Left in the Dust

Well, hello there, friends! 5 months has passed and I realize that I am a terrible blogger. Most of you "follow" this blog so you can know what's happening in our crazy lives down here in Mississippi, but this time the time has flown and we've all been left in the dust! So, I am going to attempt to update you all on what's been happening and what continues to happen within our family and our ministry here in Mississippi.

Maile Grace (Matt & Brittany's daughter) continues to grow healthy and beautiful. She is almost 5 months old now and brings us so much joy! Heather was able to go visit over the 4th of July, and Duane and Laurie saw her in PA at the family reunion in August. Plans to see her again are set for Thanksgiving where we will spend the holiday in Nashville, while at the same time celebrating our small family Christmas together. (Matt, Britt and Maile will be heading to Hawaii for Christmas... poor things. :P)

June and July were busy months for Heather as she took a full load of summer courses at Mississippi State. She was supposed to go back to IPFW in Fort Wayne, but was disappointed to find out if she went back she would have to wait an extra year to graduate. She met with an advisor down here at MSU who arranged a schedule for her that would allow her to graduate in 2012 as she had hoped. So, she decided to stay. She has been taking classes at the community college across the street from MSU this semester, which has been a nice break financially, but just found out on Wednesday that the advisor who arranged her schedule missed two of the core social work classes. This means that she still cannot graduate until 2013. It was quite a blow to her, and she has decided for numerous reasons to take off next semester so that she can refocus, rejuvenate, and hopefully get excited about finishing school again. She still works at the cabinet shop, though her time there will be coming to a complete close at the end of the year because she has found a job closer to home (only about 5 minutes away!) at a new bowling alley/family fun center in town. She has already started there and will be the party planner for birthday parties and such that take place there. She is very excited about the possibilities and is glad for a job that is closer to home!

August brought on traveling for all of us as Heather's boyfriend, Dustin Glenn, came back for his 2 week leave from Iraq. Laurie and Duane met him for the first time and Heather was able to travel with him to go meet his family in Missouri. It was a wonderful time, and a much needed getaway. Dustin had to return to Iraq, but will be finished with his tour in early December, which means they will be able to spend Christmas together in Missouri. Plans also involve a trip to Indiana so Dustin can meet the rest of Heather's family there. Eventually they'll make it out to PA too... but there's only so much traveling they can do in a short time!

Because Heather was in Missouri over the time of the reunion in PA, she was unable to attend. However, Laurie & Duane flew up there and enjoyed seeing lots of relatives. Laurie's niece, Audrey, took family photos of Laurie, Duane, Matt, Brittany, and Maile. They were all happy to get away for a few days and re-energize for the start of a new year at church! September marked our 1 year anniversary here at Pearl River and we are continually challenged and blessed as we walk through life with these precious brothers and sisters in Christ.

August also brought excitement as Duane and Laurie purchased a house about a mile from the one they were renting. A man had been working for 3 years remodeling the inside of the house, and we are very blessed to live in such a modern and updated house! It has 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms which is such a blessing considering the house we were renting only had 1 bathroom! It was a time of rejoicing as we moved in and unpacked our belongings. We realized as we were unpacking how much "stuff" we had and were able to have a yard sale in early September, bringing us a little extra income and helping us get rid of lots of stuff!

The youth have been growing by leaps and bounds at Pearl River Mennonite this past year. It is amazing to see the ways that God has blessed our ministry to them. It is not at all uncommon to hear the youth kids call Duane "Dad" or "Uncle Duane". Father figures are so rare in their culture that they have all clung to him and claimed him as their own. It is a wonderful thing! During the summer Heather had a class on Wednesday nights, so another young adult from our conference, Tim Seibel, took over teaching. It was good for the youth to experience a different style of teaching, and they learned many basic Bible stories like the Prodigal Son. Heather is currently teaching them the books of the Bible and a story within each book so they are becoming more familiar with names of people in the Bible and with names of books. They are excited to learn, and even though the number of youth who regularly attend is sometimes as low as 2, the ones who are there are eager to learn and excited to talk about what God is doing in their lives.

Laurie started a women's ministry on Monday nights at the church that has had a fantastic turn-out week after week. The ladies take turns leading a short devotion and then they worked on Choctaw bead-work, making Christmas ornaments and such for Camp Sale, which raises money for Pine Lake Fellowship Camp. The ladies' next venture may be quilting. Never thought we'd see Laurie quilting, huh!? :)

Duane has started another Pastoral Care class in Jackson once a week. He enjoys the people he meets in those classes and the fellowship with other leaders. His teaching on Sunday mornings is going well and he is teaching the youth on Sunday mornings about dating and relationships. Last Sunday they talked about sex. At least someone is willing to teach them about it, considering sex outside of marriage is absolutely rampant on the reservation. Duane has also started running every day. Yesterday he ran about 2 miles... and then came home and ate bacon. :)

This past September was the fall youth rally at Pine Lake. Heather led worship again and is really excited to see people getting used to her style of worship. She is seeing people being freed to raise their hands, close their eyes, and actually enter into the presence of God during the songs. The kids came up with a skit to do during the talent show and did great with it. We are so excited to see the kids continually coming out of their shells at youth rally! The next one is in March, which seems a ways off, but the time flies and it seems it's always time for yet another youth rally!

Well, considering it is now 3:00 AM, I'd say I did a pretty good job remembering the happenings of the past few months! As the holidays are quickly approaching, we want to remind you that we would love to have visitors over your vacations! :) There is always a need for work teams and ministry teams, and there is always a need for encouragement and fellowship for Duane, Laurie and Heather. We hope you are all well and blessed!

God Is So Good

First of all, let me announce the birth of the first Grandchild in our family! Brittany gave birth to Maile Grace Terui at 3:17 PM today! She weighed in at 8 pounds and Matt says she looks like Heather. I'm assuming that means that she looks slightly Asian. ;) We are so excited for this addition to our family. Laurie and Duane are in Indiana and will stay there for about a week to help with the transition of having a baby in the home. Heather had school and work conflicts that needed to be worked out so she was unable to go. She hopes to visit over the 4th of July.

In other news, another one of our youth has committed his life to the Lord! Sunday, May 16, Kyle Cotton asked Jesus to be his Savior. We gave him a salvation certificate to remind him that on this day the angels rejoiced, his sins were forgiven, and his name was written in the Book of Life. Praise God! Please pray for him as he was sent back to New Mexico by his father who couldn't handle some of his issues. In New Mexico he had been involved in some gangs, drugs, etc. and his family and church family here are really worried about him. Pray that he will be able to be committed to his new life in Christ and to avoid temptation of activities that he used to be involved in there. We are praying that somehow he will be able to come back and possibly stay with another one of our youth. He was truly trying to change, and we believe that he can, but he needs Christian support in order to stand firm because he is such a new Christian.

Heather was able to get a low-interest loan on a car to replace her Malibu that had a broken air conditioner and a failing transmission! She was actually able to trade in the Malibu and received a great deal more than she expected for it. Her new car is a 2009 Chevy Cobalt. She is very thankful for the much more comfortable, and non-jerky, ride to and from work everyday in her new car considering the weather has stayed in the 90s for the past few weeks!

We have been privileged to see 2 of our youth graduate in the past few weeks. Jazzlynn Ben and Nick Charlie have both made commitments to the Lord, and we trust that God will continue to lead and guide them into lives that are honoring and pleasing to Him. We are very proud.

Heather has been working hard to get all of her school "stuff" figured out. As of yesterday she was officially accepted to Mississippi State University as a transfer student and registered for 4 summer classes today. Classes start on Wednesday already, and will be three nights a week from 6-10. The next two months will definitely be tiring for her. Please keep her in prayer as she continues her studies as well as works as close to full time hours as possible. She will be unable to teach the youth on Wednesday nights for the summer because of one of her classes, so Tim Seibel of our sister church, Jubilee Mennonite, will be taking over for the summer. Please pray that the youth will be respectful and open to what Tim has to say as he leads them!

Lastly, we would like to thank all of you for so many prayers about the sale of our house in Indiana. Two weeks ago this past Thursday Heather sent an event invitation out to everyone she knows on facebook asking them to pray at lunch time that day that the house would sell. People invited others who invited others, and eventually we had 166 people who were committed to praying. In the 9 months that we've lived here in Mississippi we have never had an offer on the house. Within a week after the time of prayer, we had 3 offers on the house! The sale is a cash sale, which is a blessing for us, and closing may be as early as June 1st! God truly answers prayer!!!

We are so blessed by your support. If you ever want to come visit, we definitely welcome you! Maybe by that time we will have our own house. What a blessing that would be... a new house filled with old friends. We love and miss you all!

As Spring Begins...

It's hard to believe that yesterday marked our being here in Mississippi for 8 months. The time has flown. Filled with ups and downs, delights and disappointments, we find ourselves STILL waiting on God to intervene.

Our house is still for sale in Indiana. We switched realtors and hope that soon, very soon, our house will be sold. We are still renting the house we're in now, but the thought of being here much longer is a bit overwhelming. Sometimes it's hard for us not to ask God, "Why did you bring us here, make us give up everything we know, just to leave us hanging?" And yet, at the same time, we are not "hanging". We are flourishing. We see things happening through our ministry that are things some can only dream of.

Heather was excited for her cousins, Cory and Crystal, to come down for a visit during their spring break from college. Though Heather worked a lot of the time, they were able to get away to New Orleans for a day. The weather ended up being really nice, and it was a fun trip for them. She was sad to see them go back to Indiana.

We were blessed to have Jarod Brown, a friend of Heather's from Indiana bring a group of teens down for their Spring Break to help do some work around the church. We hosted them for dinner and the youth got to hang out with them on the Wednesday night they were here. What a blessing they were, and we would love to see them again someday!

In March, Heather and Duane took the youth group kids to the Spring Youth Rally at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp. Heather led worship, and had a great team to back her up, including a Choctaw boy from the reservation who attends another church. It was a great time of worship, fellowship, fun and growth. We were amazed at how the youth were interacting with other students who they had met at the lock-ins we've been hosting throughout the fall and winter. God is stirring in the hearts of our youth for sure. One of our youth boys, Daelin, accepted Christ about a month ago, which means two of our youth have become a part of God's family since we got here. The Lord continues to bring people into the church, and despite our crazy schedules, allows us to minister to them.

Laurie is still looking for a job and has been feeling extremely lonely lately. This weekend she is attending a Women's Conference with her friend, Merilee. We are sure this weekend will be one of refreshing and encouragement.

As Heather has been preparing to leave MS in July to head back to Fort Wayne, IN, she has found out that if she returns to IPFW to finish school, it will take her 3 years to graduate due to the way the classes are scheduled. This was completely unexpected, and as usually happens with Heather, has changed her thoughts on returning to IPFW. She has a meeting on Tuesday with the head of the Social Work department at MSU, to find out if she can stay here and finish school in 2 years with a BSW degree. She is frustrated with the fact that her plans "never go as planned", but she is trusting that God has a reason and that He will direct her steps as she goes through this process.

Brittany and Matt's baby is due in May, which is approaching VERY quickly! We are excited to see this new addition to our family and can't wait to spend time with them when she is born.

Please continue to pray for our ministry, our home, Laurie's job and Heather's schooling. My, how God keeps us in a state of need! Blessings, friends.

Spring Events So Far...

This spring has been full of fun events already! February flew by and was sprinkled with snow, the Gulf States Conference Spring Women's Retreat, and the wedding of Audrey Fiske (Laurie's niece).

Being in Mississippi, we don't expect snow in the winter... especially not after the daffodils have begun to bloom! However, the weather man was correct (for once!) and Duane and Heather had a day off from work because of a "snow storm." By about 2 PM there was about 2 1/2 inches of snow on the ground, which was enough for Heather to even build a tiny snowman, though it was melting as she built it.

The second youth lock-in was held at Pearl River that night, and 33 attended, which is about 13 more than we had last time. Heather made tacos and the youth played games and watched movies. It was a fun time!

On February 20th was the Spring Women's Retreat for the Gulf States Mennonite Conference. Heather took charge of it, as Laurie went to PA for Audrey and Adam's wedding. Heather was very blessed to have her pastor and his wife from Fort Wayne, Mike & Sherry Nickols, as well as her friend Leah Mau from her church back home come down for the retreat. Sherry was the speaker and Leah led worship along with Heather and Hannah Weaver from Cornerstone (one of the churches in our conference). It turned out to be a wonderful day of worship and ministry, and it was absolutely gorgeous outside at the camp!

Laurie enjoyed her time in PA for her niece's wedding. Adam and Audrey had been engaged for quite a while and were finally able to tie the knot! Even though Laurie missed out on the women's retreat, it was important for her to be there for the wedding.

March has come upon us quickly and Heather is looking forward to just two more months of classes. Her cousins Cory and Crystal are here now and she is thrilled to finally be able to have a social life (even if it's just for a week!) They will be going to New Orleans on Wednesday to explore and have some fun in a new place.

Please continue praying for the sale of our house in Indiana. The renters that we had have bought a home in Elkhart and will be moving there in the end of March, leaving us with two house payments. We really need the house to sell as immediately as possible. We're not sure why God is allowing us to STILL be walking through this, but we are doing everything we can to trust that He will provide a buyer for our house, but we are getting tired.

Thank you to those who are in constant support of us. We love and miss you all.

Happy New Year! (A Little Late)

Time to play catch up... again! We hope that your 2010 has been full of blessings so far!

December brought much activity to Pearl River Mennonite as the youth hosted a lock-in for the first time since our arrival. Heather's goal was to have a few different churches represented in attempts to start bringing some unity in and amongst the churches in the Gulf States Mennonite Conference, as well as the other churches in the Philadelphia, MS area. There were about 20 youths/young adults there who represented 7 different churches! It was a great time of games, X-box, karaoke, movies, and pizza! Our next one is scheduled for February 12th. Please pray for Duane and Heather. These weekends are exhausting!!!

Christmas at Pearl River was a memorable one. One of the women in the church read the Christmas story, a Choctaw version, while members of the church dressed in traditional Choctaw clothing represented the characters in the story. It was beautiful! We are truly blessed to get to experience this culture first-hand.

Brittany and her husband Matt joined us for Christmas, which was a fun time. Brittany was already looking quite obviously pregnant, which was a bit strange for us to see! She and Matt met Heather's boyfriend Zach for the first time, and also enjoyed new experiences at some of the local stores (if you can call them that... maybe more like daily garage sales???) and going to a basketball game at Mississippi State, thanks to Duane's boss who gave them some free tickets. It was fun to spend some time with them, and we are looking forward to seeing them again in May when their baby girl arrives!

And then it was 2010. My goodness! It's so hard to keep up with everything that's going on. Our lives are as crazy as ever, and yet, we see God at work everyday. Heather started her second semester at Mississippi State University in the first week of January. She is taking 3 online classes and two classes on campus, which allow her to work a full 40 hour week in her "spare time". Ha! The second week of January she said goodbye to Zach, who moved back to Ohio to find work, and has thus spend ALL of her free time doing homework, getting youth lessons and worship sets around for church, and making fliers for upcoming events in the Gulf States Mennonite Conference. To say she is busy is quite an understatement, but she feels confident that she is growing spiritually, in leadership, and in maturity with each passing day. Her favorite quote right now: "If I can make it through this semester, I can do anything!" She will be leading worship for the upcoming youth rally in March, and is looking forward to her cousins Cory and Crystal coming down from Indiana for their spring break!

Duane is enjoying his work at ELS and has begun to learn how to train individuals at schools that are using the teacher planning software. Unfortunately, the transmission went out on his car this past week, which presents a problem considering he works 50 minutes away from home! Just the week before Heather had finally gotten her car back, after having it fixed for over a month. Looks like carpooling is inevitable in our family!

Laurie resigned from her position after much prayer and seeking guidance on the situation. Working nights was not a healthy thing for their marriage, their family, or their ministry. She is now looking for a day job.

Please be keeping us in your prayers as we are teaching the youth about Spiritual Warfare. Our family is under attack big time... especially in regards to our vehicles. Please pray for a hedge of protection over us and our belongings as we teach on this important subject. Also, please keep our home in Indiana in your prayers as well. It has still not sold, and we are praying about whether to change realtors since our 6 month contract with the first ones is up.

May you be blessed as you dig deeper into the fullness of God's grace and into this new year of blessings!