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It's hard to believe that this trip is winding down. In some ways it seems like we have been here forever, and in other ways it seems like it was just yesterday that we arrived. We are all missing our loved ones back home, but the new friends we have made here are incredible. We will have to take a head count in the morning to make sure that we have all of our kids -- some are threatening to stay behind. While it will be hard to leave our new friends and the beautiful mountain ranges, we all know that God has much for us to do back home.
As I write this blog, our worship team is gearing up for our final worship service. They have led us so wonderfully each and every night. The worship has been a real highlight of each night.
We have watched God take three youth groups (Vinton, Seattle, and Ronan) and make ONE group. It is so cool to watch God work. This week was not exactly what we had expected. We thought we would focus on tons of OUTreach, but when we arrived it very quickly became evident that what was needed was INreach. The Ronan youth group just needed us to help them catch a vision for what their group could do when they worked together. They have embraced that vision completely and are reaching out to their friends like never before. They are also begging for opportunities to share their "stories" with their friends and their community. It is so amazing to see the transformation that has taken place in their group.
We have not reached hundreds of kids like we had hoped to, but we have done exactly what God sent us here to do -- strengthen HIS body -- so they can do what He has for them to do. In that regard, our mission was more like Jesus' ministry than like the early church. Jesus focused on building a few strong believers who would carry on his work when he was gone instead of reaching the masses. In that sense, He laid the foundation that the Apostles later built upon. We helped lay a solid foundation that the Ronan youth group will build upon for years to come. It was not what we expected, but it was what God intended. Our kids adapted so well to the challenges of the week.
One more thing our kids did that I was so proud of was that they reached out to the former pastor's son, Isaac. Today was Isaac's last day in Ronan. Just about an hour ago they pulled out of this town and headed to Wyoming where they will settle down in a new town and minister there. Isaac was an eighth grade student who has moved about six times in his brief life. He was nervous about the challenges of making new friends in the new town. Our kids encouraged him and promised to stay in touch to see how he is doing. Then, they took it one step farther. They loaded up the van and headed to his home this morning to help him load the moving van. He was so glad to see them all show up. We took him out for pizza and celebrated his 14th birthday which will be on Monday. It was the perfect day for Isaac. He was so much more at peace because of the encouragement that was offered to him. I am so proud of our students!
We will load up early in the morning and head back to Seattle (a 10-12 hour drive). Please pray for us as we traverse through the mountains back to Seattle. We will surely see some tears as we say goodbye, but we hope to one day partner with this church again on some other mission field.
Thank you for all of your prayers. God has worked in amazing ways all week long. Your prayers have born much fruit for the Kingdom of God. May He get all of the glory.
Parents, be ready to hear some amazing stories of Mountains, snakes, bats, bears, waterfalls, and cold, cold dips in the water. But more than that, you will hear about the people of Montana who have blessed us more than we could have ever imagined. We will never forget them!
See you all soon - Watch out Janet... I'm going to tackle you in the airport!
Rob
I added some pictures to some of the blogs... go check it out
Michelle
We went camping last night! In the mountains! It was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen. We set our tents right near a lake with small waterfall, and the mountains rose up in the distance. It was so breath taking. The hike up there was pretty intense, but the white water sights on the way up there made it worth it. We had a camp fire and roasted marshmallows....
The starts were so bright, and so close... considering we were over 4000 feet higher than normal. Today when everyone got up so of us decided to jump in, or as I was, thrown in to a 40degree water lake!! It was freezing cold, but totally awesome!
I think we are really connecting with the youth group here and God has made us into one big family. The have opened up to us in so many ways, now they are closer as a group now, more than ever before. God is just soooo good. He’s made a beautiful place with amazing people who I’m going to miss dearly.
-morgan
Well we woke up yesterday morning to a beautiful 42 degrees.
It was picture perfect. We started our day after breakfast by breaking up into 3 teams. My team went to Ms. Betty’s house and painted her deck and mowed & weed-eated her neighbors yard. We met Joseph, the neighbors son and invited him to have lunch with us. It was fun to hang out with him and play Wii and to just get to know him. Tracey’s team went to a church members home to take down a fence for her. Rob’s team worked on cleaning out a garage that had about 25 years worth of "stuff" piled from the ceiling to the floor. Everyone had a ton of fun and its cool to see them working so close together. Each day we have gone out and worked the Ronan youth have come along side of us. They have really blessed our lives.
For our canvassing time we kicked things up a notch. If you ever seen the show "Trick my Truck" well it was something like that but instead of a truck we used the church bus. Hannah & Amber decorated this van like an ice-cream truck. We went around the neighborhoods blasting music and handing out FREE ICE-CREAM.. It was so cool to see the team and the local teens walking up and down roads spreading the Word of God and telling people about what was going on down at the church for the week.. This was defiantly the high light of my day.
Last night for supper we did something a little different. Levi, the youth Pastor was in the military and he thought it would be cool to feed the students MRE’s for supper. I was a little leery at first to see how they would respond to that, but we were all pleasantly surprised that they thought it was cool and grew to appreciate what our military men & women do for our country every day. During worship time Aubry, a local teen shared her testimony with everyone. We were all blown away by her openness and just how much she has grown to trust us. God is using this team to build this youth group up and helping them grow closer to each other.
So after supper we headed for our camp site which was at Smith Lake. We filled up 6 vehicles and headed up the mountain. I think there were a total of 35 of us. We drove some of the way but had to take about a half mile hike up the rest with our sleeping bags and backpacks. I’m not too happy to say that by the time we were half way up I thought I was gonna have to have someone carry me the rest of the way. I blamed it on the elevation. Once we came to the site where we would stay for the night we all just stood there in awe of the beauty. It was a huge lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. I have to say it was a first for many of us. Some of the guys slept under the stars. It was so cool to see so many of the Ronan people come along with us. Levi said there were at least 3 fathers that went with their sons that had never stepped inside of the church before. We sat around a camp fire last night sharing stories of how God is moving in our lives this week and singing songs. I wasn’t sure how I was gonna sleep because I was in a tent, in a sleeping bag on the grass, but I have to say it was surprisingly a great nights rest. Maybe having the waterfall right next to the tent helped. I may have to see about putting one in my room. This morning Levi’s dad cooked us huckleberry pancakes and sausage. You talk about good. We spent the rest of the morning walking some trails and some were even brave enough to jump in the 40 degree lake. I was not one of those brave souls. This afternoon, back at the church has been a time of resting and hanging out with our new friends. Some have went out to canvass and invite people to come to a viewing of "To Save A Life" movie that we are playing tonight at the church. Also tonight Lindsey & Morgan are going to give their testimony’s. Please pray that God will speak through them and that He will give them courage to be bold.
I can’t say thanks enough for the prayers. We are defiantly feeling them. God is certainly using this team to build up the body of Christ in Ronan Alliance Church.
I love ya’ll
Michelle Merchant
Well we had an amazing outreach tonight with several of the locals joining us in a game of Rabbit Sticks and worship. Hannah & Christa were so excited when Andrew, who they had met down the road showed up. He is still here hanging out with us. We are about to have family time and I have asked Brooke to share her testimony with everyone. Please say a prayer for her because she is very nervous. I would also like to say how proud I am of Daniel & Kat for sharing their stories tonight during worship.
And by the way ya'll should be very worried, Rob found a local western store and him, Ally & Daniel are now proud owners of Cowboy Hats. Can you say, "YE HAW!!!!!"
Please keep praying...God is deff moving here.
Love ya'll
Michelle
Last night during family time I was really proud of Brooke. I had asked her the night before to share her testimony with everyone and she said she wasn't ready, which was ok cause I know how nervous she was about it. But last night at supper I asked her again and she agreed to do it. She really stepped out and poured her heart out. This opened the door for alot of conversation within our team. I am so proud of her & I thank God that she is on this mission trip with us. I love you Brooke!!!
Michelle Merchant
Before I talk about what we did today, I have to share with everyone about family time last night. One word to describe it, is AMAZING! We all talked about loneliness, and how sometimes we don’t really know how people are really feeling because they try to hide it, but inside they are hurting and lonely. Soon everyone in our group was opening up about times in their life when they have felt lonely, and It was really encouraging (for me personally) to see that even the people on my mission team struggle with the same problems, and emotions as I do. Before we knew it, we had been talking for 2 hours! It was so awesome to have that time together, because it brought us so much more closer, and now we can all be a little more sensitive to how people (even on this mission team) are feeling. Now we are like a family! One of our new local friends that has been hanging out with us this week, named Gharret has really been a blessing this week! He opened up to us and shared his testimony, and shared so many great things last night in family time. Its really awesome to see that he just feels so loved and accepted by us to share those things! God is really blessing our team this week in Ronan.
Today for my service project, Me, Michelle, Tali, Andrew, Morgan Aaron, and one of our local friends named Elliot Adams (the son of the family who let us stay in their house Saturday and Sunday night) went to a lady named Betty Seaboms house. Me and Morgan painted her deck for her, while the rest of the team weed eated her yard, and the neighbors yard, and mowed the neighbors backyard. The deck that me and morgan painted was on the upstairs part of her house, so morgan was nice and climbed the REALLLLY tall shaky ladder and painted the outside part of the deck, while I painted the inside of it. But it wasn’t too long until morgan got tired and I had to climb up the really tall shaky ladder. I was scared, but I had to trust morgan and andrew that if I fell they would catch me. Thankfully I didnt fall, but after I was done, I ended up with paint all over my hands, and legs, even on my lip, and in my ear. Which is only a task I could accomplish. We also met the neighbor, Joseph. He is going to the 6th grade and was really cool. He came and hung out & ate with us. We invited him to come to outreach tonight and he was really excited about it.But anyways, after we got done with all of our work, we went inside and mrs. Betty (grandma betty) fed us lunch, which was some kind of mexican dish. All I know is that it was GOOD. And Mrs. Betty was so grateful for what we did for her, even though all we did was mow her yard, and paint her deck. I loved how even though the work we did for her wasn’t anything big, she was still so appreciative. Thats how we all should be. We should appreciate even the small things in life.
Now we are all hanging out at the church waiting to go on the ice cream truck, which you will hear more about later!
THANKS for all of the prayers!! :D
Love,
Lindsey Merchant
So, Montana has been soooo amazing! My heart is full of so much joy from seeing the way that god is using this whole mission team in this town, and it's only tuesday! When we arrived in Ronan Saturday i have to admit, i was happy, but i was still distracted by the "worldly" things in my life, and i really felt like if i didnt eliminate those distractions, it would really hinder me from doing what i was sent here to do. 1 John 2:17 says "The world and its desires PASS AWAY, but the man who does the will of god lives forever!" i opened my bible up to that scripture one night and it really helped to remind me that all of these things that are a distraction to me, will pass away, they dont matter, what matters is that i do the will of god, and i do what i was sent here to do, and that is share gods love with everyone! Nothing else matters. That has been a steady reminder to me this week, and i am thankful for that! Today Levi, Me, Christa, Daniel, and Andrew along with our local friends Joey, and Dalton went to a town called Polson to a familys house, to "Buck hay" I have to admit when i heard what i would be doing i was a little nervous becase i had no idea what "Bucking" hay was. But it ended up being a great time! It was hard work, we picked up about 250-300..50 pound bails of hay. If you know me, you know that I am not the strongest person in the world. My dad calls me "noodle arms" (love you dad) haha. I didnt think that I was going to be very useful because I can’t lift much, but I didnt let that stop me, I went out and did it anyways, and I DID IT! It really felt awesome not to let my doubt get the best of me, and the 4 hours we spent at this family’s house bucking hay, ended up being a great time! This family that we were helping was ssoooo nice! They fed us chili for lunch, and I think it was the best bowl of chili I have ever had! Lol. The way that this church and the families of this church have accepted us with open arms this week has really been an inspiration to me, it reminds me constantly that, that is how I need to be. Because thats the way Jesus is! He accepts you with open arms, no matter who you are, what you’ve done, or where you’ve came from.
God is constantly teaching me new things this week, and this will be an experience I will never ever forget!
I would like to ask for a prayer request. One of my best friends that I work with at Dry Creek has been struggling with depression for a long time. I have been able to encourage him, and become close to him, but he still struggles with cutting a lot. And he has really been on my heart this week. Sometimes I feel like my encouragement isnt working because no matter what I do, he still cuts. But that Is really a time where I have to stop and know that god is a comforting god, and I can’t fix this problem myself. So I would just like to ask for prayers for him. His name is Kyle Crumpler.
Okay I think I have talked long enough. I just want to thank everyone for all of the prayers. They have been really evident this week! Keep it up!
I love y’all!!
-Lindsey Merchant