October Newsletter-Hello World

Hello world is a great title for this particular adventure.  Have been trying to get some sort of place where people can go and read our newsletter (blog?) but unfortunately, my computer skills aren’t equal to my desire.  I’m trying this.

October Newsletter (Text)

I am sorely tempted to…I think I’ll just go ahead and do it.  “Hello mudda, hello fadda, here I am at Camp Granads…”  Most of you have heard the song.  Well, here we are at “Camp” and the chapel building is finally on location in the Big Piney Man Camp.  (If someone wanted to complain to the ACLU by the way, it really should be called a “person camp”–there are women living here too!)  We are far from open, but the chapel is on location.  Praise God.

It has been a journey these last (almost) four months, reminding me further of the song, “camp is very entertaining, and I think we’ll have some fun when it stops raining.”  Not, of course, that its been raining in Wyoming.  We have been praying for rain, blessed moisture from the heavens, for both you and us…it’s been a very dry time.  The kind of dry that gets into ones bones and dusts the heart with the fine powder of discouragement.  It’s been the same there at MainStreet, in some ways I hear.  We’ve all been having a time haven’t we?  Challenges that seem insurmountable.  Loss and a deep grief that seems unbearable.  Dying dreams and unfulfilled vision.  Then, in the midst of thepity party at camp, I remember…you remember, that seedtime and harvest will always come, and even in the most severe drought of discouragement, there will come the morning of joy.  And so, with love we will bear your burdens in prayer to our Father, trusting you haven’t forgotten to bear ours, your missionaries to the energy fields here in Wyoming, to that same loving heart.  (I Samuel 12:23)

OK, now what has your investment in Wyoming earned?  We have experienced firsthand the movement of God in an untouched people group.  We’ve mentioned before that there are actually people here who have never heard the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  English speaking, born and raised in America–heathens.  We developed a little booklet that we hand out wherever we go.  It’s not a “your are invited to our church” tract, but tells people what to look for in a church if they are sensing a spiritual need in their life.  It is literally amazing how much genuine interest there is in the tract, and how grateful people are to receive it.  We have distributed a case of Oilfield Bibles, as well as several of the Daily Devotional Bibles that Everett’s Sunday School class purchased for us.  We have given the Bibles to individuals who are excited to receive them, and they actually do read them.  Just one more indication that God is working in hearts out here to draw them to Himself.  We will gladly send you the tract, or the Oil Patch Bible if you are interested.

One of the most striking things that we have seen is the loneliness of the people who work on the fields and stay in the man camps…or local trailer parks…or motels…or on the side of the road.  The other MSC missionaries who live in Big Piney have done a wonderful job of canvassing their neighborhood (very few oil/gas workers-primarily sherrif deputies and teachers) and, along with Gary, have done some work in the BP Man Camp.  There are little enclaves of energy field workers all over the place though, and these people are largely going unreached at this time.  We have to get out into the fields and “be there” in the man camps.  Gary and I have tried to get several different things going, but to this point, there is a lot of resistance and we have been mostly unsuccessful.  Please pray for us that we will be able to be effective in the ministry that God has sent us to.

In our daily life, we have met almost all of the people here in LaBarge, as well as many in Pinedale, Big Piney, and Marbleton, in one context or another.  By God’s grace we have had opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ with many of those we have met.  One family we were able to share with for a brief time moved on to Big Piney, and the Crabtrees picked up the ministry to them.  That’s how the body of Christ should work and we are blessed to be able to trust that Drew and Pam will take up where distance or alignment prevents us from following up. 

Please remember the Regional Prayer Conference coming in April to Casper, Wyoming.  It would be wonderful if someone would care to attend and then come over South Pass to see the Jonah Field.  No picture can accurately potray the information that simply looking with God’s eyes into the heart of one of the lost souls here (or anywhere for that matter.)  I know that when the mundane becomes unbearable I find myself looking down, shielding my own eyes, and each time I do that I am convicted of my self centeredness.  I desperately want to take every opportunity to allow any, and all, to see Jesus in my eyes…in me.  Our heart, eyes, lives must remain open for His use.

Many thanks to those of you who faithfully pray for Gary and I, and the Jonah Field ministry.  We are so blessed each time we hear from one of you.  We received, just before our last trip to the Colorado Convention, a package with mail from Butler.  In it we found cards, notes, checks, and a lot of lov that we have yet to send out “thank you’s” for.  Please know that we are so very blessed by you–each and every one, and that our lack of timeliness in response is not ingratitude, but a combination of poor mail service, a very busy schedule, being out of town too much and a bit of disorganization.  Now that winter is coming (fall has definitely arrived) we will be tucked in much more than in these previous months and I will get a routine going.  In the meantime, please love one another for us; with passionate hearts, resting in Jesus.

Remember that November is the month set aside for Thanks Giving.  Let’s take this opportunity to PRAISE, ADORE, AND THANK our wonderful God and Savior.  Let your whole world know Whom you are thanking.