Dear Praying Family and Friends,
“And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16)
The grace that allowed Dawn and me to resume all Cocopah ministries two weeks after my March 24 bypass surgery was rivaled by your prayers and humbling gifts for the ensuing months’ unending work. We cannot overstate our gratitude for your part in preventing physical setbacks while enabling us to add several new demanding projects to our weekly ministries.
Dawn and Brother Richard did all the driving my first month home as we took Cocopah to revival services and missions meetings at Maranatha and Heritage Baptist churches in Yuma. Intense reservation visitation and almost daily negotiations with tribal officials over church foster-children’s camp attendance caused camp interest to quickly jump from zero to twenty-three young people. Autumn, Isaac, Jonathan, Loren, Pally, Sonny, and Tina were among the young people re-contacted for camp or VBS. Each of these had all but disappeared in the foster care system or onto other reservations.
Brothers Don, Jason, and Paul arrived safely April 18th with the 66 passenger bus from New York’s Immanuel Baptist Church. Its load of clothes and groceries from Solid Rock Baptist Church, Port Leyden, New York is still blessing our people.
I resumed driving mid-May and at long last located Donald, Jesse, Lori, Marissa, and Cheryl. These and other young adults had virtually disappeared since receiving February’s casino money. Like their peers, Donald and Lori are not faithful in church or growing as they should. They are in the process of divorcing, despite their seven, three, and one year old children being at home. PRAY for true revival in each young adult as well as for Donald and Lori’s home and Lori’s recovery from a severe heart infection early July.
Daren is the sole adult of seven in his family not constantly cycling through jail or prison on drug or other charges. He has helped much with church yard work and vehicle care since returning to church. PRAY he’ll grow sufficiently to end ungodly friendships and all alcohol or drug use.
Daren also assisted Gene and Silas in their almost full-time body work on the bus. BLESS you all for the registration fees, replacement parts, and paint purchases to get the bus up to Arizona code. Gene and Silas finished the body work in time for church young people to sand and paper the entire bus and our friends at Auto Stop to paint it two days before we boarded it for camp.
P.T.L., and may He richly bless the many individuals and churches who helped with $2,300 in camp fees for twenty people June 15-26, 2009. Bus and camp gifts were no small sacrifice on your part after enabling us to repair our severely vandalized house A/C, replace church van tires, and do multiple church building repairs since returning to Yuma.
Regretfully, V. B.S. preparations, medical claims, and cactus work (with other’s help) delayed our thank-you notes still further despite efforts to intersperse them between 18- 22 hour days for camp.
Thank you so much for understanding our challenges and remembering these additional Praise and Prayer requests:
Praise:
- Kelsie and Silas’ growth through camp’s Leadership Training Program
- Lydia’s improved health and invaluable help back in the desert.
- Safety and decisions of repentance and consecration in both 1,000 mile round trip weeks of camp.
- Darnell, Isaac, and Jonathan’s camp participation after long church absences.
- New supporters through last winter’s two months’ deputation.
Prayer:
- Lifting of Tribal Youth Home’s restrictions on saved children’s church attendance.
- Health and safety in summer daytime ministries at 110-120°F.
- Saved young people’s protection from attempts to indoctrinate them in native spirit worship in the tribal and the non reservation youth homes.
- Bernice and others’ renunciation of any “spirit power” other than our Lord’s Holy Spirit.
- True biblical conversions and/ or growth through Neighborhood Bible Time July 19-24, 2009
- Salvation of souls through N.B.T. who aren’t allowed to go to camp or to church.
- Lydia’s physical and financial ability to return to West Coast Baptist College or to transfer to a healthier climate
- Lorie White in the hospital with an infection around her heart recovering from brain surgery.
- Irene Thomas has an infection in her leg and was released early from the hospital because she lacked insurance
Gratefully Yours in Christ,
Michael, Dawn, Lydia, and Silas Veldhuis
