A big wonderful blur...

Thats about how summer has felt so far. In an attempt to update you on the happenings in our lives, I will try to include the highlights of the last two months.

On June second Abigail turned four years old. We had a party the night before with most of her favorite local people in attendance. On her actual birthday we did special things as a family. She now says four is her favorite number! This is the first time in her life Abigail hasn’t celebrated her birthday while we were on the road. I guess that just shows how much we have traveled the past few years!!

I (Amanda) got the awesome opportunity to attend a Native Ladies Retreat at the end of June. It was very refreshing and relaxing, though it took me the first night to settle down and enjoy myself. This time away deepen some friendship in a good way, and I came home with bright colored nails!

The other big event in June was a fun-filled, action packed visit from two families who live in Pinedale, WY. Each family had an camper parked in our driveway, total people eating most meals at our house was thirteen. Six adults and seven kids, five under four! Everything went very smooth, and we were blessed to share a little bit of what life is like for our family here in Alberta with them (there just might be more to this story in an upcoming newsletter).

We are also thankful for some really great opportunities we had to participate in community events at Eden Valley (this time it wasn’t funerals). One night we attended an birthday party for an elder till 1 in the morning, the girls did great, joining in on the fun. We soaked up the sun at a volleyball tournament/picnic put on by the life skills class, and the girls and I got to go along on a field trip to a local amusement park with the day care group. While these might not seem like any big deal to you, the reader, we are so grateful for these chances just to get to know people and

learn. I am especially thankful for things we can attend as a family since my “day to day” contact has been rather limited.

We were blessed to have some meetings via phone the first week in July that helped keep us on track in terms of what we are doing now, what we can be doing better, and what the next step looks like. We are so grateful for the people who are willing to share what they have learned from their ministries, and work to equip us for the job at hand.

The first full week of July found us near Pincher Creek, Alberta at Camp Gladstone. This is a camp run by various people from various organizations for Native young people mainly from southern Alberta. We had two young men from Eden Valley ride down with us, and it was a lot of fun. This first week of camp is for teenagers. Joel spent most of his time working with the horses; feeding, saddling, and teaching the kids. I spent my time in the kitchen, well it’s actually a pavilion with walls on one

end and part way down the sides. It is a great place to cook, and the kids can all play outside while the woman work in the kitchen. The girls spent their time in the dirt...they play hard for hours in the sand etc. with all the other “camp kids” (the kids whose parents run the camp). Every night they are tired and filthy, but they love it. It was a bit chilly this week and rained almost every day, but everyone had a great time anyway. We are thankful everyone was safe on the horses, and for the chance to connect with the two guys from Eden Valley. Camp continued on for week two and three without us, and we returned home for more business.

On July 12th, Doug and Sheryl Sewell arrived for a week long visit to the grandchildren (and their parents of course). We were able to take some time for family fun while they were here, and also participated fully in Longview’s own Stampede. It is a great even for children and the girls had a wonderful time. (Also through the rodeo and a young man riding steers, Joel was able

to spend some “connecting” time with a family from Eden Valley.) It is always such a treat to have family visit when you live far away and we are sure thankful when those occasions happen. So this past week was spent trying to recover from the previous three and regroup for the next, all while trying to have a normal routine. Sunday the 26th we head back to camp for the final week, this one requires a bit more preparation as we our co-leading a the work crew (which is kids from the team camp age, coming to “work” for the younger camp). The emphasis is more on discipleship than work, and we are partially in charge of the devotions etc. for them. Please keep all this as a matter of prayer! Monday the 27th, Ruth celebrates birthday number two, so the fun continues. Well, this has gotten long, though I feel like there is more to say, this has been the highlights, please feel free to ask us for more details on anything we share. Thanks for your interest and I will try to update you with all the latest news from camp when we return!

More to catch you up

There have been three funerals at Eden Valley during the last few weeks, Joel spent four days at an Native Youth Conference (see the upcoming newsletter for more details), and we were blessed with some overnight guests, one couple traveling back from Alaska, and one man heading to Alaska. With the long days and sunshine it is easy to go, go, go and never stop for a break. Joel and I have been experiencing various people’s deaths lately, from those at Eden Valley, to a young friend and supporter who died of cancer, to loosing Amanda’s mom’s brother to a sudden heart attack. It has brought some tears and grieving, and yet what a blessed hope we have when we know Jesus. Two of the deaths at Eden Valley were people we hadn’t ever met and to our knowledge weren’t trusting Christ (we attended the funerals b/c we knew at least one family member of the deceased, and to observe cultural practices). However, one of the three woman who died, was a solid Christian, who loved and served her community. The funeral was a beautiful celebration of her life on earth, and her future in heaven. There is such a contrast in how one views death depending on if they know Jesus or not. It is a good reminder of what Christ has done for us

on the cross, and the eternal perspective we need to walk through this life with.

We have been enjoying warm weather, lots of spring rain, and the “green up”. We will soon need to mow our lawn, and friends are putting in gardens. It’s branding season, and we have been able to attend a few of those as well. It seems with all the activities of summer it makes it even more difficult to stay focused on our goals for language and culture study. Please pray that we can have wisdom on our daily activities and remain true to our course. We sense more and more how much we need the Lord’s strength for all that is to be done, and we are so thankful for the role each of you play in keeping us here. We would love to hear from you, and please be patient when it takes us a while to get a personal note back to you. It is hard to find time to write the old-fashion way, but we do wish to stay connected with you in this way! Enjoy Summer; Amanda, for the Sewell Family

some shots from Native Youth Conference..

Missions Conference & Recruiting

As mentioned in our last blog, we traveled south to Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota during the last two weeks in April.  

Overall our trip was very encouraging and we really enjoyed all the fellowship. The girls just had a ball playing with friends and experiencing “new” environments.  Our first stop was in Wilsall, Montana at the Shields Valley Bible Church.  We were privileged to take part in their mission conference, and were very blessed by our friends in this part of the country. I enjoyed connecting with an old friend, and Joel got to shoot some prairie dogs,(which he tells me is good therapy).  We get a bit spoiled there with a very nice cabin, at the edge of the mountains, to call home during our stay.  

After a brief stop in Douglas, Wyoming, to spend some “QT” with more dear friends, then we moved on to LaGrange. In many ways it felt like coming home.  We spent a very packed full six days, visiting with students about missions, and InterAct’s fields of service, as well as connecting a bit with the many people who live in that area and support the work here in Canada.  

Seeing what God is doing in students lives at Frontier  School of the Bible is both challenging and encouraging, we are thankful for this opportunity to represent InterAct and look forward to further connections.  

Several students seemed particularly interested in what God was doing in the North Pacific Crescent (Western Canada, Alaska, Siberia), so time will tell how the Lord will direct those individuals.

When our time was complete at FSB, we headed back north (and east) to Mound City, South Dakota, to visit Amanda’s sister, brother-in-law and brand new baby niece, Adriana Joy. We were joined by Amanda’s parents as well, and spent several days working around their place (they had recently moved). 

The Sewell family parted ways for a few days, with the girls and myself traveling back to Longview with my parents, and Joel heading out on his own, with a planned stop in Miles City, Montana.  My parents, the girls and I made the trip home in one long day, with a few exciting pit stops along the 

way.  We went to a branding in the middle of a friends pasture in Miles City, and then traveled at least 20 some miles on a back country road in the middle on Montana to visit some friends and stop for lunch.  It was a memory making trip for all.  Joel didn’t get home when planned due to our car loosing the transmission, when all the options were weighed out we decided to not fix the car and with the help of a friend and my dad, Joel was able to get home.  We thank God for His provision of that car.

My parents visited for total of five full days, and we had a wonderful time.  They left for home the morning of 

May 8th, which is also Joel’s birthday.  There is always something that keeps us depending on the Lord, and we are so thankful for His great provision for our family.  For those of you we got to see on our trip, thanks for the memories.  For those we missed this time around, we hope to connect next trip.  Thanks to you all! 

Amanda

Springtime in Alberta

Just like Springtime in Alberta, warm, sunny days and the skies are blue, then without a warning another winter storm comes raising through.” This quote from an Ian Tyson song describes perfectly what happened to us a few weeks ago. It was Saturday morning and the warmest day yet, we took a walk as a family and I made plans to hang the sheets on the line. 

By three o’clock I finally had the sheets ready to go, but the sky was gray and the wind had picked up. Joel told me that the weather forecast called for three inches of snow overnight, we got at least that! Then this past Saturday night, we got our biggest snow storm yet with well over a foot of snow, that drifted to three feet in some places. The good news in all this snow, is that Abigail finally got to build her snowman, we had somehow not yet gotten that done this winter and she was pretty worried about making it happen! We are all ready for the snow to be gone and warmer weather. About every day this week, Ruth has looked out the window and pointed at the park, and said “Yaddy.” My interpretation is that she wants her daddy to take her to the park, the answer is always, “when the snow is bye-bye.” Even Abigail tells her now!

Well, enough about the weather!

One of the most exciting things about the last few weeks, at least to me, is God’s provision of some girl friends my own age, and allowing us to have some “girl time” Both girls are believers from the reserve, one has lived there all her life, and the other is a teacher working at the reserve school.   They have been coming over for supper once a week and we hang out as a family.  After the girls are in bed, the three of us have a chance to connect about life, our relationship with the Lord, and what is happening on the reserve.  It has been a blessing to me, 

and hopefully an encouragement to them as well.  Joel is also gaining ground in the area of relationships, there are several men who seem very open to Joel spending time with them, the hard part lately seems to be catching people at home!  One man on reserve owns some cattle and Joel spent most of one Saturday at a horse sale with him, and is going to help gather in some of his cows, if the snow ever melts!  We are thankful for all that God is allowing us to be a part of.  We continue to gain ground in learning language, our computer program is a huge part of that, and we are so thankful for those eight weeks in Missouri (fall of ’08). It is a lot of fun to learn, tonight when the girls and I were making cookies I was seeing how many ingredients/utensils I used that I could say in Stoney! One of our biggest hurdles is opportunities to use the language with real people in real life settings! We are seeking the Lord daily for His direction in this area. The end of April brings a change of pace for us, as we will spend some time in another aspect of our ministry. We are excited to join the Shields Valley Bible Church, (Wilsall, Montana) at their mission conference the 17th-19th, and then travel on down to La Grange, Wyoming to share about InterAct at Frontier School of the Bible (and recruit more laborers). This means we will be seeing some of you in person again, which is always such a blessing! As always we appreciate you, your faithful prayers, and ongoing encouragement! May you delight anew in God’s grace this Easter Season. Amanda... for the Sewell”s

Birthday update

I’m sitting here with a sleeping Ruth on my lap, she woke up from her nap crying, and wanted to go back to sleep. I don’t think our house has been this quiet for this long during daylight hours since..well I don’t know when. I thought I would just blog about our last week, including my birthday. I actually had two parties last weekend, with two chocolate cakes. (I’m spoiled I know) I didn’t know about either of them till a few hours before. Joel likes to keep me guessing. I don’t really feel any older, but it must be happening because I now experience being really tired at the end of the day, but unable to relax and fall asleep because my mind won’t shut down. I’ve always thought people were being ridiculous when they told me about that.

We spent a few family days in Coleman Alberta (a holiday),

and a nice little house of rest for people in ministry. We didn’t do much accept relax! I read a few books, and the girls got to watch videos. Abigail likes Dora, and Silly Songs (Veggie Tales) the best. Ruth’s vocabulary is expanding, she now says “nana” which is banana, “nack” which is snack (she loves to eat almost anytime) and I’m pretty sure she said Adriana, once when looking a picture of her new cousin. Both girls are changing their looks, one day I looked at Abigail and I didn’t recognize her anymore.

We are continuing to study language and file culture (our language session was canceled twice this week, because our language helper was working with the Bible translators). There is so much to be done, it’s often overwhelming. I think God is trying to teach us how to live with the

pressure, because it is a reality of life. We are seeing His hand at work in relationships; Joel’s and mine, our family as a whole, and the many people we call friends. My heart is filled with GRATITUDE to the Lord, when I see how He provides time and time again. We are very blessed and much of that blessing comes through you. Thanks to those who sent birthday greetings, it is nice to be remembered, thanks to those of you who pray for us, we will never know this side of heaven the impact of our prayers. We love you! Greetings from cold and sunny Alberta!!!~Amanda

Where did the time go?

With all my good intentions to update our blog more often, it seems that once a month is all I manage. The days continue to go by one by one, and life has it’s highs and lows. We are so very thankful for God’s grace and goodness to our family in allowing us to serve Him here in Alberta, and work among a precious people group to make His Name known.

 I want to give an update on what we have been doing the last month or so! January kept us busy with various appointments. We had the opportunity to share about our ministry at the Longview Bible Fellowship, which is where we attend services on Sunday here in Longview. It was a experience and it forced us to create a new presentation to explain who we are and what God is calling us to do. Another highlight of our month was spending a few days with Roy and Laura Thiessen, who just moved to Cardston, AB (two hours south) to work with the Blackfoot. They are also with InterAct and have two young daughters. The girls have already really enjoyed having playmates their own age at various functions. We are so thankful for another young family relatively close by. We also attended a meeting in regards to Camp Gladstone, a camp for Native youth that runs most of July. We know we will be involved to some degree as it provides a great opportunity to build relationships with young people from Eden Valley. Joel and I took an evening out on January 24th, leaving the girls

with a friend. It was a fun evening to just enjoy being together, we didn’t talk about “ministry” or “family” but focused on just cultivating our relationship.

February found us frantically preparing our house for company, which included some projects we needed to wrap up, grocery shopping, and general cleaning (that along with “regular” ministry). We were also privileged to meet with some fellow missionaries for a morning of prayer, something we hope to continue about every month. We focused our time praying for the many First Nations youth who are walking with the Lord, or at one time showed an interest in following Him. It was both encouraging and overwhelming to see the list of names on the board of of those who could use a mentor/friend to walk through life with them.

On Saturday the seventh our first guests arrived about nine in the evening. From then till the morning of the sixteenth our house was full of activity. On average we had at least four other people spend the night at our house and fed at least six people supper. 

This was caused by the Animism workshop held in Okotoks, (30 minutes from our place) on February 9-13, and a consult led by WRG for the work at Eden Valley, (the 14th and 15th). We will be giving more details on both of these events in our March newsletter. As tired as we were Monday morning, we throughly enjoyed all our company and the fellowship we had. The girls held up pretty well, considering all the activity and we are thankful things went smooth.

The other big excitement during that week was the arrival of Adrianna Joy on February 8th. She is the daughter of Brad and April Ruckert, (Amanda’s sister) (see picture below) and we are already in love with her across the miles. It’s so hard to be far away for moments like this, but we are very thankful for pictures and telephones and computers to keep us connected. Abigail and Ruth both seem inthralled at the pictures they have seen (so keep then coming).

We have had several friends lately that are facing unexpected trails in

 their lives, and though we ache with them, we also marvel at how God’s grace is apparent in their testimonies. We are here in Alberta because of His working in our lives, and we are excited by the tools God has given us to move forward in the work He has called us to do. 

We greatly appreciate your love and care for our family, please let us know how we can pray for your needs and what God is doing in your lives. Amanda (for the 4 of us)

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