Happy New Year!

Happy New Year (a little belated)! Somehow I intended to post a blog right after Christmas, and it didn’t happen. I was trying to figure out earlier today how many weeks it had been since Christmas. I think it’s almost three. So I will try to give a bit of an update of what we did the last few weeks.

The weeks leading up to Christmas weren’t very busy for us, at least in terms of holiday hustle. We did attend a few Christmas party’s/events, and really enjoyed them. We had some real cold temps that kept us house bound for a few weeks. During that time Joel was able to build and make usable the office space downstairs. It has been a huge help for him to have a work space!!! We still need some finishing touches, but it’s great to have it completed this much. We also spent some time as a family making goodies to enjoy and pass out to friends/neighbours. I counted 106 “usable” Christmas cookies, and I’m sure well over twice that in bon-bons. Looking back it 

was well worth the work! We didn’t get our Christmas tree till the Monday before Christmas and it didn’t get decorated till Christmas Eve. We went to the mountains with another family and hiked a bit off the road for the tree. Abigail was not fond of the deep snow, and cried most of the time we were trudging around, she did enjoy spotting the Big Horned Sheep out the window of the truck, and is very excited about hunting one with her daddy some day (She will have to change her opinion on hiking if she is going to accomplish that.) Christmas day we spent home as a family. We had brunch together, opened presents, and connected with family via phone and skype. It was a very restful and relaxing Christmas. After being home so much, we decided we needed a change of pace, and spent New Years Eve in Calgary, we attended a party there, and then stayed the night at friends to avoid driving back that night. Both our girls were still going strong when we welcomed 2009! We all had a great time with fellow believers, for me it gave the holidays a more familiar feel.

In reflecting a bit on the season, I want to share one of the things that I enjoy most is receiving cards, pictures and updates from those whom I love. I still have our cards strung on a string by

our window, and I plan to post the pictures we received on our fridge. Just today we received several cards and letters, maybe these mean more to me now that I am farther away from most of you, or maybe my priorities are changing. I want to say thanks for all of you who sent a greeting, and tell you how you blessed my heart!!!

So now we are in week number two real life and routine. Joel continues to use mornings as study time; entering culture information, doing language review, and other tasks. In the afternoon and early evening he will usually visit the reserve and focus on building relationships, and sharpening his language skills (pray for this). Typical days for the girls and I are to be at home, taking the morning to start our day, prepare for the noon meal, (which is our main meal) and we are trying to work a little “school” 

time in as well. The girls still nap in the afternoons, which gives me (in theory) time to get things done. This is all very flexible since “relationships” rarely fit into the boxes we like to put them in. We are still waiting for God to open more doors for me to enter into the community at the reserve, we see several opportunities, but aren’t sure how they are going to work out.

We anticipate the year ahead. We hope to get more deeply connected with people here, and desire God to continue to work His grace in our lives. May 2009 draw all of us closer to Our Creator and Savior.

Seasons Greetings

God has provided for our family over the last few weeks, in many ways. A freezer, meat to put in it, times of encouragement with other believers, and the provision of an office are some of the things we’ve noticed most (though we still have to mud, tape & paint the walls). We have also had sub-zero temps this last week (-35 F), which makes us remember to be thankful for a warm house, and the other comforts of life. For those of you who have a hard time imagining such cold temps, it’s really not as bad as it sounds. You just don’t go outside unless you need to and then you dress for the cold and you are fine.

As mentioned above we are very excited about the meat God provided

through a friend of ours. This couple has grown children, who are away at school, and had both a moose tag and an elk tag, since they didn’t need both big animals in their freezer this year, they graciously offered the moose to us. So, by God’s grace we have barley-fed, two year old moose, that never knew it hat been shot, to eat over the next year (for those of you who aren’t familiar with wild game this combination equals yummy.) God provided a former butcher to help Joel process the moose and we were able to purchase a freezer to store it in. We are so grateful for this moose, as it saves on the grocery bill, and also provides us healthy food to eat.

Another fun experience are family has had lately is Abigail’s chance to be an angel in a Christmas play at the local fellowship we attend. She was a bit shy about being up front, but by the second performance she said her line and sang the song with the others. For Joel and I it 

was a first to see our little girl participate in something so “big.” The whole crew did a great job and there was some great musical talent for such a small group of people.

We are also happy to report that our office is close to being completed. Joel has worked to get our landlords things out of a room in our basement, and put a dividing wall in, so we could make two rooms, out of one. This will provide office space for Joel to work, as well a extra bedroom for guests. (So come visit us!) We are very anxious to get this completed, and move the office out of our living room, which will make room for our Christmas tree. Yes, I have been way behind on Christmas preparation this year, and I’m starting to panic, that the big day is almost a week away. The important part is that the girls understand the real meaning of Christmas, so maybe less “jazz” is better. We are excited to celebrate the remainder of the Christmas season, and will keep you updated on our happenings! Keep your eyes focused on Christ during the busy weeks ahead, for He alone is Worthy!!! My heart rejoices in the amazing gift of God taking the form of an infant, the more I try to understand the more I’m left trying to understand! Season’s Greetings!!!

Reachable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JixPmt4iwLE

"This video by New Tribes Mission is a real encouragement to us. The Gospel (the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ) is the power of God unto salvation for all man who will trust Christ. I hope it will encourage you a give a small glimpse into what we are doing."

A new "Wind"

Once again so much has happened since I last posted a blog. Many of you who are family, we were able to see face to face during our very quick visit to Michigan (see picture of our kids with their cousins). It is such a blessing to have these memories to cherish as we again attempt to transition. We have had so much to be thankful for in the last months as God continues to meet our needs, both material and spiritual. Our car is running well, our girls have bunk beds, our family is healthy, and God is patiently helping us grow; these are just a few examples of our reasons to be grateful.

We have been home to Longview for two and half weeks, and it has been a difficult time (at least from Amanda’s perspective). The first week was the hardest as we tried to get re-settled in our home and finish unpacking. We are almost officially done “getting settled”; a process I’ve decided might not ever be completely done with (at least for some one who is a bit of a “junk collecter”/complusive organizer like I am). I think we are also trying to wrestle with “reality” verses “expectations”. When ever I go through a change in life, I spend time thinking about what it should/could be like, as most of you know, it usually doesn’t turn out that way. In a lot of ways it comes down to a choice if your really going to trust that God knows what is best, and let go of wanting to be in control. The last few days we have been blessed with some amazing fellowship, which has been a big encouragement. (Thank you Mayerle’s, Warren Cheek, John Cosby and families from Longview Bible fellowship). God is so faithful to our family, sometimes I can’t understand His goodness to us. I know without a doubt that your prayers are a big part of what keeps us going. I hope I don’t sound like I’m “whining” I just felt like I wanted to share my heart and what it’s been like in my world lately.

From a “ministry” perspective we have much to be excited about.

It is really great to use the tools we gained at our training and dive into building relationships. Joel has had the opportunity to put up a play set on the reserve, and through working with a few young men on this projects, relationships are beginning to form with some really neat guys. We have also been greatly encouraged by a fellow Nakoda (Stoney) believer and his dedication to working on the translation of the Bible into Nakoda with Wycliffe. Some of this work has been happening 

 close by the last few days and we are thankful for the chance to get to know those involved with this project as well. Our language work consists of a few expressions we have recorded to familiarize ourselves with the Nakoda language and start to use in daily conversation. Abigail is doing better than I am.

We came back to late fall, which quickly turned into winter. We experienced our first Alberta Chinook (wind) today. Sunday we got a few inches of snow, which fell on the laundry I had hung out Saturday. Last evening the wind started howling, this morning I went out at ten thirty and it felt like spring. My sheets and towels were dry and as fluffed as if they had went through the drier. By tonight the wind has stopped, the temps have dropped and we are due for more snow. I need to go get supper on for the girls, sending all of you our love-Amanda

MTC-Missionary Training Center- Wrap-up

I certainly haven’t written as many updates as I had planned to over the course of the last few weeks. We are now “wrapping” up the final week of our Culture/Language Acquisition course. The practical skills we have learned to help us in this process are a wonderful asset to ministry. Here is a recap of what we have been learning since our last blog. We took a few weeks to discuss kinship types and how to learn what a people groups kinship type is. A month ago I didn’t even know what that word meant, and I’m trying to think how to explain it without re-teaching everything we just learned. The best explanation I can give is every society has a way they classify who their family is, and how they organize their social relationships. An anthropologist named Lewis Henry Morgan, determined there were six

 different types of kinship patterns. We did an overview of each of these six systems so we could recognize what the Dobu system was. To give you a little idea of what I am referring to I will give you one example (using our (yours and mine) kinship terms). In Dobu culture I would call my mother, sinana, but I would also call any of my mother’s sister’s sinana as well. My father and his brothers would be called tamana, but my mother’s brothers would be called wana. They would make a distinction between what we would consider an uncle on both sides. Because the mother passes on her clan/family to her children, my father would not even be considered in my close family. As you can see it gets very complicated, very quickly especially when you are trying to explain the concepts of God the Father, God the Son, as well as other concepts. It has been very interesting to study and we are excited to get home and see how this applies in our situation.

We have also been studying other aspects of Dobu culture and how to use the CLAware (a software program for filing culture) to file this information. Our team has been given the topic of death, and Joel and I are specifically concentrating our efforts on the way they mourn. All of this learning is done very hands on through sessions with our Culture/Language helper. Our teacher does a great job of portraying “Inosi” and we often

feel like we are truly in another culture (see picture of team and Inosi). We also get to watch “culture events” which are skits put on by the teachers showing scenes of Dobu village life. This coming week will be spent writing up conclusions on what we have learned and looking for themes that run through out Dobu culture. We then head north to Michigan for a brief visit with our family and then it is back to Longview. We map-quested it today, and we have 2300 miles ahead of us! The good news is our car is running much much better than it has since we bought it. God provided various people/resources (like a place for Joel to work on the car) to get it running well. A few other bits of news from the last month are: we saw God work once again in providing a sitter for the girls the last two weeks of class. (our first sitter returned to Malaysia), we also had a great trip to Kansas to visit supporters/friends in the Whitewater area.

So thats a quick update on our last month. Thanks for reading along, leaving comments is always welcome, sometimes we get curious who all reads our ramblings. Hope this finds you 

well, you can pray for our week if God lays it on your heart to do so. We need to clean the apartment we are staying in, pack up our stuff, and finish class, which involves some papers. We hope to go to class Friday morning and be on the road by “noonish”. We are really thankful for the opportunity we had to attend this training, we have met some wonderful people and the girls have made some friends the can play outside with. It’s been a great eight weeks, but we are ready to be home!!

Amanda-For the Sewell’s

What`s Really at Stake in the U.S. Presidential Election

This article really impacted me as I thought about the upcoming election.  It sums up what I feel is really important when we go to vote..  Amanda

http://www.thoenebooks.com/blog.asp?post=0&id=432

MTC-Missionary Training Center

It’s hard to believe we are almost three weeks into our time here at New Tribes Training Center. Our first week was full of adjustments to a new system and routine. We soon settled in and were hard at work. We are very impressed with this training center and how well they equip their missionaries, as well as with how many young couples with young children are willing to work and sacrifice to take the message of Christ to a lost world. It is an encouraging place to be, we have been shown lots of hospitality and getting to know people and hearing how God is at work in them is great!!!  We are learning so much... this week we are a bit overwhelmed by it all. I will try to briefly summarize what we have done so far.

The first week was spent mainly in lecture session giving an introduction to the process of Culture and Language Acquisition that New Tribes uses, known as CLA (culture & LAnguage Acquisition), this step in the church planting process has been made much easier by a program called CLAware, designed for the purpose of filing and reviewing culture

information and language learning. Now that we are into class full swing, we spend much of our time doing “hands on” actives. We are actually spending time in a role play situation where we do specific tasks with a team to glean language and culture and then file it just as we would in “real” life. It has been a great way to work out some of the bugs that will happen as you attempt to learn so much information about another people group. At this point in our “role play” we are learning a few phrases and words of “Dobuniasion” (the language of the target group) and trying to understand a little bit about how this Dobu culture works and keep in mind relationship through it all. We know our situation in Alberta is a bit different than what most of our fellow students will face, but there are so many good principles and ideas that we can gain from this time. We are thankful to be here and yet excited to get back “home” and start applying.

As a family we are doing well, we are enjoying a “real” summer, and the joys of a lake with sand to play in. Abigail loves playing with Natalie, the girl who watches the girls while I’m in class, it’s been a bit harder on Ruth, but all in all she seems OK. Ruth is doing new stuff everyday, she can officially say “hi” and wave, and her aunt Maria (my sister) taught her how to give high fives. 

 She blesses us all with her kisses and cuddles. For those of you who caught what I said two sentences ago... yes we did have some visitors. My (Amanda’s) entire family drove down from Michigan over Labor Day weekend. We had a lot of fun all being together for the first time in almost two years....we couldn’t quite remember how long it had been, for some of them it was the first time meeting Ruth. God is so faithful in continuing His work in our lives and for that we are forever grateful!!!
We appreciate you and your care for our family!

Amanda for the Sewells

Like Minded Believers

August 12th through the 15th we celebrated God's goodness with a group of people who love God and the people they want to share Him with. We were blessed to spend time with our InterAct family here in Canada. We were in Pincher Creek, Alberta, at the Gladstone Gathering Grounds. While there we had some refreshing time in the Word led by a paster at one of our missionaries home churches. We talked of some of the keys to discipleship and how we can see from the life of Christ (Matthew 16-20), and how He walked with the twelve disciples. We shared times of prayer, testimonies, and singing. We dialogued with Gary Brumbelow InterAct's , executive director, and heard from Dan Mayerle, the Canadian field director.  One of the biggest was our dress up night, and share time around the camp fire; which ended in a massive marshmellow

 fight. Not only did our family dress in pirate gear, but we also joined in with a few others to lip sinc- the popular veggie-tales song, "We are the pirates who don't do anything" We throughly enjoyed our first InterAct Conference and look forward to many more. We then made a quick trip to Roach MO, arriving Sunday evening to get settled in at the New Tribes Mission Center for eight weeks of further training. Things have been going well so far, it is just taking us a bit to get settled. For those of you who were praying the Lord did provided child care for Abigail and Ruth and I am able to attend class. When we got here, we were told of a young lady who, due to visa issue was not able to attend college this semester as planned. Her parents attend school here as well and are in our class. We can totally see God's provision this matter, and we give Him all the glory!! This is just a bit of a brief catch up, we still feel a bit behind in our correspondence with all of you, but are working at getting a newsletter out very soon. May you have a wonderful day in God's grace today!!!

Our address till October 10th:

Joel & Amanda Sewell

134 Main Dr.

Roach, MO   65787

573.317.8417

It sure has been awhile...

It’s hard to know where to begin with this update. Let me start by apologizing for being out of touch for so long. Several factors contributed to our silence, the biggest one being the loss of our computer and with it our contact information for all of you, thankfully the latter was just a temporary problem and the Lord provided for a new computer as well. Now I will attempt to fill you all in on what has happened in our lives the last 6 weeks or so.

Our last blog entry is dated June 25th, so I will start from there. We finished our packing and said our goodbyes to the “Chilcotin” on June 27th. Joel drove our truck and trailer with the girls, and I drove the car. (just as far as Williams Lake) We had a bit of scare with our trailer brakes coming down a long, steep hill just outside of town, but other than slow us down a bit it nothing further developed. We left the car in Williams Lake, and I got in with Joel and the girls and we set out for Golden, BC. Our car was brought over by some friends of ours and actually gave them some trouble on the way, at one point we didn’t think it was going to make it. It has since been fixed and is running, but still a bit on the rough side. After resting up a bit on Sunday the 28th (of June) we drove the rest of the way to Longview, Alberta, our new home.

We had only been “home” an hour or so when our first visitors arrived. Roy and Laura Thiessen (they are Interact Appointees and are raising support to work with the Blackfoot tribe in Cardston, AB) and their two daughters stayed for two days helping us get the trailer unloaded, cleaning done, and some unpacking started. It was such an encouragement to have friends on the scene so soon after our arrival. The next weeks were mainly consumed with unpacking and getting settled, (a never-ending job). Another big encouragement was having my sister (April) come for a week in the early part of July, she helped do some painting and it was great to have family around at a time when things seemed in such an upheaval.

We were able to get our house in order enough to have celebrate Ruth’s first birthday on the 27th of July. We had a really nice day and enjoyed some refreshing fellowship with friends. She enjoyed getting presents and took all the frosting off of her cake and then wanted down to play. She started walking right before our move and loves to climb, so she keeps us on our toes.

The next day found our family driving down to Gladstone Gathering Grounds in Pincher Creek, Alberta. We spent the week at a kids camp for First Nation’s youth. Several different organizations work together to make this camp happen. Being “the new kids on the block” our learning curve was big. We were in charge of the work crew, young teens that come to camp to help do dishes and other work projects. We were also able to get to know some of the kids who live at Eden Valley.

Saturday the 2nd of August we attended our first Stoney funeral. We were able to meet some new people. The man who passed away is the grandfather of one of our friends, that we are getting to know.

This week has been spent playing catch up and by the end of the week we will be packing for our 8 weeks in Missouri to attend a course on Church Planting with New Tribes Mission.

Thanks for being faithful with your notes of “Hey, how are you guys doing?”, prayers and gifts. It is our lifeblood many times over.

Love,

Amanda (for the 4 of us)

Home Again….Sorta

Yes, we did indeed make in back to British Columbia. We pulled into our house in the evening on Monday the 17^th. Returning to this area is a little bitter sweet. For those of you who might not already know we are moving to southern Alberta (we were just away picking up the remainder of our stuff in the states, visiting friends/supporters, attending a wedding, doing a survey of the area in Southern Alberta). This decision has been prayed and agonized over for several months now. During our visit to southern Alberta it began very clear that this was the direction God was moving our family. The Lord put many details together; the biggest being the borderline miraculous provision of housing. So we unloaded from our trip one day and started packing the next. Our plan is to leave this area on Saturday June 28^th and be in our new home on the evening of Sunday the 29^th. We want to thank all of you who lifted us up in prayer regarding this decision. The emotions are running high in our family; we are excited for the future, yet sad to leave our friends and teammates here in BC. We are thankful for a bigger house, but a bit overwhelmed by packing and reorganizing in our new place. We are anticipating the idea of settling in one area for many years, but dreading the idea of any more change. God is so faithful in the midst of all our turmoil and we want to praise His name!

Thanks to all of you who have sent us mail lately, especially for Joel’s and Abigail’s birthday. We had fun opening it up Wednesday, and Abigail had another little celebration of turning three. If we are still a bit out of touch for a few weeks, I’m sure you can understand why. Our new residence is officially Longview Alberta, and we will be working in a place called Eden Valley reserve, with the Stoney (Nakoda) people. We will keep you as up to date as possible. Feel free to ask us any questions if we can clarify anything for you. Let us know what you’re doing with your summer and how we can pray for you. Amanda for the Sewell’s

Travels in Montana

Greetings from Montana! We have been on the road the last few weeks and are very thankful for the safe miles covered and the uplifting visits. This past Sunday we were privileged to share what God has been doing in our lives at the Shields Valley Bible Church in Clyde Park, Montana. We are still in that area, but today we will head north across the border into Alberta. We have some “business” to take care of when we cross back into Canada, so prayer would be appreciated. Please also be in prayer for us this week as we are asking the Lord to open and shut doors to direct us in where we will be church planting long term. We are looking forward to this time.

Much has happened since we last posted a blog, and it all seems to blur together at this point, yet in the midst of it all many precious memories were made. We are continually encouraged by people’s prayers and the care that is shown to our family. Those of you we were able to see during this mini “deputation”- thanks for taking time to be with us, it was so good to see your face.

As for a little report on our girls; Ruth has taken as many as ten steps at a time, but still seems to prefer crawling (it’s faster) and Abigail’s “husband” now has a name. (See our last blog). She decided that Clancy Boyd was her husband. He is the two year old boy of some good friends of ours. We mothers had fun with that idea. Fellowship with those in the family of God is such a blessing. We will do our best to keep you up to date with all of the transitions coming our way this summer, if things are unclear please feel free to ask questions. May you draw close to Jesus today in all you do.

Amanda for the Sewells

Paul Washer

This is well worth the 48 minutes of your time. I have watched it and have "chewed" on it for a few days now. Though there are a few things I may not 100% agree with, he does bring out MANY valid points and is very clear.

April Update

Well, we all know that April showers, bring May flowers… What about April snowstorms? I guess this year we will find out. Today as I write this, we have about 2 inches of snow on the ground. Yesterday was a warm sunny day, with temps in the 60s, I was quite surprised to look out this morning to a winter wonderland. This past month has had it’s share of snowflakes, and long dreary cool days. We have had a few warm days that have almost made 70 degrees, but that isn’t the norm.

Nothing “major” has happened in our lives over the last month. In fact, I (Amanda) haven’t been to town since we came through in early March. So yesterday we made another big run. The only real change has been the addition of a good, small car we were able to get a great deal on ($800). It’s great for “running” to the reserve or to Horsman’s and saves us from using the truck (fuel prices here like everywhere else have “sky rocketed”). We are very blessed by this car as we seek to be wise with the resources God has given us. Our lives have fallen back into a good routine after the travel. I have continued to walk, scrapbook, and participate in other activities with my friends from the reserve. We enjoy being a part of this community and find friendships are developing to yet another level. Joel has been kept busy with various activities, community events, helping neighbors (including pushing a prolapsed uterus back in a cow). Many people are calving this time of year here and we are enjoying the sight of tiny calves next to their mothers. So life keeps marching on, one day at a time. We are learning, at times what seem to be the same lessons over and over. We are grateful for such a patient teacher in our Heavenly Father. His grace and faithfulness amaze my heart.

The girls are doing well! Abigail is in to “pretending” except to her “it’s for real”. Much of this centers around babies and the latest one has been, she has a husband. I asked her what is name was and she said “my kids call him daddy”. So then I asked “what do you call him?” and she replied “hey honey". Ruth proved me wrong and didn’t start walking before she was nine months old, she is developing in other areas though. Her mimicking skills are increasing and she is beginning to wave bye-bye etc. She is also learning the meaning of the word “no” (now the fun begins). I can’t believe our baby is this old.

We covet your prayers for wisdom, as we raise our girls and also in regards to our future. We anticipate a busy month ahead as well. We would love to talk to all of you, and hear what is going on in your lives. Thanks for leaving comments, emails, cards and phone calls. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate you! Love- Amanda & the rest of our Sewell Family

March Blog

March came in like a lamb and went out like a lamb. We have had early spring here, it really seemed to start in the early part of February and so far we haven’t regressed too much winter since then. Abigail is enjoying the Trumpeter Swans that have been gracing the area with their presence for a few days before heading on their journey.

We have had a busy month with lots of travels. We took my parents back to Kamloops, where they flew out on the 6^th, and spent a few frantic days trying to get all the “big city” shopping in we could and somehow trying to rest at the same time. (We didn’t get much rest). We then traveled on to Calgary, AB where we met and did some traveling with our Field Director to discuss our future, (post-internship) placement. On Wednesday the 12^th we came back west to Golden, BC, to attend InterAct’s Winter Retreat/Workshop. We again had meetings facilitated by Worldview Resource Group and once again (like last fall) we walked away encouraged by what we are learning in missiology. We also got an extra bonus WRG then came back to our area to do an on sight consultation of how we can be more strategic in accomplishing our goals. So now after information overload we find ourselves processing what we have learned and seeking God’s direction for the next step. The next few months are getting busier and busier due to summer and all the activities that come with it. All of a sudden the future is uncertain again and after a few months of security and routine our family faces more changes, and the “unknown”. We covet your prayers as we follow the path God lays before us one step at a time. He continues to pour His grace, mercy, and love into our lives and we can never give Him enough thanks for all that He is accomplishing. It’s truly exciting to follow His guidance in all things.

The girls are doing well, Ruth is pulling herself us all over the place and we are constantly digging things out of her mouth that don’t belong there (usually wood pieces that fall off wood when carried to the porch to the stove). She continues to encourage the rest of us with her easy smile that lights up the whole room. Abigail’s chatter is the most constant sound in our house and she has probably made cards for everyone of you reading this, but somehow they don’t all make it in the mail to you (that’s my fault). She loves to be a part of any “big people” activity and doesn’t miss a thing. The other night our family camped out on the living room floor at Horsman’s house and watched The Sound of Music, when I asked Abigail what her favorite song was she said “I am 16 going on 17” and somehow as cute as it was, it gave me a funny feeling that we weren’t that far away from that being true.

We trust you had a rejuvenating Easter season. We were able to participate in some activities in the community that gave it a special feel. Wishing you all sunny spring warmth! Thanks for caring for us, we sure appreciate you!

Celebrations

February is a month of celebrations for me. (Flowers, chocolate, cards, and love- what’s not to celebrate?) As I reflex on the last few weeks, I’m reminded of the many reason’s we have to give praise. God is at work in our lives and in lives of the people around us. We often wish things were more cut and dried and easily spotted, but in reality Gods ways of “accomplishing” things are at times unseen (we are learning it just takes time). He is giving us many opportunities for growth in our personal walks with Him, in our marriage and in our team. We are continuing to build relationships in the community, many which have been a great blessing. I attended a birthday luncheon, (a small group of woman in our community get together once a month for a meal and to honour birthdays) for the second time, and was encouraged by the outpouring of cards, and small gifts given to me. I had a great Valentine’s Day (see the story in our upcoming newsletter). Joel has been fishing a few times with a seventy five year old man. This not only has given him opportunity to build credibility, but also gave us some fresh fish for our freezer. We continue to attend community events and spend time with people. At the end of February, my parents, Doyle and Marian Carpenter, were able to visit for about a week. We had a wonderful time showing them life in our neck of the woods. They were here in time to help make my birthday celebration special. We enjoyed a restful day at home, and Joel made us all a great supper including chocolate cake!! One of the other reasons we give praise is for you, so many of you encourage us with cards, care packages, etc. These brighten our day and help us feel connected to friends and family even across the miles. We seem to be behind in our correspondence so if you haven’t heard from us yet, please know we do indeed appreciate all you do. God is so gracious to our family, and we continue to seek His leading and direction in all areas of our lives.

Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and let all those who love Your salvation say continually “Let God be magnified!” Psalm 70:4

January re-cap..

Wow! It’s Wednesday afternoon and the house is strangely quiet. I ‘m glad for the chance to share, what God has been doing in our lives lately. For not having anything on the calendar in January, it filled up and flew by before we knew it. We have been so aware of God’s grace in our lives lately, as we often struggle with feeling like we are not enough for the task. It seems like in all roles of life from being parents, to being a spouse, a friend, a sibling, a child, let alone in “ministry” we see how much we need God to work in and through us. I’ve been known to quote lately “that if it weren’t for GRACE we might as well not get out of bed” (I’m not usually that fond of getting out of bed anyway). To sum it all up, we are just really thankful for God and who He Is!

God has paved the way to helping us find a niche in this new community. I have been able to start walking with a few ladies and participate in the local Head Start program. There are planned activities for the mom’s through Head Start, one of which happens to be scrap booking! I was so excited for the opportunity to do something I enjoy and be able to hang out with other mom’s. These new activities get me out about twice a week. Joel has also had further chances to meet new people, and was able to go fishing this last week with some guys. (he did bring home a nice rainbow trout). We continue to be our own butcher, and purchased a half of pig that Joel cut up, ground up and packaged. It too is very yummy.

The girls are doing well; both of them changing and growing to fast to keep up. Ruth is sitting up all by herself now, and scooting and rolling around the floor. She also has two new teeth! The girls are the best entrainment we have!

We were very encouraged the end of January by a visit from Dale and Carol Smith, our director (aka boss) and dear friends. It was so good to have the excitement visitors from the “outside” bring. We are also happy to report that the Horsman’s are back home and our team is once again all together. We are excited to see how God is going to continue to use our lives to bring Him glory in this community. Thanks again for everything!

Amanda – for Joel, Abigail and Ruth

Holiday "Wrap-Up"

Well, the Holiday Season is over. We have made it through our first Christmas away from family and all the familiar things. We had a good month overall, the Lord blessed us in many ways and as usual we have much to be thankful for.

We have made some fun memories over the last few weeks and thought we would share a few with you. One advantage of living in this area is the availability and price of a Christmas tree. We found ours about 12 feet off the road and Abigail and Joel climbed the fence, cut it down and tossed it in the truck, all in all the entire venture took about 15 minutes from the time we put on our winter gear to the time we took in off again. We had to get a little creative with the placement of our tree due to the size of our house, so it went outside of our window on our screened in porch. In the weeks before Christmas we enjoyed going to a Christmas Carol Sing at the Horsman’s and doing a progressive dinner with our neighbors (Joel was also able to go to a ranch 2 hours from here and help butcher a cow, so we thank God for giving us meat). Both couples that live near us were extra kind to our family, and added a festive spirit to our season. We all had lights on our cabins and over the gate cap, which made my day every time I got to enjoy them. Christmas day we enjoyed breakfast together as a family, and then opened some presents. In the afternoon we had a wonderful dinner with Don and Kim (Steve and Jill are back in Illinois due to a family situation) and enjoyed fellowshipping with them. One of Abigail’s gifts was a sled (that our neighbor made for her) and we have enjoyed pulling her around on it and getting fresh air.
We have had a break from our regular schedule due many activities being put on hold during the last two weeks. God had continued to provide opportunities to build relationships and teach us new things. Next week will find us back on track with the routine.

Since it’s that time of year I had to go back and read our entries from this time last year, I was reminded once again how so much was unknown at this point a year ago. I’m reminded how God’s plan is perfect, and He lays the path before us. This is something we must cling to more than ever, especially on day’s Satan tries to tell us we are wasting time and not “accomplishing” anything. I only hope this year will bring us closer to our Creator and more aware of His plan and purpose in our lives.

Thanks for loving us. Those of you who sent cards and letter, we loved hearing from you, it’s so great to get updates and new pictures of loved ones far away.

Amanda (for Abigail, Ruth, & Joel)

(We realize this may be more for grandparents, but we thought we'd post a little "video" of our Ruth, she's getting big)

December update...

As I sit to write this entry, it’s early Saturday morning. Joel has left for town and the girls are still asleep. I’m enjoying the quiet and the crackling of our fire. I can’t believe that the days go by so fast. We have had a great month. Things “feel” like home in many ways, but we have been doing a lot of adjusting this past month. We have battled some “loneliness” “homesickness” and even “frustration” at how things are different. Let me pause and say thank you for all the encouragement we receive from you. It’s a wonderful thing to be part of a bigger family that lets you know you are loved and appreciated.

The “what” we do each day can be difficult to describe. Overall we feel that we are sensing the “beginnings” of being accepted in this new community. It is the little things that seem to happen at just the right moment to encourage us to keep pressing forward. Joel has had various opportunities to meet up and develop relationships with individuals where they are at, through their work/life. Examples of this include visiting a logging site and also spending two days helping someone gather cattle. My days are mostly spent with the girls, I’m so thankful to be able to be full time mom and wife. We spend one day a week (normally Wednesday) still coming together as a team (Sewell’s, Gillaspie’s, and Horsman’s) to fellowship, be in the Word and Prayer, and continue to learn and develop the way will work together. The other scheduled events we have are Community Wellness (every Tuesday evening); which is a family oriented night where different activities are taking place simultaneously (i.e. exercise, crafts, games, etc.) and our Sunday morning service that is an avenue for discipleship and fellowship with other believers in the community. Along with these activities we have various opportunities to join in on community events, for example I will be joining Joel in town today to take part in a celebration that is being held for a recent victory in court concerning land settlements. Another highlight of our month has been a fun evening in Williams Lake with other believers; some who used to live in our community but for the time being are in town.

We are doing well as a family. We have been challenged to use this time to set good habits and grow in areas of our spiritual walk. The girls are doing well; they are such a blessing and so much fun. Well I should go and start getting ready for our day. Thanks for taking time to be a part of our lives.

Amanda (for Abigail, Ruth, and Joel)

PS (for those who are interested) Though this new family picture may not show it, our winter has finally arrived, and right now we have over 12” of snow and temps have dipped as low as -24 (F).

Our First Month...

So much has happened since we last gave you an update. We have been busy with various events and the task of getting settled. I’m going to give a quick report about what we have been doing this last month, but the details will come later in the December issue of our newsletter.

• October 14^th we left after the church service for a five hour trip to Kamloops. We had the privilege to attend a first class seminar on Worldview. It was taught by Worldview Resource Group and was a big encouragement to us. It was also a blessing that our “team” was all able to attend this event together. We spent Monday –Friday in “class” most of the day, and spent our evenings shopping or fellowshipping with fellow missionaries. Shopping in Kamloops meant an opportunity to hit the “big” stores like Wal-mart and Costco. We returned home the 20^th.

• After a few “normal” days we were off again. We spent three days with our on field “team” Steve and Jill Horsman and Don and Kim Gillaspie identifying our strengths, weaknesses, and team vision.This process will continue on a weekly basis as we plan to meet once a week and continue to grow together as a team.This is vital, as much of what is accomplished in this area is done through modeling.

• This past week we attended several events in the community, and Joel was involved in two horse-related demonstration/teaching events.

Most of my time continues to be spent with the girls. They are both doing wonderful. Joel and I are so happy to be here and have life make some kind of sense again. We are anticipating what God is going to accomplish in this place. We are concentrating our efforts on learning, building relationships and more learning. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I’m even more thankful than ever for technology as I try to stay connected, across the miles, to the people dear to my heart. With a grateful heart for you, Amanda for the Sewells

Wood Harvest

It’s hard to believe we have been here a week, in some ways the time has gone so quickly in other ways it feels as if we have always been here. Tuesday was our first night sleeping in our house. It was wonderful (it’s been 18 months since we’ve been able to call something “our house”). Most of our time this past week was spent unpacking and organizing our things. We were able to get our house livable in time to have the wood cutting team from Bloomingdale Christian Church arrive (keep reading).

We did get the opportunity to attend a community function called Community Wellness. It is held every Tuesday night at the school and is a time of positive fellowship. Various members of the community host different activities; there were guitar lessons, Pilates, a card game, and a craft all happening in different rooms. Joel and I were able to meet so people and just get a feel for how things work. This will be a regular part of our week and time will show what our role will be.

Friday five men arrived around noon, who had just driven 12 hours from Seattle, Washington, and before that had flown from Michigan. They had lunch and immediately went to work. Josh Odell, who we met at FSB, first introduced us to his church family (Bloomingdale Christian Church) and they felt led to be a part of our support team. Then they felt the Lord leading them to come and help us put up wood for winter. Josh, Tod, Bill, Craig, and Randy worked so hard to cut, split, and stack 15 cords of wood at our place and the Horsman’s. The Lord totally blessed their effort, and we had a wonderful time of fellowship throughout their time here. Sunday evening was extra special as we celebrated Thanksgiving (October 8 in Canada) and had a time of reflection. Our first week has been full and we are so thankful for the wonderful people who we are privileged to work along side. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We are having a little difficulty getting our phone hooked up so that limits our communication (please pray for that if you would).