's perfect will for His people out here. We are anticipating God's best!!!

JULY

School is out!
I know you all couldn’t wait for it last month, but the summer is finally here. This summer is going to be filled with all sorts of great things for you and I know you have already started experiencing some of those things. As you get out there and enjoy your summer I want to remind you of the words that Darlene Knowles shared with us at Epic the other night. She said that if you find yourself bored this summer it’s because you let yourself get bored. Go out and do something for God. You have learned about what it is to follow God every week at Epic. Now Go....Go and do something great. Take the things you’ve learned and go and reach new heights. Following God will hardly leave you bored. It’s more scary honestly! Above is a picture of Shawn and my puppy. He hasn’t arrived yet because he is only 18 days old. But when our puppy, Denali by the way, comes home he won’t be staying in the yard long. He will want to explore and see new things. God wants to do the same with you. Take you to new places in your relationship with him. Go explore! Let God be your guide. He wants to do big things with you!
That’s the word,
PA





DISCIPLESHIP WEEK!
Date: July 5-9th
Time: All Day!
Cost: $50 for non-MT Team members
$25 for Montana Team members

Discipleship Week is going to be great this year! We will begin on Sunday night at 5pm. Jay Leroux will be sharing about spiritual warfare this week. Spiritual warfare, or whatever you want to call it...The enemy coming against those who follow Christ, Satan attacking you...The bottom line is that God’s Word is very clear about the fact that the enemy roams the earth looking for people to devour. During our Discipleship week, Dr. J will be taking us through the power that is in Christ to defeat the enemy. He will be growing us in our ability to defend ourselves against the enemy’s plans. Come and join us for a week of discipleship! Don't forget your teddy bear to keep company at night!







We got a Facebook! We have finally caught up to the 21st century...a little! If you are one who doesn’t really remember what is going on after Wednesday night announcements, check out our Facebook Group. It will be updated with what is going on in Epic and will be a great place to connect with other people that are in Epic. All you have to do is search for our Group, getEpic, and click to join. Anyone can join.






LAME DEER, MONTANA’S FINEST

The moment you have all been waiting for.....it’s time for the main event! Just a reminder that everyone must sign up for Discipleship Week and participate. Also, your final money is due by July 5th. I’m looking forward to how God is going to use us as we go!







Café

NO CAFE IN July
Cstone Bistro Cafe on Friday Nights.

July is proving to be one of our busiest months as a church and that is why we are taking the month of July off in the Café on Friday nights. Our church is going to be taking 3 missions trips during July and we also Kids Summer Fellowship and Discipleship Week. We will be back in August, so look out for the new schedule for Friday nights Cstone Bistro.