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!

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!