Haven't posted in forever. I guess I'll start with last month. We went to the Indian Worker's Convention at Northwest Indian Bible School 20-22nd and had a wonderful time. (until I got very sick :( We got home late Friday night and somehow made it through the weekend.
Our cousin Shawn Clemens, Phil Brugger, and DeWayne Joslin (sp?) made up a workteam that arrived early Monday morning and performed wonders on our little church! Thanks again guys! They fixed a bunch of rotten places on the outside of the building, put in 6 new windows, a door and cute little steps! They worked so hard and we appreciate them making the loooong trip out here and working so hard. They left Wednesday morning and our Missions director and his wife, Rev. and Mrs. Marshall arrived Wednesday evening!
We really enjoyed the Marshall's visit. They were such a blessing to us. They played with and spoiled the kids, Bro. Marshall helped Jordan clean up the church after the work project, went calling with him, preached, dried dishes, read a thousand books to Bri, and just acted crazy! Sis. Marshall helped so much around the house with cleaning, laundry, meals, feeding the kids, and "commanded" me to go rest (I still wasn't totally better) It was so nice to have a mother figure around to spoil me :) She also told a story for S.S. , did the Review Game and sang in the evening service. They were here for Jordan's B-day and took us out to eat at Pizza Ranch! They were also a big encouragement to us spiritually-we had a wonderful service Sunday night and there were four seekers at the altar. Please pray for Leonard who was praying about his eyesight, and for Davida, Chavez and Christy who really seemed to pray through to be saved. After the service, Davida called and said she and Aljoe wanted to get married! We have been praying about this for so long! (She is the one whose baby died and she almost went to jail.) She said she knew it wasn't right for them to be living together and making babies.
So... Three weeks later we had our first wedding at our church! (Since we've been here) Shew! What a busy time of trying to help them as much as we could. Neither of them had ever been to a wedding and didn't really know how they were supposed to be! So sad! We had their family to dinner and Marriage Counseling twice, made several trips to Bismarck, planned and rushed! I told Davida I would decorate the church-I had some stuff from my wedding (plus added a bunch) and would make a cake-HA! I figured I could make something better than just a cake in a metal pan-knew they didn't have a lot of money. Well, to make a long story short, I found a lady in the area to make one for a very good price-she grew up around 9 miles from L. Eagle and was happy to help out-so sweet! One of my very sweet friends insisted I look for someone and payed most of it! Thanks so much!
Well, we ended up doing a lot more than decorating and cake making! We were minister, musicians, wedding coordinators, church & reception hall decorator, punch maker, servers, taxi drivers (no one in the family had cars, so trips to Bismarck, and Jordan picked up all of the Bride's family in the van for the rehearsal and wedding-30 mile round trip) and the list goes on & on! Anyhow, it is over now and we are relieved and happy!
The wedding went well and only started about 20 min late! It was quite interesting- the outfits they came up with! As you will see in the pictures that I will post, it wasn't "holiness attire". Keep praying for them-God is speaking to them! They were a little confused about whether burgundy was red or purple! The bridesmaids wore bright red and her mom & dad wore Purple!
Jordan and I just kept laughing to each other. That was the only thing to do! We only had 3 wks and we couldn't pay for the whole wedding! Also, another funny thing-we got to the reception and there was no food there! It was still over at their house! In 6 1/2 years of being a pastor's wife, I've had to learn to hide my emotions and "just die" quietly inside! We had spent the whole morning there decorating, setting up tables, cake & punch, but they had no one in charge of taking the food to the gym. They finally rounded up some guys to bring it over and after heating it up & making the fry bread we got to eat! Yum! Please pray for them and their family- they've been living together for 4 years and have had 4 children together. It is obviously not the ideal marriage, but God is working and we are trusting him to save Aljoe and continue to lead them.
Now, we are trying to recuperate, trying to cope with gestational diabetes, looking forward to Thanksgiving with our friends, Kirk & Sara Duvall in Norris, SD. (about 3 hrs from here) and wondering how we will cram our Christmas into three weeks! We are planning a trip East and are supposed to leave in 3 weeks! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Got to run-Daniel's awake. I'll try to post pictures soon!
Praying over Daniel at his dedication. So glad he got to dedicate his only grandson! This trip was our last time to see him, so these pictures are really special. Would've taken tons more if I would've known... glad I didn't know though.
Happiness is....
14 years ago
