Christmas

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Isaiah 9:2&6

This past Sunday, we put together a Christmas tree with lights and the children made crafts to decorate the tree.  It’s become a tradition with the children to make and put decorations on the tree and they love it!  Pretty much every child made a craft (on a normal Sunday only about half want to make crafts). My favorite part about the tree was seeing downcast faces light up with joy at the sight of the tree. 

J is a little girl who is in a rough house and often struggles. Sunday, she got off the bus and was right away in a sad mood.  She was sitting and talking with Mary, and I came up and said, “J I’ve got a surprise in the other room.” She looked up intriguingly but with a dash of disbelief.  Mary told her, “J, there’s a Christmas tree in there with lights!” She quietly stood up, went to the tree, made two ornaments, and got into the routine of the evening. 

J's story reminds me of God’s love.  Is that not how Christ treats us? He says: “Come in and be warm! You are family and loved! Bask in the beauty, and receive rest and joy.”  May we all remember Christ’s love for us this Christmas and trust and rest in Him. 

Update on the building

Here are some more pictures showing the work the teams have been doing.  They've been tearing down and building walls, digging holes, and getting dirty.  They've done great work over the summer.

The porch

New septic field (and tether-ball poles)

New Retaining Wall and Stairs

The downstairs and youth area

They've spent a lot of time under the house adding floor joists under the entire house

The new portico

 The future sanctuary.  The hole in the ceiling is for the fire barrier in the attic.

A big part of the summer work has been adding giant concrete footers and beams under the building.  They look great :)

The  new chairs built by the youth!!!!!

Baby Bob

(Note: the names are changed in this story)

Last summer at Church, Marisol comes running up to me and says, “Baby Bob is the grill and won’t come out.  You gotta deal with this.”  First off, I don’t know who Baby Bob is, how he got in the grill, or how in the world I’m going to get him out, and FYI, he’s not a baby but is five.  The grill is about 2 by 4 by 10 feet.  I go over, dreading the impending interaction and doubting my ability to negotiate with an obviously disturbed child.  Someone, I get him to come out, he eats dinner, and he’s sent home because he can’t handle being at Church. A few weeks later, he shows up again, and I immediately talk with him about the grill, and he plays for a bit but winds up back in there.  The same thing happens: I get him out, he eats, and we send him home early. 

But then something begins to happen with Baby Bob.  All summer he’s with us at Kid’s Club and by the end of the summer, he comes to Church and makes it through the night. Throughout the fall and winter, he never again hides in the grill.  He keeps coming to Church throughout the year and is getting bigger and better able to control himself.  But when March of this year rolls around, I’m told by his cousins that he and his two older brothers have moved to Yakima with their dad and they won’t be around.  When I found out, I was sad, but like I often do, I pushed it to the back of my mind. 

This summer, we had normal Kid’s Clubs and I didn’t think much about Bob and his brothers, but on July 5^th, guess who’s there?!? Veronica drops off a bus load of kids and Baby Bob and his brother run up to me, say Hi and I give them big hugs and catch up for a bit.  It turns out they were in White Swan visiting their grandfather for the 4^th of July holiday.  I was so excited to see them again and have them at Kid’s Club, but I had to proceed with the regular Kid’s Club routine.  At some point, Baby Bob asks me if he can be in my skit, and I think for a second, remembering some of his past troubles, and rationalize that it’s ok because they are only there for that day.  Baby Bob winds up doing a great job in the Daniel In the Lion’s Den skit, I give him and his brother a farewell hug and I haven’t’ seen them again at Kid’s Club the rest of the summer. 

Later that weekend, I began to reflect on Baby Bob and remembered how wild he had been only 13 months ago, and I was blown away by how God uses the simple things of games, love, relationships, and consistency to change a little boy and bring him closer to being part of God’s family. It's the same for all of us in our walk with God: we are doing things that are ridiculous, alienating, and dangerous but we can't see or change until God reaches in and lovingly draws us to Himself.  Please keep Baby Bob, his brothers and the kids of White Swan in your prayers.  Grace and Peace!

Week 1

First team week video:

We finished the first team week with flying colors! It was a great team week.  One of the highlights was seeing a bunch of men in their sixties and seventies playing with Native kids as if they were their own grandchildren   The children really enjoyed it and the teams did great. The teams began demolition on our Church and they did a great job.  The next team weeks will begin repairs and renovations.  We have a really great group of interns this summer and it's amazing serving with them!

Youth Basement:



Former bathroom, washroom, and bedrooms (and soon to be former stairs)


Future Sanctuary:

Demolition

Yesterday, the teams began demolition on our Church, tearing out walls, flooring, and electrical.  Here are some pictures showing which walls were marked for destruction:

Tomorrow, I'll have some more pictures showing what they've destroyed.

Art Day!

We recently hosted an art day at our Church building.  Jan Whitefoot, a local artist, led the event and had a variety of crafts for the children: painting, making Native dance sticks, coloring, and beading.  It was great to have her incorporate Native artwork into our kids’ lives, especially as many struggle with identity.  We had 33 children and they LOVED it and all of them were asking when we could do it again. 

We have scheduled another art day with Jan in May, and hope to work with her on a regular basis.  These art events are great for the kids and the community.  Would you consider making a donation to sponsor this art program?  You can do so by mailing a check, marked Children’s Ministry – Art to Sacred Road Ministries PO Box 400 Harrah, WA 98933 or by clicking this link.   Here are some pictures:

Painting blocks of wood:

Decorating the dance sticks with paint pens:

Beading:

Coloring Station:

Spring Teams

We had great Kid's Clubs this spring and these are some of my favorite pictures.  We were rather tired afterwards, but they went really well.  One of the best parts about the spring teams is that we get to reconnect with children we haven’t seen since August or October.  Some children come to Kid’s Club but not Sunday Church so we only see them when weather is good enough for Kid’s Club.  The first team week, we were only at Totus Park, but the second and third week we were at both Totus and Adam’s View Parks.  The number of children at Adam’s View has increased and we had 70+ children several times. There were a couple highlights from Kid’s Club, but I’m saving them for my monthly update :) In the meantime, here are some pictures and the videos from the week.  You can see more pictures by clicking here.

Games Night

This past Thursday, we had a games night with the Youth Group and it was great to see them smiling and laughing together.  They had lots of fun playing 15 crazy competition games that Chuck ran in an Olympic style competition with points being assigned for each activity and the youth broken up into 4 Teams.  The best part was seeing them have fun without putting each other down, complaining, or calling each other cheaters.  They made human pyramids, ate nasty jelly beans, fed each other while blindfolded, scavenger hunted, caught ping pongs with bucket strapped to their head, popped balloons, and more.  It was a Great Night and hats off to Chuck and Heather!  Here are a few pictures:

Eating pudding while blindfolded

 Human Pyramids

 The death of a Pyramid:

Van Rides (Take 2)

Last October, I wrote about how much fun it is to ride in the vans with the youth because we sing together.  It's also great because it gives us a chance to talk.  One of the 6th grade boys we have lives way out in the middle of nowhere, so we end up driving for around 7 minutes with just me, him, and Morgan G.  This guy, like a bunch of the kids here, grew up in a rough home and has an especially tough exterior.  But when he's the last kid dropped off, he slips into being himself, just talking like everything is ok.

Last week, he gave me a lot of grief during Youth Group but on the ride home, I was able to tell him about how I've observed how smart he is, and how glad all of us are that he's coming to Youth Group.  Last week, he was well behaved, but then during the small group time, he started bouncing off the walls like a crazy in a crazy place.  When we were heading home, I pointed out that he was going with the program then lost it, and did he know what the reason was.  He thought for a second, then said, "I got bored." We then got to talk about what we both could do differently.

Tonight, we have Youth Group again, and I hope to see some more small growth with this guy.  He's taking little steps and improving gradually, and who but God knows what will happen with him?  Please pray for him and the other youth as they learn to relate to others, live in community, and learn about God.

(FYI, the van in the picture has nothing to do with Sacred Road; it's just funny)

Sledding

Here are some pictures from last Saturday, when we took 30 children sledding at our church building.  We hadn't seen some of them in a while because of bad weather, so it was great to see them again and have fun together.  They LOVED it and many were asking when we are going to do it again.  They had so much fun which you can see in the following video.  The best part of the video is to hear the buzz of many happy sounds in the background.

Koda:

Christian:

Group Picture:

Cold Feet:

 The Hill:

To see more pictures on Facebook, click here.