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!

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.