Cardston Bound

Cardston Bound




Dear Friends and Family,




Thank-you for all your encouragement over the last bit. We are happy to inform you that if we find a home to stay in, we are heading to Cardston in beginning of January.

I cannot tell you how excited we are about this, as I am sure you are too. With this new step in our journey approaching quickly we realize how much has to be done in order to get across the border.

The girls are excited about Christmas coming and so are we. We pray that as we, and I'm sure most of you, get involved in the many festivities surrounding the holidays we wouldn't forget who we are celebrating. We pass a giant santa blow-up figure in our travels around here and Karina and Eden are just fascinated with how big it is. It also gives us the opportunity to discuss the real reason why we celebrate Christmas, and why we give presents to those we love. They continue to absorb things like sponges and we are trying to utilize that ability for memorizing scripture and the truths of God's Word. We pray you all have a blessed Christmas this year.

We also ask you to please continue to pray for us as we finish our packing and prepare to leave. Please continue to pray for native people on the Blood Reserve, that they will hear the Truth and the Truth will set them free.

Still in the States

I watched Karate Kid last night, parts of it. He became extreemly frustrated at Mr. Miagi(not sure if that s right) because it seemed like all Mr. Miagi wanted him to do was wax cars, paint fences, sand decks and paint his house. Karate Kid was getting sick of fixing up Mr. Miagi's stuff and not getting to the real training and he let Mr Miagi know it. It was then that Mr. Miagi let Karate Kid know why he was working around the house. As Karate Kid was doing chores he was learning very valuable ways of defending himself. Karate Kid was being taught valuable lessons though he did not know it, he was learning important things he would need in the future even though it was extreemly frustrating.

I feel that is where we are at right now. We have everything lined up to go, most of the bags are packed, we have our house rented (so far so good), and we are surviving at Laura's parents. We are nearly ready to hook the truck up to the trailer and head to Cardston. We just need a "green light" from Interact, they are waiting for our support to be at a safe level.

This is extreemly frustating for Laura and myself, ok maybe just myself. I really felt that God was leading our team to get to Cardston by September 23rd so we could get some great training at the end of September.

Please pray for us as we brace ourselves for an extended amount of time here. Pray for us as we start to try new ventures in support raising. We are thinking of putting together a team that will help us support raise and get to the field.

We know in our heads that God has a purpose for all of this and we are learning things that we really need to know even though it can be a very frustrating time. I also know that this will not make us weaker, but will make us stronger and we will experience so many new things of our Saviour and Lord.

In the meantime we have been busy trying to meet new contacts, recently I met with a pastor of a church we have a connection with. We will also need to meet with the mission commitee. Please pray that they will join you and I in reaching the native people for Christ.

Also I have had the oppurtunity to do some work which helps us make ends meet. I started doing repairs on a porch and it became evident that the whole thing needed to be replaced. This added some challanges to the project and I am enjoying it. It also tends to be "therapy" as we go through this challanging time. The Lord has also opened the other avenues of providing for us, a house to side, a cabinet install, and a small trim job.

God still does provide for us!

Karina, has started kindergarten and as I look through the lessons I realize that some of what she is learning I don't even know. I know I wouldn't make it very far in "are you smarter than a kindergartener" game, let alone a fifth grader.

Lord, All our bags are packed we're ready to go....

I wrote this message about a week and a half ago, since then we have an additional 8% on our support. Praise the Lord! This brings us to 75%.

In Christ, Roy for the Thiessens

Cardston and Beyond

It already feels like we were at MDP a long time ago, but actually it wasn't. After leaving MDP we traveled to Cardston, Alberta where we met many Native believers and members of the church there. The pastor and the members of the church had a little barbecue and rafting trip planned for us the first Sunday we were there. We were able to leave the girls in trustworthy hands for a little over an hour to enjoy the river and then were able to socialize with the members who were at the barbecue. We spent the next couple days traveling around Cardston and going on a bus ride on the reserve to get a better idea of what is going on there. Our bus driver is a Native believer who has a passion for the youth in the area, and he's a strong believer. It was a great time to talk openly with him about issues on the Reserve and what he thought should be done.

All of our reservations and nervousness about serving in Cardston were taken away and replaced with an excitement and a sense of urgency to get there. We were told numerous times that we are an answer to their prayers. The church wants to reach out to the reserve and we would be able to help in that area. All the focus of the church has been on the Mormon population. Just about all of the people in the church have left the Mormon church. The Mormon church is growing rapidly in numbers, and since we will be in the midst of all that we and the girls will have to arm ourselves with the Word of God and will have to get to know the ins and outs of the Mormon church. The picture here on the right is a picture of the Mormon temple where only a few Mormons ever get to enter, and where only certain ceremonies take place.

After leavin Cardston we were able to help friends of our move to Longview which is a couple hours north from Cardston. Once we get there it will be nice to take a day or two here and there to visit and just get away with friends of the same faith. It's also a plus that they have two beautiful girls to play with our girls when we get together.

Being able to visit Cardston gave us a sense of urgency to get there. The mountain in this picture is called Chief Mountain, and it is considered to be a very spiritual place for the Natives in the area. It's a place to get closer to the great spirit and to connect to the spirits out there. Traditional spiritism, or Native religion is growing in popularity as well.

We have our work cut our for us once we get there, and it's work to get there. Thank you to all who support us in any and every way. Without you we wouldn't be able to reach those who have never heard the Truth of God.

Two days we sailed our canoes
The following are pictures from Roy's Wilderness Trails Adventure

our catch for the day

Ben our Guide, a devout Christian cooking our days Catch

Stanley Mission oldest building in Saskatchewan only being used for weddings and funerals and occasional service
18 fairly recent graves were in this site. I was told that most were suicides. Being here was the most moving experience I had on Trials. I could not get out of my mind that the gospel needs to reach Stanley Mission. There are very little or no Christians in Stanley mission, and no Christian encouragement nor influence here. Please pray that the Lord will send someone to this area

Week 6

Week 6 was very interesting. I worked on team building skills in a wilderness setting. We set out two Fridays ago and dropped our canoes 130 kilometers north of where we would be picked up eight days later. (The Pictures posted wednesday June 11 are from this trip, the pictures under tuesdays posting is Laura's mini trails experience with the kids.) Every day another one of the team would be in charge of navigating through many islands and often portaging was involved to avoid rapids that could sever to canoe. A couple of the days we tied our canoes together and raised a tarp and set sail. We were very fortunate with the weather we got, hardly any rain. One severe windstorm sent us into an island and God protected us from what could have been the end of our lives. The wind came up so fast that almost instantaneously there were whitecaps on the lake and the wind was blowing down dozens of pine trees on nearby islands. Small water tornadoes were popping up around us and I fought to keep my back and the canoe straight to the wind and blow to a nearby island. God protected us in this instance. Through the eight day experience I learned more about myself and working as a team and some of my strengths and weaknesses.

While Roy was out in the wilderness the girls and I were back at Timber Bay Bible Center. We participated in some of our own trails activities. We did the ropes course, climbed the climbing wall, went camping at the beach, and went for a nature walk. On top of all this we were also responsible for cooking our own meals, for 20 people, because the cooks were given the week off. We are still recuperating from becoming so tired last week. We learned that we really don't like it when dad is away.

So far this week we have had class on the effects of the residential school system. The effects are still very devastating to many people. Just think, if you were my age and older, we would have maybe attended one of the last residential schools open in the country. Being away from parents for months at a time, and most of the time abused in some way or the other has left a lasting negative mark on the Native community. Overcoming the pain is only possible through the healing powers of Christ, and that is part of the message we hope to bring to those we will be working with.

Week 5

Everyone is buzzing around here at MDP! Wilderness trails leave tomorrow, Friday, instead of Saturday, and urban trails is trying to get to where they need to be in order to experience the urban setting. And then there's us. The girls and I are just watching all this happen, helping Roy pack and wondering how we're going to fill our days. We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon to try to plan a couple things, but with 4 of the 6 six kids and sometimes 5 of the 6 kids taking naps in the afternoon, long adventures are out. We hope to do a sleep-over next week on 1 night and other than that we'll fill our days with activities.

Class this week has been on the indigenous church and what that may look like. Our instructor made us take a look at our own church experience and what we thought church should be like to help us learn our pre-conceived notions about church before we get to the field and start trying to get people to get together. He didn't give us a formula for what an indigenous church looks like, it will look different from place to place and with different people. Tonight, Thursday, we have class from 3pm on depending upon when our instructor arrives. So it should be interesting. We'll keep you all posted.

Karina learned to ride her bike without training wheel this past week, and she learned it rather quickly. She is enjoying her freedom alot. Eden likes to walk to where she wants to go and sometimes rides her bike. She is becoming more vocal, and states her opinion when you least expect it. And Roy and Richard have decided to give the cooks a break on Wednesday mornings, so they get up an hour before everyone else and make us egg sandwiches. They enjoy it, and the cooks enjoy being able to sleep in.

Week 3 and Week 4

So here we are at the end of May already. For some reason the blog update I did last week didn't get posted so here we are a week later and with a whole lot of new information.

Last week was full of morning and afternoon classes which wore us all out including the kids. We talked about SYIS-Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills. Some of the issues we discussed were loving listening, drawing people out, confronting well, building trust, and living in community. We have to go back through the notebook to keep our refreshed on the skills we learned.

This week Roy is studying different techniques on learning a different language. I have been attending different sessions this week. Those sessions have been on FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), sexual abuse, and suicide. It's been a heavy week for me to learn about all the terrible things that can happen and that do happen frequently to people.

The girls have learned about Jericho this week and are now learning about Jonah and how he ended up in the belly of the big fish because he didn't listen to God. Eden is sleeping through the night consistently. She likes to ride her tricycle everywhere she goes, and Karina decided today that she wanted her training wheels off of her bike. Now she'd like them back on after falling quite a few times, but with practice and perseverence I think she'll be riding without the training wheels before we leave. That's all for now.

Week Two MDP!

Your child isn't going to sleep. He keeps on yelling from the bedroom that there is a monster under the bed. What do you do? Does it change in another culture? Would it change for the people of another culture?

One of the things we learned this week was about the Spiritual Beliefs of Native people. Though there are a variety of differances accross Canada most are based in a belief that there is a spirit in everything. One spends time trying to apease or manipulate the spirits. To the native the monster under the bed is a siritual matter and the first thing they would do is much prayer. So how would you deal with this matter?

This is a small part of what we are learning about the basic belief system of native people. If we understand what peoples beliefs, feeling and values are, that which their behaviour comes out of, then we will start to understand how to effectively communicate the Gospel to them.

Individuals have incredible worth and value to God and He desires to work in us and heal us. First Nation People were created in the Image of God and God can and has transformed many by Christ's Work on the Cross. Just imagine a nation changed from within, within the Hearts of the First Nation People. Imagine what that could do to a village, to a tribe or a nation. Please pray that God will work in the lives of these people who are looking for spiritual truth. Please pray that people will reach out to them in the name of Christ. If God so desires Please pray that we too may go and Declare this Spiritual Truth. That God will line everything up for us so that we can leave In July.

Laura broke a crown on her tooth this week, so we made an emergancy trip to town (Prince Albert 1.5 hours) All is well.

God continues to be faithful.

We have morning and afternoon classes this week. We are learning to strengthen our interpersonal skills. Seems very practical and very good.

The Kids are well and miss you all. Pray for them this week especially as we are very busy and will not be able to spend much time with them.

Mt. Rushmore on the

way out!

Playing on the playground here at MDP!

MDP Week 1!

Week one of MDP has come and gone and we are now into our second week. The girls really enjoy going to class. They are together with one other boy, so they are getting some real one on one time with the teachers. Karina has also been enjoying the craft room. It just happens to be in the basement of our lodge, so she is always scoping out her next project. Eden is doing well, she is taking long naps in the afternoons, and still getting up once a night but we're getting there.



Last week we figured out what our spiritual gifts are and our personality types. We're still trying to figure out how our personality traits are going to fit into our ministry. One of the most important things that we learned last week was to go to our new places as a learner of the culture and people. Culture is all the learned ways to relate to people around us. Our world view is all the assumptions of life itself. It's the deepest heart of what people believe. Then we were asked how much power does culture and world view have? And I'll tell you a story to explain. In a Native culture in British Columbia a Native father rushed to the missionary's house because he needed help. His son had swallowed poison. When the missionary opened the door and saw the man there he knew something was on his mind because of his mannerisms and what he had learned about the culture. The Native man started talking to the missionary about the weather, his horses, and all other sorts of things that come up during small talk. This went on for 15 minutes, then the Native man continued to talk and tell stories until almost 25 minutes had passed. Remember the real reason for him coming there? After 25 minutes the Native man finally asked for a ride to the hospital because his son had swallowed poison. I would have put my son in the car before I had even asked for a ride, but that's because my culture and world view are different. This Native gentleman had to fulfill his cultural obligations of small talk, and feeling the missionary out before asking for a ride.



We are learning so much, I hope the little blog will give you just a little taste of what we are learning. We're all healthy and doing well. Thanks for your prayers.

We Made It!

We finally arrived at MDP on Saturday, April 27. We were here early so we were able to get unpacked and settled in by the time supper rolled around. Karina likes her bed because she is on the top bunk, and thankfully Eden is sleeping in a new room. Tomorrow begins our classes and the girls attend their own classes. Thanks for all your prayers, we feel them. Here are a couple pictures from our trip out. The hugeness of Mt. Rushmore and the great landscapes through the badlands, and the Black Hills were well worth the trip in the car with the girls. (And Roy) We'll sign off for now, and we'll keep you posted.

Chicago!

We made it to Chicago in one day! On Thursday, April 17, we left for Chicago a little later than we expected. Karina woke up with the stomach flu, but after a couple hours she was ready to ride, and she only threw up once in the car into our make-shift bucket. After a short nap and a little chicken noodle soup at 3pm she said she was all the way better. We stopped for supper late and the girls fell asleep instantly so we took that as a sign to just drive. Thankfully it was about 11pm Chicago time when we went whizzing through Chicago, and we have been enjoying a very relaxing time reading, going for walks, and playing at Roy's sister's house.

Tomorrow, April 21, we leave for Canada. We hope to visit Mt. Rushmore and then head north into Canada after that. Thanks to all of you for praying for us. We wouldn't have made it this far without you. We'll keep you all posted when we are able to. Roy, Laura, Karina, Eden.