Colville 2012

Our final adventure in July was participating in MTW's annual missions trip to Omak, WA, to serve the Colville Indian Reservation.  At least two people from our family have been on every July trip since 2005. All four of us got to go this year, which was fun. The MTW team this year included members from the Vancouver/Portland area, the Seattle area, New Jersey, and North Carolina. Most of those individuals had been on previous trips. It's always a joy to work with this group.

My photo documentation seems to be decreasing in recent years, but I still have a few shots to share. Again, Facebook friends, you probably have seen these pictures already.   

The traditional Sunday morning after-church picture. 

Also after church , some of us visited the top of "Suicide Hill." This is where Omak's annual Suicide Race takes place.

And what is the Suicide Race? Horses and their riders race down this steep hillside into the river below. They cross the river and run into the arena you can see over on the right.

The view from Suicide Hill.

While Sunday gives us some time to rest and recharge after traveling up to the reservation on Saturday, Monday through Friday are generally pretty full with various ministry activities. For me, that meant a lot of painting on Monday through Thursday.

The first house I helped paint.

Finished!

The second site I was on included installation of a ramp, which you can see some of our hardy guys working on here.

Another (almost) completed project.

 Painting wasn't the only thing we did that week (just the only thing I have pictures of). Other ministries that week included singing for seniors and inmates at a couple local prisons, construction, Vacation Bible School for the kids, and just visiting friends from past years. We had an exciting opportunity to host a women's gathering on Wednesday night to share "Stories of Hope." The biggest night of the week is Friday night, when we host a meal for all our friends from the reservation.

Through all of those diverse activities, our purpose is to show love to the people of the Colville Reservation, just as God has shown his love to us through Jesus Christ. We hope to show that we care for both their physical and spiritual needs. God blessed this year. Like every year, it wasn't without challenges, but we had exciting opportunities as well.  

Group shot on Saturday morning, before heading back home. It was a great year!