Dear Prayer Partners,

We thank you for your prayers and caring emails. This week has been the most trying week I have had in several months. I had a couple of bad days with my ulcerated colitis, but I am much better now. My son Anthony sent us some pictures of our granddaughter, Addy. Little Addy is not so little anymore, she is growing so fast. I guess my feeling bad, and seeing these photos of Anthony, Cindy and Addy made me homesick and question why I am here.

Every so often I go through this evaluation exercise, wondering if leaving my family to minister to a people that live in a hopeless state is worth all this pain. I never regret the material things left behind, even when we struggle financially for I know I can never take them with me. it is only wood, hay and stubble. That will soon be burned; but being without my family is another issue. For now, I believe God has placed us here for the purpose of establishing this youth ranch. I know He will restore the time lost with our families.

Forgive me for this sentimental journey. I started out to give you an update on our last week’s ministry.

Our Sunday worship service continues to bless our hearts. I counted 29 children in our worship service. This is toddlers up to teens. Almost half of our attendance at worship service continues to be our children. Sunday afternoon, we were invited to a bus dedication at Church Rock. Brother Mark Chandler, pastor of Church Rock Family Live Baptist Church, had the vision of a church on wheels many years ago. This past Sunday we saw his dream become a reality. Brother Mark’s vision of taking the church to the people out on the reservation is a new concept here and we believe it has great potential. We will keep you informed as to how God is working in this ministry. Please pray for Bro. Mark and his family and what God is doi ng in the Church Rock community.

Monday morning I went out early to check on Ivan and to make a few contacts. When I arrived at the home of Ivan’s family, I knew this was not a good sign. Ivan had passed away just a couple of hours before I arrived and the family had all returned home from the hospital. Ivan’s mother, Eunice, told me they did not know when the funeral would be because they had to raise money to pay for funeral expences before they could make arrangements. Jill and I went to Gallup Monday afternoon to get food for the family.

Tuesday morning I went back to visit with Ivan’s family and a few of our Friday night Bible study attendees. When I arrived at Ivan’s mother’s home, there was a small crowd of family members and a man, Arnold, that I had not met before. Sitting at the kitchen table, I had only planned to let the family know that Wingate Baptist Church would be helping some with the funeral expenses and that I would bring a check out later that evening. As I sat at the table in front of Arnold, talking with the family about the funeral arrangements, Arnold advised that he was a member of the Native American Church. He began to tell me about the peyote drug that they use, the peace pipe and the horn of white powder. As I listened to him, I began to understand where some of the things I had seen i n Ivan’s room may have come from. When I would go out to visit and pray with Ivan before he was moved to the hospital, I noticed a set of four feathers around his bed, which was a sign that a medicine man had been there. As Arnold talked, I realized that the feathers were probably brought there by Arnold and that he was a peyote priest. Arnold is an educated man, easy to talk with, but deeply set in his traditional ways. What I had planned as a short visit to pray with and comfort the family turned into an extraordinary hour long sharing about Jesus to a peyote priest and five other family members as they sat silently by, listening to our back and forth sharing of our beliefs. I did the best I could, starting in Genesis and quoting scripture through the Bible in explanation as to why Christ was the one and only true God and that He fulfills all our needs and desires. I shared that if he knew Christ as His Savior, his eyes would be opened to the truth and that he would realize that the presence of Christ was greater and more satisfying than anything he had ever experienced in his traditional ways. At one point, as I poured my heart out to him of Jesus and His love for him, I began to see a change in his face, as if he was struggling to hold on to his faith in his traditional ways. We ended our conversation under good terms as I expressed a desire to give him a Bible and share more about Jesus through the scriptures. He agreed that he would like to continue our conversation. Please pray for Arnold that he would come to know Christ as his Savior and be free from the darkness over him, for he is drowning many others into this darkness with him through the use of these drugs.

Our time at the schools on Wednesday as always is a blessed time. When we arrived at the elementary school, the boys were playing outside. The dorm parents went out to get them, and when they came in, they had two visitors with them. They were college students from Lee University in Cleveland, TN. Lee University provides opportunities for students to experience different cultures within the U.S. and to encounter directly the serious needs in society. This is just another way God is using people to have a part in His work here, if they have eyes and hearts of understanding. We had a wonderful time in praise songs with our boys at the elementary school, and a Bible story of David tending his father’s sheep. At the high school, we had three pr esent, and an exceptional good time in the study of the Scripture. The topic of the study was the Good Samaritan, selected by one of the students.

Thursday, I worked on our van. I noticed a water leak on the inside of the van the last time I drove it to get gas and to visit on the reservation. It was a leak from the heater coil. I removed it and tied the line together until I can get a new heater coil. Thursday evening, as you are already aware, I was in communication with Clinton Jim, Larry Rodgers and Michelle Dodson over our use permit for the ranch. Praise God that He is working mightily on our behalf! The Bureau of Indian Affairs should be sending the use permit to the Navajo Nation next week, and we will then have a use permit issued to us from the Navajo Nation. We thank God and praise Him for all He has done, is doing, and will do! We serve a might y God!

Friday morning was Ivan’s funeral which we did not attend. We did not feel comfortable at this point in attending, not knowing what to expect. Friday evening Bible study had eight in attendance. We had an exceptionally good Bible study on salvation through the blood of Jesus. It was a good time of discussion among themselves, sharing with each other in their tongue how there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood, and that Jesus was the only acceptable sacrifice in God’s eyes.

We wish all the mothers a blessed and happy Mother’s Day. We ask that you pray for us and our mothers, for this is one of our more difficult occasions in being away from our families. We love you all and appreciate you and your prayers more than you’ll every know.

To God Be the Glory,
Jack and Jill Foster, Co-Founders
Native American Indigenous Ministry
P.O. Box 265
Fort Wingate, NM 87316