Montana

A little less than two weeks ago our outreach team arrived in Montana. We are staying in a little valley, with majestic mountains on either side of the countryside. This valley happens to be a Native American reservation, and the reservation is why we're here.
We are here to reach out to the very distraught and broken people that live on the reservations. We're working with Tribal Waves, an organization that reaches out to these people. One of the ways Tribal Waves is reaching out to the kids is by running the Zone, which is just a safe hang out spot for the kids located in a bakery. Here the kids can play games, have snacks, and hang out while Christian music is playing. Another way that the team I'm with is reaching out is by doing yard work and other community services. We have been getting up early almost every day and working until about mid afternoon.
Tomorrow we leave for Tacoma, Washington where my family as well as one other team member will continue our outreach and the rest of the team will travel on to the nations. Continue to keep us in prayer!

Update

We have an important update to our outreach. The leadership felt strongly that they should offer our family (as the only family in the DTS) an opportunity to serve for two weeks on the Flathead Indian Reservation with YWAM Tribal Waves , then afterward to go on to serve with Freedom River (http://freedomriver.net/) in Tacoma, WA for the rest of our two-month outreach. Freedom River is a multifaceted ministry, but its main focus is on serving the homeless community in the Seattle/Tacoma area. We have chosen to take this opportunity, after much prayer, for several reasons.

First, the leadership here felt that since our family had already been doing missions short-term, and were now planning on staying long-term, that we could meet the DTS Outreach requirements in full by serving in Montana and Tacoma. We were well on our way to being fully funded for the other trip, but this option allows us to return to the Springs with funds available to get settled in and get to work. Our leadership here feels, and we agree, that this is a better use of the funds we have received and of our family's giftings.

Second, the Freedom River leadership came and taught for a week during our lecture phase and put a burden on our hearts for their ministry. We've seen that our family can serve as a whole with them as they have ministries where even Faith and Lydia will be a blessing.

Third, Freedom River is also developing an aviation program and have a need for my Dad's expertise in a consulting role. This will also create a working partnership for the future between the two aviation programs.

Finally, there is another student who found out that she could not go overseas with her team due to fairly recent chemotherapy disallowing the necessary inoculations. No one should be a one-person team. Please keep Nicole in prayer as she travels with us.

Although we were enthusiastic about going overseas, we are truly excited to be going to Montana and Tacoma. We've learned a great deal about our giftings and calling during the lecture phase of our DTS, and feel this will be a great opportunity for our family to serve together.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and financial support. God has been meeting our needs faithfully, in ways that we would've never dreamed, and consistently growing our faith; so we've come to know that He will provide for whatever He tells us to do.