Monday Roundup in New Mexico

That trip to New Mexico was one of the most adventuresome our family has ever taken.

We took along the children's four-wheelers because the missionaries said they would be doing a cattle roundup on Monday and we could bring four-wheelers to help.

Everyone had to get up about 5:00 to leave by 5:45.

Here we are unloading.

One of the guys on the crew had brought a paraglider sort of thing, and the Sanders had a similar one. 

The ranch has three sections, and just one of them was 3 miles by 5 miles.

The Lord had made a way some years ago for the Sanders to take over a herd of cattle and lease land to help to support themselves. 

With this barren land, it takes 80 acres to support one cow.

The paragliders go in the air to locate the cattle, and then they radio the four-wheelers or trucks where to go round up the cattle.

Another lady and I stayed back, as the others were going to be gone maybe three hours rounding up.

We stayed back at the water tank, corrals, and windmill and shelter.

Finally we saw dust and then could hear cows lowing in the distance.

For being westerners, we've never experienced a roundup of this size before.

Our children have helped our neighbors with longhorn cattle, but nothing to this extent.

This is just the first batch of cattle.

They had to herd them into the corrals where they would be separated, and the young calves would be separated out for vaccinations and branding.

I got a kick out of the ladies who were not a bit afraid of those cattle.

In their wide denim skirts, they would wave their arms and run to keep cows from bolting. 

They were real western cow girls!

Seth and Miriam Yates came from their mission to help as well. Miriam is the lady on the right. 

Timmy and Danny arriving, helping to keep the cows where they belong.

What a scene!

Jonathan got this picture while out on the four-wheeler.

One of the cows ended up in an "arroyo," they call it, a gulley that has been washed out by seasonal gully-washers.

It took a long time to get that cow out.

Nearly everyone gathered to watch the cow rescue.

And then everyone had to try to make it up the bank of the arroyo.

Jonathan gets ready for his turn down the bank on that side, and then up the bank on this side.

Here the separating is being done. The mamas and older, already branded calves were shooed to one corral, and the younger calves shooed another way.

I was proud of our kids who stood in there with shooing-things in hand (don't ask me what they are actually called) and helped keep the cows moving the right direction.

The kids just had a blast.

While they were doing that, Jonathan and I had to decide what to do about two leaking van tires and two bad trailer tires.

Ladies and children watching the proceedings.

Jonathan and I ended up driving one hour to a tire shop in Cuba, NM, stopping to help a stranded Navajo driver who was out of gas and money both.

The tire shop fixed each of four tires for just $10 each.

Upon returning, we had to pump up a four-wheeler tire, too!

We had an 8-hour drive to get home, so we had to leave before the rest of the roundup was done from the other two sections of ranch, but what a blast the children had!

And here is part of a letter I wrote home to family that I am copying and pasting.

*****

Who would have known that one flat or leaking tire after another would bring about an opportunity to point a Navajo man to Jesus?  Monday while our children and their four-wheelers participated in the cattle roundup and branding, Jonathan and I had to drive an hour away to Cuba, NM, to get two van tires and two trailer tires repaired. Three tires had nails in them and one had a leaking tire valve. Never have we had so many tire issues at once! The Sanders thankfully had a couple extra trailer tires or we'd have been in more trouble than we were.

     On our way back to the cattle corrals, we came upon a pickup stranded by the road. The Navajo driver explained they were out of both gas and money. Jonathan gave him $5 to get some gasoline, and he was very grateful. We figured he'd have to hitch a ride back to the nearest station, but we didn't have time to take him.

     After loading up the five four-wheelers and all the children, and picking up parts that had fallen off the four-wheelers along the dirt road, we were on our way. We made the decision to go home via Cuba instead of taking the back roads we'd come down to NM on. That pickup was still there, and the passenger was having to just sit there in the heat. I ran a cold water bottle over to him after Jonathan asked how things were doing. The man said the driver had gone for gas. So we went on.

       Before long, we came upon another Navajo man thumbing a ride. We decided to pick him up since he wanted to go to Cuba, and I moved back to let him have my front passenger seat. He said his name was Wayne, and he seemed clean and nice-smelling. Jonathan and he got acquainted, and Jonathan let him know what we'd been doing at the Hospah mission and the roundup. Wayne asked if we knew about the Torreon Mission, and I knew the name, but can't remember who were missionaries there. Wayne also knew about the McCasland's Rock Springs Holiness Mission.

       "Do you know Jesus?" Jonathan asked him, as freely as if he were asking him about another mission. Wayne smiled and answered somewhat in the affirmative.

      Then he looked at Jonathan and said, "I think I have seen you before!" He thought it was at the Christmas program 18 years ago that McCaslands had at their church after Jonathan and our family and Mission Helps crew helped build the addition onto the church. Jonathan and I think we remember McCaslands inviting us to come down around Christmas time that year to enjoy the new church and the Christmas program. Now eighteen years later, we pick up along the road a man who attended that same program!

I am sure God had a purpose, and the four messed up tires and our crazy weekend contributed to another Navajo man being pointed to Christ. I was amazed as I listened to Jonathan converse with this man, and ask him if he knew Jesus. Pray for Wayne, the Navajo man. He has apparently heard the gospel, but he said he had just come to this area from somewhere else and is just roaming the roads because he has no where to go or stay. He seems purposeless. He needs God's help and grace.

Jonathan asked if Wayne knew anyone sick of Covid, and he said no. "It's a conspiracy!" Wayne said decisively. That is what a Navajo man said when we asked him about Covid. We'd heard that Covid was hitting the Navajos hard.

So that is the story about our trip home from New Mexico, and three Navajo men whose lives we touched, one with money for gas, one with a "cup" of cold water, and another with a lift to town and a question to point him to Jesus.

"Always serve Jesus!" Jonathan said when we dropped Wayne off.

"Always!" he answered. I hope he will think about it.

New Mexico Mission Project

For years, we've heard bits and pieces about missions in New Mexico from our friend Ward French who pioneered several missions down there. 

A little over a week ago, we were able to see two or three of them!

Here is how it happened.

Several weeks ago we got a text asking for volunteer help on a Christian school to be built in New Mexico, for Navajo children. We were able to squeeze five days out of our busy schedules for the trip. 

Here is the school that another crew had already gotten under roof by the time we got there.

This crew from the east did a fabulous job! They were so far along that Friday everyone took off for a day at the mountains, and most of our family went along, too, except for me. I stayed back and made cherry cream pies, cooked chicken for supper, ironed a pile of ironing I found, and enjoyed a quiet day until the electricity went off! Thankfully I had the chicken already cooked, so I just had to make chicken sandwiches for about 30 people in the semi-darkness of a windowless kitchen. 

Unfortunately, when the crew got back from 120 miles round trip on four-wheelers on dirt roads, they were filthy and there was no water because no electricity! Thankfully, a generator saved the day, 

but wow, it made us thankful for electricity when it came back on at 5 a.m.

The next day Jonathan saved the crew a lot of time by texturing the walls so they didn't have to do so much sanding. 

Sam and our boys helped with the priming and painting.

 Here is the inside when the painting was done.
A little restroom still needs to be installed, trim, desks, etc.

The missionary family, the Sanders, have been there for about 40 years. He has a tiny airplane that sometimes has to be fired up to fly here or there because of the long distances between places.

Here you can see some of the terrain.

And more!

While the men worked on the school, we ladies cooked and worked on stories and visuals.

There was a stack of mixed up stories that we were able to sort, organize, finish coloring, and even laminate many visuals.

I would have more pictures of the crew and folk there, but I don't want to post things online without their permission.

There were a number of stories by missionary ladies under Allegheny Wes. Meth. Church, 

authors that I know personally. 

This story looked especially good, by Nancy Troyer.

I really thought that this visual we laminated was excellent for children. It teaches the Why, When, How, What, and so on about being saved. 

It uses Scripture to answer each question. I don't have everything pictured, such as what is on the back of each one.

Sunday morning the children spotted a bunch of quail outside the house.

Hannah got lots of pictures.

Hospah Holiness Mission church from a distance.

Neighbors have sheep, and a sheep dog that was very protective when I drew near!

Sunday afternoon our family drove nearly an hour to visit our friends Randy and Sharonna Dimmett who used to minister in PNG but can't return right now because of Covid. 

They are filling in for missionaries who are taking a 3-month break from Rincon Marquez.

Our friend Ward French has often talked about the artesian well that is on this mission.

Randy Dimmett took us down to see it.

About 50 years ago (?) a company was drilling for uranium, and were drilling about a mile deep when they hit something besides uranium.

"Let me show you how much pressure this has," Randy said.

What a gusher!

That water has supplied the mission for many years. They even have a little laundromat and shower to provide these amenities for a community nearby that does not have electricity or running water.

What a lovely ministry!

This is what used to be a school.

I don't remember if these were goats or cattle or sheep across from the mission.

The children exploring.

Four beautiful horses on our way back to church for the evening.

Hannah's Missionary Apples

Hannah's Missionary Apples

    A true story for children by Anna Lucas

    As Hannah sat down on the old, bent trunk of the big apple tree near Grandma’s house, her teeth sank into one of the tart, yellow apples.

Hannah took bite after juicy bite of that fat apple, little knowing that the apples her brother and sisters were picking would turn into missionary apples in no time at all!
  
 The first thing the girls did with those apples was to take some to Grandpa and Grandma’s house on Old Dutch Mill Road where Grandma had a broken elbow. Her poor arm was all wrapped up in cast and a sling, and Grandma was having trouble doing her cooking with just one hand to work with!

“We are going to make you an apple pie!” the girls told Grandma as they set on the counter a bowl of apples fresh from the tree. The girls set out lunch, sliced apples for a pie, mixed up a crumb topping, and washed the dishes. When they left, a warm apple pie was cooling on the counter smelling absolutely delicious!

    That evening after dishes and chores were done, Hannah saw that Mom was busy at the table cutting up apple after apple. She was cutting out bad spots, dicing the apples into small pieces, and mixing them with lemon juice to put in cakes the next morning.

    Hannah’s family had a very favorite apple cake recipe with butter frosting. Each cake had four whole cups of diced apples, and Mom had cut up enough for four cakes. By the end of the morning, the counter was full of apple cakes cooling on the counter. Who were they for?

    Well, first Mom was planning to take apple cake to a lady named Brook who managed a small dairy farm a few miles away. The lady was a veteran who had lost both a brother and a sister in a tragedy only weeks before, and had just lost another friend that very day.

  “Brook was on my mind last night and this morning,” Mom said. “I was just praying for her this morning and then the text came that her close friend had a heart attack and passed away. I need to make the butter frosting and hurry right over there to see if there is anything I can do and let her know we are praying for her.”

    Mom stirred the sugar, butter, and milk together and cooked it in a pan for the frosting. When it was cooled, she poured the sauce over pieces of the apple cake which she had put on paper plates. On top she laid several pecan halves and covered each plate of cake with plastic wrap. Away Mom went to see if there was anything she could do to help Brook.

    Meanwhile, Rose and Hannah got busy with another plate of apple cake. Down the road at the corner lived an elderly lady who liked to say she was the children’s extra grandma! Sometimes she would hire the children to come stack her firewood. Other times the children would just go down and visit her and tell her all about life on their little ranch. They would tell her all about their puppies and kittens and chickens and horse and gardens. This time, Rose and Hannah took her apple cake!

    “Here come my children!” Grandma Stephanie exclaimed with a bright smile as she came to the door. “Oh, my, oh, my! What is that you are bringing?”
    “Apple cake!” Hannah said. “We picked apples yesterday at a tree in town, and Mom made our very favorite apple cake to share with you!”

    How happy Grandma Stephanie was! And she was not the only lady happy for apple cake. Down the road the other direction was another family who was going through a hard time. The dad had been put in jail, and the lives of the mom, three children and a grandma were difficult right now. More apple cake went to them, along with the recipe.
    “That is the best cake I have ever eaten!” the mother texted that evening. “Thank you for sharing the recipe!”



 Only a few days later, Hannah’s family traveled to New Mexico to join a crew that was building a little school building for a Navajo mission. While Hannah’s dad and brothers worked with the men to paint the school, her mom and big sisters helped the missionary lady make the meals for the work crew.

Out of some of the last of those apples, they made five apple pies to eat for Sunday dinner!

    Yes, little did Hannah know that when she climbed up into that old apple tree and handed down bags of apples from the high branches, that those apples were going to turn into missionary apples!

For anytime you take what God gives you and share it in love with others for Christ’s sake, you are being a missionary for Jesus!