Season's Greetings!

My how time flies! We received a Christmas card in the mail from some friends in Indiana that said, "We can tell that Heather got a job... the blog hasn't been updated recently." Well thank you for those words... and here's the latest news! :)

Things around here have definitely picked up with all of us working. Duane is enjoying his job at ELS (Educational Leadership Solutions). Laurie is having a hard time adjusting to a night schedule of nursing at the Choctaw Hospital. She works 3-4 days a week, 12 hour shifts, which are proving to be exhausting. Please pray that a day position will open up, or she will be able to adjust to sleeping during the day and working at night. Heather is working at Maust Woodworking between 30 and 35 hours a week. She has learned a lot and is enjoying learning how to use the CAD program to design kitchens for customers. She finished the semester with five A's! Next semester will begin in January and she will be taking 3 online classes again and two classes on campus in Meridian again.

Duane turned 51 on November 20th. Happy birthday to the old man with a gray beard! :)

Jazzlyn Ben (one of our youth girls) finally had her baby in the end of October.
Duane was able to perform his first baby dedication on Saturday, November 21st. We welcomed little Jaizlianna Sennimen Ben to Pearl River and prayed and sang blessings over her, Jazz, and Jesse and JoAnne (the grandparents). She is a beautiful baby girl!

Thanksgiving was a little bit different for us this year. Laurie had to work the night before and the night of Thanksgiving, so she was sleeping most of the day. Duane was invited to the home of Jesse and JoAnne Ben (close friends from our church) for an afternoon dinner of turkey, boiled rabbit and chicken, hominy and fry bread. (And JoAnne can cook!) Heather had the privilege of driving up to Ohio with her boyfriend Zach to spend the holiday with his family. She really enjoyed meeting his family and spending time with the Reinhardt side of the family in Indiana the day after Thanksgiving. Saturday and Sunday Zach and Heather spent time in Fort Wayne visiting her church there and friends from school. The drive back "home" to Mississippi was a long one, but the short trip was definitely a nice change of pace!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Duane and Laurie were blessed to have friends from home, Sam and Shirley Marks, come visit Pearl River with their son Steve and his wife Merilee who live in Meridian. They enjoyed the time of fellowship!

Despite our tiny house, Heather decided that we needed a Christmas tree. She picked one out... at Dollar General... and decorated it in early December. Some traditions just can't change! As Christmas is drawing closer, we are excited to spend the holiday with Matt and Brittany, who will be coming down to Mississippi. Brittany has begun to show, and we're all excited to see her "baby bump" in person! Heather is excited for Zach to meet her sister and brother in law, since they had gone to PA for Thanksgiving so they didn't get to meet.

A big thank you to those who have prayed for us during the past month or so. There have been some major struggles with certain individuals in the church, and these individuals decided to leave the church a few weeks ago. There are mixed feelings about the situation, but we trust that God has His hand on the individuals and the situation, and that His name will be brought glory through whatever comes about. Times of refreshing and growth are (hopefully!) in store for 2010!

Praises, Praises & More Praises

Hello all! Things have been very busy here, and it's hard to believe that it's quickly becoming the holiday season. Please bear with us as we try to keep you updated, as well as try to keep ourselves organized with everything that's going on!

Last weekend Duane & Laurie were able to attend the conference Pastor's & Wives retreat at Pine Lake Camp. It was a good time of fellowship with other conference pastors and their spouses from around the Gulf States.

There are lots of things for us to praise the Lord for right now. First of all, Duane & Laurie celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary on October 2nd. They celebrated on Saturday with dinner at Logan's Roadhouse and finally a weekend of nothing scheduled! Heather was able to give them some alone time as she accompanied Glenn & Emma Myers to Des Allemonds, LA for the camp sale, which raised over $22,000 for the fellowship camp in our conference. It was a great weekend!

We are also very happy to report that starting tomorrow (Monday, October 5th) all three of us will be working! Laurie starts a job as an RN at the Choctaw Health Center, and Heather will be working at Maust Woodworking in Meridian, MS as an office assistant. Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for our job situation... your prayers have been answered!

Today was the first time Heather led the singing at Pearl River. Last Wednesday she practiced with some of the youth to teach them to play some instruments, and today they helped her lead. It sounded great! We had Duane on the drums, Briana on the keyboard, Heather on the guitar (which she's just learning!) and Deidre on the flute. People seemed receptive of the new style of music and were attempting to sing along to the contemporary songs, even if they didn't really know them. Heather will be leading the singing all through the month of October!

Please continue to pray for the sale of our house in Indiana. God has brought together many loose ends of our adventures here, but there are still a few danglers! Thank you for your faithful prayers as we continue this journey.

It's All About the Youth!

Lots of really great things are happening in our youth group, and we want to share them with you! First of all, on Monday night of last week, Nick Charlie met with Duane to accept Christ as his Savior! Praise the Lord for our new brother in Christ. Nick is a senior in high school and plans to attend college in Florida next year. Pray that he will grow in the Lord as he pursues his education further and that he will be diligent in finding Christian friends and groups to be involved with even when he leaves for college. Nick's a great kid, and we have high hopes for him!

This past weekend, Friday night through Sunday morning, Duane and Heather took 10 of the youth to the Gulf States Mennonite Conference Youth Rally. The forecast called for rain every day, but the Lord was more than faithful and it only rained the first night we were there! The theme for the rally was "Taking Risks for God" and the speaker was a young woman who is a recruiter for Mennonite Missions. The youth were challenged to step outside of their comfort zones, which was a relatively difficult concept for many of our youth to grasp. Heather is going teach further on this in the coming weeks. The youth girls participated in the Pine Lake's Got Talent talent show on Saturday night at the rally, and so did Daelin, one of our youth who did a dance to Michael Jackson's "Beat It". It was extremely entertaining and we were glad our youth got involved!

This coming weekend is the Pastor's & Wives retreat at Pine Lake Camp, which Duane & Laurie will be attending, while Heather has a small group sleepover at the house for the youth girls!

Heather's schooling is going well and she is enjoying her classes. She and Laurie got to go to the main campus of MSU today to visit Nancy Fultz, the head of the National Student Exchange program that is hosting Heather at MSU this year. Laurie and Heather got to share TONS about the ministry we are doing at Pearl River Mennonite and Nancy and the two other MSU faculty that went to lunch with us were very impressed with the ministry we're doing, as well as with Heather's willingness to serve. It was an encouraging time!

Please be praying for Duane's knee. He says he "tweaked it" at the youth rally. Not really sure what that means exactly, but he's been icing it a lot. Hopefully it will heal completely! Also, please continue praying for the sale of our home back in Indiana. Heather has been applying for jobs down here and has not heard anything back from any of them yet. And also keep the Pastor's & Wives retreat in your prayers as well! We will continue to update you! God bless.

The End of a LOOOONG Week

Duane's first week as official pastor of Pearl River Mennonite ended up being quite a tiring one. One of the most prominent members of the church, Annie Pearl, and her 4 children who attend semi-regularly had an emotionally draining week as their father (Annie's ex-husband) had a massive stroke on Monday. On Tuesday they decided to take him off of life support, and Wednesday evening he eventually passed away in the hospital. Duane was at the hospital numerous times throughout the week encouraging and praying for the family. Thursday and Friday night were the wake for Glenn Bell (the man who died), and as Choctaw tradition goes, the pastor delivers a devotion and the members of the church who are present sing a few hymns to the family. Glenn's body was at Annie Pearl's house, which had to have been very difficult for her considering it was her ex-husband, but she wanted to be strong for her kids. It was quite the testimony of forgiveness, because she shared with us later that he was a womanizer and abusive. The funeral was then held on Saturday and Duane assisted Glenn Myers (the pastor who just retired) with the funeral. Heather and Laurie sang with some other members of the church at the funeral. It was very emotional. After the funeral we were all exhausted. It had definitely been a long week.

Wednesday was church as usual. Heather led the youth group and taught about how intimately we were created by God. It involved everyone making a man out of playdough (our Adam) and realizing that in order to create all of his organs, and brain, and connect all of his veins and blood vessels that it would be a very intense process. It seemed to go well!

Sunday was Duane's first Sunday preaching, and Heather's first Sunday playing the piano along with the hymns. Next month Heather will be in charge of leading worship... should be interesting!

Heather has stayed very busy with her schooling. Taking online courses is proving to be a time-consuming venture, because she is basically teaching herself. She ended up not getting the job at the bank that she had applied for, so she applied at Pizza Hut but hasn't heard anything back from them yet. With all the school work, she's not sure how much time she could devote to a job anyway. Please pray for her as she looks for a job. Anything will do at this point!

And last but not least, Duane found a job! The man who owns the company goes to Jubilee Mennonite Church (one of our sister churches) and came up with a software program to help schools track student's progression in classes throughout the years and to see how teacher's students do in comparison to other teachers. Apparently the program has caught like wild fire and is going state-wide, so production is up and they need help! This is right up Duane's alley since he just finished his certification in IT services. Thank you so much for your prayers! Duane will start his job on Tuesday the 8th.

Installed Successfully

Lots of good news to share! First, Heather FINALLY was able to spend some time with someone her age and was invited to a high school football game with Heather (the only girl she has met at school) and her husband Chase. They are committed Christian people and Heather had so much fun. She also met a girl who usually attend Pearl River Mennonite who is 22 and a college student too. Her name is Deidre. Thank you to those of you who have been praying for Heather's social life... it seems to be improving! :)

Saturday was a Youth Leadership Retreat at Pine Lake Camp, which Heather and Duane attended. It was a great time of refreshment, encouragement, fun, and prayer. There were only 9 attendees, but they were able to make some good connections with other youth leaders from the Gulf States conference and also a few from Alabama.

And today was the BIG DAY! The morning service was a very emotional one as the congregation shared many tears and much laughter, reminiscing on the 36 years that Glenn & Emma Myers have been leading Pearl River Mennonite. They were presented with a beautiful handmade quilt with squares from many congregation members and other families and individuals who have been blessed by their ministry. The youth were excited to share another modern worship song as a gift to Glenn & Emma today as well.

The 100 attendees to the service were then joined by members of Choctaw Christian and Nanih Waiya Mennonite churches for a fellowship meal, followed by Duane's installation service. Duane and Laurie were presented with gifts from Glenn & Emma as they turned over the ministry. Gifts included the church keys, church cell phone, a few leadership books, and a handmade shepherd's staff made by Jesse Ben from the church. Art Smoker (conference pastor) and Mark Roth (Pearl River Mennonite's overseer) presented Duane with his pastoral license. Heather played and sang "The Potter's Hand" and then people laid hands on Duane and Laurie and blessed them and prayed for their future ministry.

So, it's official! Duane is the pastor of Pearl River Mennonite Church. His first task? Plunging the toilets in the men's room. Task complete. If that's any indication of how the ministry will be... it should be an adventure!

A Week and Counting...

We have officially been in our house for a week and a day, and you'd be surprised how many boxes we've gotten unpacked and closets and rooms we've been able to fill! And, Heather was finally able to find a car (A 2001 Malibu... just what she wanted).

This weekend we were blessed to be a part of the church business meeting held at Pine Lake Camp, about a half hour away. The meeting went well, though not as many attended the meeting as attended the lunch afterward! Heather will begin leading the youth on Wednesday nights and Duane and another lady named Arlene will lead on Sunday mornings. The worship will also be led every other month under the leadership of Heather and the musical talents of the youth... which we hope to develop greatly considering how interested they seem in doing so!

After the lunch at camp we were privileged to take part in witnessing the baptism of two of the young girls from church: 10 year old Camry, and 16 year old Mahli. Duane even got to help baptize Mahli. He's getting some practice in already! :) It was a fun time of fellowship with the church members, and Duane was able to freshen up on his basketball skills thanks to 17-year old Jazzlyn Ben, who gave him a run for his money... which is even more impressive when you realize that she's 7 months pregnant! Heather has begun forming a strong friendship with Jazz and hopes to be able to be a strong support and mentor for her.

Today, Heather led the youth in singing "Breathe" which is one of the first contemporary worship songs the congregation has heard. Heather played the piano and Duane got up and sang too so the young men would feel a little more comfortable. Heather received lots of compliments after on how delighted the congregation was to see the young being involved. Last Wednesday night Heather had taught on the meaning of the lyrics of the song and had presented it to the youth for the first time, giving them an opportunity to listen and think about the song before practicing it to perform on Sunday. It went really well, and hopefully will continue to do so!

This week will be more job searching, and continued studies for Heather. This coming Sunday will be Pastor Glenn Myers' retirement celebration service in the morning and then Duane's installation in the afternoon. Things are becoming more and more official everyday... and God continues to open doors. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Getting Settled...

WOW! God is so good... especially for bringing us so many amazing friends who were willing to help us pack up our belongings, load the trailers, lend us trailers/trucks, and even go down with us to help us UNload!

At 6 AM on Friday most of us left for Mississippi. There was a second group that didn't leave til the afternoon but drove all night so we could get the trucks unloaded into our house on Saturday morning. It was amazing how fast everything was unloaded, and from what I heard, everyone's trips seemed to be pretty fun. Always a good thing! Many of our church members from Pearl River Mennonite provided dinner for our family and our friends at Glenn & Emma's house Saturday evening. Our friends left to drive back and made it safely by Sunday morning. We are SO GRATEFUL for everyone who helped us... thank you all so much!

Sunday we attended church and then continued to unpack our boxes and try to get things settled in our house. It's been quite the ordeal figuring out how three people are supposed to share one tiny bathroom, but we're figuring it out. :)

Monday we had some visitors from back home in Indiana already! Clyde & Sharon Moore were driving through on their way back from Louisiana, so they treated us to lunch and we gave them a high-speed tour through the reservation and our church. It was a blessing to have them visit!

Heather started classes at Mississippi State University-Meridian on Monday evening and also had a class on Tuesday evening. She met a Christian girl named Heather in her class on Tuesday and is hoping to form a friendship with her and hopefully find some other Christian friends that she can hang out with!

All in all things are going well. We are going to Wednesday night church tonight for the first time. Duane and Heather are leading the youth group and are introducing one of the first of many contemporary worship songs... hopefully it goes well! Other than that we are still applying for jobs and praying that God will open doors that need to be open. Duane and Heather have been diligently looking for a car for Heather as well. The pickins are slim!!!

Please continue to pray for us, and please feel free to visit sometime! More updates soon...

The Day After Tomorrow

Moving day is quickly approaching! On Friday morning, August 14th, the troops will be headed to Mississippi. Who are the troops, you may ask? Car #1: Duane & Laurie. Car #2: Heather & Jarod (a friend from Fort Wayne). Truck & Trailer #1: Jack Corwin & Doug Blosser. Truck & Trailer #2: Steve Bell & Derick Lehman (and possibly Joe Stichter and/or Brooks Egolf). Please be in prayer for each vehicle, driver, and passengers as they make the 14 hour trip.

Please also continue to pray for the sale of our house, which ended up not being finalized and the people backed out of buying. It is now listed with Sandy Toney of Century 21. If you know of anyone who'd be interested, have them give her a call at (574) 534-1421. Next week we will be having a mound put in for our septic system. Please pray that everything goes well with that too.

Also, just after arriving on Friday, Heather will begin her classes at Mississippi State on Monday! She's really hoping to meet some people her age that she can connect with and hopefully not feel as lonely as she's expecting to feel. Please pray for that as well.

More pictures will be up soon! Thanks for praying!

We Found "THE ONE"

Thank you all for your prayers... they have been answered!

We decided to check out the first house we'd looked at on the first full day we were here, and had a talk with the owner who wanted to do a lease to buy deal with it. We were unsure that we would necessarily want to buy it and didn't want to be in a binding contract like that, but she was very gracious and was willing to let us lease for 6 months, with the house still on the market, without us being obligated to buy. We took Glenn & Emma Myers with us this time and Emma's comment was, "I could see myself falling in love with this house!" Laurie agreed this time, even though last time she hadn't been overly thrilled with it.

So, August 14th we have a place to move to! Praise the Lord! Here are some pictures of the outside. The inside is very cute as well, almost everything repainted and with very nice crown molding around. I (Heather) wouldn't be surprised if her parents ended up buying it eventually... but SHHH! :)

So tomorrow we're off to find jobs! Keep praying!

A Hunting We Will Go!

Well, we arrived in Philadelphia, MS around 3:30 on Thursday afternoon, after driving all day and half of the previous day. We were warmly welcomed by Glenn & Emma Myers, the current pastor and his wife of the church that Duane will be taking over as pastor. There was no time to waste with all that needed to be done, so after dinner we contacted a man who's ad we had seen in the local newspaper about an apartment to potentially rent. It was nice, but extremely small, almost claustrophobic, so we headed back to the Myers' house just to relax before our long day of searching to come!

On Friday morning we met with a realtor who was very nice and attempted to be very helpful, despite the fact that there are a very limited number of places to rent in the Philadelphia area at the moment. We checked out an apartment and a house, both of which Laurie was not thrilled about even though Duane and Heather had really liked the house, and attempted to find a house that we had seen in the newspaper. What an adventure that turned out to be... the GPS led us to the middle of nowhere on red dirt roads, some spots thick with mud thanks to the heavy rainfall from earlier that morning. While Laurie cringed and "wanted out", Duane and Heather were enjoying the chance to "off-road" in our Mercury Sable. Once we found the house (after three attempts and finally turning onto some unmarked roads), we saw that it was only a doublewide trailer, and that if we were to EVER try giving anyone directions to that house it would be absolutely impossible! So, we marked that one off of our list. :)

We visited the Meridian campus of Mississippi State University where Heather will attend for two of her classes this coming semester. She was able to get her student ID, as well as a "tour" of the one building that makes up this tiny campus! It was a relief for her to find that from Philadelphia to the campus is only about 45 minutes and only requires driving on one road. No getting lost for her!

Duane had a contact with Roy Smith, the dormitory director at Choctaw High School, located on the Pearl River reservation. We visited with him to talk about potential jobs and he was very kind and even said he would come check out Duane's preaching sometime! By the time we left there, all of the tribal offices were closed where we had hoped to apply for some jobs, but we have Monday to do that still.

Dinner with the Myers' was delicious and we concluded the night with homemade blueberry pie and an episode of Numbers.

Today there is much more house and job hunting to do. Please pray for us as we continue to walk by faith that somewhere in this town there is a home and three jobs awaiting us! We will be moving on August 14th, which is less than 2 weeks away. God's in control. Pray that we would not live in fear, but that instead we would eagerly anticipate the bigger story that's coming to completion as we continue to move forward into the unknown. Blessings to you all, friends!

The Plan

God has called us, and we've chosen to be obedient.

In March, Duane felt like the Holy Spirit was leading him to go to Philadelphia, MS for a reason he did not understand. In obedience, he went and spent time with some of those he had ministered to and with, years ago, when he and Laurie were doing voluntary service through the Mennonite Church on the Pearl River Reservation of the Choctaw Indians.

Duane spent time visiting friends, and on one of his last days there, he was informed that the pastor of the Mennonite Church on the reservation was going to be retiring in the fall of this year, and that there had been plans to ask Duane if he would take over as pastor. He was floored. He had lost his job back in January and had been faithfully looking for work, only to find that a position TOTALLY outside of his realm of experience was what God seemed to be leading him to.

Things progressed, and Duane and Laurie continued to move forward in this very clear calling from the Lord. Since Brittany is now married, she and her husband felt comfortable staying where they are at in Mishawaka, IN. But for Heather, she was planning on staying in Fort Wayne where she was attending college. However, the Lord had a change of plans for her as well, and she has decided to move with her parents, only a week ago. Miracles have taken place in regards to her situation, in that she was accepted into the National Student Exchange program through her college, which will allow her to attend Mississippi State University in Starkville this year for the in-state tuition cost. This will enable her to live at home for this school year and also help minister to the few church youth and young adults, as well as help in leading worship. She is excited about the move, but also a bit hesitant because she is leaving a boyfriend behind, and will be in a place where she knows absolutely no one. This will most definitely be a growing time for her as she learns to lean on the Lord and His will for her life.

So, the plan is that Laurie's last day of work in Elkhart, IN will be on August 12. Classes for Heather at Mississippi State University start on August 17th. And somewhere in between there, we will move and try to get settled.

A short trip is planned for the end of July/beginning of August to attempt to find jobs and also a place to live (most likely an apartment at first). The Lord has continued to be faithful though, and the selling of our house is almost final. In today's economy, you can see that is a direct blessing from God!

Please be in prayer for the Duane, Laurie & Heather as we begin this new adventure. The Lord undoubtedly has huge plans for us as we walk in faith to be used as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Philadelphia, Mississippi.