Sewell Family Blog

"Language Blunder"

2010-03-03T08:04:00.003-07:00

(Joel is writing this), Yesterday while driving in the car with a good friend at Eden Valley, we were talking about a birthday party that he and his wife had thrown the day before for my wife’s birthday. He had asked if my wife “had enjoyed the party”. I told him that she had, to which I then said (in Stoney) “Mia wîya wastîno”. He started laughing (at this point I had realized that I had something wrong). He said to me, do you know what you just said? I said No.. He said “You just said, your a good woman”. We both got a good laugh, in which he then corrected me and said “Gichîminga owîya wastîno”. (My wife is a good woman). God uses stuff like this to humble us, make us learners and build relationship (and maybe a pile of other things that I don’t know). Praise the Lord!

Time To Catch Up

2010-02-26T17:46:00.005-07:00

Wow! I can't believe I haven’t blogged in over three months and not at all in 2010. I apologize to all you faithful readers out there. I know it’s boring to not have any new material to look at! If I was to bring you up to date on every thing that has happen, it would be to much for you and for me, so I’m going for a just a few stories of life in the last three months!

December was full of all the stuff December is full of.....we were blessed with a visit from family during the holidays, which added a bit of festivity to it all. My parents (Amanda) and a sister and her family spent just under a week with us. The best part was seeing my girls and my niece play together and really enjoy their grandparents. We did lots of fun stuff, mostly just enjoying the time together!

We rang in the New Year Stoney Style, which meant fireworks at midnight, and a feast after the fireworks....our girls enjoyed staying up so much later than normal and we were thankful for the chance to be a part of the community. We kicked off 2010 with a resolve to keep digging in. We have so much to learn and understand, at least some point almost everyday, the enormity of it can be overwhelming. In His graciousness God continues to open doors of comprehension in our minds, and bring much encouragement to our hearts. He is so good, and we long for our lives to reflect Him. We didn’t have a lot on the schedule in the last two months, which was a real blessing b/c it allowed for the focus to stay on language learning and find some continuity. I still wonder where all my time goes, but I think that is true for any mother of young children. The girls are both getting so “grown up” they fill our house with their stories and their laughter (and sometimes their arguing, lol).

We have been much better about our “school” this semester. Abigail is learning to blend letters and Ruth is mastering colors and numbers and she loves to cut and paste and color. The rest of the time they are usually playing “mommy”. Abigail currently has 11 children with one on the way. Ruth is sometimes a mom, and sometimes she turns into one of Abigail’s babies. Just yesterday I kept hearing her say “momma,” when I tried to answer she said, “no, my Abigail momma.” It is such a privilege to be their mommy...I can’t believe the Lord entrusted me (and Joel) with such precious, amazing children.

I am in the process of trying to “up” my time involved in CLA, I feel like I have been able to get some things set in place around the house, (like a menu, etc.) which is allowing me more time. I want to make the most of each minute, keeping in mind what my Creator says is really important. Joel is continuing to do an amazing job of learning language. I am in awe of what he understands and how well he speaks. He balances CLA and our family time very well, and I’m thankful to work alongside a man like Joel. So finally a few thoughts from our corner of the world. We have had a very mild winter...the strangest phenomenon has been fog. We have had a few 3-4 day stretches of dense fog in Longview, but when you drive west in would be clear and beautiful. The most redeeming thing about it would be the layer of ice/snow that would coat the outside world in beauty. I am going to do my best to stay connected to you all again. Thanks for taking time to catch up. To those who do such a great job at communicating and encouraging we can’t tell you enough how much it means! May you rejoice in God’s goodness today! Amanda

December Update

2009-12-21T23:27:00.004-07:00

It’s past time for an update from Longview. This is the time of year that everything seems to run together in a frenzy of activity. For me being gone 20 out of the 30 days of November didn’t help. Our trip to Wyoming to represent InterAct at Frontier went well, other than the girls and Joel got sick, I guess I had my share in October. The last ten days of the month the girls and I (Amanda) took a train back east to surprise my Dad with an early birthday party and take advantage of Thanksgiving get togethers to connect with family. We are so very thankful for this opportunity. We did a lot in a short amount of time, lacking sleep, and overdoing on junk food. Overall it was great, and I would recommend the train as a great way to travel (and very cost effective). December finds us trying to get back in the groove and get ready for Christmas. Soon we will

be welcoming in 2010. Life is full of challenges and I tend to get overwhelmed by them quickly, I’m so thankful that I was reminded tonight where the battle lies and where the Victory is. God’s Great Grace and Mercy are truly amazing! Can you imagine what it was like for God to leave the splendor of Heaven and come to this wretched earth as a tiny helpless infant...I get chills just thinking about it. Let’s Praise Him this Christmas season, giving Him the honor and glory He alone deserves!!! Just a little hello from this corner of the world. Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!!

Amanda-

November Video

2009-11-15T17:57:00.002-07:00

We thought we'd share a bit of a video (with a song from one of our new favorite artist), some slides of what has been happening. Enjoy!

So we continue on...

2009-11-07T06:35:00.002-07:00

October 2009 is now just a part of our memories, and November is ticking away. I went into October with big plans; I was going to master my schedule, make many leaps in language learning, and get many of my projects done as well. Instead I spent the entire month fighting a cold that still isn’t gone completely, which resulted in my schedule often going by the wayside. This of course affects my language learning goals and the time I had to work on various projects. All of this left me feeling somewhat discouraged at times. I still don’t understand sometimes why God allows certain things into our lives that seem to just make life harder. I was tempted to think that perhaps it’s not God’s plan for me to learn this language, but that thought didn’t last long. Instead I think He want to teach me how to better rely on Him, and not myself. This is a hard lesson for me to learn, it seems like I often find myself walking along in my own strength instead of letting Him do all that He wants to do in me. I’m so thankful for His patient grace that continues to teach me what I need to learn, and enables me to walk in victory. What an truly amazing God we serve. One of the blessings I have seen is that Joel and the girls stayed fairly healthy through all of this. Also Joel has been able to make some good steps in language learning. He has an above average skill in mimicry, and often gets comments on how well he is doing. So we are still moving forward...trusting God to lead us in each step. Language learning is often full of funny stories, the other evening my friend was telling me a word for “everything”, for some reason it reminded me of another word I knew, and without really thinking I blurted it out. I knew the word, but couldn’t remember what it meant. My friend looked at me and laughed and said, yeah that’s potato. I laughed too. Just think how funny it would sound if you told someone who didn’t speak English well, a word like pot, and their reply was to proclaim potato. Sure they start out with similar sounds but they aren’t really related. Little victories are there in the battle for language learning, we attended a feast the other day and as people were cleaning up, I understood when someone asked , “Where is the mop?” It’s a small phrase, but to hear and understand is a big blessing. Our girls are also getting in on the language learning. The other day Ruth asked me, “how do you say this in.....? She likes to say “umbawasthitch” (this means good day) at random times as well.

One other little update, last month our community did loose a young man, he was living in Calgary at the time, but had much connection to the community. We had the privilege of knowing this young man, who had visited our home a few times, He is greatly missed, but the good news is that he had proclaimed to be trusting in Christ. The hope if heaven is such a beautiful thing.

We now find ourselves on the road again. InterAct has asked us to represent the mission at Frontier School of the Bible (where Joel graduated from). We are traveling down to Wyoming now and will spend next week participating in their fall mission’s conference. Thanks for your continued prayers and encouragement, we will be sharing next Tuesday and Wednesday, if you think of us during those days, pray that students can be challenged to serve cross-culturally. We will keep you posted on how things go! Enjoy your day in Him-Amanda For The Sewell’s

Fall... what fall?

2009-10-12T15:54:00.004-06:00

After a September full of summer weather, October brought winter on with a vengeance. The last week we have had temps below freezing and a dusting of snow covers the ground. That type of drastic change can make it hard to adjust, but we keep hoping for “Indian Summer” yet this fall. Two weeks ago we had the privilege of attending a seminar on Chronological Bible Teaching, put on by Worldview Resource Group in Lac La Biche, Alberta. For those of you who have seen the movie EE-Taow, story of the Mouk People, our teacher was Mark Zook, who is the missionary who God used in this powerful story. As usual it is hard to sum up in a paragraph what took 5 days of lectures to learn, but I will give it a try. Chronological Bible Teaching is not just teaching through the Bible chronologically, it’s goes deeper than that. It is understanding your audience, and how they view reality, in such a way that you can teach the key stories of the Bible, so that the Truth of Scripture is laid down line upon line, precept upon precept knocking out untruth as you go. Then when the message of who Jesus is and what he did on the cross is presented, it is understood within a framework already built by Biblical Truth, not muddled with old belief systems. This makes a clearer, better understanding of what the gospel message really means to mankind. As we sat in class, I often found myself thinking this is way over my head, it sounds so good in

theory, but the practical working it out, what will that look like. So as we settle back into routine, we pick up with what we know to do next. For us, in our context, we are still just trying to understand our audience. We must do this well, in order to best teach God’s story in an understandable and worldview changing way. Learning another language is a lot of work and yet there is joy in the little steps made along the way. Thank you for praying with us and supporting what God is doing here in Alberta. We face discouragement sometimes multiple times a day, yet God is so faithful and we praise Him for His goodness to our family. Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, to be honest it still sort of sneaks up on us Americans. But of all the holidays to celebrate twice I guess this is the one. We do have so much to be thankful for and yet to much of the time I get bogged down in the battles of daily living. I continue to ask the Lord to be my strength, and to teach me how to live the way He really intended. There is much work to be done, may each one of us be found faithful!

Thanks again, with love from the Sewell’s-Amanda

PS If you haven’t yet watched the movie EE-Taow..we would highly recommend it, you can find it on-line, or click the link.

A quick check-up

2009-09-20T22:02:00.003-06:00

How can someone who currently lives in Colorado, come here to Alberta and check our language learning ability when they have never heard the language spoken before? We are so thankful to glean from the consultant guided program New Tribes Mission has set in place all over the world. George and Harriet Walker came to our home last week to check progress in both our language use and the daily use of our time. We had done some ground work ahead of time by filling out questionnaires etc. Our first day we spent a lot of time just sharing what we do each day, how things are progressing and where we sense problems. The second day we had a native speaker in our home and we would simply say words after him, which allowed George to hear if our pronunciation is accurate. There are a couple sounds in the language that we don’t make as English speakers, so we need to step up our practice of these particular sounds. There are also about three nasalized vowel sounds, which means you need to push air through your nose as you say them, this can often sound like a “n” sound to our ears, but it’s not, and needs to be said correctly. As a wrap up George and Harriet were full of practical ideas to keep us on track in our culture and language acquisition, (aka, CLA). Our main focus is language at this point, since culture is best understood in the Native tongue. One of the big area’s we are tweaking after this consult is our planning, we need to be much more intentional about what areas of language we are going to try to learn. We will be isolating simple parts of speech to keep things at a basic level. For example we will learn how to take a simple statement like “I am picking up the cup” and from there learn how to say “ pick up the cup” and “do not pick up the cup.” To make sure we are covering all the bases we need to cover at this first stage we need to really plan each time we visit the reserve. Of course as we seek to gain understanding of language, we will also continue to cultivate our current relationships, seek new ones, and stay aware of the unique culture as well. We will be making some other adjustments to our days as well. We also discussed

that in order to keep making strong progress in CLA we need consistency and fewer “interruptions”. This is an area we covet your prayers in as many “good” opportunities come our way, but these at times keep us from the work. It’s hard to explain all that took place in the intense 2 and 1/2 day consult, but we come away from the time feeling much more equipped for the task at hand. One thought I’m chewing on is that, as the organizer of our home I need to find more ways to bring the language learning into our home, since my amount of time with people is limited. Abigail and Ruth need to be more a part of this process as well, since this is the life God has called our family to, not just Joel and I, but all of us. This consultant check is usually done at about six weeks after the type of consult we had in February. Due to scheduling and other time commitments it was put of till now. The next months will be full of hard work and faithful study and we hope to pass our basic or level one check sometime early next spring. One final thought that keep us pressing on toward our goals in our situation, loving people means learning their language, it might not always feel like “love” but thats what it is love. In God’s grace we labor on, thanks for walking with us!

A busy labor day weekend...

2009-09-14T19:18:00.007-06:00

In wanting to strive for more frequent updates, I was hoping to make it sooner than three weeks, but at least it hasn’t been a whole month. There are so many stories I would love to share with you, it’s hard to know what is best to write about. Our family has had some awesome opportunities to spend time with a family from the reserve, one night we had a cookout together and spent time just sharing life and learning. I had a few rejuvenating evenings with my “girls night” girlfriends, one who is back for the school year, and the other who was in town for a few weeks. Relationships are often a lot of hard work, but there are times when the reward of connecting with someone is a sweet savor. Labour Day weekend we found ourselves heading in two opposite directions, literally. After much planning and packing, we headed north (friday afternoon) to attend a Pow-Wow (see pictures). We had made arrangements to stay the night in nearby Cochrane at the Southern Baptist mission house/conference center, so we went and got settled in first and then drove to the

event around seven in the evening. It was held in an indoor arena, and we sat in the bleacher area, the floor below was covered in a green turf and at one end of the arena two teepee’s framed the entrance. Around the outside of the turf in an oval shape were lots of chairs and various drums. The drums are leather stretched over frames. For a while the building was somewhat quiet, with an announcer calling for various people to come to the entrance area and at times making jokes. All around the arena, dancers were getting into beaded outfits, hair was being braided, and we even saw someone burn sweetgrass around their head-dress. The drum groups (around 18) were also preparing. Each drum has about 10 people sitting around it who drum and sing together, (some people just sing). Finally the grand entry began, the host drum group began to sing and drum (see video on bottom-"Drumming"), and the arena filled with the sound, it seemed at times the seats were vibrating. The procession started with poles full of feathers being carried in, then came various flags, and elders from the community were also honored. Next the various types of dancers came in according to their category, the whole arena floor was full of color and movement and in many ways it was beautiful, and mesmerizing (see video on bottom-"Pow-wow Dancing"). After the ceremony was complete, the floor cleared somewhat and individual groups began the competition. We are not sure how long things lasted that evening, at about 10:30 our girls were in much need of sleep so we went back to our room. The next morning we packed up our things and drove to a local historical sight. It is an old Methodist church that was once used

by the people of the area. We then went back to the pow wow, this day started out the same way as the night before with only minor differences. There were a few people we knew and made connections with, but there were also many from all over Canada and the states. One of the winners I remember was from South Dakota. We won’t pretend to understand what all was going on at this event, we have much to learn and understand.

Though the event would last till late Sunday evening, we left Saturday afternoon to head the other direction.

We drove back down to Longview, watered some friends horses, picked up some more things, and kept driving south. Our destination was Camp Gladstone, for the final event of the summer activities, family camp. The evening session was in progress when we arrived, and with night quickly approaching I got our family settled into our cabin, while Joel stepped into help with the horses since someone had been injured while trail-riding (another story). After all my family was tucked into bed, I enjoyed some late-night fellowship around the camp-fire with the other night owls. Sunday we had breakfast, fellowship, and then a very encouraging time of hearing from the Word, followed by a potluck meal, then clean-up. Some of us ladies had time for a game, Joel went riding, the girls played in the dirt, (of course-it’s camp). The evening was spent in a great time of sharing testimony

and song. Night time, found me back at the campfire trying to prove I was still a night owl, but bed time did come a bit sooner that night. Monday we packed up and headed to Longview, to finish Labour Day at home. This last week has been life as usual, with a focus on preparing for our upcoming language check. Please keep us in your prayers this week, that we could get further direction and clarity in our language study. Trusting this finds you doing well, we love to hear how you are doing even if we don’t always respond immediately. Oh,and happy fall! Though the temps have stayed warm and the sun is still shinning, the wind lately has been singing the song of autumn, which means winter is not far away!

What (and how) we are doing...

2009-08-21T08:02:00.005-06:00

I was so determined to update this blog sooner, but according to the date on the last entry, almost a month has gone by again. So once again I will try to give a quick run down on the last few weeks.

We celebrated Ruth’s second birthday the Saturday before her big day. We decided to just hang out as a family for the evening and she received a tricycle that she really enjoys. It hasn’t made it outside yet, so both girls “enjoy” it in the living room for now.
On Sunday the 26th, after attending a baby shower for twin boys (who live next door) we set once again for Camp Gladstone. We had a full, busy week. Ruth turned two on the 27th, which was the first day of camp. The campers left Friday, and we stayed on till Saturday to help clean up and to fellowship with the other camp staff for the final time this summer. More about this week can be read in our upcoming September newsletter.
When we arrived home on Saturday, our house guests were here to welcome us home. We were very thankful to have Bill and Gail Marietta, the pastor and his wife from our sending church in Hawk Springs, WY spend a few days with us. We had a great time, hampered only by the rain that made getting out a bit difficult.
On Wednesday the fifth of August, our family and our dear friends Roy, Laura, Karina and Eden went to the Calgary Zoo, to celebrate Karina’s birthday. The girls have a lot of fun together and we are so thankful they can have friends like this.
Friday, the seventh, Abigail and Ruth stayed with a friend of our family here in Longview, and Joel and I had an awesome opportunity to go to town with some friends, a couple from Eden Valley that we are building friendship with. It was such an encouraging day, and we are very thankful for their friendship..
August 10-13, we went back to Gladstone Mountain Gathering Grounds for InterAct’s Canadian Field Conference. It was a time of refreshing, both emotionally and spiritually. We had sessions with a speaker, and also times of sharing with our InterAct family. We also talked “business” and of course we had a lot of fun. We had our second annual (that we know of, since this only our second conference) marshmallow fight, and many other good laughs. The girls had their own class, and made a book on creation. I enjoyed a hike one day and the girls had a chance to ride the horses. We are so thankful for our mission and the great job they do of keeping us connected.

So now we are back home for a few “normal” weeks. I have been blessed lately by friends blogs where they take time to share their heart. Since this is blog is usually a bit of an update on what we are doing, I thought I would change things a bit and talk about how we are doing, or mostly how I am doing.

As you can see we were very busy over the summer, making it almost impossible for me to continue with my Language Studies. (Joel has done great and is really gaining ground..both in language learning and meeting friends.) I have struggled a lot with this, frustrated by needing to spend so much time on boring everyday chores, when I wanted to be in the midst of relationships, and discoveries. I have lamented b/c we live in one community, while trying to be a part of another. I have been discouraged and at times apathetic. Through it all God has been a faithful, patient teacher. Reminding me of what’s important, reminding me to serve Him the way He desires, not in the way I desire. As I wrestled with all of this, the theme that kept showing up, was faithfulness. God would show me I needed to be faithful with what He has put before me, to trust that He knows best and rest in that. He also showed me that I could improve on my time management, an area I struggle greatly with. I made a statement to some company in late June that “I am the most unscheduled person they will ever meet.” Though this probably wasn’t true I in and of myself would wish it so. I could tell you my whole reasonings and thoughts on why I don’t like to live by the clock, but the bottom line is because in my heart of hearts I want people to be more important,

I am driven relationally not by task. Finally, it occurred to me that instead of it being an issue of task vs. people, it could rather be viewed as because of the relationship I will strive to be scheduled. So for the good of our family and because I am committed to learning Stoney to understand my friends at Eden Valley I am giving my best shot at being scheduled. Week one ends today and I didn’t have a day work perfectly yet, but by God’s grace I will keep striving. The real test comes in a month or two, can I keep it up?

Well, now this has turned into a very long entry, I’m sure some of you didn’t make it all the way through, but I know I have a few kindred spirits out there who enjoyed all my detail. Thanks for keeping up with our happenings. Here’s to more frequent, but shorter, easier to read updates!! I try again next time. With Gratefulness, Amanda For The Sewell’s

A big wonderful blur...

2009-07-25T07:11:00.006-06:00

Thats about how summer has felt so far. In an attempt to update you on the happenings in our lives, I will try to include the highlights of the last two months.

On June second Abigail turned four years old. We had a party the night before with most of her favorite local people in attendance. On her actual birthday we did special things as a family. She now says four is her favorite number! This is the first time in her life Abigail hasn’t celebrated her birthday while we were on the road. I guess that just shows how much we have traveled the past few years!!

I (Amanda) got the awesome opportunity to attend a Native Ladies Retreat at the end of June. It was very refreshing and relaxing, though it took me the first night to settle down and enjoy myself. This time away deepen some friendship in a good way, and I came home with bright colored nails!

The other big event in June was a fun-filled, action packed visit from two families who live in Pinedale, WY. Each family had an camper parked in our driveway, total people eating most meals at our house was thirteen. Six adults and seven kids, five under four! Everything went very smooth, and we were blessed to share a little bit of what life is like for our family here in Alberta with them (there just might be more to this story in an upcoming newsletter).

We are also thankful for some really great opportunities we had to participate in community events at Eden Valley (this time it wasn’t funerals). One night we attended an birthday party for an elder till 1 in the morning, the girls did great, joining in on the fun. We soaked up the sun at a volleyball tournament/picnic put on by the life skills class, and the girls and I got to go along on a field trip to a local amusement park with the day care group. While these might not seem like any big deal to you, the reader, we are so grateful for these chances just to get to know people and

learn. I am especially thankful for things we can attend as a family since my “day to day” contact has been rather limited.

We were blessed to have some meetings via phone the first week in July that helped keep us on track in terms of what we are doing now, what we can be doing better, and what the next step looks like. We are so grateful for the people who are willing to share what they have learned from their ministries, and work to equip us for the job at hand.

The first full week of July found us near Pincher Creek, Alberta at Camp Gladstone. This is a camp run by various people from various organizations for Native young people mainly from southern Alberta. We had two young men from Eden Valley ride down with us, and it was a lot of fun. This first week of camp is for teenagers. Joel spent most of his time working with the horses; feeding, saddling, and teaching the kids. I spent my time in the kitchen, well it’s actually a pavilion with walls on one

end and part way down the sides. It is a great place to cook, and the kids can all play outside while the woman work in the kitchen. The girls spent their time in the dirt...they play hard for hours in the sand etc. with all the other “camp kids” (the kids whose parents run the camp). Every night they are tired and filthy, but they love it. It was a bit chilly this week and rained almost every day, but everyone had a great time anyway. We are thankful everyone was safe on the horses, and for the chance to connect with the two guys from Eden Valley. Camp continued on for week two and three without us, and we returned home for more business.

On July 12th, Doug and Sheryl Sewell arrived for a week long visit to the grandchildren (and their parents of course). We were able to take some time for family fun while they were here, and also participated fully in Longview’s own Stampede. It is a great even for children and the girls had a wonderful time. (Also through the rodeo and a young man riding steers, Joel was able

to spend some “connecting” time with a family from Eden Valley.) It is always such a treat to have family visit when you live far away and we are sure thankful when those occasions happen. So this past week was spent trying to recover from the previous three and regroup for the next, all while trying to have a normal routine. Sunday the 26th we head back to camp for the final week, this one requires a bit more preparation as we our co-leading a the work crew (which is kids from the team camp age, coming to “work” for the younger camp). The emphasis is more on discipleship than work, and we are partially in charge of the devotions etc. for them. Please keep all this as a matter of prayer! Monday the 27th, Ruth celebrates birthday number two, so the fun continues. Well, this has gotten long, though I feel like there is more to say, this has been the highlights, please feel free to ask us for more details on anything we share. Thanks for your interest and I will try to update you with all the latest news from camp when we return!

More to catch you up

2009-06-05T11:28:00.007-06:00

There have been three funerals at Eden Valley during the last few weeks, Joel spent four days at an Native Youth Conference (see the upcoming newsletter for more details), and we were blessed with some overnight guests, one couple traveling back from Alaska, and one man heading to Alaska. With the long days and sunshine it is easy to go, go, go and never stop for a break. Joel and I have been experiencing various people’s deaths lately, from those at Eden Valley, to a young friend and supporter who died of cancer, to loosing Amanda’s mom’s brother to a sudden heart attack. It has brought some tears and grieving, and yet what a blessed hope we have when we know Jesus. Two of the deaths at Eden Valley were people we hadn’t ever met and to our knowledge weren’t trusting Christ (we attended the funerals b/c we knew at least one family member of the deceased, and to observe cultural practices). However, one of the three woman who died, was a solid Christian, who loved and served her community. The funeral was a beautiful celebration of her life on earth, and her future in heaven. There is such a contrast in how one views death depending on if they know Jesus or not. It is a good reminder of what Christ has done for us

on the cross, and the eternal perspective we need to walk through this life with.

We have been enjoying warm weather, lots of spring rain, and the “green up”. We will soon need to mow our lawn, and friends are putting in gardens. It’s branding season, and we have been able to attend a few of those as well. It seems with all the activities of summer it makes it even more difficult to stay focused on our goals for language and culture study. Please pray that we can have wisdom on our daily activities and remain true to our course. We sense more and more how much we need the Lord’s strength for all that is to be done, and we are so thankful for the role each of you play in keeping us here. We would love to hear from you, and please be patient when it takes us a while to get a personal note back to you. It is hard to find time to write the old-fashion way, but we do wish to stay connected with you in this way! Enjoy Summer; Amanda, for the Sewell Family

some shots from Native Youth Conference..

Missions Conference & Recruiting

2009-05-29T12:05:00.009-06:00

As mentioned in our last blog, we traveled south to Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota during the last two weeks in April.

Overall our trip was very encouraging and we really enjoyed all the fellowship. The girls just had a ball playing with friends and experiencing “new” environments. Our first stop was in Wilsall, Montana at the Shields Valley Bible Church. We were privileged to take part in their mission conference, and were very blessed by our friends in this part of the country. I enjoyed connecting with an old friend, and Joel got to shoot some prairie dogs,(which he tells me is good therapy). We get a bit spoiled there with a very nice cabin, at the edge of the mountains, to call home during our stay.

After a brief stop in Douglas, Wyoming, to spend some “QT” with more dear friends, then we moved on to LaGrange. In many ways it felt like coming home. We spent a very packed full six days, visiting with students about missions, and InterAct’s fields of service, as well as connecting a bit with the many people who live in that area and support the work here in Canada.

Seeing what God is doing in students lives at Frontier School of the Bible is both challenging and encouraging, we are thankful for this opportunity to represent InterAct and look forward to further connections.

Several students seemed particularly interested in what God was doing in the North Pacific Crescent (Western Canada, Alaska, Siberia), so time will tell how the Lord will direct those individuals.

When our time was complete at FSB, we headed back north (and east) to Mound City, South Dakota, to visit Amanda’s sister, brother-in-law and brand new baby niece, Adriana Joy. We were joined by Amanda’s parents as well, and spent several days working around their place (they had recently moved).

The Sewell family parted ways for a few days, with the girls and myself traveling back to Longview with my parents, and Joel heading out on his own, with a planned stop in Miles City, Montana. My parents, the girls and I made the trip home in one long day, with a few exciting pit stops along the

way. We went to a branding in the middle of a friends pasture in Miles City, and then traveled at least 20 some miles on a back country road in the middle on Montana to visit some friends and stop for lunch. It was a memory making trip for all. Joel didn’t get home when planned due to our car loosing the transmission, when all the options were weighed out we decided to not fix the car and with the help of a friend and my dad, Joel was able to get home. We thank God for His provision of that car.

My parents visited for total of five full days, and we had a wonderful time. They left for home the morning of

May 8th, which is also Joel’s birthday. There is always something that keeps us depending on the Lord, and we are so thankful for His great provision for our family. For those of you we got to see on our trip, thanks for the memories. For those we missed this time around, we hope to connect next trip. Thanks to you all!

Amanda

Springtime in Alberta

2009-04-04T09:53:00.004-06:00

Just like Springtime in Alberta, warm, sunny days and the skies are blue, then without a warning another winter storm comes raising through.” This quote from an Ian Tyson song describes perfectly what happened to us a few weeks ago. It was Saturday morning and the warmest day yet, we took a walk as a family and I made plans to hang the sheets on the line.

By three o’clock I finally had the sheets ready to go, but the sky was gray and the wind had picked up. Joel told me that the weather forecast called for three inches of snow overnight, we got at least that! Then this past Saturday night, we got our biggest snow storm yet with well over a foot of snow, that drifted to three feet in some places. The good news in all this snow, is that Abigail finally got to build her snowman, we had somehow not yet gotten that done this winter and she was pretty worried about making it happen! We are all ready for the snow to be gone and warmer weather. About every day this week, Ruth has looked out the window and pointed at the park, and said “Yaddy.” My interpretation is that she wants her daddy to take her to the park, the answer is always, “when the snow is bye-bye.” Even Abigail tells her now!

Well, enough about the weather!

One of the most exciting things about the last few weeks, at least to me, is God’s provision of some girl friends my own age, and allowing us to have some “girl time” Both girls are believers from the reserve, one has lived there all her life, and the other is a teacher working at the reserve school. They have been coming over for supper once a week and we hang out as a family. After the girls are in bed, the three of us have a chance to connect about life, our relationship with the Lord, and what is happening on the reserve. It has been a blessing to me,

and hopefully an encouragement to them as well. Joel is also gaining ground in the area of relationships, there are several men who seem very open to Joel spending time with them, the hard part lately seems to be catching people at home! One man on reserve owns some cattle and Joel spent most of one Saturday at a horse sale with him, and is going to help gather in some of his cows, if the snow ever melts! We are thankful for all that God is allowing us to be a part of. We continue to gain ground in learning language, our computer program is a huge part of that, and we are so thankful for those eight weeks in Missouri (fall of ’08). It is a lot of fun to learn, tonight when the girls and I were making cookies I was seeing how many ingredients/utensils I used that I could say in Stoney! One of our biggest hurdles is opportunities to use the language with real people in real life settings! We are seeking the Lord daily for His direction in this area. The end of April brings a change of pace for us, as we will spend some time in another aspect of our ministry. We are excited to join the Shields Valley Bible Church, (Wilsall, Montana) at their mission conference the 17th-19th, and then travel on down to La Grange, Wyoming to share about InterAct at Frontier School of the Bible (and recruit more laborers). This means we will be seeing some of you in person again, which is always such a blessing! As always we appreciate you, your faithful prayers, and ongoing encouragement! May you delight anew in God’s grace this Easter Season. Amanda... for the Sewell”s

Birthday update

2009-03-07T17:28:00.013-07:00

I’m sitting here with a sleeping Ruth on my lap, she woke up from her nap crying, and wanted to go back to sleep. I don’t think our house has been this quiet for this long during daylight hours since..well I don’t know when. I thought I would just blog about our last week, including my birthday. I actually had two parties last weekend, with two chocolate cakes. (I’m spoiled I know) I didn’t know about either of them till a few hours before. Joel likes to keep me guessing. I don’t really feel any older, but it must be happening because I now experience being really tired at the end of the day, but unable to relax and fall asleep because my mind won’t shut down. I’ve always thought people were being ridiculous when they told me about that.

We spent a few family days in Coleman Alberta (a holiday),

and a nice little house of rest for people in ministry. We didn’t do much accept relax! I read a few books, and the girls got to watch videos. Abigail likes Dora, and Silly Songs (Veggie Tales) the best. Ruth’s vocabulary is expanding, she now says “nana” which is banana, “nack” which is snack (she loves to eat almost anytime) and I’m pretty sure she said Adriana, once when looking a picture of her new cousin. Both girls are changing their looks, one day I looked at Abigail and I didn’t recognize her anymore.

We are continuing to study language and file culture (our language session was canceled twice this week, because our language helper was working with the Bible translators). There is so much to be done, it’s often overwhelming. I think God is trying to teach us how to live with the

pressure, because it is a reality of life. We are seeing His hand at work in relationships; Joel’s and mine, our family as a whole, and the many people we call friends. My heart is filled with GRATITUDE to the Lord, when I see how He provides time and time again. We are very blessed and much of that blessing comes through you. Thanks to those who sent birthday greetings, it is nice to be remembered, thanks to those of you who pray for us, we will never know this side of heaven the impact of our prayers. We love you! Greetings from cold and sunny Alberta!!!~Amanda

Where did the time go?

2009-02-19T18:22:00.006-07:00

With all my good intentions to update our blog more often, it seems that once a month is all I manage. The days continue to go by one by one, and life has it’s highs and lows. We are so very thankful for God’s grace and goodness to our family in allowing us to serve Him here in Alberta, and work among a precious people group to make His Name known.

I want to give an update on what we have been doing the last month or so! January kept us busy with various appointments. We had the opportunity to share about our ministry at the Longview Bible Fellowship, which is where we attend services on Sunday here in Longview. It was a experience and it forced us to create a new presentation to explain who we are and what God is calling us to do. Another highlight of our month was spending a few days with Roy and Laura Thiessen, who just moved to Cardston, AB (two hours south) to work with the Blackfoot. They are also with InterAct and have two young daughters. The girls have already really enjoyed having playmates their own age at various functions. We are so thankful for another young family relatively close by. We also attended a meeting in regards to Camp Gladstone, a camp for Native youth that runs most of July. We know we will be involved to some degree as it provides a great opportunity to build relationships with young people from Eden Valley. Joel and I took an evening out on January 24th, leaving the girls

with a friend. It was a fun evening to just enjoy being together, we didn’t talk about “ministry” or “family” but focused on just cultivating our relationship.

February found us frantically preparing our house for company, which included some projects we needed to wrap up, grocery shopping, and general cleaning (that along with “regular” ministry). We were also privileged to meet with some fellow missionaries for a morning of prayer, something we hope to continue about every month. We focused our time praying for the many First Nations youth who are walking with the Lord, or at one time showed an interest in following Him. It was both encouraging and overwhelming to see the list of names on the board of of those who could use a mentor/friend to walk through life with them.

On Saturday the seventh our first guests arrived about nine in the evening. From then till the morning of the sixteenth our house was full of activity. On average we had at least four other people spend the night at our house and fed at least six people supper.

This was caused by the Animism workshop held in Okotoks, (30 minutes from our place) on February 9-13, and a consult led by WRG for the work at Eden Valley, (the 14th and 15th). We will be giving more details on both of these events in our March newsletter. As tired as we were Monday morning, we throughly enjoyed all our company and the fellowship we had. The girls held up pretty well, considering all the activity and we are thankful things went smooth.

The other big excitement during that week was the arrival of Adrianna Joy on February 8th. She is the daughter of Brad and April Ruckert, (Amanda’s sister) (see picture below) and we are already in love with her across the miles. It’s so hard to be far away for moments like this, but we are very thankful for pictures and telephones and computers to keep us connected. Abigail and Ruth both seem inthralled at the pictures they have seen (so keep then coming).

We have had several friends lately that are facing unexpected trails in

their lives, and though we ache with them, we also marvel at how God’s grace is apparent in their testimonies. We are here in Alberta because of His working in our lives, and we are excited by the tools God has given us to move forward in the work He has called us to do.

We greatly appreciate your love and care for our family, please let us know how we can pray for your needs and what God is doing in your lives. Amanda (for the 4 of us)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-14T14:41:00.008-07:00

Happy New Year (a little belated)! Somehow I intended to post a blog right after Christmas, and it didn’t happen. I was trying to figure out earlier today how many weeks it had been since Christmas. I think it’s almost three. So I will try to give a bit of an update of what we did the last few weeks.

The weeks leading up to Christmas weren’t very busy for us, at least in terms of holiday hustle. We did attend a few Christmas party’s/events, and really enjoyed them. We had some real cold temps that kept us house bound for a few weeks. During that time Joel was able to build and make usable the office space downstairs. It has been a huge help for him to have a work space!!! We still need some finishing touches, but it’s great to have it completed this much. We also spent some time as a family making goodies to enjoy and pass out to friends/neighbours. I counted 106 “usable” Christmas cookies, and I’m sure well over twice that in bon-bons. Looking back it

was well worth the work! We didn’t get our Christmas tree till the Monday before Christmas and it didn’t get decorated till Christmas Eve. We went to the mountains with another family and hiked a bit off the road for the tree. Abigail was not fond of the deep snow, and cried most of the time we were trudging around, she did enjoy spotting the Big Horned Sheep out the window of the truck, and is very excited about hunting one with her daddy some day (She will have to change her opinion on hiking if she is going to accomplish that.) Christmas day we spent home as a family. We had brunch together, opened presents, and connected with family via phone and skype. It was a very restful and relaxing Christmas. After being home so much, we decided we needed a change of pace, and spent New Years Eve in Calgary, we attended a party there, and then stayed the night at friends to avoid driving back that night. Both our girls were still going strong when we welcomed 2009! We all had a great time with fellow believers, for me it gave the holidays a more familiar feel.

In reflecting a bit on the season, I want to share one of the things that I enjoy most is receiving cards, pictures and updates from those whom I love. I still have our cards strung on a string by

our window, and I plan to post the pictures we received on our fridge. Just today we received several cards and letters, maybe these mean more to me now that I am farther away from most of you, or maybe my priorities are changing. I want to say thanks for all of you who sent a greeting, and tell you how you blessed my heart!!!

So now we are in week number two real life and routine. Joel continues to use mornings as study time; entering culture information, doing language review, and other tasks. In the afternoon and early evening he will usually visit the reserve and focus on building relationships, and sharpening his language skills (pray for this). Typical days for the girls and I are to be at home, taking the morning to start our day, prepare for the noon meal, (which is our main meal) and we are trying to work a little “school”

time in as well. The girls still nap in the afternoons, which gives me (in theory) time to get things done. This is all very flexible since “relationships” rarely fit into the boxes we like to put them in. We are still waiting for God to open more doors for me to enter into the community at the reserve, we see several opportunities, but aren’t sure how they are going to work out.

We anticipate the year ahead. We hope to get more deeply connected with people here, and desire God to continue to work His grace in our lives. May 2009 draw all of us closer to Our Creator and Savior.

Seasons Greetings

2008-12-16T17:40:00.007-07:00

God has provided for our family over the last few weeks, in many ways. A freezer, meat to put in it, times of encouragement with other believers, and the provision of an office are some of the things we’ve noticed most (though we still have to mud, tape & paint the walls). We have also had sub-zero temps this last week (-35 F), which makes us remember to be thankful for a warm house, and the other comforts of life. For those of you who have a hard time imagining such cold temps, it’s really not as bad as it sounds. You just don’t go outside unless you need to and then you dress for the cold and you are fine.

As mentioned above we are very excited about the meat God provided

through a friend of ours. This couple has grown children, who are away at school, and had both a moose tag and an elk tag, since they didn’t need both big animals in their freezer this year, they graciously offered the moose to us. So, by God’s grace we have barley-fed, two year old moose, that never knew it hat been shot, to eat over the next year (for those of you who aren’t familiar with wild game this combination equals yummy.) God provided a former butcher to help Joel process the moose and we were able to purchase a freezer to store it in. We are so grateful for this moose, as it saves on the grocery bill, and also provides us healthy food to eat.

Another fun experience are family has had lately is Abigail’s chance to be an angel in a Christmas play at the local fellowship we attend. She was a bit shy about being up front, but by the second performance she said her line and sang the song with the others. For Joel and I it

was a first to see our little girl participate in something so “big.” The whole crew did a great job and there was some great musical talent for such a small group of people.

We are also happy to report that our office is close to being completed. Joel has worked to get our landlords things out of a room in our basement, and put a dividing wall in, so we could make two rooms, out of one. This will provide office space for Joel to work, as well a extra bedroom for guests. (So come visit us!) We are very anxious to get this completed, and move the office out of our living room, which will make room for our Christmas tree. Yes, I have been way behind on Christmas preparation this year, and I’m starting to panic, that the big day is almost a week away. The important part is that the girls understand the real meaning of Christmas, so maybe less “jazz” is better. We are excited to celebrate the remainder of the Christmas season, and will keep you updated on our happenings! Keep your eyes focused on Christ during the busy weeks ahead, for He alone is Worthy!!! My heart rejoices in the amazing gift of God taking the form of an infant, the more I try to understand the more I’m left trying to understand! Season’s Greetings!!!

Reachable

2008-11-26T07:52:00.004-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JixPmt4iwLE

"This video by New Tribes Mission is a real encouragement to us. The Gospel (the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ) is the power of God unto salvation for all man who will trust Christ. I hope it will encourage you a give a small glimpse into what we are doing."

A new "Wind"

2008-11-18T21:47:00.008-07:00

Once again so much has happened since I last posted a blog. Many of you who are family, we were able to see face to face during our very quick visit to Michigan (see picture of our kids with their cousins). It is such a blessing to have these memories to cherish as we again attempt to transition. We have had so much to be thankful for in the last months as God continues to meet our needs, both material and spiritual. Our car is running well, our girls have bunk beds, our family is healthy, and God is patiently helping us grow; these are just a few examples of our reasons to be grateful.

We have been home to Longview for two and half weeks, and it has been a difficult time (at least from Amanda’s perspective). The first week was the hardest as we tried to get re-settled in our home and finish unpacking. We are almost officially done “getting settled”; a process I’ve decided might not ever be completely done with (at least for some one who is a bit of a “junk collecter”/complusive organizer like I am). I think we are also trying to wrestle with “reality” verses “expectations”. When ever I go through a change in life, I spend time thinking about what it should/could be like, as most of you know, it usually doesn’t turn out that way. In a lot of ways it comes down to a choice if your really going to trust that God knows what is best, and let go of wanting to be in control. The last few days we have been blessed with some amazing fellowship, which has been a big encouragement. (Thank you Mayerle’s, Warren Cheek, John Cosby and families from Longview Bible fellowship). God is so faithful to our family, sometimes I can’t understand His goodness to us. I know without a doubt that your prayers are a big part of what keeps us going. I hope I don’t sound like I’m “whining” I just felt like I wanted to share my heart and what it’s been like in my world lately.

From a “ministry” perspective we have much to be excited about.

It is really great to use the tools we gained at our training and dive into building relationships. Joel has had the opportunity to put up a play set on the reserve, and through working with a few young men on this projects, relationships are beginning to form with some really neat guys. We have also been greatly encouraged by a fellow Nakoda (Stoney) believer and his dedication to working on the translation of the Bible into Nakoda with Wycliffe. Some of this work has been happening

close by the last few days and we are thankful for the chance to get to know those involved with this project as well. Our language work consists of a few expressions we have recorded to familiarize ourselves with the Nakoda language and start to use in daily conversation. Abigail is doing better than I am.

We came back to late fall, which quickly turned into winter. We experienced our first Alberta Chinook (wind) today. Sunday we got a few inches of snow, which fell on the laundry I had hung out Saturday. Last evening the wind started howling, this morning I went out at ten thirty and it felt like spring. My sheets and towels were dry and as fluffed as if they had went through the drier. By tonight the wind has stopped, the temps have dropped and we are due for more snow. I need to go get supper on for the girls, sending all of you our love-Amanda

MTC-Missionary Training Center- Wrap-up

2008-10-06T13:40:00.004-06:00

I certainly haven’t written as many updates as I had planned to over the course of the last few weeks. We are now “wrapping” up the final week of our Culture/Language Acquisition course. The practical skills we have learned to help us in this process are a wonderful asset to ministry. Here is a recap of what we have been learning since our last blog. We took a few weeks to discuss kinship types and how to learn what a people groups kinship type is. A month ago I didn’t even know what that word meant, and I’m trying to think how to explain it without re-teaching everything we just learned. The best explanation I can give is every society has a way they classify who their family is, and how they organize their social relationships. An anthropologist named Lewis Henry Morgan, determined there were six

different types of kinship patterns. We did an overview of each of these six systems so we could recognize what the Dobu system was. To give you a little idea of what I am referring to I will give you one example (using our (yours and mine) kinship terms). In Dobu culture I would call my mother, sinana, but I would also call any of my mother’s sister’s sinana as well. My father and his brothers would be called tamana, but my mother’s brothers would be called wana. They would make a distinction between what we would consider an uncle on both sides. Because the mother passes on her clan/family to her children, my father would not even be considered in my close family. As you can see it gets very complicated, very quickly especially when you are trying to explain the concepts of God the Father, God the Son, as well as other concepts. It has been very interesting to study and we are excited to get home and see how this applies in our situation.

We have also been studying other aspects of Dobu culture and how to use the CLAware (a software program for filing culture) to file this information. Our team has been given the topic of death, and Joel and I are specifically concentrating our efforts on the way they mourn. All of this learning is done very hands on through sessions with our Culture/Language helper. Our teacher does a great job of portraying “Inosi” and we often

feel like we are truly in another culture (see picture of team and Inosi). We also get to watch “culture events” which are skits put on by the teachers showing scenes of Dobu village life. This coming week will be spent writing up conclusions on what we have learned and looking for themes that run through out Dobu culture. We then head north to Michigan for a brief visit with our family and then it is back to Longview. We map-quested it today, and we have 2300 miles ahead of us! The good news is our car is running much much better than it has since we bought it. God provided various people/resources (like a place for Joel to work on the car) to get it running well. A few other bits of news from the last month are: we saw God work once again in providing a sitter for the girls the last two weeks of class. (our first sitter returned to Malaysia), we also had a great trip to Kansas to visit supporters/friends in the Whitewater area.

So thats a quick update on our last month. Thanks for reading along, leaving comments is always welcome, sometimes we get curious who all reads our ramblings. Hope this finds you

well, you can pray for our week if God lays it on your heart to do so. We need to clean the apartment we are staying in, pack up our stuff, and finish class, which involves some papers. We hope to go to class Friday morning and be on the road by “noonish”. We are really thankful for the opportunity we had to attend this training, we have met some wonderful people and the girls have made some friends the can play outside with. It’s been a great eight weeks, but we are ready to be home!!

Amanda-For the Sewell’s

What`s Really at Stake in the U.S. Presidential Election

2008-09-06T12:02:00.002-06:00

This article really impacted me as I thought about the upcoming election. It sums up what I feel is really important when we go to vote.. Amanda

http://www.thoenebooks.com/blog.asp?post=0&id=432

MTC-Missionary Training Center

2008-09-04T09:24:00.009-06:00

It’s hard to believe we are almost three weeks into our time here at New Tribes Training Center. Our first week was full of adjustments to a new system and routine. We soon settled in and were hard at work. We are very impressed with this training center and how well they equip their missionaries, as well as with how many young couples with young children are willing to work and sacrifice to take the message of Christ to a lost world. It is an encouraging place to be, we have been shown lots of hospitality and getting to know people and hearing how God is at work in them is great!!! We are learning so much... this week we are a bit overwhelmed by it all. I will try to briefly summarize what we have done so far.

The first week was spent mainly in lecture session giving an introduction to the process of Culture and Language Acquisition that New Tribes uses, known as CLA (culture & LAnguage Acquisition), this step in the church planting process has been made much easier by a program called CLAware, designed for the purpose of filing and reviewing culture

information and language learning. Now that we are into class full swing, we spend much of our time doing “hands on” actives. We are actually spending time in a role play situation where we do specific tasks with a team to glean language and culture and then file it just as we would in “real” life. It has been a great way to work out some of the bugs that will happen as you attempt to learn so much information about another people group. At this point in our “role play” we are learning a few phrases and words of “Dobuniasion” (the language of the target group) and trying to understand a little bit about how this Dobu culture works and keep in mind relationship through it all. We know our situation in Alberta is a bit different than what most of our fellow students will face, but there are so many good principles and ideas that we can gain from this time. We are thankful to be here and yet excited to get back “home” and start applying.

As a family we are doing well, we are enjoying a “real” summer, and the joys of a lake with sand to play in. Abigail loves playing with Natalie, the girl who watches the girls while I’m in class, it’s been a bit harder on Ruth, but all in all she seems OK. Ruth is doing new stuff everyday, she can officially say “hi” and wave, and her aunt Maria (my sister) taught her how to give high fives.

She blesses us all with her kisses and cuddles. For those of you who caught what I said two sentences ago... yes we did have some visitors. My (Amanda’s) entire family drove down from Michigan over Labor Day weekend. We had a lot of fun all being together for the first time in almost two years....we couldn’t quite remember how long it had been, for some of them it was the first time meeting Ruth. God is so faithful in continuing His work in our lives and for that we are forever grateful!!!
We appreciate you and your care for our family!

Amanda for the Sewells

Like Minded Believers

2008-08-22T05:40:00.009-06:00

August 12th through the 15th we celebrated God's goodness with a group of people who love God and the people they want to share Him with. We were blessed to spend time with our InterAct family here in Canada. We were in Pincher Creek, Alberta, at the Gladstone Gathering Grounds. While there we had some refreshing time in the Word led by a paster at one of our missionaries home churches. We talked of some of the keys to discipleship and how we can see from the life of Christ (Matthew 16-20), and how He walked with the twelve disciples. We shared times of prayer, testimonies, and singing. We dialogued with Gary Brumbelow InterAct's , executive director, and heard from Dan Mayerle, the Canadian field director. One of the biggest was our dress up night, and share time around the camp fire; which ended in a massive marshmellow

fight. Not only did our family dress in pirate gear, but we also joined in with a few others to lip sinc- the popular veggie-tales song, "We are the pirates who don't do anything" We throughly enjoyed our first InterAct Conference and look forward to many more. We then made a quick trip to Roach MO, arriving Sunday evening to get settled in at the New Tribes Mission Center for eight weeks of further training. Things have been going well so far, it is just taking us a bit to get settled. For those of you who were praying the Lord did provided child care for Abigail and Ruth and I am able to attend class. When we got here, we were told of a young lady who, due to visa issue was not able to attend college this semester as planned. Her parents attend school here as well and are in our class. We can totally see God's provision this matter, and we give Him all the glory!! This is just a bit of a brief catch up, we still feel a bit behind in our correspondence with all of you, but are working at getting a newsletter out very soon. May you have a wonderful day in God's grace today!!!

Our address till October 10th:

Joel & Amanda Sewell

134 Main Dr.

Roach, MO 65787

573.317.8417

It sure has been awhile...

2008-08-05T18:53:00.009-06:00

It’s hard to know where to begin with this update. Let me start by apologizing for being out of touch for so long. Several factors contributed to our silence, the biggest one being the loss of our computer and with it our contact information for all of you, thankfully the latter was just a temporary problem and the Lord provided for a new computer as well. Now I will attempt to fill you all in on what has happened in our lives the last 6 weeks or so.

Our last blog entry is dated June 25th, so I will start from there. We finished our packing and said our goodbyes to the “Chilcotin” on June 27th. Joel drove our truck and trailer with the girls, and I drove the car. (just as far as Williams Lake) We had a bit of scare with our trailer brakes coming down a long, steep hill just outside of town, but other than slow us down a bit it nothing further developed. We left the car in Williams Lake, and I got in with Joel and the girls and we set out for Golden, BC. Our car was brought over by some friends of ours and actually gave them some trouble on the way, at one point we didn’t think it was going to make it. It has since been fixed and is running, but still a bit on the rough side. After resting up a bit on Sunday the 28th (of June) we drove the rest of the way to Longview, Alberta, our new home.

We had only been “home” an hour or so when our first visitors arrived. Roy and Laura Thiessen (they are Interact Appointees and are raising support to work with the Blackfoot tribe in Cardston, AB) and their two daughters stayed for two days helping us get the trailer unloaded, cleaning done, and some unpacking started. It was such an encouragement to have friends on the scene so soon after our arrival. The next weeks were mainly consumed with unpacking and getting settled, (a never-ending job). Another big encouragement was having my sister (April) come for a week in the early part of July, she helped do some painting and it was great to have family around at a time when things seemed in such an upheaval.

We were able to get our house in order enough to have celebrate Ruth’s first birthday on the 27th of July. We had a really nice day and enjoyed some refreshing fellowship with friends. She enjoyed getting presents and took all the frosting off of her cake and then wanted down to play. She started walking right before our move and loves to climb, so she keeps us on our toes.

The next day found our family driving down to Gladstone Gathering Grounds in Pincher Creek, Alberta. We spent the week at a kids camp for First Nation’s youth. Several different organizations work together to make this camp happen. Being “the new kids on the block” our learning curve was big. We were in charge of the work crew, young teens that come to camp to help do dishes and other work projects. We were also able to get to know some of the kids who live at Eden Valley.

Saturday the 2nd of August we attended our first Stoney funeral. We were able to meet some new people. The man who passed away is the grandfather of one of our friends, that we are getting to know.

This week has been spent playing catch up and by the end of the week we will be packing for our 8 weeks in Missouri to attend a course on Church Planting with New Tribes Mission.

Thanks for being faithful with your notes of “Hey, how are you guys doing?”, prayers and gifts. It is our lifeblood many times over.

Love,
 Amanda (for the 4 of us)

Home Again….Sorta

2008-06-25T23:35:00.001-06:00

Yes, we did indeed make in back to British Columbia. We pulled into our house in the evening on Monday the 17^th. Returning to this area is a little bitter sweet. For those of you who might not already know we are moving to southern Alberta (we were just away picking up the remainder of our stuff in the states, visiting friends/supporters, attending a wedding, doing a survey of the area in Southern Alberta). This decision has been prayed and agonized over for several months now. During our visit to southern Alberta it began very clear that this was the direction God was moving our family. The Lord put many details together; the biggest being the borderline miraculous provision of housing. So we unloaded from our trip one day and started packing the next. Our plan is to leave this area on Saturday June 28^th and be in our new home on the evening of Sunday the 29^th. We want to thank all of you who lifted us up in prayer regarding this decision. The emotions are running high in our family; we are excited for the future, yet sad to leave our friends and teammates here in BC. We are thankful for a bigger house, but a bit overwhelmed by packing and reorganizing in our new place. We are anticipating the idea of settling in one area for many years, but dreading the idea of any more change. God is so faithful in the midst of all our turmoil and we want to praise His name!

Thanks to all of you who have sent us mail lately, especially for Joel’s and Abigail’s birthday. We had fun opening it up Wednesday, and Abigail had another little celebration of turning three. If we are still a bit out of touch for a few weeks, I’m sure you can understand why. Our new residence is officially Longview Alberta, and we will be working in a place called Eden Valley reserve, with the Stoney (Nakoda) people. We will keep you as up to date as possible. Feel free to ask us any questions if we can clarify anything for you. Let us know what you’re doing with your summer and how we can pray for you. Amanda for the Sewell’s

Travels in Montana

2008-06-10T08:39:00.002-06:00

Greetings from Montana! We have been on the road the last few weeks and are very thankful for the safe miles covered and the uplifting visits. This past Sunday we were privileged to share what God has been doing in our lives at the Shields Valley Bible Church in Clyde Park, Montana. We are still in that area, but today we will head north across the border into Alberta. We have some “business” to take care of when we cross back into

Canada

, so prayer would be appreciated. Please also be in prayer for us this week as we are asking the Lord to open and shut doors to direct us in where we will be church planting long term. We are looking forward to this time.

Much has happened since we last posted a blog, and it all seems to blur together at this point, yet in the midst of it all many precious memories were made. We are continually encouraged by people’s prayers and the care that is shown to our family. Those of you we were able to see during this mini “deputation”- thanks for taking time to be with us, it was so good to see your face.

As for a little report on our girls; Ruth has taken as many as ten steps at a time, but still seems to prefer crawling (it’s faster) and Abigail’s “husband” now has a name. (See our last blog). She decided that Clancy Boyd was her husband. He is the two year old boy of some good friends of ours. We mothers had fun with that idea. Fellowship with those in the family of God is such a blessing. We will do our best to keep you up to date with all of the transitions coming our way this summer, if things are unclear please feel free to ask questions. May you draw close to Jesus today in all you do.

Amanda for the Sewells

Paul Washer

2008-05-22T10:00:00.002-06:00

This is well worth the 48 minutes of your time. I have watched it and have "chewed" on it for a few days now. Though there are a few things I may not 100% agree with, he does bring out MANY valid points and is very clear.

April Update

2008-05-01T09:06:00.004-06:00

Well, we all know that April showers, bring May flowers… What about April snowstorms? I guess this year we will find out. Today as I write this, we have about 2 inches of snow on the ground. Yesterday was a warm sunny day, with temps in the 60s, I was quite surprised to look out this morning to a winter wonderland. This past month has had it’s share of snowflakes, and long dreary cool days. We have had a few warm days that have almost made 70 degrees, but that isn’t the norm.

Nothing “major” has happened in our lives over the last month. In fact, I (Amanda) haven’t been to town since we came through in early March. So yesterday we made another big run. The only real change has been the addition of a good, small car we were able to get a great deal on ($800). It’s great for “running” to the reserve or to Horsman’s and saves us from using the truck (fuel prices here like everywhere else have “sky rocketed”). We are very blessed by this car as we seek to be wise with the resources God has given us. Our lives have fallen back into a good routine after the travel. I have continued to walk, scrapbook, and participate in other activities with my friends from the reserve. We enjoy being a part of this community and find friendships are developing to yet another level. Joel has been kept busy with various activities, community events, helping neighbors (including pushing a prolapsed uterus back in a cow). Many people are calving this time of year here and we are enjoying the sight of tiny calves next to their mothers. So life keeps marching on, one day at a time. We are learning, at times what seem to be the same lessons over and over. We are grateful for such a patient teacher in our Heavenly Father. His grace and faithfulness amaze my heart.

The girls are doing well! Abigail is in to “pretending” except to her “it’s for real”. Much of this centers around babies and the latest one has been, she has a husband. I asked her what is name was and she said “my kids call him daddy”. So then I asked “what do you call him?” and she replied “hey honey". Ruth proved me wrong and didn’t start walking before she was nine months old, she is developing in other areas though. Her mimicking skills are increasing and she is beginning to wave bye-bye etc. She is also learning the meaning of the word “no” (now the fun begins). I can’t believe our baby is this old.

We covet your prayers for wisdom, as we raise our girls and also in regards to our future. We anticipate a busy month ahead as well. We would love to talk to all of you, and hear what is going on in your lives. Thanks for leaving comments, emails, cards and phone calls. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate you! Love- Amanda & the rest of our Sewell Family

March Blog

2008-04-03T10:52:00.004-06:00

March came in like a lamb and went out like a lamb. We have had early spring here, it really seemed to start in the early part of February and so far we haven’t regressed too much winter since then. Abigail is enjoying the Trumpeter Swans that have been gracing the area with their presence for a few days before heading on their journey.

We have had a busy month with lots of travels. We took my parents back to Kamloops, where they flew out on the 6^th, and spent a few frantic days trying to get all the “big city” shopping in we could and somehow trying to rest at the same time. (We didn’t get much rest). We then traveled on to Calgary, AB where we met and did some traveling with our Field Director to discuss our future, (post-internship) placement. On Wednesday the 12^th we came back west to Golden, BC, to attend InterAct’s Winter Retreat/Workshop. We again had meetings facilitated by Worldview Resource Group and once again (like last fall) we walked away encouraged by what we are learning in missiology. We also got an extra bonus WRG then came back to our area to do an on sight consultation of how we can be more strategic in accomplishing our goals. So now after information overload we find ourselves processing what we have learned and seeking God’s direction for the next step. The next few months are getting busier and busier due to summer and all the activities that come with it. All of a sudden the future is uncertain again and after a few months of security and routine our family faces more changes, and the “unknown”. We covet your prayers as we follow the path God lays before us one step at a time. He continues to pour His grace, mercy, and love into our lives and we can never give Him enough thanks for all that He is accomplishing. It’s truly exciting to follow His guidance in all things.

The girls are doing well, Ruth is pulling herself us all over the place and we are constantly digging things out of her mouth that don’t belong there (usually wood pieces that fall off wood when carried to the porch to the stove). She continues to encourage the rest of us with her easy smile that lights up the whole room. Abigail’s chatter is the most constant sound in our house and she has probably made cards for everyone of you reading this, but somehow they don’t all make it in the mail to you (that’s my fault). She loves to be a part of any “big people” activity and doesn’t miss a thing. The other night our family camped out on the living room floor at Horsman’s house and watched The Sound of Music, when I asked Abigail what her favorite song was she said “I am 16 going on 17” and somehow as cute as it was, it gave me a funny feeling that we weren’t that far away from that being true.

We trust you had a rejuvenating Easter season. We were able to participate in some activities in the community that gave it a special feel. Wishing you all sunny spring warmth! Thanks for caring for us, we sure appreciate you!

Celebrations

2008-03-19T14:31:00.009-06:00

February is a month of celebrations for me. (Flowers, chocolate, cards, and love- what’s not to celebrate?) As I reflex on the last few weeks, I’m reminded of the many reason’s we have to give praise. God is at work in our lives and in lives of the people around us. We often wish things were more cut and dried and easily spotted, but in reality Gods ways of “accomplishing” things are at times unseen (we are learning it just takes time). He is giving us many opportunities for growth in our personal walks with Him, in our marriage and in our team. We are continuing to build relationships in the community, many which have been a great blessing. I attended a birthday luncheon, (a small group of woman in our community get together once a month for a meal and to honour birthdays) for the second time, and was encouraged by the outpouring of cards, and small gifts given to me. I had a great Valentine’s Day (see the story in our upcoming newsletter). Joel has been fishing a few times with a seventy five year old man. This not only has given him opportunity to build credibility, but also gave us some fresh fish for our freezer. We continue to attend community events and spend time with people. At the end of February, my parents, Doyle and Marian Carpenter, were able to visit for about a week. We had a wonderful time showing them life in our neck of the woods. They were here in time to help make my birthday celebration special. We enjoyed a restful day at home, and Joel made us all a great supper including chocolate cake!! One of the other reasons we give praise is for you, so many of you encourage us with cards, care packages, etc. These brighten our day and help us feel connected to friends and family even across the miles. We seem to be behind in our correspondence so if you haven’t heard from us yet, please know we do indeed appreciate all you do. God is so gracious to our family, and we continue to seek His leading and direction in all areas of our lives.

Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and let all those who love Your salvation say continually “Let God be magnified!” Psalm 70:4

January re-cap..

2008-02-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

Wow! It’s Wednesday afternoon and the house is strangely quiet. I ‘m glad for the chance to share, what God has been doing in our lives lately. For not having anything on the calendar in January, it filled up and flew by before we knew it. We have been so aware of God’s grace in our lives lately, as we often struggle with feeling like we are not enough for the task. It seems like in all roles of life from being parents, to being a spouse, a friend, a sibling, a child, let alone in “ministry” we see how much we need God to work in and through us. I’ve been known to quote lately “that if it weren’t for GRACE we might as well not get out of bed” (I’m not usually that fond of getting out of bed anyway). To sum it all up, we are just really thankful for God and who He Is!

God has paved the way to helping us find a niche in this new community. I have been able to start walking with a few ladies and participate in the local Head Start program. There are planned activities for the mom’s through Head Start, one of which happens to be scrap booking! I was so excited for the opportunity to do something I enjoy and be able to hang out with other mom’s. These new activities get me out about twice a week. Joel has also had further chances to meet new people, and was able to go fishing this last week with some guys. (he did bring home a nice rainbow trout). We continue to be our own butcher, and purchased a half of pig that Joel cut up, ground up and packaged. It too is very yummy.

The girls are doing well; both of them changing and growing to fast to keep up. Ruth is sitting up all by herself now, and scooting and rolling around the floor. She also has two new teeth! The girls are the best entrainment we have!

We were very encouraged the end of January by a visit from Dale and Carol Smith, our director (aka boss) and dear friends. It was so good to have the excitement visitors from the “outside” bring. We are also happy to report that the Horsman’s are back home and our team is once again all together. We are excited to see how God is going to continue to use our lives to bring Him glory in this community. Thanks again for everything!

Amanda – for Joel, Abigail and Ruth

Holiday "Wrap-Up"

2008-01-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well, the Holiday Season is over. We have made it through our first Christmas away from family and all the familiar things. We had a good month overall, the Lord blessed us in many ways and as usual we have much to be thankful for.

We have made some fun memories over the last few weeks and thought we would share a few with you. One advantage of living in this area is the availability and price of a Christmas tree. We found ours about 12 feet off the road and Abigail and Joel climbed the fence, cut it down and tossed it in the truck, all in all the entire venture took about 15 minutes from the time we put on our winter gear to the time we took in off again. We had to get a little creative with the placement of our tree due to the size of our house, so it went outside of our window on our screened in porch. In the weeks before Christmas we enjoyed going to a Christmas Carol Sing at the Horsman’s and doing a progressive dinner with our neighbors (Joel was also able to go to a ranch 2 hours from here and help butcher a cow, so we thank God for giving us meat). Both couples that live near us were extra kind to our family, and added a festive spirit to our season. We all had lights on our cabins and over the gate cap, which made my day every time I got to enjoy them. Christmas day we enjoyed breakfast together as a family, and then opened some presents. In the afternoon we had a wonderful dinner with Don and Kim (Steve and Jill are back in Illinois due to a family situation) and enjoyed fellowshipping with them. One of Abigail’s gifts was a sled (that our neighbor made for her) and we have enjoyed pulling her around on it and getting fresh air.
We have had a break from our regular schedule due many activities being put on hold during the last two weeks. God had continued to provide opportunities to build relationships and teach us new things. Next week will find us back on track with the routine.

Since it’s that time of year I had to go back and read our entries from this time last year, I was reminded once again how so much was unknown at this point a year ago. I’m reminded how God’s plan is perfect, and He lays the path before us. This is something we must cling to more than ever, especially on day’s Satan tries to tell us we are wasting time and not “accomplishing” anything. I only hope this year will bring us closer to our Creator and more aware of His plan and purpose in our lives.

Thanks for loving us. Those of you who sent cards and letter, we loved hearing from you, it’s so great to get updates and new pictures of loved ones far away.

Amanda (for Abigail, Ruth, & Joel)

(We realize this may be more for grandparents, but we thought we'd post a little "video" of our Ruth, she's getting big)

December update...

2007-12-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

As I sit to write this entry, it’s early Saturday morning. Joel has left for town and the girls are still asleep. I’m enjoying the quiet and the crackling of our fire. I can’t believe that the days go by so fast. We have had a great month. Things “feel” like home in many ways, but we have been doing a lot of adjusting this past month. We have battled some “loneliness” “homesickness” and even “frustration” at how things are different. Let me pause and say thank you for all the encouragement we receive from you. It’s a wonderful thing to be part of a bigger family that lets you know you are loved and appreciated.

The “what” we do each day can be difficult to describe. Overall we feel that we are sensing the “beginnings” of being accepted in this new community. It is the little things that seem to happen at just the right moment to encourage us to keep pressing forward. Joel has had various opportunities to meet up and develop relationships with individuals where they are at, through their work/life. Examples of this include visiting a logging site and also spending two days helping someone gather cattle. My days are mostly spent with the girls, I’m so thankful to be able to be full time mom and wife. We spend one day a week (normally Wednesday) still coming together as a team (Sewell’s, Gillaspie’s, and Horsman’s) to fellowship, be in the Word and Prayer, and continue to learn and develop the way will work together. The other scheduled events we have are Community Wellness (every Tuesday evening); which is a family oriented night where different activities are taking place simultaneously (i.e. exercise, crafts, games, etc.) and our Sunday morning service that is an avenue for discipleship and fellowship with other believers in the community. Along with these activities we have various opportunities to join in on community events, for example I will be joining Joel in town today to take part in a celebration that is being held for a recent victory in court concerning land settlements. Another highlight of our month has been a fun evening in Williams Lake with other believers; some who used to live in our community but for the time being are in town.

We are doing well as a family. We have been challenged to use this time to set good habits and grow in areas of our spiritual walk. The girls are doing well; they are such a blessing and so much fun. Well I should go and start getting ready for our day. Thanks for taking time to be a part of our lives.

Amanda (for Abigail, Ruth, and Joel)

PS (for those who are interested) Though this new family picture may not show it, our winter has finally arrived, and right now we have over 12” of snow and temps have dipped as low as -24 (F).

Our First Month...

2007-11-06T22:58:00.001-07:00

So much has happened since we last gave you an update. We have been busy with various events and the task of getting settled. I’m going to give a quick report about what we have been doing this last month, but the details will come later in the December issue of our newsletter.

October 14^th we left after the church service for a five hour trip to Kamloops. We had the privilege to attend a first class seminar on Worldview. It was taught by Worldview Resource Group and was a big encouragement to us. It was also a blessing that our “team” was all able to attend this event together. We spent Monday –Friday in “class” most of the day, and spent our evenings shopping or fellowshipping with fellow missionaries. Shopping in Kamloops meant an opportunity to hit the “big” stores like Wal-mart and Costco. We returned home the 20^th.

After a few “normal” days we were off again. We spent three days with our on field “team” Steve and Jill Horsman and Don and Kim Gillaspie identifying our strengths, weaknesses, and team vision.This process will continue on a weekly basis as we plan to meet once a week and continue to grow together as a team.This is vital, as much of what is accomplished in this area is done through modeling.

This past week we attended several events in the community, and Joel was involved in two horse-related demonstration/teaching events.

Most of my time continues to be spent with the girls. They are both doing wonderful. Joel and I are so happy to be here and have life make some kind of sense again. We are anticipating what God is going to accomplish in this place. We are concentrating our efforts on learning, building relationships and more learning. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I’m even more thankful than ever for technology as I try to stay connected, across the miles, to the people dear to my heart. With a grateful heart for you, Amanda for the Sewells

Wood Harvest

2007-10-08T18:45:00.000-06:00

It’s hard to believe we have been here a week, in some ways the time has gone so quickly in other ways it feels as if we have always been here. Tuesday was our first night sleeping in our house. It was wonderful (it’s been 18 months since we’ve been able to call something “our house”). Most of our time this past week was spent unpacking and organizing our things. We were able to get our house livable in time to have the wood cutting team from Bloomingdale Christian Church arrive (keep reading).

We did get the opportunity to attend a community function called Community Wellness. It is held every Tuesday night at the school and is a time of positive fellowship. Various members of the community host different activities; there were guitar lessons, Pilates, a card game, and a craft all happening in different rooms. Joel and I were able to meet so people and just get a feel for how things work. This will be a regular part of our week and time will show what our role will be.

Friday five men arrived around noon, who had just driven 12 hours from Seattle, Washington, and before that had flown from Michigan. They had lunch and immediately went to work. Josh Odell, who we met at FSB, first introduced us to his church family (Bloomingdale Christian Church) and they felt led to be a part of our support team. Then they felt the Lord leading them to come and help us put up wood for winter. Josh, Tod, Bill, Craig, and Randy worked so hard to cut, split, and stack 15 cords of wood at our place and the Horsman’s. The Lord totally blessed their effort, and we had a wonderful time of fellowship throughout their time here. Sunday evening was extra special as we celebrated Thanksgiving (October 8 in Canada) and had a time of reflection. Our first week has been full and we are so thankful for the wonderful people who we are privileged to work along side. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We are having a little difficulty getting our phone hooked up so that limits our communication (please pray for that if you would).

Home Sweet Home

2007-09-30T21:48:00.000-06:00

God has brought us many miles since we last updated our blog. Our trip to the Chilcotin was relaxing and uneventful. We were blessed to spend time with wonderful people along the way who spoiled our family and sent us on our way encouraged for the new chapter in our lives. Much of this time was spent in various places in the very diverse state of Oregon. We stayed with friends in the south eastern, high dessert country (Frenchglen), made a quick stop near Salem to see a college student at Corbin College, spent time at InterAct’s home office (see picture at right) near Portland, and also went to the “beach” to fellowship with a supporting church (Pacific City). We then headed north through Washington, spending our last night in the States near the border. Wednesday the 26^th we entered Canada, receiving our Visitor’s Record without any problems (thanks again for your prayers) and finally arrived in British Columbia. That evening we traveled as far as Cache Creek, spent a night letting it all sink in. The next morning we enjoyed breakfast with some fellow InterAct missionaries and then started the last leg of our journey. We arrived in Chilanko Forks around 4:30 pm (on Thursday) and were welcomed by our team with a celebration dinner (turkey with all the trimmings). It is so exciting to have finally arrived! We are so fortunate to be able to stay with our fellow team members as we get settled into our new home. The last few days we have spent most of our days unpacking our trailer and our boxes, things have gone very smooth thanks to the wonderful help of our team. Our place is starting to look and feel like home. We definitely didn’t arrive too soon, yesterday we awoke to snow. We are so very thankful to have the wood cutting team from Michigan arrive this Friday as winter seems to be just around the corner. This morning we had fellowship with other believers, and tomorrow we plan to go to town to take care of errands (get a drivers license, groceries, and open a checking account). God has blessed us in so many ways, we are so thankful for all the pieces that have come together and allowed us to be here. May God be glorified in all we do, and may He accomplish great things for His name. Our love to all of you,

The Sewell's

And we're off...

2007-09-15T12:56:00.000-06:00

We are posting this blog from Elko Nevada. We realize that it’s been awhile since we have updated you all, and the cry for pictures is finally being answered. Since Ruth was born our lives took a different turn than we expected, most of you are already aware of our tale so I will give a short version. On August 5^th we were blessed with the opportunity to share with the wonderful people of Pinedale Bible Church what God has called our family to. They were a huge encouragement to us and the family of God came around us when I (Amanda) ended up back in the hospitable due to a high fever. The next few weeks our lives were a growing period for all of our family as I gained back strength and struggled to keep nursing Ruth. God did amazing things in all of us during this time and we appreciate your prayers. Our schedule was cleared and we spent many days in the house trying to rest. As I finally started feeling normal again we were able to visit a few people in Wyoming and Colorado. Then the fun of packing and wrapping up loose ends began. Once again we were blessed with tremendous help from many people but especially Joel’s mom in packing, which we desperately needed as much of my time is spent with the wonderful task of feeding and caring for a newborn. We left LaGrange, Wyoming Friday the 14^th with our truck and trailer and everything we own.

As we close a chapter in our lives and finally get to enter the stage we’ve been preparing for, for so long now, we are filled with excitement. We know the road ahead is going to be tougher than anything we can imagine, yet God is always so faithful we chose to trust in Him and His provision for our every need. We are blessed above and beyond just to be called His child, yet He gives so much more. Please rejoice with us as we take the next step.

Our plan now is to take some time as we travel to Chilanko Forks, some time visiting supporters and some time for our family. We will keep you updated on our travels and date of border crossing, our last big hurdle (till we get there). For now we can be reached on our cell phone, and email like usual. And we will be letting you know our new contact information as it changes. Ruth will make sure we get there on time (see picture).

Our family is doing well; I am still not 100% with health, it seems to come and go. Joel is working hard to keep everything together, Abigail is loving being back on the road and all the adventure and Ruth reminds us all about what is truly important every time she flashes one of her “whole face” smiles. Thanks again for caring for our family.

Ruth Elizabeth Sewell

2007-07-27T18:30:00.000-06:00

Ruth was born July 27th, 2007. It was a good day, we went down to Cheyenne for a check-up (before we had stopped for free pancakes since it was Frontier Days they serve them in the morning), and when we got to the Doctor's office, he told us we were dilated 7cm, so we rushed over to the hospital, and about 11:15 am Amanda's water broke, then by 1:06 pm (Mountain time) Ruth entered our world. All is well with both Amanda and Ruth (Amanda did lose a little to much blood, but should be just fine). We are blessed to have some grandparents here to watch Abigail. And to have family there for Ruth's birth.

Some of the important information:

8 lbs-8oz
21" tall

We sure thank you for praying for our family, thanks so much! God answered some real prayers today!

Joel & Amanda

Waiting on God

2007-07-11T11:49:00.000-06:00

Waiting is a huge theme in scripture. Seems as though God wants us to wait on him for most everything we do. That can be tough especially when we don’t really hear God speaking in an audible voice to us. He speaks through us in many ways through fellow believers, and mostly through his written Word. That is of big importance for us as we learn to grow, and understand the “voice” of God.

Psalm 27:13-14 have some good thoughts on waiting, they say “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

We are in a waiting process right now in the Sewell home. We have much ahead and must wait on things to happen. Many of those things we can not control. First is the birth of our 2^nd child. We do not know when that will happen. Amanda is due July 12^th, and we have been waiting for this child to enter the world for almost 9 months now. And so we must wait upon that… That can be rather frustrating, but we realize there is not much we can do to make this baby come early (aside from trotting her on a horse, or going for a drive down a dirt road).

We are back in LaGrange now waiting on that child (look for pictures to come soon). And also waiting on our departure to Canada. We are still a bit short of the final funds we need before we can go, but we are praying and hoping that will be sometime in early September that we can leave. We praise the Lord as our fellow team members have already arrived in BC, and so we are thankful for that, and look forward to joining them soon.

Thanks so much for your prayers for our family.

Week #8 @ MDP

2007-06-22T11:28:00.000-06:00

I can’t impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your watch. Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don’t ever quit. Just keep it simple. You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant. II Timothy 4:1-5 The MESSAGE

This was our final week of MDP (here we are with our mentor's, the Farmers). If we summed this week up in one word it would be “team.” Monday we completed our workshop on personality profiles, and spiritual gifts by bringing in the aspect of team roles and discovering where our natural bents work well in a team situation. This was new and helpful information and we got to see it play out in the rest of our week. We formed teams and through various workshops laid out a plan for a church plant. It was so encouraging and exciting to see all the information we had collected over the last two months come together in a practical hands on way. God really showed us (Joel & Amanda), the hearts the trainees have for the places God has called them to. We are so thankful for our time here and the friendships we have formed. God has blessed our family in many many ways. We have been reminded of this once again as we just shared a service with the MDP group celebrating and reviewing our time together and sharing in the Lord’s supper.

Our family is doing well, gearing up to head back to Wyoming. We plan to leave early Saturday morning and make a few stops along the way. Please keep us in prayer as we travel that we would make it back to LaGrange before the baby is born, and have wisdom in our plans. Thank you for all the interest you’ve shown in our lives. We appreciate your feedback and encouragement. We will continue to keep you updated in the happenings of our lives. Our time here has been so wonderful, and we give Glory to God for allowing us to be here.

Week #7 @ MDP

2007-06-17T15:03:00.000-06:00

I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome. Your burning anger has passed over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. They have surrounded me like water all day long; They have encompassed me altogether. You have removed lover and friend far from me; My acquaintances are in darkness. Psalm 88:15-18

This text describes many Native Youth. What a sobering thought, yet we know how greatly God cares for people who are afflicted. That’s why He has called our family to share His love with First Nation’s (Native American) people. It only takes a quick history lesson to begin to understand why there is so much hurt amongst First Nations people. There are many differences in various tribes of First Nations peoples. Our facilitator this week shared that in his people long before the Europeans came to this land, a prophet spoke of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins he offered. The sad part is instead of hearing the pure gospel message from the bearers of Christianity; Satan used the government and empty ritualistic religion to hide the truth. Many of the First Nation’s people introduction to Christianity was to be ripped away from their families as children and taught how to act like a European, being told that who they were and there culture were heathen and therefore must be changed.

What a far cry from the grace and redemption offered in Christ. It is said that among Canadian First Nation’s only 8% of individuals have been touched by the gospel and that after 50 years of mission work! What an uphill battle to overcome the evil inflicted on aboriginal people in the name of Christ. What can we do to make a difference? Something that was stressed this week and throughout MDP has been the importance of keeping our cups full. How easy it is to get caught up in ministry and forget to fellowship with the Lord. Yet if we are not being filled with the life of Christ how can we give to others? And what is it others need? The truth of the gospel given with the unconditional love of Christ, when we are in Him we can give to those around us.

Let’s look at one more passage of scripture. “And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” Acts 17:26-27 This text reminds us that God is sovereign. He has not forgotten about First Nation’s peoples. He knows their pain and longs to heal.

Thanks for all the love and support you show our family. We are doing well. The ladies blessed us this week with a surprise baby shower; the time is drawing close to when we can all meet this precious babe (July 12th)! We are so thankful for the time here at MDP, its gone by fast and soon we will be moving on. God is so amazing! Praise to Him for His Great Work!!

Week #6 @ MDP

2007-06-08T13:18:00.001-06:00

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. II Timothy 2:2

This week at MDP we got down to some “nitty and gritty” things with the church. There is almost too much information to put into a blog, so we will give some basics. We spent the first three days talking about the indigenous church. Indigenous is being defined as “having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a particular region or environment”. Those are the type of churches that the world needs, equipped with indigenous leaders. If you are a person that goes to church, more than likely, your church is formed on indigenous principals. In which we spent much time in detail talking about. We talked also of other things such as contextualization meaning “the capacity to respond meaningfully to the gospel within the framework of one’s own situation”. This is so very important. All people need to be able to hear the gospel in a way that is relevant to their culture. I’d like to share a quote form a man named Dwight Smith, he says this about the church:

The church exists to glorify God by equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, with the result that every man, woman, and child has the opportunity to hear and understand the gospel and accept or reject Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and that every member becomes actively involved in the completion of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) in foreign lands.

The last two days of the week we spent learning about practical evangelism & discipleship in a native culture. We talked about the II Timothy 2:2 (the verse at the top of this article) principal, and how important that is in the discipleship process. Then we talked about some basic principals for Biblical Church Development as taken from the book of Acts.

It was all wonderful information that we will have to continue to process in the days & months ahead. Especially as we work as a team within the culture we are heading into.

Thanks so much for your prayers, notes of encouragement during this time in our lives. We are so blessed to be here and are thankful for the leadership of MDP, for the quality program that this is.

Week #5 @ MDP

2007-06-02T16:51:00.000-06:00

This past week has been trails week! For Joel that meant eight nights and nine days away from any civilization, mainly canoeing and camping, and being stretched in different areas. He returns this evening so we will have to wait to hear more from him.

Abigail and I had a little different week, but we had some stretching as well. Our group of 4 moms and 12 children (there is one family with seven) spent the week doing mini-trails. Monday was rock-wall climbing day, (Abigail and I didn’t climb). Wednesday morning we all packed up the needed items and went camping. We had a blast, doing some canoeing, cooking over the fire, and just enjoying the beautiful sounds of loons and the full moon. Abigail was a trooper, her favorite attraction was the dirt and rocks, and of course the marshmallows. All the fresh air tired us out so once we got unpacked on Thursday we pretty much took it easy. Friday we did an obstacle course, and then took time to prepare for the rest of groups return. The biggest challenge of the week was for the moms. We were responsible along with the MDP staff to cook and clean up all the meals. It definitely added a bit of business to our schedule, in fact some of the other activities planed for the week, didn’t get accomplished. We were all sure glad to see our cook return last night. In some ways I think this has been the most tiring of all weeks, but we sure made some great memories and became a closer group.

By the way a little side story, our new friends here at MDP with seven children had to leave us this week, right after we had set up camp. They are from Canoe Lake Reserve (north of here) and got a call that the husband’s father had a heart-attack. He was taken to Saskatoon to the hospital, and the wife and children had to pick up the husband from out of the “Trails” and then travel to be with their family. He is scheduled for a by-pass surgery this wednesday. Please pray that He will come to know the Savior.

Today we are celebrating Abigail’s second birthday, which of course is hard to believe. We are so blessed to be her parents. Thanks to all of you for the love you give to each of us. We appreciate you!

Week #5 @ MDP Pictures

2007-06-02T16:41:00.000-06:00

Just a few pictures of Abigail in her favorite attraction!

Week #4 @ MDP

2007-05-26T12:52:00.001-06:00

This week has been a little different for us. I (Amanda) missed class on Monday, because Abigail was fighting off the stomach flu. They had a very good discussion on a book we read titled The Whiteman’s Gospel. Tuesday our workshop was on the impact learning a language can have on ministry. We heard a story in which one word in the Native language spoken at the right time opened the door for an opportunity to do a gospel radio program. Joel and I were both challenged by how much could be gained by if we take time to pick up at least some of language of the people we will be living by. I decided that day that of things most needed to be an effective missionary, using your ears and eyes and being an observer is top of the list. We have so much to learn, which is overwhelming and exciting at the same time. Wednesday we did more book discussion on two more of the required readings, The Grieving Indian and Ministering Cross-Culturally. Thursday our family missed a great workshop on Urban Ministry, which is very relevant when dealing with First Nations peoples due to the migration to urban centers from the reserves. Our family went to Prince Albert for a visit to the Doctor and other errands. This pregnancy is still right on track, which we praise the Lord for. Friday the topic of class was how to avoid becoming a rescuer to a people group that has been forced into being a very dependant nation.

The above is what we have been doing in the classroom; one of the other things we have at MDP is Connections. Tuesday evenings the men get together for discussion and fellowship, they have discussed topics like family life on the field, and what being a “successful” missionary looks like. This past week Joel was able to visit with one of his teacher's from Frontier School of the Bible. His name is Warren Cheek, he is the general director of UIM International. The women’s Connection’s is on Thursday and we shared about life for MKs (Missionary Kid’s), abuse and God’s healing touch, and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. These have been good times for both of us as we are able to "hash out" difficult situations in missions with experienced missionaries.

Abigail has also been learning a lot during her class as well, new songs, bible stories, and even bible verses. She really enjoys her time with Miss Hannah, Miss Tammy and her friend Samuel.

This coming week will be a change of pace for us. Joel and the rest of trainees, minus the other moms, left for Wilderness Trails on Friday, they will be gone for 8 days into northern Saskatchewan. You can be praying for safety and good learning experiences along the way. Abigail and I along with the other children, mothers, and staff will have a fun-filled challenging week as well.

Thanks to all of you who send us love, we appreciate you so much. We are so thankful to have this opportunity to learn and grow here at MDP. May God be Glorified by all of us!

Week #3 @ MDP

2007-05-18T11:02:00.000-06:00

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

Colossians 3:12-14

Do you know the number one reason that missionaries leave the “mission field” today? It is not because of finances, nor is it lack of ability to reach the people you’re working with; it is because of interpersonal relationships. Not being able to get along with other believers that you’re working with on the field. Missionaries are just like anybody else; they have real struggles, and struggle with pride and selfishness just like anybody else.

Some of the things we talked about this week were: Loving Listening, Drawing People Out, Helping Others Solve Problems, Confronting, Receiving Confrontation, Building Personal Trust, Living in Community, Managing our Conflicts, Helping Others Manage Conflicts, Helping Others Grieve well, Managing Stress, Maintaining Margin, The Battle for Moral Purity, and Being an Encourager. These topics took about a week to cover and we were blessed by our instructors who so humbly shared their experiences and facilitated our times together.

We both felt it was so practical as we are heading to work with a team in the Chilcotin, and how badly we do not want to be one of the statistics in missions. We know this information will provide lots of knowledge in the many years to come.

We were also blessed to have our Native Ministry director and his wife here with us as we went through the week; they went through it as well. It was wonderful as we could talk about the future when we get to BC, and some of how it will be once we get there.

Week #2 @ MDP

2007-05-11T15:14:00.000-06:00

We have settled into a nice routine here in Timber Bay. It’s so exciting to have the opportunity to learn about and discuss so many relevant topics. We feel so honored that the Lord has called us to cross-cultural missions.

Monday and Tuesday we discussed the painful issues of abuse and suicide. Though statically these issues are greater among Native peoples than mainstream society, we were reminded that there are no boundaries to where these problems are found. The answer for complete healing is found only in Christ. We discussed practical ways to lead people to healing, and how communities can work together in finding solutions which make a difference. The first step is often being there to listen to individuals tell their story of pain, and responding in love. Though emotionally draining, this time in class brought us even closer as a group as we dealt with the heart.

The rest of the week our sessions focused on cross-cultural communication (one day the guys split wood for the camp). It was fascinating to learn about different communication styles, for example, direct and indirect.

We also learned the power of culture, illustrated best by the following story:

One evening a Native man stopped by to see a missionary, the two men sat in the kitchen in silence for a few minutes, drinking coffee. Then a conversation was started and they discussed things like the weather, fishing, livestock etc. After about 25 minutes the Native man asked the missionary if he could give his family a ride into town to the hospital. The man’s son had swallowed some poison.

At first glance many of us from the “western” mindset would not understand this story. The conclusion is this, certainly the Native man in the story loved his son greatly, but his culture, his very way of thinking, told him that the more important a request is the more you “beat around the bush” in asking. (For a biblical example of this see how Esther approached King Xerxes, Esther 5 and 6). Culture is powerful thing, we can try to understand it and allow it to work for the good of the message of Christ, or we can fight against it. The more we are willing to learn and observe, the more understanding we will have. This could be overwhelming if it wasn’t for the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit guiding us and giving us words to say. There is so much more we discussed, and I’d love to share it all, but hopefully this gives you a taste of what we are learning, and how important it is to learn.

Thank you for your continued interest and prayer on our behalf; we are blessed by how the Lord has brought us all together to bring Him Glory.

Week #1 @ MDP

2007-05-04T17:21:00.000-06:00

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. " Romans 1:21, 24-25

This passage sadly is the way of life for many people in the world today, especially the Native American people of Canada.
We just finished with our first week of MDP (Ministry Development Program) in northern Saskatchewan. One of the questions that we were challenged with at the beginning of our week was “What transformation will take place?” That was asked of us by our directors as we look to the next 8 weeks of studying and listening to the topics that we will cover while here at MDP (more to come in our June newsletter).

This week we spent Monday learning about our unique personality traits and spiritual gifts. It was a wonderful reminder for us both as we were challenged with the thought that God has us here right now on this earth for a reason. And God has made all of His people the way they are to accomplish His purposes here on the earth (that means you & me). After that we spent the next 4 days (Tuesday-Friday) talking about Cultural Spiritism & the Bible. Many Native people have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie”. And so we spent the week talking about that and the way(s) God has given us to combat those lies. We concluded that truth will always prevail, and as our world turns towards relativism, God’s truth will always stand firm.

Thanks so much for your prayers for us as we are here. Please continue to pray for Amanda, we went to the doctor this week (here is Saskatchewan) and all seemed to be well with her. We praise God for the health Amanda has had while pregnant!

More Travels

2007-04-27T22:14:00.000-06:00

April has almost disappeared from the calendar, and we want to share a little bit about our month. We spent most of it in Alaska, visiting friends, updating people on what God is doing in our lives and attending a wonderful wedding of some special friends (Dan & Brie Lathrop). We are so grateful for the opportunity to once again visit this majestic state and for the hospitality we were shown by dear friends. (Thanks so much). We arrived back in Wyoming on the 17^th; our flying went very smooth, which was a huge blessing. We have seen our Doctor here in Cheyenne and got all caught up with the needed tests etc. Having the ultrasound was a special time for our family and we got some wonderful pictures of our baby’s face. Everything looks good, so we are thankful to hear that! Last weekend, the 21^st and 22^nd, we had the chance to travel to Newcastle, WY and present the path God has chosen for our family to a special group of believers at Gateway Fellowship. We were greatly encouraged by this church and their interest in missions. The rest of this last week we have been planning and packing for our trip to Saskatchewan for MDP, and saying more goodbyes to our friends who will soon be graduating from Frontier and moving on. This has been a very brief glimpse of our month, and in some ways it feels like a chapter of our lives is coming to a close and a new one will begin at MDP. We are looking forward to eight weeks in one place and all the learning we get to do. Please continue to pray for us, thanks so much for all the ways you are encouraging and supporting us. We will be giving updates on life and MDP so check back more often for new reading!! We do have contact information for our time in

Canada

, our address till the 23^rd of June will be:

Joel and Amanda Sewell
MDP
General Delivery
Timber Bay, SK S0J 2T0
Canada

Moving

2007-04-01T01:33:00.000-06:00

March 15^th at 8:00 AM our family driving a very large moving truck and pulling our car left Sturgis, Michigan and headed west. Three weeks before this we had no clear idea of how we were moving our stuff. The Lord provided for Dawn (Joel’s mother) to move some of her things she had been storing in Michigan to her new home in Colorado. This worked out very well because we were able to drive her items out and use space on the truck (90% of the truck is her "stuff") for the rest of our things as well. We had a wonderful trip! Abigail really enjoyed the “big truck” and sitting right in the middle where both of her parents could be helpful. It was a special time in which our family just enjoyed being together and the excitement of moving. We made it as far as Lincoln, Nebraska our first day, and after a restful night got back on the road. We arrived about 5:30 PM on Saturday in LaGrange Wyoming. That evening we unloaded our boxes from the truck, and we able to attend our church on Sunday morning and connect with friends. Sunday evening we drove down to Colorado and Monday we were able to help unload the truck with Dawn. All the details of this trip went very well and again we thank all of you who helped in packing, moving, and loading. We are grateful to have so many willing hands available to help. Since arriving in Wyoming we have attempted to get settled (the Lord has provided a furnished home that we can stay in, just our family-yeah!) and enjoy lots of time with dear friends in the area. Joel and I spent time this past week in Colorado Springs focusing in on our marriage, while Abigail stayed with her Uncle Brad and Aunt April in Cody, Wyoming. We have been refreshed in many ways and very thankful for the Lord’s continued grace and working on our lives. Due to a late Wyoming storm we are a day late in retrieving our daughter and flying out to Alaska a day latter than planned, so we have had a little bit of adventure on our hands as well!

I keep thinking about something I wrote in January. As I sat and pondered all the details and confusion of the coming months I remember getting overwhelmed and having no choice but to give all that to the Lord, and I want to pause right now and give Him the Glory. He has orchestrated every detail in a way that works out perfectly. (Not always the easiest or most fun in our mind, yet hindsight shows us it was the best) As we look ahead to the next few months I see more busyness and moving around and lots of unknown details. And yes, we are tired; we’d be lying to say otherwise. But we rest in this: We can trust the Lord to be our strength and to work out the unknown details. He is faithful and we rejoice in Him.

Thanks for all the love you’ve shown to our family, we appreciate you!

What We’ve Been Doing

2007-04-01T01:30:00.000-06:00

Greetings from Wyoming! For all you faithful blog readers, sorry for the long space between new postings; since we last left a message our lives have accelerated to an even faster, hectic rate.

February began in a whirlwind. We had lots of wonderful opportunities to share in home meetings and we were also soaking up time with friends and family in Michigan because we knew our time there was coming to an end. We were truly blessed to have so many precious moments with the people who have laid the foundation of our lives. Thanks again to those of you that took time to be with us and opened your homes so we could share about what God is doing in our lives.

March looked much the same way as February only more intense as the time grew closer to leave for Wyoming. We also spoke in two churches, which included to quick trip to Ohio, and a Sunday morning west of Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was a blessing to meet new faces and see new excitement for what God in both of these gatherings of believers. The other time taker was packing, and organizing our things so we could move smoothly. Since we are moving into Canada our things need to be labeled well and itemized to help the border crossing happen with ease, we also want to take all our things the first time so we don’t have to pay tax latter.

From all these moments we have many stories we would love to share with you but for the sake of eyes we will highlight a few:

At the beginning of March we were able to meet with fellow InterAct missionaries Dale and Carol Smith, (see picture) for a long breakfast. Dale fills the position of Canada’s Native Ministries Director (which means he’s our boss) and we also have the privileged of being mentored by this couple.

We have also managed to have a couple check ups for the baby, that have shown everything is going well and right on schedule. We are all growing more excited as the time draws closer.

This was busy time for us, yet the Lord provided strength, and health, and rich fellowship. We are so thankful to all of you who made it special and grateful to the Lord for all His provision. May He get the Glory!!!

What is in store for the future?

2007-01-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Lots of things have been happening in our lives since the 1^st of the year. We praise God that we are currently around 66% for our support level, and so that has been an encouragement to us. After spraining his lower back, Joel has found healing, which makes getting around much better.

We were also able to meet with our team that we will be working with in Canada. We spent about 4 days in January with them, getting to know each other better. The missionaries that are in Canada came down to the states and we were able to go to Wisconsin and stayed with another couple who are raising a support team to go to BC as well. What a wonderful time as God is truly pulling together a team to reach indigenous people in Canada. Abigail also got to where a piece of cheese on her head for the first time.

Many people have asked about the future what is in store, so we would like to post somewhat of a schedule of the next few months, this is a tentative schedule (God could change it at anytime)… Please also see our web-site for dates on speaking engagements when we will share about our ministry. www.sewellsonline.com/schedule

February 1^st-13^th~We will be in southeast Michigan (Sturgis Area).
February 14^th-March 2^nd^~We will be in Oakland County area in Michigan.
March 5^th- March 18^th/19^th (Approximately)~We will be in southeast Michigan packing all of our stuff to move back to LaGrange, Wyoming.
March 19^th-March 31^st~We will be in Wyoming & Colorado.
April 1^st-April 17^th^~We will be in Alaska for the wedding of Joel’s good friend Dan Lathrop.
April 17^th-April 25^th~We will be back in Lagrange, Wyoming.
April 29^th-June 23^rd~We will be at MDP in Timber Bay, Saskatchewan. http://www.imcomissions.net
June 23^rd-?~We will be traveling back to LaGrange, Wyoming.
July 12^th (Approximately)~Amanda’s tentative due date for our 2^nd child!!!

Sometime after that we hope to get to Canada. We have to be “released” from the home office in Boring, Oregon, providing that we are at 100% of our monthly support level.

Some things to be praying about:

That God would be given glory through this time of change in our lives!
We will find a way to get all of our stuff from Southeast Michigan to LaGrange.
That MDP will be a good time of learning and that we will be moldable to the adjustments that we need to make in our lives.
For Abigail in all the transitions she makes, all the “hi’s & “bye’s”, we hope that she will still be able to attach herself to people.
That God would continue to raise up a support team as we go to minister to indigenous people of Canada.

Thanks so much!, again we ask you to let us know how we can pray for you!!!

Our Christmas '06 Season

2006-12-31T13:05:00.000-07:00

The beginning of December found us packing up and traveling back down to Sturgis, Michigan, where we dove into the busy Holiday season. Our first Christmas get-together was December 16^th, when my Great-Grandpa Carpenter’s descendants gathered to celebrate the birth of Christ.

We also spent Christmas Eve with my dad’s family and Christmas day with my moms. Both days were full of special memories that I am tucking away for years to come. I am so thankful for family that understands the true meaning of why we have Christmas. I find myself more thankful than ever for the gift of Christ. The time flew by as I tried to soak up as many precious memories as possible. Joel undertook a Christmas project which kept him busy as well. We had acquired a picture of his late Grandpa Mohritz in his younger years hunting in Wyoming, so we made copies and Joel made oak frames to put them in for all the grandchildren. They turned out wonderful and it has been a blessing to see the reactions of the family. The day after Christmas we traveled back to Oakland County to spend the remainder of the Holiday season with Joel’s family. Joel’s ten year class reunion was held December 27^th, so we were able to attend that. It was a good night in many ways, a good reminder to us of how much we all need Christ. His mom is in town from Colorado and it has been great to see her. We will spend New Years Day together with Joel’s family. One of the highlights of this Christmas is the joy of watching Abigail experience it all, she has learned what the word “presents” mean, and we hope she is learning about who Christ is as well. God is continuing His work in our lives as he prepares us for the future He has called us to. As we look into the New Year it is very uncertain for us, we don’t know at all what it holds, and though that is true for everyone, we don’t even have the luxury of pretending to have a plan, so we continue to trust that God does have a plan and we will know what it is in His perfect timing. Please continue to pray for us, we need His Truth to penetrate our hearts, and change us so we can be His light to all. May you trust Him for your 2007!

Amanda- For the Sewells!

Ramblings

2006-12-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up to our first real blanket of snow, which in some parts of the country wouldn’t have even counted, but here in Michigan it was enough to be considered ground cover. Since a week ago it was warm enough to go to the zoo and actually get warm walking around, winter arrived suddenly for us.

For Abigail it was her first real look at snow. We bundled up and went outside to make tracks through it. She of course had a blast, and I was struck with the joy of experiencing something totally new through the eyes of a child. When we got back inside she wanted to show her doll the snow out the window. It’s so great to be completely entertained and happy with something so simple. Today my thoughts are simple and maybe even not that organized to a point, but that’s the beauty of a blog we can share whatever is on our hearts, you of course can chose to read it or not!

Even though this is a little past the holiday my thoughts go to thankfulness. We were reminded in our Thanksgiving Eve service what an incredible love God has for us. The message was taken out of Psalm 139, very meaningful for me as I think of our precious baby being knit together in my womb by the very hand of the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. I am awed, humbled blessed and yes thankful. No matter what comes our way in life God is enough to give us reason for thankfulness, to give us hope, peace and even joy. When we stop and consider who He is and what He desires for us, how can we not be overcome with those things I just mentioned? Words do not fully express what God does in my heart, but today I want to give Him praise for He is so worthy of it and I am often so neglectful in giving it. Lately my only prayer seems to have been “God give me strength to get through the next hour till I can take another nap” so today I’m even thankful for feeling like a semi-normal human being again (as I am pregenant).

Can you Praise God now? I hope so, I hope that with this reminder your heart will sing to its Maker and you will in turn be blessed.

Love,

Amanda

The Aroma of Christ Among the Nations

2006-11-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

I stole this title from an article I recently read from a man by the name of John Piper. It challenged me and I would challenge you to read it, it is quite lengthy, but worth it in my humble opinion (The Aroma of Christ Among the Nations). Some of the things that personally challenged me as I read through it were the “Heart Breaking” and “Rejoicing Side” of Missions. Piper exegetes a passage from 2 Corinthians 2:12-17. In that he comes to these conclusions:

The Heart Breaking side of Missions:
...some people smell the sacrificial love of Christ in the life of a missionary and it only smells like death. They hear the gospel and all they hear is death. They look at the cross and all they see is death. They see no life. No hope. No future. No joy. And so they turn away. And if they turn away forever, they die. They are the perishing. The smell of death leads to death. That’s the heart-breaking side of missions. They are people who don’t believe. They don’t see Christ as precious. They don’t see his suffering as a treasure. They don’t smell his death for sinners as the sweetest fragrance in the universe. It’s not a satisfying fragrance. It’s simply the smell of death.

Verse 16: “. . . to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”

The Rejoicing side of Missions:
Those who are being saved smell the death of Christ as the aroma of life. They see in his death the substitute that they so desperately need before God. The Son of God dying in their place is the fragrance of life. So they don’t turn away. They believe him and receive him and embrace him and treasure him and they live—forever. Smelling Christ as the aroma of life gives life.

These are tough conclusions to come to! But it is my opinion that they are truth! Some may not choose the wonderful reality of Christ, and in that they are eternally condemned, some do, and so in that they recieve a wonderful inheritance. What a serious decision God has given us to make.

As I ponder these thoughts of Piper and of Paul, I think of our (Amanda and I) desire to not only make Christ known in an area of Western Canada, I think also of the life that God wants us to be living right now! For those who don't know, we are going to British Columbia to spread the good news of Christ with First Nations people.

We are trying to build a team to go do that! It's tough though. It feels as though it is a noble thing to do with one's life, (to reach people with the Gospel of Christ). There is a dying and hurting world out there, and sometimes we all (including Amanda and I), get caught up in our little corner of the world and don't think of making Christ known where He is not known. But with life there are so many struggles, and expectations that we face each day. There are the struggles and trials of raising a child in a way that brings glory to God, along with that the struggles of sin and our flesh that we battle, as we learn to live as one. Along with that, the struggles that all people face of finances, keeping a car running, what the next meal is going to be.

I am realizing the balance it takes to make Him known. Piper concludes his article with this thought of Paul:

Who is sufficient for These Things?
He said in 2 Corinthians 1:12 and Romans 1:5 that he carries out this very ministry by the grace of God. He is not sufficient—you and I are not sufficient—in ourselves. No missionary feels sufficient. But 2 Corinthians 3:5 says, “Our sufficiency is from God.”

So the utterly crucial question for many of you, as you have prayed and thought about giving your life, or a substantial part of it, to missions, is: Can I do this? Can I bear this weight of being the aroma of Christ in some new place? By God’s grace, you can.

With all the struggles of everyday life and, it can be done, yes it can but only by the grace of God. May His grace bring you to a place that you realize all you need is in Christ, and to a true understanding of the Cross and the wonderful sacrifice that was done there so that we may truly live.

Thanks for taking the time!!

Beauty in Death

2006-10-08T15:34:00.000-06:00

Fall has begun its work here in Michigan the reds, oranges, and yellow are appearing everywhere. To see the bright colors reminds me that out of death comes beauty. As the plant life changes and begins to die the glorious display is revealed. My prayer is that moment by moment I will chose to die to self so the Lord’s beauty can be seen in my life. For only in His power and greatness and love will any act done by me have any meaning in eternity.

Romans 11:36

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

My only response is AWE! Which prompts me to PRAISE Him, Will You?

I’m writing this today from my parents, we have been in the area for almost three weeks and I’m finally feeling organized. You would think by now that we would be better at adjusting to all the moving around. We have spoken in two churches since arriving in the area and have one more this Sunday. It’s been a blessing to see old faces and meet new ones. We have enjoyed connecting to the people around us. To be totally honest the last few weeks have not been easy, Joel and I have both struggled with discouragement and just plain being overwhelmed. I’m not sure what happened along the way, maybe we finally learned some much needed lesson, or just made the decision to obey…. I can’t tell you for sure, but I can tell you God is FAITHFUL and He was working all along. Today I’m thankful to report a renewed sense of peace and purpose in the task God has set before us. Our marriage is stronger, our family is growing (in the emotional sense not in numbers), and I want to take the time to give God the Glory and to thank you for your prayers!!!!!

That’s really all that’s new with us, we are heading back to Oakland County the end of next week, and we are excited to see and share with all of you in person! For those of you we haven’t connected with lately in Michigan or any where for that matter, give us a call, or send us an email. We truly love to hear how life is going and how we can pray for you! Whatever your situation is today chose to TRUST,

HE IS THE FAITHFUL GOD!

Amanda For The Sewell’s

A Few Days of Down Time

2006-09-15T12:46:00.000-06:00

Since arriving back from Alaska on August 18^thwe have continued our whirlwind schedule. We have mainly used this time to reconnect with family and attempt to relax a bit. The first week we spent in the Sturgis area, once again getting settled in at Amanda’s parents, visiting friends and even attending Amada’s five year class reunion. The 24^th of August we drove to the Rochester area to visit Joel’s family. After a few days there we went further north to Lewiston, Michigan, where Joel’s dad’s family have cabins on Snyder Lake. This was a great time for us! We were able to go swimming, jet-skiing and best of all see Abigail enjoy her cousins. As well we went to Joel’s counsin’s wedding in Washington Twp. That was a joy to see as they get their lives started together.

Now Labor Day has passed and we are gearing up for the next phase of life for the Sewells. We will be now be focusing our time on building our support team, and establishing a “normal” lifestyle after being on the road for so long. This will still be some what challenging because we are basing out of two areas, Sturgis and Oakland Township (north of Rochester, Michigan). In Oakland we are staying with Joel’s aunt and uncle, and Joel already has a job working for a landscaper. In the Sturgis area (about 3 hours from Oakland) we will with Amanda’s parents, where Joel also has a job. There we will mainly be working to share with churches and individuals that are interested in joining the team of people reaching the Chilcotin.

We are speaking at the following churches:

September 17^th-Sturgis Missionary Church in Sturgis

September 24^th-Locust Grove Mennonite Church in Burr Oak

October 8^th-Wasepi Mennonite Chapel in Wasepi

October 8^th-Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Rochester

Thank you for your interest in our lives and please feel free to contact us, we would love to see you face to face if that is possible. We are thankful for this time to be surrounded by people that care for us, and trust that the Lord will allow us to go to the Chilcotin in His perfect time. Our desire to go serve these people grows daily, please pray for us to be what He wants us to be and where He wants us be at all times.

The Last Frontier

2006-08-15T21:44:00.000-06:00

Our time in Alaska is reaching its end. We have had a wonderful experience and as usual time went way to fast. A little review of what we have been up to, since our last post! Sunday, July 30^th we shared at Glacier View Bible Church, located near Victory. We had a problem with our media presentation, but were very encouraged by the message the Pastor gave and people’s interest in our lives. So all in all it was a very good morning. Our second week at Victory we were able to visit more old friends and connect with some new. Joel’s speaking at chapel for the campers went smoothly. We were once again blessed to see the Lord at work in kid’s lives through Joel’s messages and camp in general.

Saturday, August 5^th we left camp just like we arrived, on the bus, and got off in Palmer. We spent the next several days with our friend Dan Lathrop and his family, which was a lot of fun for all of us. And Joel got to help his good friend Marv Den Bleyker stack the logs on his new house. Monday and Tuesday we were able to partake in some of InterAct’s Alaskan Field Conference. Even though we are serving in Canada, this was a great opportunity to meet part of the InterAct family and hear what is new in the life of the mission in general. We were so encouraged by our time at the conference. It reaffirmed that InterAct is an organization that we are excited to be apart of.

Tuesday evening we drove back into Anchorage, and spent Wednesday catching up and getting reorganized. Thursday the 10^th, after Joel went fishing for Salmon (the Silvers were running) we drove down to Homer. We stayed with Ruth Sensenig, a friend from my Alaska Bible Institute days. Joel spent most of his time in Homer catching fish (see Halibut picture), something he didn’t have a lot of time for when he lived in Alaska. I was able to visit friends I had made while attending ABI (Alaska Bible Institute). Saturday evening we drove back up to Anchorage, were we are continuing to meet with friends and reconnect. What a blessing it is to have friends that you may not see for years and yet you can sit down and share life with them and connect in the Lord. We are VERY blessed to have people like that in our lives.

Thursday, August 17^th, close to eleven p.m. Alaska time, we fly back to Michigan. Please be in prayer that our flight goes smoothly! We are looking forward to connecting with our friends in Michigan. Once again we are thankful for all the CONNECTING we are able to do with fellow believers here in Alaska. It is what makes life rich and full of flavor. If you got time, please let us know how you are doing. Let’s keep each other lifted up in prayer and remember we fight not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12), but against an enemy out to destroy all those who call God their Father, and Jesus their Savoir. Praise the Lord we know the battle is won and may that truth spur us on to run the race harder. Amanda (For the Sewell’s)

North to Alaska

2006-07-28T15:33:00.000-06:00

Joel and I realized it’s been a long time since we given an update. I thought I had done one a week ago, but I guess it never left my thoughts and materialized on paper. So it’s time to catch you up!

We left Texas as planned on Sunday July 16^th at about 5:30 PM; we drove straight through to Michigan and arrived somewhere around noon on Monday. It went GREAT, thanks for all your prayers. Abigail pretty much slept for the whole time, with very little cry time. Joel was able to drive the majority of the way, with myself filling in when needed. Monday, Tuesday and most of Wednesday, were spent getting settled at my parents, which will serve as home base till we move to British Columbia. Wednesday evening we connected with some friends and family that won’t be in Michigan when we return. On Thursday morning we got to participate in a Carpenter Cousin’s meeting to pick out some of our Grandparents things, since they have sold their house. About 2:00 PM we left for Chicago to catch our plane. We finally arrived in Alaska about 12:00 AM, Alaska time, (which is 4:00 in morning in Michigan). But again things went GREAT, prayer is powerful, Abigail slept most of the flight and Joel and I were even able to catch some rest.

Friday morning we woke up semi-rested in Alaska!!! The first thing I realized when I stepped outside is that Alaska has its own smell. It is good to be able to visit again. We spent the next two days able to relax a little and even got to see my cousin Karla before she flew back to Michigan (she was in Alaska for the summer). Sunday we were able to present at Sand Lake Baptist Church. Joel was the youth pastor there while he lived in Alaska five years ago. It was good to see old friends and be able to share how the Lord is working on our lives. We hope to have some good contacts from that time as we sure love and appreciate those people.

Monday morning found us on a bus full of campers bound for Victory Bible Camps. We arrived and got settled into a wonderful cabin that we get to stay in for a total of two weeks! Joel is the evening speaker, every night, but other than that we don’t have a set schedule. Joel spends his time studying and he also hangs out with the kids a lot. I have been able to relax, which is so nice. The Lord has been working in kids lives this week and it’s so awesome to get to be a part of that (we’ve been able to see some kids come to know Christ as Savior). We are so excited to be where God has called us to be. There are so many stories we could tell of how the Lord has blessed us in just the last week, but I’m running out of space. Thanks for being a part of our journey. –Amanda (for the 3 of us).

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2006-07-15T18:49:00.000-06:00

Well I’m writing this entry from Texas. Since leaving LaGrange we have gone north, west, back east and now we are south. It’s been a lot of fun, and we are blessed so much by everyone’s hospitality and kindness. We have been on the road for almost two months now and only two of those nights were spent in a hotel.

On Wednesday the 5^th of July we left the St. Francis, Kansas area to drive to Whitewater, Kansas (near Newton). We had visited this area 3 years ago on our honeymoon and it was so wonderful to be back. We stayed with Jonathan Wiebe’s family (Joel and Jon became good friends at Victory Bible Camp), but we also knew other people from this area that we met at Frontier and also Victory. Several people expressed interest in joining the support team, which is so encouraging. Sunday after church we had a good Mennonite meal then we headed south to Texas. We arrived in Weatherford about 9:30 at night pretty exhausted, but glad to have made it. We are staying with our friends, Clint and Ashley Weaver (who we met in LaGrange) and their three adorable girls.

This week has been a lot of fun for the whole family! Joel has been getting up with Clint at 5:30 am to be the heat and they have been able to ride and rope almost enough to satisfy the hunger, Abigail is enjoying the company of other children and I have gotten to swim, relax and have girl talk. Once again it has been nice to be in one place for a longer period of time. Our plan is to leave for Michigan Sunday the 16^th late afternoon and go the whole 18 hours to my folk’s house. We will just be in the Sturgis area for a few days and then Friday the 21^st we catch our plane to Alaska. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us during our travels. Though traveling has its stresses we have had a great time and feel so blessed to be able to interact with all the wonderful people we met along the way. The team that will enable us to go to the Chilcotin has started to come together and that is exciting to see God do. Thanks again for your interest in our lives. -Amanda (We had to include a picture of Joel & Clint roping).

Greetings from Kansas

2006-07-04T18:40:00.000-06:00

Today is the 4^th of July; I can’t believe how fast the summer is going. Our travels have gone well. It’s definitely hotter the further south we get! Since leaving Miles City, Montana on Tuesday the 28^th, we have seen a lot of people. Our first stop was Busby, Montana the home of Reuben and Diana Busenitz (Jen Boyd’s parents). We had a great time of fellowship that was enjoyable and also challenged us to keep our eyes on eternity. Friday the 30^th we drove down to LaGrange with a few stops to say “hi” to friends along the way. We stayed the weekend at our friends Dave and Wendy Stiegelmeier, who are heading into their senior year at Frontier School of the Bible (where Joel went to school). Saturday the 1^st of July was spent taking care of business, we had a months worth of mail to read! Sunday, we were able update our home church about our last 6 weeks and then we headed for Kansas to visit Jake and Joy Stroh, friends we knew from Frontier. It’s great spending time with old friends and it’s fun to see Abigail play with kids her own age. We are having fun celebrating the holiday, yesterday spent the afternoon on the lake in a boat so we are all a little red. Wednesday we will drive to the Whitewater, Kansas “area” to see Jonathan Wiebe and the rest of that clan. We are fortunate to see how God is blessing our journeys. We send regular prayer updates, and if you are interested in receiving them, send an e-mail to us at: joel.sewell@interactministries.org

Meet Us In Montana

2006-06-27T13:33:00.000-06:00

My apologies to those who check this often, we have been out of touch with internet access or way to busy to write. Since we haven’t written in two weeks, I will try to give you a quick update of what we have been up to. After visiting some friends in Yelm, Washington (near Seattle) we left Tuesday, June 13^th for Montana. It was our longest day yet this trip. It was a fourteen hour trip, with lots of different scenery. At about 10:30 P.M. we arrived at Bridger and Jen Boyd’s in Wilsall, Montana. We were able to stay there for the next week. They are friends we know from Frontier and have an adorable one month old boy. We were able to visit them and Bridger’s parents who manage a beautiful ranch. It was a great time of fellowship and it was so nice to be in one spot for a while. Sunday the 18^th we shared briefly in Shields Valley Bible Church in Clyde Park, Montana. Tuesday the 20^th we drove to Cody for some family time with Brad & April Ruckert (Amanda’s sister). We also had a chance to reconnect with some old friends that have a heart for Native ministry. Thursday the 22^nd found us back on the road and headed east for Miles City, Montana. Pat and Lori Linger graciously allowed us to come stay with them and share at the Ismay Community Church, where Pat is the Pastor. Their son Ty is a friend of Joel’s and they both graduated from Frontier this year. Ismay is a small community east of Miles City and they have a wonderful community church. They meet at 8:30 AM to beat the heat. The church building is around 90 years old and it is in beautiful shape, there is something special about those old country churches. The people were very welcoming and encouraging. One of the perks of this time in our lives is meeting so many great Christian people in all areas of the county. Praise the Lord!!! We are so thankful for the way He is blessing us in so many ways. I wish you all could experience this journey with us, it’s amazing. Thanks for keeping in touch with us.

The Pacific Coast in Oregon

2006-06-11T18:46:00.000-06:00

What an amazing week! Monday we drove ten hours from Chilanko Forks to Bellingham, Washington were we stayed with Stan and Ginny Gillespie. Tuesday after a great breakfast we headed down to Boring, Oregon, with a short stop at the Warner’s in Yelm, Washington. It was great to be back at InterAct’s home office, Joel and I both felt like we were seeing family. We had various written and oral tests Wednesday and Thursday that we did as a part of our final interview process. Friday morning we got packed up and headed towards the Pacific Coast. We stayed that night in Tillamook, Oregon at a hotel for some family time. Saturday we drove down the coast to Pacific City where we were scheduled to speak on Sunday. Joel’s friend from Frontier (Zach Canady) dad is the pastor at Pacific Coast Bible Church, and they invited us to come share our ministry. Sunday morning we shared in their Sunday School hour. It went great; the people were so welcoming and encouraging. The couple we stayed with this weekend have an interest in missions and were very hospitable (as well they had an awesome view of the Pacific Coast from their house). We have much to be thankful for and are pumped up for the next leg of our journey. God is taking care of every detail in amazing ways. We are heading to Wilsall, Montana next to be with friends and share at Shields Valley Bible Church.

The Britany Gathering

2006-06-08T00:13:00.000-06:00

I have been wanting to share about our awesome weekend since Sunday night, but haven't made the time to do so. I was doing some reading in Psalms today and came across the old familiar verse Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" I know this verse is often misunderstood, but it reminded me of some of my old "dreams" that are now coming true in some ways in my life. As a child I always wanted to live hours from any major city, I also had a fascination with Native culture. This last week I got to experience both, which is just a preview of what our future will hold. Friday evening we drove about two hours south-west of Steve and Jill Horsman’s (Chilanko Forks) to a place called Henry's Crossing. We arrived about ten an night, and were supposed to meet up with a group coming in on horses. I'll spare you all the details, but with a little bit of adventure we finally had the horses taken care of and tents up for everyone by about three in the morning. That evening is a story in itself and not really the point of this blog. So anyway the next morning, we did sleep in, the fun begins. First we learned why the Chilcotin people even had this gathering together. Basically this gathering started about fourteen years ago and was done in protest of a certain lumber company and how they were logging the land. The place that we had gathered was called the Britany triangle (hence the name Britany gathering). They are still battling all the details in court and every year they get together to celebrate and remember. We got to see some parts of the Chilcotin culture first hand like singing and dancing (see picture). We also got to taste some traditional foods like moose jerky and ban cook (fry bread) but done on a stick over the fire. Moose jerky is great for teething babies. The best part of all was when Saturday night we stayed up around the camp fire and hung out with some new friends (who are Chilcotin). We had a blast just talking and laughing and enjoying the outdoor night. Sunday was a long day because we had to break down camp and take everything back home, but it was worth the weekend of new experiences. We were so thankful for this opportunity and it has given us a new sense of urgency to raise support and come back to the Chilcotin to share Christ.

A Little Bit About Our Week

2006-06-02T18:14:00.000-06:00

Well it's Friday the day we were scheduled to leave Chilanko Forks, but we our still here and plan to go camping for the weekend. The new plan is to leave Monday early in the morning and drive all day to Bellingham, Washington. Staying the weekend will give us a good opportunity to meet more people and see the culture firsthand. More about that latter. For now I want to catch you up on our week. Monday and Tuesday slowed down a little, we were able to really relax, (which was nice). Wednesday we had a few projects to help out Steve and Jill. Thursday got busy as we started getting ready for our weekend, and today was too! Tonight we are going out camping (we get the camper b/c we have Abigail) and coming back Sunday morning. We will be at a First Nations gathering which will be a neat experience. Some of the highlights of the week are:

We met quite a few non-native people in the community.
We had a great talk with Steve and Jill giving us more insight and information.
Abigail took her first steps on Monday and has been walking a little more everyday, Yeah!

Today is Abigail's birthday and she is going to have birthday cake while camping. Thanks for reading!!

Our First Look at the Chilcotin Region

2006-05-28T22:49:00.000-06:00

It’s Sunday May 28, 2006, and we are staying at Steve and Jill Horsman’s at the Redstone Reserve. We left Cody, Wyoming at 5:30 A.M Thursday. We drove about four hours to see Bridger, Jen and Clancy Boyd in Wilsall, Montana. We visited, had lunch and we’re back on the road again by 2:30. We drove till 9:00 P.M. and got a hotel in Spokane WA. Friday morning we decided to try to make it all the way to Chilanko Forks in one day. We had a long but good day. Abigail did a great job in the car, sleeping most of the time. We drove through a lot of mountains and had rain on and off all day. We did hit a couple patches of hail, and saw one car go off the road in front of us, but the Lord protected us. We finally arrived about 8:30 Friday evening. The last couple of days have been giving us a little taste of what life is like for the missionaries who work with First Nation people. We have a lot of processing to do with all the information we are gathering during this time. Praise the Lord today for His Goodness!

The Journey Begins

2006-05-25T22:54:00.000-06:00

It’s hard to believe we’ve been moved out for a week. Our original plan to be moved out of our house in LaGrange by Tuesday the 16^th didn’t quite work out. So we spent one last night in our house without pj’s or sheets on our bed and finished up and left on Wednesday. We got all our boxes and some furniture in our trailer which is parked with our truck in La Grange, in a empty quonset hut the Lord provided. The rest of our furniture is stored in a pole barn also provided by the Lord. He is so AMAZING!! Since leaving LaGrange on the 17^th we spent several days with the Chamberlain family. They are good friends of ours that live on a ranch near Douglas, Wyoming. It was so refreshing to be able to relax after all the stress of packing etc. Saturday the 20^th we headed up to Cody to visit my sister and her husband, Brad and April. Again it’s been nice to be able to connect with family and relax. The Lord provided work for Joel for a couple of days, which is a huge blessing. We are so encouraged to see how the Lord has taken care of us. We are so thankful to Him for His Grace on our lives. It becomes more apparent every day that without Him we are nothing. When I sit and reflex the way He works and who He is, I’m awestruck!!! May I encourage you today to believe His Word. Whatever situation your in, He is trustworthy! The next step in our plan is to head to British Columbia and spend about a week in the Chilanko Forks area. It’s exciting to get a chance to see firsthand what it’s like there. We plan to leave Cody early tomorrow morning and tackle the 20 some hour drive. We do have a little detour in Montana we need to make to see the Clancy Wade Boyd, born last week to our friends Bridger and Jen. We hope to make it to the Horsman’s by Friday. We will keep you updated along the way!!

Psalm 27: 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Graduation

2006-05-06T20:37:00.001-06:00

We've been experiencing some changes in our household lately. We have been blessed in so many ways here are a few:

A good friend of Joel's is going to watch his guns while we are raising support.
A friend from school took some stuff to Michigan for us since we can not haul it in our little car.
We have most of our house packed and have had help from Joel's Mom and Grandma.
JOEL GRADUATED FROM SCHOOL! DEBT FREE! (that was one of our biggest goals with going to Bible school, not incurring any debt).
We wanted to enter ministry debt free and we will! Praise be to God!!!
We sent out our first letter (not to Michigan people yet, we are waiting till we get closer to being in Michigan if you were wondering).

Thanks so much for your prayers! We have started to hear some response from people who are wanting to support our ministry (both through prayer & financially), and we praise God for that!!!

Home Church

2006-04-24T15:07:00.000-06:00

We shared yesterday in our home sending church (Hawk Springs Community Bible Church) here in Wyoming. We had the whole service, it went really well, and we made some more good contacts with people who are interested in this ministry. The church had an annual meeting after our presentation and voted to support us as well. We have a long road ahead for building up this team, but are excited about having good quality people who are interested in this ministry we are heading towards in the Chilcotin.

Please also see our schedule it is on the ministry page on our web-site. If you interested, let us know, we'd love to stop by and see you!

Our First Appointment

2006-04-10T08:55:00.000-06:00

We shared our ministry last night at LaGrange Bible Church here in Wyoming. Things went well! We got to talk with alot of people about missions. It was a real encouragement to our hearts! We are hoping to share more in other churches, please if you know of any churches or people who would be interested in our ministry let us know! We would love the opportunity to contact them!

Our First Supporter...

2006-03-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

We are praising God for our first committed support. We have not really began to really start building this team for going to British Columbia, but a church has already said that they are willing to support us. We thank God so much! I think now of the words of Hudson Taylor, former missionary to China. He said, "God's work, done in God's way, will never lack God's supply." We praise God for this encouragement!

2006-03-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

Joel, Amanda, & Abigail Sewell

Welcome

2006-03-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is something we are trying out to keep people informed of what is going on with our Ministry, and as well the support raising process. If you have not already, please check out our web-site, it is www.sewellsonline.com It has some information on there as well. Thanks!!