Reinhardts' June 2014 Ministry Blog

Halito! It's been six months since we last updated our blog. Our family has experienced some changes, and our ministry at Pearl River Mennonite Church here in Philadelphia, MS is always facing something new, so we will attempt to fill you in.

In January, our church was blessed by two brothers in Christ from Canada who voluntarily renovated the two church restrooms to make them handicapped-accessible. Since one of our most faithful attenders is in a wheelchair, we are happy to be able to better accommodate her needs.

Since we have such a small congregation, we frequently face the frustration of having too few adults willing and able to help with various ministry needs. One of the ministries we desire to see established is that of a young adult ministry. Many times after high school graduation, the church youth fall away from the church (and the Lord) if there is no active young adult ministry available. Laurie had the privilege of individually treating two young adults named Akela and Nadaysha from our church to lunch for some                                                    special one-on-one time.

One of the highlights of the winter for Laurie and several of the other church ladies was being able to attend the Gulf States Mennonite Women's annual conference at Poarch Community Church in Atmore, AL. It was such a joy to fellowship with our Creek hosts, to participate in the contemporary worship (including being introduced to the awesome song, "Break Every Chain"), and to receive the Word as shared with us by some Native American speakers. One of the speakers, Lillian Rose Grandchamp Liles, shared her powerful testimony of having grown up Lakota-Sioux in Montana.

In mid-February, we had the joy of keeping Emelyn for about ten days while Dustin and Heather went on a Caribbean cruise with Dustin's family. Dustin and Heather's good friends, Randy and Tanya Watkins, kept Eme on the weekends. She was spoiled...just a little...by all of us!

In early March, several members of the church joined us in praying through the church building and binding/casting out any dark spirits which we heard had been manifesting themselves at times there recently. We praise God for the power and authority available to us through the shed blood of our personal Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!



The Choctaws are absolutely obsessed with sports. A 7th grader named Aspen from our church family is already on a varsity girls' softball team because she's such an awesome pitcher. Her cousin Dalmericka, another gal from our church family, is also an amazing athlete.

New believers Zack, Nic, and Jared

Besides working as the data manager of a small company in Meridian and pastoring our church, Duane teaches the Youth Sunday School class and leads the church Youth Group. He's just another kid, although slightly older, when it comes to enjoying the Gulf States Mennonite Church Youth Rallies held each spring and fall at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp near Meridian. Duane usually comes home with a tick hitching a ride on him, but he doesn't let that diminish his love of youth ministry. Duane has had the privilege of leading four youth and two young adults to salvation in Christ so far this year. Sadly, it is often difficult to convince new believers to attend discipleship classes to help reinforce their commitments.

Sister Linda and Lillian Rose

We hosted Sister Linda Stabler and Lillian Rose Liles, from Poarch Community Church in Atmore, AL at our home at the end of March. We learned some fascinating things about Lakota-Sioux traditional religion, including the fact that Sasquatches/Bigfoots are very real spirit beings which the medicine men "call up" or conjure. Lillian shared her testimony, which some of us ladies had already heard in early February, at a special Sunday morning service to which we had invited the Nanih Waiya and Crystal Ridge Choctaw Mennonite churches. Lillian admitted that she has had quite a struggle doing away with some of her Native practices (some of which she feels conflict with her growing relationship with Christ), without losing her identity as a Lakota-Sioux. Praise God that, as born-again Christians, our truest and most important identity is who we are IN CHRIST!

Dustin and the moving van

As Christians, Easter (Resurrection Day) is usually one of our favorite times of the year. However, this year it was bitter-sweet:
Duane helped Dustin, Heather, and Emelyn move from here to Goshen, Indiana (our home area) that week. Dustin and Heather decided they wanted to move closer to extended family, get jobs, and eventually attend Indiana University-South Bend for further education in Social Work.



We were THRILLED to spend about ten days in Indiana at the end of May. Not only did we get to spend time with Heather, Dustin, and Emelyn (20 mo), but Brittany, Matt, Maile (4), and Kaira (8 mo) were there from Hawaii, also! It was a busy week, since Matt and Britt (and Matt's parents Jerry and Karen) were there to clean out their rented storage unit and prepare for and participate in a housing development-wide garage sale.

Our Glenn-Reinhardt-Terui Family

We appreciated being able to stay at Bill and Karen's house during our Indiana visit. We enjoyed being treated to bonfires and a picnic supper by Randy and Delora. We enjoyed seeing old friends, including Tim and Diane Overmyer. We loved attending our "home" church, Wakarusa Missionary Church, one Sunday morning and sharing briefly about our ministry. And we were able to spend an evening with many members of Duane's family, including Carl, Marleen, Brandon, and Brandon's fiancee Ruth from Ohio. We hadn't been home to Indiana since Dale's funeral in 2012.

Elder Dave Yoder praying over us at WMC

Much of our congregation is made up of single women raising their children or grandchildren. That fact gives a unique perspective to the meaning of Father's Day each year. Many biological fathers are absent from their children's lives. Several single mothers/grandmothers feel that they need to be both mother and father. Countless Choctaw children (and adult children) struggle with strong emotions about fathers, including the idea of God the Creator being a loving, faithful Heavenly Father.

Duane is planning, once again, to play stickball (ishtaboli) on Beaver Dam's thirty-five and older team at the Choctaw Indian Fair in July. There are some great informative youtube videos available for your viewing. Update: Duane ended up with some bruised ribs and subsequent severe muscle spasms after playing in a game at the end of June. No more stickball!

Duane, the other pastors, and the church councils of our small Gulf States Mennonite Conference, part of Mennonite Church USA, are facing some very difficult decisions. We would ask that you would please keep us and our congregation in your prayers in the weeks and months ahead.

Living so far away from close family is very difficult for Laurie. Please lift her up before the Throne as the Lord brings her to your minds and hearts.

Cousins Emelyn, Kaira, and Maile

That's all for now. Remember that we'd love to have you visit! We have two guestrooms with your names on the doors! We live within 3-6 hours from Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham, and New Orleans. FYI: Did you know that there are over 30,000 alligators in Mississippi? Such fun!

We'll post again around Christmas time! Blessings!

In Christ,
Duane and Laurie
reinos4@juno.com
facebook: Duane Laurie Reinhardt

Christmas 2013 Blog from the Reinhardts

Christmas is once again just around the corner. As 2013 comes to a close, we wanted to update you on our ministry and family. Please note: our previous post covered the first half of 2013.

August marked the fourth anniversary of our move here to Philadelphia, Mississippi to minister at Pearl River Mennonite Church (PRMC). Duane also works as the data manager of a small company in Meridian.

JoAnne at Nanih Waiya cave 

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians recognize a special holiday each year in August called Nanih Waiya Day, on which they celebrate their proud heritage and the recent return to them of their sacred ancient burial mound property. A large cave not far from the mound is also an important part of their history; they believe that their first ancestors were created by Chihowa (Creator) in the hill and emerged from the cave thousands of years ago. JoAnne Ben, from our church family, invited Laurie to the Tribal celebration.



The Choctaws are huge sports enthusiasts, and each year they participate in different tournaments with the Cherokees and other USET (United South Eastern Tribes) teams. This is, of course, in addition to their local school and community sports activities.

Dave and Kathy Yoder

In September, we were blessed and encouraged by a visit from our dear Wakarusa Missionary Church (WMC) friends, Dave and Kathy Yoder. They made the trip on their new black Harley!

Mahli Bell, the beautiful senior from our church youth group who died following a terrible car accident a few years ago, was memorialized with a granite memorial plaque which was dedicated on a September morning at our church. Her mother Crystal was in attendance.

A small group of women met at the church one Monday morning to work on a lap quilt for Emma Myers, whose husband Glenn pastored PRMC for over 30 years. Many Choctaw women love to quilt, but it seems to be a dying art form among the younger generations.

Kaira and Maile

Laurie had the privilege of spending two weeks in September in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii to help Brittany and Matt with three year-old Maile and newborn Kaira Faith!  

Emelyn's first birthday

During that time, Emelyn, Heather and Dustin's daughter, celebrated her first birthday with a big party here in Philadelphia, MS. It is such a huge blessing to have them living close by!


We celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary on October 2. A few days later, Duane took a few youth to the annual conference camp sale in Gulfport, MS where they helped sell Choctaw beadwork and other crafts, benefiting the camp. The youth enjoyed spending a little time at the beach before heading home.

Akela, Nadaysha, and Kaymerin at Gulfport

Later that month, we attended a conference workshop near Hattiesburg. It's always a joy to spend time with other pastors, pastors' wives, and other church leaders at such events.

Randy, Rose, Rob, and Matteah

Terry and Laurie

A week later, Laurie was able to spend a week in New Milford, PA visiting her mom, aunts, and cousins. Laurie, Carole, and Connie spent that weekend in Mt. Joy, PA (near Lancaster) with Laurie's brother Randy and his family, including Audrey and Adam's newborn Annelise; Randy pastors Florin Church of the Brethren. Laurie enjoyed meeting her former high school classmate Terry Lewis Rychlewski for supper in Hallstead one night that week.

Our church members saved their extra change in globe mission banks since February, and we raised almost $400 which was donated to the Tribe's Hittak Himmona Women's Shelter. Domestic violence, which is often alcohol-related, is a very serious problem on the Rez.

It is always an honor to be invited to Choctaw birthday parties or other family celebrations. We attended a party celebrating the discharge home of a young husband/father who'd spent two long years in the hospital due to very serious health issues.

On Nov. 29th, Matt, Brittany, Maile (3), and Kaira (2 months) came from Hawaii for a visit! It was also their 5th wedding anniversary that day! Our week's activities included Maile helping Grandma make peanut blossom cookies, Grampa and Matt taking Maile to a fun local park, us celebrating being a family with a late traditional Thanksgiving meal, Maile and Emelyn playing together, us getting family photos taken, and us spending a day in Jackson at the Mississippi Children's Museum (more like a discovery center) and doing some last-minute shopping before Matt and Brittany and the girls headed back to Hawaii.

We are happy to be seeing real spiritual maturity developing in some of the members of our Pearl River Mennonite Church family. Duane continues to pastor and lead the youth group; he had the joy of leading two adults to salvation in Christ and led a church membership class attended by one adult, one youth, and one child this fall. Laurie leads the Monday night Women's Group study; recently she has been teaching some basics about cults and a few of the major world religions. Did you know that the Mormons believe that the Native Americans are descendants of one of the "lost tribes of Israel"?

We praise God for our family, our extended family, our PRMC and WMC church families, and dear friends. Sadly, we were not able to visit Indiana this year.

Please keep us in your prayers in 2014. Among other things, we have been praying for God to bring us leaders for a young adult ministry and a contemporary worship ministry. Come for a visit sometime!!!

Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!
Duane and Laurie Reinhardt

409 Indian Hospital St., Philadelphia, MS 39350
reinos4@juno.com
Duane Laurie Reinhardt (facebook)

July 2013 Mississippi Ministry Update

Greetings once again from the deep south! Next month we will have been here in Philadelphia, MS for four years. Our Choctaw church, Pearl River Mennonite Church, continues to be a source of joy and challenges. Although our ministry update blogs may be lengthy, we trust that you will find them interesting.

On Sunday, Feb. 3, Duane hosted a Super Bowl Party at the local family fun center as an outreach to men. About fifteen men attended, some of whom were un-churched. During halftime, a Choctaw/Seminole man from our church named Dalmon King shared his testimony of how the Creator had delivered him from drugs and dealing drugs and blessed him with a wonderful family.

Kauai

We were thrilled when, in mid-February, Matt, Brittany, and Matt's brother Michael (who works for United) made it possible for us to visit them and Maile on Kauai. It was the cooler rainy season at that time, but it was still beautiful and a delight to visit with them and Matt's family, including his maternal grandmother "Popo" Lai; she shared with Laurie one afternoon about having lived in Honolulu during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Maile has fallen in love with the Disney princesses and enjoys graceful dancing and singing at her miniature microphone stand.

It's always exciting and interesting to host our sister-in-law Delora Reinhardt and her deliverance ministry support team when they come to visit! This time they came down in early March to attend a Christian conference which was held at the Golden Moon Casino, of all places! This was the first Christian event ever held there! We met James Meredith, the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi, at the conference. We appreciate the fact that Delora and her two female support team members (Amy and Pat) were also willing to attend our Women's Ministry on Monday evening, where they taught about Soul Ties.

Since Duane leads our church youth ministry, in March he and sponsor Arlene took our youth group members to our Gulf States Mennonite Conference's (GSMC) Spring Youth Rally at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp (PLFC) near Meridian. They always have a great time there!

In April, Duane was asked to speak at the GSMC annual Father/Child Retreat weekend at camp, with "Lessons From the [Baseball] Diamond" as his theme.

Connie, Carole, Laurie, Norman Sam, Duane

Laurie's mother Carole Fiske and her aunt Connie Van Housen flew down from PA for a long-anticipated visit with us! They were finally able to meet Heather's husband Dustin and little Emelyn (7 months at the time). They were also able to meet several of our Choctaw brothers and sisters in Christ, and hear Choctaw hymns sung, at our church that Sunday!

In May, a member of our church family, Saline Solomon, passed away. She'd had a very difficult life. I remember a conversation we had with her one Sunday morning before church regarding the fact that her sister had claimed to have seen a Bigfoot outside her house the night before, and of how terrifying the experience was.

Emelyn, Dustin, & Heather

On Friday, May 10, Heather graduated from Mississippi State (Meridian campus) with her B.S. in Social Work! It was such a joy to celebrate this occasion with Dustin's parents Gary and Susan Glenn from MO and sister Anna Gonzales from PA. Less than a week later, Heather became employed by Choctaw Behavioral Health, the agency at which she had done her senior internship. Laurie had babysat for Emelyn while Heather completed her schooling.
What an absolute JOY and privilege that was!

Nic

One of our biggest thrills each year is being able to attend the high school graduations of our church youth. This year, Nic graduated from the county school, and Bri and Alex graduated from Choctaw Central. The church presented each of them with beautiful Student Bibles.

We don't get visitors very often, but Clyde and Sharon Moore from Elkhart, IN stopped in and treated us to breakfast on Saturday, May 25, on their way to LA. It was sooo good to see folks from home, and from what we still consider our home church, Wakarusa Missionary.

Youth Car Wash

In June, our church held a Yard Sale/Food Sale/Car Wash to raise funds for Native Mennonite Ministries (NMM), an organization which includes many native churches of several different tribes across America and Canada. The sale was very successful.


The next day was Father's Day. Duane and I were not able to extend our best wishes to our dads this year, for the first time, since each of them had passed away last year.

Duane was once again asked to minister as Camp Pastor at PLFC for a week. Two of our church girls attended that week, and a younger boy from church attended the previous week! Several children made commitments to Christ, but we pray that they get follow-up discipleship to help them mature in their new faith.

Jesse Ben and Duane

On June 24th, Duane officiated at the funeral of our dear friend Jesse Ben (husband of JoAnne Ben), who had developed liver and kidney disease from past years of alcohol abuse. Jesse was one of the Tribe's most gifted teachers on the Choctaw culture, traditions, and language; he was very skillful in making towa, Choctaw rawhide stickball game balls, and tried to teach Duane this skill one afternoon. Wakes, with a traditional cooking fire burning out back behind the house, are usually held in the home of the deceased for a few days and nights before the actual funeral.

Daelin

Daelin, a teenager from our church, ministered all summer at camp as a Leader in Training (LIT) for the first time. He learned a lot about children and youth ministry, and he was also greatly used by God to touch the lives of the kids. Duane has been discipling Daelin for years, so it was a thrill for Duane to receive an excellent report about Daelin's experience.

The first week of July, two women and two youth boys from our church attended the Mennonite Assembly in Phoenix.They had a great experience. The women were able to help make the conference attendees aware of the fact that there are several native Mennonite churches and were able to sell most of the beadwork our church women had been making for the past       several months; the funds were donated to NMM.

Geri, Laurie, & Marilyn

Laurie leads the Women's Ministry at church each Monday evening. We usually alternate between doing a study and doing beadwork. This year we studied Lies Women Believe and Boundaries. Our beadwork sessions were led by Marilyn Tubby. Since most of our church members are single women raising children or grandchildren, Laurie sees her friendships with them as a valuable part of ministry.

On July 4th, our church held a Food Sale for a few hours before the Tribe's annual fireworks display, which can be seen ideally from our church parking lot! It, too, was successful in raising money for NMM. The snow cones were a big hit.

Duane once again participated in the Tribe's "Unity Walk," about a week prior to the official start of the Choctaw Indian Fair. He also planned to play Choctaw stickball (an ancient form of lacrosse) with the Beaver Dam "over 30" team in their first game of the season, but their team was disqualified because of too few players showing up. He enjoyed being able to watch the other teams play each evening of the fair; he usually sat with Norman Sam, who had been his best man in our wedding back in 1982. We also enjoyed eating Indian tacos, looking at the beautiful beadwork at the sale pavilion, watching some of the Choctaw Princess pageant and shows, viewing the displays, and just walking around and talking to people. Duane ran the mile in the "Rez Run" on the final day of the fair.

We continue to see spiritual maturity and integrity developing in some of our church members, so that is a real praise. We would love to see the Lord raise up more committed men, children/youth/young adult ministry leaders, and contemporary worship leaders. We would love to see God's people in our church take personal Bible study and prayer more seriously, and to see the Holy Spirit be desired and allowed to move among and through us with power...to save, to deliver, and to heal.

Well, that's a summary of our lives and ministry during the first half of 2013. Thank you for your interest, your prayers, and Wakarusa Missionary Church's monthly financial gifts. We would love to have you visit sometime. Please keep in touch through facebook, emails, calls, or letters. They are such a blessing and source of encouragement.

In Christ,
Duane & Laurie Reinhardt

Duane Laurie Reinhardt (facebook)
reinos4@juno.com (email)
409 Indian Hospital St., Philadelphia, MS 39350 (snail mail)
www.mississippiministry.blogspot.com (blog)

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

Time Flies When You're Having Fun... and When You Forget Your Password...

A few people have mentioned that they miss the updates that we used to post. So, we've decided to resurrect the blog! Bear with us as we attempt to keep you in the loop (even if we ourselves feel out of the loop!) on what is happening in our lives and in our church.

Since the last post, Heather and Dustin were married (March 2010), celebrated an anniversary (March 2011), bought a house here in Philadelphia (April 2012), and had a baby (September 2012)! Heather is in her senior year at Mississippi State University in the Social Work program and will be graduating in May of 2013 following her field placement in the spring. She hopes to work with foster care/adoption either with DHS or on the reservation. She works part-time at the bowling alley (as she has for over 2 years now) and thoroughly enjoys working at the front desk, as well as maintaining their Facebook and website, while also having the chance to be creative while designing fliers, menus, signs, slides, coupons, etc. Though she is working fewer hours now that she is in school full-time and a mommy, she enjoys getting out of the house and staying active. Dustin is working full-time as a delivery driver at Aaron's (a home furnishings rental company) here in town. He also continues with his Army National Guard drills one weekend each month. When Heather finishes school this spring, Dustin hopes to start taking courses to earn a degree in Emergency and Disaster Management. For a year, Heather and Dustin were youth pastors at their church in town, but stepped down after finding out that they were expecting a baby! Emelyn Skylar Glenn was born on September 25 at 5:03 PM. After 31 hours of labor, she made her grand entrance at 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long. Dustin and Heather were thrilled to welcome their baby girl to the world, and to have Dustin's mom and dad here from Missouri for the week. Of course, Grandpa Duane and Grandma Laurie were ecstatic to be there for her birth and for the opportunity to see her so often since they live in the same town! Laurie has graciously agreed to babysit for baby Emelyn while Heather finishes school. Heather and Dustin are extremely grateful!

Matt, Brittany and Maile have also had quite the turn of events since the last post. Maile celebrated her 2nd birthday in the Philippines in May, while Matt was a student with the Holoholo DTS through YWAM. (This is the same DTS that Brittany and Heather did a few years ago.) Traveling to the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia gave them plenty of photo ops and ministry ops and they were forever changed by the way the Lord moved in their own lives and in the lives of the people they ministered to and with during their 6 months abroad. After returning to the states in June, they decided to remain in Hawaii where Matt found a full-time computer programming job at the business office of a military base and Brittany babysits full-time for an 8 month old baby girl... who is about the same size as Maile! They are currently living with Matt's parents, Jerry and Karen Terui, on the island of Kaua'i. Their home in Indiana is being rented out, and their belongings are in a storage unit in Indiana and at Duane and Laurie's. Eventually they may have all of their stuff back... maybe!

More on Duane and Laurie and their ministry to the Choctaws next time!

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!