Meet Us In Montana

My apologies to those who check this often, we have been out of touch with internet access or way to busy to write. Since we haven’t written in two weeks, I will try to give you a quick update of what we have been up to. After visiting some friends in Yelm, Washington (near Seattle) we left Tuesday, June 13^th for Montana. It was our longest day yet this trip. It was a fourteen hour trip, with lots of different scenery. At about 10:30 P.M. we arrived at Bridger and Jen Boyd’s in Wilsall, Montana. We were able to stay there for the next week. They are friends we know from Frontier and have an adorable one month old boy. We were able to visit them and Bridger’s parents who manage a beautiful ranch. It was a great time of fellowship and it was so nice to be in one spot for a while. Sunday the 18^th we shared briefly in Shields Valley Bible Church in Clyde Park, Montana. Tuesday the 20^th we drove to Cody for some family time with Brad & April Ruckert (Amanda’s sister). We also had a chance to reconnect with some old friends that have a heart for Native ministry. Thursday the 22^nd found us back on the road and headed east for Miles City, Montana. Pat and Lori Linger graciously allowed us to come stay with them and share at the Ismay Community Church, where Pat is the Pastor. Their son Ty is a friend of Joel’s and they both graduated from Frontier this year. Ismay is a small community east of Miles City and they have a wonderful community church. They meet at 8:30 AM to beat the heat. The church building is around 90 years old and it is in beautiful shape, there is something special about those old country churches. The people were very welcoming and encouraging. One of the perks of this time in our lives is meeting so many great Christian people in all areas of the county. Praise the Lord!!! We are so thankful for the way He is blessing us in so many ways. I wish you all could experience this journey with us, it’s amazing. Thanks for keeping in touch with us.

The Pacific Coast in Oregon

What an amazing week! Monday we drove ten hours from Chilanko Forks to Bellingham, Washington were we stayed with Stan and Ginny Gillespie. Tuesday after a great breakfast we headed down to Boring, Oregon, with a short stop at the Warner’s in Yelm, Washington. It was great to be back at InterAct’s home office, Joel and I both felt like we were seeing family. We had various written and oral tests Wednesday and Thursday that we did as a part of our final interview process. Friday morning we got packed up and headed towards the Pacific Coast. We stayed that night in Tillamook, Oregon at a hotel for some family time. Saturday we drove down the coast to Pacific City where we were scheduled to speak on Sunday. Joel’s friend from Frontier (Zach Canady) dad is the pastor at Pacific Coast Bible Church, and they invited us to come share our ministry. Sunday morning we shared in their Sunday School hour. It went great; the people were so welcoming and encouraging. The couple we stayed with this weekend have an interest in missions and were very hospitable (as well they had an awesome view of the Pacific Coast from their house). We have much to be thankful for and are pumped up for the next leg of our journey. God is taking care of every detail in amazing ways. We are heading to Wilsall, Montana next to be with friends and share at Shields Valley Bible Church.

The Britany Gathering

I have been wanting to share about our awesome weekend since Sunday night, but haven't made the time to do so. I was doing some reading in Psalms today and came across the old familiar verse Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" I know this verse is often misunderstood, but it reminded me of some of my old "dreams" that are now coming true in some ways in my life. As a child I always wanted to live hours from any major city, I also had a fascination with Native culture. This last week I got to experience both, which is just a preview of what our future will hold. Friday evening we drove about two hours south-west of Steve and Jill Horsman’s (Chilanko Forks) to a place called Henry's Crossing. We arrived about ten an night, and were supposed to meet up with a group coming in on horses. I'll spare you all the details, but with a little bit of adventure we finally had the horses taken care of and tents up for everyone by about three in the morning. That evening is a story in itself and not really the point of this blog. So anyway the next morning, we did sleep in, the fun begins. First we learned why the Chilcotin people even had this gathering together. Basically this gathering started about fourteen years ago and was done in protest of a certain lumber company and how they were logging the land. The place that we had gathered was called the Britany triangle (hence the name Britany gathering). They are still battling all the details in court and every year they get together to celebrate and remember. We got to see some parts of the Chilcotin culture first hand like singing and dancing (see picture). We also got to taste some traditional foods like moose jerky and ban cook (fry bread) but done on a stick over the fire. Moose jerky is great for teething babies. The best part of all was when Saturday night we stayed up around the camp fire and hung out with some new friends (who are Chilcotin). We had a blast just talking and laughing and enjoying the outdoor night. Sunday was a long day because we had to break down camp and take everything back home, but it was worth the weekend of new experiences. We were so thankful for this opportunity and it has given us a new sense of urgency to raise support and come back to the Chilcotin to share Christ.

A Little Bit About Our Week

Well it's Friday the day we were scheduled to leave Chilanko Forks, but we our still here and plan to go camping for the weekend. The new plan is to leave Monday early in the morning and drive all day to Bellingham, Washington. Staying the weekend will give us a good opportunity to meet more people and see the culture firsthand. More about that latter. For now I want to catch you up on our week. Monday and Tuesday slowed down a little, we were able to really relax, (which was nice). Wednesday we had a few projects to help out Steve and Jill. Thursday got busy as we started getting ready for our weekend, and today was too! Tonight we are going out camping (we get the camper b/c we have Abigail) and coming back Sunday morning. We will be at a First Nations gathering which will be a neat experience. Some of the highlights of the week are:

• We met quite a few non-native people in the community.
• We had a great talk with Steve and Jill giving us more insight and information.
  
• Abigail took her first steps on Monday and has been walking a little more everyday, Yeah!

Today is Abigail's birthday and she is going to have birthday cake while camping. Thanks for reading!!

Our First Look at the Chilcotin Region

It’s Sunday May 28, 2006, and we are staying at Steve and Jill Horsman’s at the Redstone Reserve. We left Cody, Wyoming at 5:30 A.M Thursday. We drove about four hours to see Bridger, Jen and Clancy Boyd in Wilsall, Montana. We visited, had lunch and we’re back on the road again by 2:30. We drove till 9:00 P.M. and got a hotel in Spokane WA. Friday morning we decided to try to make it all the way to Chilanko Forks in one day. We had a long but good day. Abigail did a great job in the car, sleeping most of the time. We drove through a lot of mountains and had rain on and off all day. We did hit a couple patches of hail, and saw one car go off the road in front of us, but the Lord protected us. We finally arrived about 8:30 Friday evening. The last couple of days have been giving us a little taste of what life is like for the missionaries who work with First Nation people. We have a lot of processing to do with all the information we are gathering during this time. Praise the Lord today for His Goodness!

The Journey Begins

It’s hard to believe we’ve been moved out for a week. Our original plan to be moved out of our house in LaGrange by Tuesday the 16^th didn’t quite work out. So we spent one last night in our house without pj’s or sheets on our bed and finished up and left on Wednesday. We got all our boxes and some furniture in our trailer which is parked with our truck in La Grange, in a empty quonset hut the Lord provided. The rest of our furniture is stored in a pole barn also provided by the Lord. He is so AMAZING!! Since leaving LaGrange on the 17^th we spent several days with the Chamberlain family. They are good friends of ours that live on a ranch near Douglas, Wyoming. It was so refreshing to be able to relax after all the stress of packing etc. Saturday the 20^th we headed up to Cody to visit my sister and her husband, Brad and April. Again it’s been nice to be able to connect with family and relax. The Lord provided work for Joel for a couple of days, which is a huge blessing. We are so encouraged to see how the Lord has taken care of us. We are so thankful to Him for His Grace on our lives. It becomes more apparent every day that without Him we are nothing. When I sit and reflex the way He works and who He is, I’m awestruck!!! May I encourage you today to believe His Word. Whatever situation your in, He is trustworthy! The next step in our plan is to head to British Columbia and spend about a week in the Chilanko Forks area. It’s exciting to get a chance to see firsthand what it’s like there. We plan to leave Cody early tomorrow morning and tackle the 20 some hour drive. We do have a little detour in Montana we need to make to see the Clancy Wade Boyd, born last week to our friends Bridger and Jen. We hope to make it to the Horsman’s by Friday. We will keep you updated along the way!!

Psalm 27: 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Graduation

We've been experiencing some changes in our household lately. We have been blessed in so many ways here are a few:

• A good friend of Joel's is going to watch his guns while we are raising support.
• A friend from school took some stuff to Michigan for us since we can not haul it in our little car.
• We have most of our house packed and have had help from Joel's Mom and Grandma.
• JOEL GRADUATED FROM SCHOOL! DEBT FREE! (that was one of our biggest goals with going to Bible school, not incurring any debt).
• We wanted to enter ministry debt free and we will! Praise be to God!!!
• We sent out our first letter (not to Michigan people yet, we are waiting till we get closer to being in Michigan if you were wondering).

Thanks so much for your prayers! We have started to hear some response from people who are wanting to support our ministry (both through prayer & financially), and we praise God for that!!!

Home Church

We shared yesterday in our home sending church (Hawk Springs Community Bible Church) here in Wyoming. We had the whole service, it went really well, and we made some more good contacts with people who are interested in this ministry. The church had an annual meeting after our presentation and voted to support us as well. We have a long road ahead for building up this team, but are excited about having good quality people who are interested in this ministry we are heading towards in the Chilcotin.

Please also see our schedule it is on the ministry page on our web-site. If you interested, let us know, we'd love to stop by and see you!

Our First Appointment

We shared our ministry last night at LaGrange Bible Church here in Wyoming. Things went well! We got to talk with alot of people about missions. It was a real encouragement to our hearts! We are hoping to share more in other churches, please if you know of any churches or people who would be interested in our ministry let us know! We would love the opportunity to contact them!

Our First Supporter...

We are praising God for our first committed support. We have not really began to really start building this team for going to British Columbia, but a church has already said that they are willing to support us. We thank God so much! I think now of the words of Hudson Taylor, former missionary to China. He said, "God's work, done in God's way, will never lack God's supply." We praise God for this encouragement!

Joel, Amanda, & Abigail Sewell 

Welcome

This is something we are trying out to keep people informed of what is going on with our Ministry, and as well the support raising process. If you have not already, please check out our web-site, it is www.sewellsonline.com It has some information on there as well. Thanks!!