Christmas Greetings 2012

Halito! Christmas Greetings 2012 from Duane & Laurie Reinhardt

~Pearl River Mennonite Church, Philadelphia, Mississippi~

2012 started with entrusting Matt, Brittany, and Maile into our Savior’s hands as they entered a five month mission term, this time as a family, with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia. It would have been such a joy to watch 2 year-old Maile being an effective little missionary for Jesus!

In February, several ladies from our church attended an interesting seminar called “Sister Care,” made possible by Mennonite Women USA and Gulf States Mennonite Women.

In March, our church was blessed by financial donations and a work team from Wakarusa Missionary Church (our “home” church in Indiana) who put new shingles on the church roof in record time! Greg Birr headed up the work team, and Cheryl Borowski headed up the meals. They worked so efficiently that they even had time to repaint some of the interior ceilings and do some much-needed landscaping. We appreciated their time, willingness to travel so far, and their hard work! The team brought a box full of new Notre Dame University football T-shirts which we handed out to our church folks. Duane liked that!

On the last Saturday in March, we had the privilege of being invited to attend the traditional Choctaw “naming ceremony” of the grandson of one of our church members; the young man was a senior in high school, and his family wanted him to be reminded of his native heritage before graduating and entering adulthood. He was given many very valuable traditional gifts. This was the first time Laurie had participated in a traditional Choctaw social dance!

April was a month of challenges and joys. Duane’s father Dale passed away at age 81 in Goshen, IN after a long struggle with a severe form of anemia and Alzheimer’s. Doris and Leanne continue to live in their lovely apartment on the back of the old homestead (which Brent and Marla bought years ago).

Heather and Dustin enjoyed moving into their first home, located about seven miles from our house here in MS.

We were happy to have been able to spend a week in PA over Mother’s Day. We stayed with Laurie’s parents Norman & Carole Fiske at their home in New Milford and also with Laurie’s brother Randy and his wife Rose in Mt. Joy, PA. It was a joy to reconnect with Glenn and Susanne Cameron in Middletown.

Duane always enjoys taking the youth from our church to the Gulf States Mennonite Conference youth rally at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp near Meridian in May. In June our church youth had a lock-in (during which they stay up all night, eating and playing games) which they love. For the first time, Duane was asked to volunteer as summer camp pastor at PLFC for the 10-12 year olds’ week. He really enjoyed the opportunity!

We were thrilled that Matt, Britt, and Maile were able to come for a visit with us following their YWAM mission term. They came during the annual Choctaw Indian Fair and got to see Duane play Choctaw stickball for the first time in several years; back in 1979-81, when he was a Mennonite Voluntary Service worker here, Duane (a.k.a. “Running Deer”) had been the first white man to be asked by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to play the game with them. Maile rode the carousel and we all enjoyed eating Indian tacos (taco toppings on frybread) at the fair. They now live on Kauai, Hawaii.

July was also a busy month. Expectant mother Heather enjoyed her first baby shower hosted at a friend’s lovely home in the area.

Fred and Peggy Lewis

Our church was one of three local Choctaw Mennonite churches who hosted the bi-annual Native Mennonite Ministries Assembly at the Choctaw Central School campus; about 150 “indigenous” believers of all ages from many nations and tribes in Canada and the U.S. attended. What an experience it was to be called to worship by five or six native singers all seated around a large ceremonial drum which they played in unison, bringing glory to the Creator! We were introduced to indigenous musicians/teachers including Cheryl Bear and Brander McDonald. It was exciting to see Christ glorified through redeemed traditional native styles of worship. Duane was proud to wear the yellow (with black “diamond” trim) traditional Choctaw shirt given to him by our PRMC family. We were excited to have hosted old friends Kent and Jill Miller from the Goshen area in our home that week.

July 26^th was Laurie’s parents’ 60^th wedding anniversary, but her father was hospitalized at the time.

On Sunday, July 29^th, a 6^th grade girls’ ministry from Pott’s Camp Baptist Church in northern MS came to spend the morning with our church family. They sang for us, participated in ice-breaker games with our children and youth, ate lunch with us, and handed out beautiful new, well-stocked school backpacks to our children, youth, and college students. What a blessing!

Laurie’s father, Norman Fiske, passed away on August 4^th at age 83 after struggling for many years with several serious health conditions including cancer, diabetes, stroke, and most recently kidney dialysis. Laurie’s mother Carole had faithfully cared for her husband for over 20 years. Now Carole is looking forward to moving to the busy home of Randy and Rose in Lancaster County! Our family was very blessed to have had Laurie’s cousin Cheryl Jansson, who herself was undergoing treatment for cancer, play the piano (including her beautiful arrangement of “Amazing Grace”) at the funeral. (Note: Cheryl passed away just before Thanksgiving, which had been a favorite childhood holiday in the extended Van Housen family.)

Our second grandchild was born this fall. On Tuesday, September 25^th, precious little Emelyn Skylar Glenn was born to Heather and Dustin! She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 inches long. Laurie was delighted to have been invited to watch the delivery. We enjoyed sharing the joy of welcoming Eme into our lives with Dustin’s parents Gary and Susan who were here from Missouri.

We decided we needed to do something out of the ordinary for our 30^th wedding anniversary in October, so we attended the annual Pine Lake Fellowship Camp Sale in Des Allemands, LA and spent the rest of the weekend in the Ocean Springs/Biloxi, MS area. We toured Beauvoir (the estate of Confederate “President” Jefferson Davis), ate at a restaurant on the bayou, and basked in the sun on a Gulf pier. Relaxing!

It was a joy to spend Thanksgiving Day with Dustin, Heather, and Emelyn at their new home. Heather is excited about starting their own family holiday traditions.                                                                         

Duane continues to be “bi-vocational” as a fulltime data manager in Meridian as well as the pastor of our small Choctaw church. Laurie watches Emelyn whenever Heather and Dustin need to work or study; she also acts as church co-treasurer, co-song leader, and leader of a women’s small group study.

Pastoring has its joys and sorrows. Officiating at the funerals of young persons, including three pre-school-aged siblings who died in a mobile home fire, is a responsibility no pastor ever gets used to. Counseling troubled spouses is difficult. Learning that yet another teen couple is pregnant is frustrating. Visiting patients with chronic illnesses, often addiction-related, can be discouraging. But some of the joys of ministry included leading two young men to salvation in Christ, discipling/mentoring a teen boy, introducing contemporary Christian worship songs, helping with a yard sale our church had in order to raise money for the building fund at our conference camp, participating in productive church council meetings, sharing in fellowship meals with our church family, watching the Tribe’s fireworks display from the church parking lot on the 4^th of July, being invited to birthday parties, and observing spiritual maturity blossom in some of our church members.

Please remember us in your prayers in the coming year. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lonely at times in another culture so far from extended family and old friends. Please consider visiting us sometime soon!

In Christ,

Duane & Laurie

reinos4@juno.com

www.mississippiministry.blogspot.com