My Dear Teammates,
The April showers certainly brought May flowers and spring is here in all its glory. When the cold winter wind blows down the gorge, I long for days like today. I love this time of year. The flowers bursting into all shades of color, birds returning and nesting, and when I walked out of my house the other night, the frogs were even croaking. What a beautiful world God has provided for us and the best, Teammate, is yet to come!
Psalms 103 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name”! That was my Grandma’s and my Mom’s favorite scripture verse. Speaking of Moms, this is the month we honor them with Mother’s Day. I remember my Grandma well. To me, she was old when I first remember her, and she was the first saint that I remember knowing. She was an old-fashioned shouting Methodist. Do you remember any of them? Many times I remember her, in the middle of the service, taking off waving her handkerchief and praising God at the top of her voice. Needless to say, God came and people were blessed. When she went to Heaven, my own dear Mom took up the torch, and she, too, was an old-fashioned Christian. What a heritage! Now, my wife and I are approaching our 48th wedding anniversary. We have three daughters, all raising their kids to serve the Lord. We have grand daughters older than we were when we were married! That’s kind of humbling, but the years go by quickly. If your Mom is alive, tell her that you love her, and make it a great day.
Speaking of love, I love and appreciate you, Teammate, more than you really know. If you pray, give, volunteer, go, or help us in any way, you are truly part of the team that makes up Frontier Missions. As I have said so many times, if it were not for you, we wouldn’t be in existence. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for every check you send, and every prayer that you pray. God has called us to this ministry, and you are making it possible. I pray that God will richly reward you for everything you do. We have a great team and it is growing all the time.
As I write this update, Rick and Marv are on the road in
one of the big rigs. They are on their way home from
The devil is fighting, Teammate, but we are winning! The Word says, “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world”. That’s why we will make it.
Until next month, may God richly bless you. Pray for us every time you remember.
Darrell Kennedy, President/CEO
.I just heard from our traveling duo, Rick McPherson and Marv
Boettcher, and thought I’d fill you in on how the trip is going. They are traveling from
A loaded truck & flat bed trailer with two vehicles (a
’91 Plymouth Voyager van and a ’70 Ford construction van) and 16 boards of
banana boxes filled with #10 shiners and two drivers headed to
I know you are asking “what is a shiner?”. A shiner is any can of food without a label. And how does one find out what is inside? Every metal can has a code on it and our volunteers use a code book to decipher the contents,
then write on the outside with permanent markers what is inside. These #10 cans are the larger ones and they
contain all kinds of fruits and vegetables like plums, peaches, pears,
green beans, corn, etc.
Monday, our team left Alberton and traveled to Crow Agency
where the other vehicle (the construction van) was delivered to Pastor Ken Pretty on
Top for use in their ministry. After an overnight with Ken and Hannah, the two are now “on the road again” traveling to
If April showers bring May
flowers, we should be in for a colorful spring! This is one of my
favorite seasons, as the flowers are blooming and the trees are budding. It
seems the whole earth is springing to life, but most important, this is when we celebrate Easter. In spite of the condition of this old world, there is an empty grave somewhere in the Middle East. The old hymn says, “I serve a
risen Savior, He’s in the world today; I know that He is living, whatever men
my say; I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, and just the time I need Him, He’s always near; HE LIVES! Teammate, people may scoff and
Satan may fight, but don’t be discouraged. He is risen, He is risen indeed!
These are busy times around the Mission. One of the big hotel chains closed in our area, and they called and asked if we wanted the furnishings. Our answer was a resounding yes! We hauled many big rigs full of mattresses, box springs, lamps, tables, chairs, sheets, pillow cases, armoires, televisions and much, much more. What a blessing! The best part is, the income from these items goes right back into the ministry. We take many of these items directly to the reservations, if we have the cost of the diesel fuel.
I would like to take this
opportunity to express my appreciation to all the employees and volunteers who
gave above and beyond to make this happen. They worked overtime, nights
and weekends, all with no complaining. (Well, maybe a little bit; there
were lots of sore muscles and aching backs.) Thank you one and all who
worked on this project. We have some of God’s choice people and they are
all here because they believe in the cause of reaching precious Native
Americans for Christ.
We have a big trip coming up a
bit later in the month. The folks at Northwest Indian Bible School in
Alberton, Montana called us to say that a company in the
East had offered them 5 brand new wood burning stoves. Since their heat bill
was astronomical, and they had access to all the wood that they needed, they
jumped at the opportunity. They had one big problem; they didn’t have any way
to get the stoves to the school, and they asked if we could help. We
called Woodpecker Truck and they offered us a flat-bed trailer at no charge.
So, before the end of the month, Rick McPherson, our Vice President of
Operations and Marv Boettcher, our Field Director, will leave on a 5,000 mile
trip to the factory in Ohio to bring the stoves to NIBS. Please pray that
they will have traveling mercies and that God will supply the money for diesel.
Remember, Teammate, you make this
all possible. Every donation, large or small, helps us reach a little
further into the darkness. Until next month, may God richly bless you.
Darrell Kennedy, President/CEO