Cherry Hills in Lame Deer

My friends from Cherry Hills Community Church are visiting Lame Deer this week.They will be cooking dinners, prayer walking, and visiting the jail. My friend Nate Brandli has agreed to send me updates throughout the week. CHCC was the first group I went to Lame Deer with in 2008. They are led by Paul & Suz Meyers, a great couple. Please keep them in your prayers. Here is their first update! Feel free to leave your comments.

We got to Colstip midday on Saturday.  We met Dean and Keli here and headed to Forsythe for lunch before we headed to Miles City to go shopping for food for the week.  At lunch we learned that the school had originally set up a year before Dean, Keli and girls arrived in Lame Deer.  Dean's understanding is that it was not established with Godly intentions, but as a way for someone to educate their child without use of the local schools.  But Keli did see it as a way to continue educating her daughters and others who have grown up to be apart of their church.  So the closing of the school seems to be bittersweet.  Now they are transitioning into a new phase of life; with children and mother out of the home and the school no longer to be.  Keli feels she can now be a full-time pastors wife, though she also enjoys here expanding pizza business. 
Today we set up for Monday's special dinner event to congregants who were invited in advance.  Keli has a purple toe, so her and Dean went to Billings to go to the emergency room and get some shopping done.  One of the dogs has a large growth on its leg, a school classroom has mold growing on it, some perhaps minor relational struggles between people have occurred along with complaints about living conditions and past events have been said.  
The upside is that we had Youth Works visitors Sunday along with a gentlemen who travels the county ministering in nursing homes who lead worship this morning.  Things also look great in the gym for the dinner and they should be having a great meal and hopefully a good time as well.

Update!

                                                                                                                                  

There have been some new developments! Pastor Dean and Keli have decided to close the school, Liberty Christian Academy. It was decided after much prayer that God wants them focus on different forms of ministry. They averaged 12 students per year and it enabled the community to trust Dean and Keli. 

What does that mean for me? I will still be going but not in June. Ben Mercer (missions Pastor at Scum of the Earth Church) and I decided it would be best for me to leave in October. This way I will have more time to fund- raise and it will give us more time to determine what ministry will look like for me in Lame Deer.

For a week in June I am going to visit Pastor Dean and Keli. We will be spending a lot of time together in prayer and working out exactly what I will be doing when I move to Montana to work with Morning Star Baptist Church.

As for financial support, I have raised only 8% of my goal so far. Thank you for giving if you already have. Please ask God to lay people on your heart that would be interested in hearing about my journey.

Please pray for Pastor Dean and Keli during this time. It was a hard decision for Keli to make as she has faithfully run the school since 2001 and has taught many children during that time. Also pray for my part in this as well. I don’t know what it is yet and I am excited to find out. 

If God is for us who can be against us!

Recent Happenings.....

I’ve been researching the Cheyenne Indians and I have come across some interesting facts. The Cheyenne Language contains only 14 letters. The language unfortunately is dying because it’s never been written down out of fear that it might be taken from them.  Johnny Cash wrote a song about this tragedy called “Talking Leaves” here is the link if you want to check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLsE5JeAnLO.  Unfortunately, the youth are not being taught the language and it could be the death of it in the next two generations if nothing is written down.

The next thing I would like to talk about is my concern for the Northern Cheyenne. My first impression from hearing these facts is that the Cheyenne are not equipped to take on the challenges which surround them and eventually their culture may die out. I would like to empower the younger people to take responsibility for their culture and help restore it. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; that have been devastated for generations. Isaiah 61:4. 

I really do have a passion for people who have fallen beyond the edge of hope. While hope is lost on the reservation there are some who have refused to give up. This reminds of Rev. 7:9, After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. God has called all people groups to him. Please keep the Northern Cheyenne in your prayers, that the darkness would be lifted from their hearts and minds and God would reveal himself to them.

 I appreciate those who have already decided to support and pray for me.  I wanted to remind you that your support is vital and is just as important as me going. Not everyone is called to be a missionary but any missionary that does go can only go because of the support of the people that sent them.  Any donation in the amount 5, 10, or 15 per month would be much appreciated. 

To donate contact me at caroline.frahm@yahoo.com