CO: Tuesday

An update from Trisha Rindels, Director of Family Ministries:

We are in our second day as I am writing this. There are churches from AZ, IA, and TX here. It has been great getting to know the other students and leaders! Everyone is working really well together. There are four groups and our students are split between two of them. So we get to serve alongside students from other churches. It has been a great experience so far and we have been challenged to show God's love in every way as we serve the people of Cortez. 

Josh, Matt, Nathan, and I have served with Kids Club and at a local nursing home over the past two days. The first day was a challenge. We were reminded of how much every person needs the love of Christ and that this week we have the opportunity to show that to them no matter what. The highlights were that most of the kids responded really well to our students and our students jumped in with both feet to play, teach, and just be with the kids. Today (Tuesday) was an incredible day in every way. We went to a local nursing home and were blessed to get to visit with the residents there, paint the ladies' nails, and take them on walks. It truly filled my cup and I know our team really enjoyed visiting and hearing the residents' life stories. Today at Kids Club, it was much easier with the mix of kids that attended and we all loved spending time with them. 

Danae, Bree, Madison, and Noelle have been at a work site (Shirley's house) in Dove Creek for the past two days. The first day they painted Shirley's house with three coats of paint!!! They worked hard, drank lots of water as it was a hot day, and were in awe of how much they got done! Today they went back to Shirley's home and helped with various projects around the yard. It was an eye opener for our students as they made a scrap metal pile, stacked wood, bagged garbage, and many have not experienced a place quite like Shirley's. This was a way to bless her and her family as she has been a blessing to all the church groups with her talents this summer. Tonight she will bring her pottery to sell and make us Navajo tacos for dinner. We are excited!! 

A few prayer requests: 

• Josh got sick yesterday but is feeling better today. Pray for continued health for him. 
• Pray that we will sleep well so that we are well rested to do God's work here and give it our all. 
• We were unable to go to Mesa Verde on Monday due to weather so we are praying the weather will hold out for us and that we could go tomorrow night on our free choice night. 
• Prayer that God would continue to use us to make an impact on this community and that our hearts would be open to what God wants to teach us through this experience. 

Thank you for your prayers!

-Trisha

Arriving is Sisseton, South Dakota

  2016 Sisseton, South Dakota CCC Missions Team

Tuesday, August 2- Sunday, August 7th

2016 "I found my treasure at Dakota Alliance Church

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44).

       Vacation Bible School begins tomorrow and we are thrilled to be in Sisseton to serve.  We were blessed with a beautiful 90 degree day to enjoy a drive to South Dakota. Our team is staying at a place where there is a green field of corn that stretches across miles of acres. The lessons this week include a few of the Parable's Jesus told about the Kingdom of Heaven. There are no treasures on earth that compares to what the Lord has for us. In 1 Corinthians, 2:9, the bible reveals "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." Each year, I am gently reminded by the Lord how he brings together a team with a variety of gifts and talents to walk humbly while serving together. We have been blessed with beautiful families who have served in the past and each moment together is treasured beyond words. Thank you for joining us in prayer for courage and strength as we go forward and build relationships within the community of Sisseton. I am looking forward to seeing how the youth have grown over the past year and hear everyone singing  and dancing together again. I do know they will be delighted to see the puppet show and tie dye t-shirts.

 Sisseton Wahpeton Oyote Reservation Location Link

Wednesday am: Tie Dye T-shirts,

                                       Skit and Puppet Show

                         pm: Finding Your Voice

Prayer Requests:

Thank you for your prayers for our health and safety, and that we may be a blessing while serving in unity.  

CO: We made it!

We've made it to Cortez! We're already having a blast. We picked up Noelle N. in Sterling, CO, so now our full team is together and ready to serve this week. Travel went well. We even stopped at a place with free puppies-We all fell in love! We also got to celebrate Nathan's 18th (!) birthday! Since we doesn't eat cake, he got a quesadilla. So happy we got to celebrate with him!

Please continue to pray for us this week - that God would do bigger things than we can even imagine!

AZ: Wednesday

Over the past couple days, the CCC students have made me incredibly proud to be their leader. They have worked hard at different tasks including gardening, painting, construction, demolition and running a kid's camp.

Each evening our CCC students and leaders gather together for a recap of our activities. Some of each day's "highs" have included our morning devotions, worship (led each day by Faith Balster and Elizabeth Montgomery), and reenactments of hilarious moments that have us all in tears.

Today, (Wednesday) each team switched to a different work site. A couple of teams worked with the kid's club, and a few others did work projects that included gardening and building a ramp for a disabled man who was coming home from the hospital. 

Every day we learn more about the beauty and differences of the Navajo culture. Last night we had the privilege of eating Navajo Tacos that we made ourselves

More than the service projects, however, more than the laughs, and even more than the relationships we have built with each other, I've enjoyed seeing the students grow in their knowledge of and curiosity about Christ. During our small group discussion times, we've grown closer together and been able to talk about the nature of God and what it means to know that he loves us. 

As we move forward into the last couple days of service, pray for a continued camaraderie between our team. God has without a doubt created a group that fits perfectly together, but the emotions of saying goodbye to new friends can often be difficult, especially after the exhaustion of a packed schedule for a week. Pray that the we would have a great turnout for our community cookout tomorrow, and that we would be able to share the love of Christ with the people who come. And most of all, pray that God would be truly glorified through the selfless work that our students have done. 

With tired eyes and a content heart, I put down my phone to say goodnight, and thank God for the support of many faithful saints who are holding us with their prayers. Thank you for being a part of what God is going here in Fort Defiance, AZ. 

-Josh Winkler

AZ: Tuesday

A photo update!

Painting a house

Painting a house

Group at Window Rock

Josh & the Bratlien bros.

AZ: Monday

Monday in Fort Defiance, AZ

An update from Pastor Josh Winkler:

We started our work assignments today. We are in five different sites, including two kid's club groups, two painting groups, and a gardening group. Our team has enjoyed bonding with each other over our two FULL days of travel (complete with 5am wakeup calls three days in a row!) and a day of service. We all came back from our work sites and got our first showers of the trip today, which improved everyone's spirit and smell. 

Faith Balster and Elizabeth Montgomery led worship today for the big group of around 70 people, which was a time of honoring and praising God with our voices together.

I've been so impressed with our students and how they've been dedicated to their every task. I've only received compliments from people about their hard work and willingness to integrate with and lead the other church we are serving with as well as love the children and Navajo people we interact with. 

A few prayer points:

 -Continued energy and hydration in the hot and dry desert

-Health and safety of all students

-God would speak to the hearts of the Navajo people through our service and testimony

-Students would experience and feel God's love for them in an undeniably tangible way and that they would abide in that love (1 John 4)

We Made It! Ft. Defiance, AZ

We're Here!

We made it to Fort Defiance, AZ Sunday night! We'll be getting acclimated to our home for the next week, and getting to know the YouthWorks staff onsite. Please pray for us this week - For both our hearts and the hearts of the people we serve to be opene to what God has for us this week. Here we go!