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.

Christmas PAR-TAY!!!

Here are a couple pictures from the Youth Christmas Party.  As you can see, I was Santa! The youth really loved seeing me as Santa and joking around.  At the end of the night one of the girls told Heather, "I knew it was really Joshua."  It was a great night with lots of fun. 

We watched The Charlie Brown Christmas, sang a lot of songs, played some games, ate great food, and gave gifts. We also ate the deserts the D Groups made, and they were really proud of the fact they made the sweets for everyone. 

Right now, we just finished Christmas deliveries and are having the Christmas Service this Sunday (the 23^rd).  We were going to have it on the 16^th, but there was too much snow. 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies

Last week, we got ready for the Christmas party by making cookies and fudge.  Chuck's guys decorated the tree and downstairs while Heather, Beth, and Veronica decorated and made cookies. It was fun making treats together but our fudge didn't work out :( I think I gave the wrong directions and now the fudge is soupy.  It was a fun night and the cookies tasted wonderful! Here are some pictures:

We don't have the skills to make these.  Veronica and her girls made these.

Chuck and his guys decorated the tree and the downstairs.

Silas and Charles stirring the fudge.  Eric is trying to change our music.

Here are the cookies we made. They were great!

Veronica and co. making more cookies

Silas is washing dishes. Charles doesn't approve. :)

Eat It!

We recently played a game of Eat It with the youth.  Eat It involves two teams competing by eating whatever is in a brown bag and receiving points corresponding to what's in the bag, generally the higher point values have rather disgusting and/or large amounts of food.  The highest value bag was for 500,000 points and was a large bag of dried anchovies, but one of our guys ate it like it was potato chips.  I chose the 300,000 point bag, and I was stuck with a jar of picked ginger which I couldn't finish.  It's nasty stuff, especially in large amounts.

The evening was lots of fun and it was great to see the kids having fun, cheering for each other, and enjoying each other.  I think our team eventually won, but in the end, we weren't really paying attention to the score total.  The kids were talking about the game over the next week and were asking when we will have the next Eat It, especially the ones who didn't make it that night.  Playing games with the youth is loads of fun and it's always great when we have game nights with the youth.

Trip Home

(Written Saturday)

Today is a good reading day.  It is cold and rainy mixed with snow.  Snow’s accumulating on the nearby hills and it’s supposed to drop into the 20s tonight.  I just got back from a trip back “home” to Georgia.  After being gone for a while, it feels less and less like home.  People and places are familiar, but things also change.  It leaves me kinda sad, but also enjoying the moments with friends and family, and looking forward to the day when there won’t be anymore sadness and we’ll be in our final forever home.

Some highlights of this trip back were: seeing my new nephew for the first time, visiting with family and friends, long lunches with friends, sharing with Churches about what’s happening on the Reservation, watching election returns (I’m a politics nerd) and the encouragement and love I felt from many.  One of my best memories from this trip was going to near where I grew up in North Carolina and exploring in the woods with my little brother.  We chased wild turkeys, climbed big rocks, built a dam in a creek, skipped rocks, and had good ole time.  I also watched The Princess Bride with my brother, and it was his first time watching.  It was great to watch that with him and laugh together and say silly quotes later.  It stinks that I miss out as he grows up and will miss out on much more with him and my nephew, but I treasure the short times I got with them; making my nephew smile or playing badminton with my little brother.  I love my family and miss them lots.  

Sing Praises To God, Sing Praises!

One of my greatest privileges out here is to drive the van on Tuesday for Youth Group.  It's always a bit nerve wracking to keep my eyes on 14 youth, the road, and the occasional herd of cows or horses. 

FYI, that picture was taken this past Tuesday by Morgan Granberry as we were stuck in Rez traffic for 10-12 minutes.  

When driving the van, it's a great time to interact with the kids and listen to music.  We usually listen to "Church" music and one of my favorite things is to hear the youth in the back singing and singing loudly.  Without fail, when I put on "Mighty To Save," "All I Owe," or "On Jordan's Stormy Banks," it gets a little quiet and most of the teenagers are chiming in and singing.  Several have great voices and have been helping Heather lead music.  Don't tell them, but when they are sitting right behind me, I can hear every note.  

As we work here to start a church and love the community, one of the most exciting changes I've seen is in the area of music.  It makes me happy and proud to see the teenagers leading worship, playing guitar, and praising the Lord together, in the vans, at Church, and at Youth Group.  Chuck always talks about how one of his favorite things out here is singing with the youth and hearing them praising God together.  It's definitely one of my favorite things too.  The teens are growing in their love for God, and they want to praise and worship Him - it doesn't get much better than that.  

Jesus Loves Monsters

This is a story that Beth Granberry told me:

At Kid’s Club, I was playing with a little girl and after giving her piggy back rides all day, I was getting tired, so I got her to sit down on the big rocks and pretend we were hiding from monsters.  We pretended that a little dog named Taco was a monster and we hid from him and then drew a rainbow with chalk to cure him so he wouldn’t be a bad monster anymore.  Then we pretended that Joshua was a monster and attacked him with long blades of grass.  We then drew another rainbow to make Joshua safe.  At the end of the day, I was walking her home when she said, “Joshua may be a monster, but Jesus still loves him.”

I love that she’s only 5 but already understanding Jesus’ love, and that it’s for everyone, even those that don’t deserve it.