“Be careful with nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” ~Philippians 4:6
“The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.” ~Psalms 6:9
It is evident, when we pray, God answers. Whether it’s the answer we want or not, He cares enough to let us know. When working at the ranch, I know personally that God has answered so many prayers, and most of them in ways we couldn’t imagine. He takes our goals and plans and expands them far greater than we had thought He could or would. Never underestimate God’s power and plan; all we need to do is pray in earnest and ask in faith. This has been so clear this year and has been a boost to our faith
Blessing and news
There are so many blessings and answered prayers to write about! I love that God always shows how faithful He is to us when we doubt.
- In January, January started with Darlene needing to go in for surgery to repair two hernias. She came through with flying colors and managed to sit still long enough for them to heal.
- In February, Dennis was able to have cataract surgery and some of his dental work done before the pandemic hit. We were so thankful. God’s timing was perfect.
- In March, the Ranch hosted a local Purity Retreat put on by Care Net. There were 40 teens with some deep issues. One accepted Christ as Savior. They all went home with lots to think about, and we pray they make life-changing decisions. Darlene helped in the kitchen and Dennis ended up being one of the counselors and enjoyed his time with the teens and leaders.
- April—Sadly, we had to cancel our first Character Camp with the Boys and Girls Club in Nespelem, due to the start of the pandemic.
- May began with some unexpected challenges but God answered our prayers throughout. The first challenge hit one evening when Dennis went out to check on the fish pens because it had been windy. He found them broke apart and three of the pens starting to head down the river! He didn’t have enough time to put the boat in the river so he grabbed ropes and plastic to make sails because the wind was blowing up the river. He jumped from pen to pen as he brought the pens to a safer place above the metal fish pens. Miraculously, it worked! Darlene was praying from the shore and said it looked like he was doing this single-handedly BUT she knew the Lord’s angels must have been all around him, helping him accomplish this. We saw how BIG of a miracle this was when Ed, David Anderson, Luke, and Dorece came out in the middle of May to help move the rest of the old pens up the river and struggled for two days to accomplish what he, with the Lord’s help, accomplished in one night! At the beginning of June, we were able to remove the damaged dock from the fish pen system and get it ready to unload to shore, thanks to helping from the Jacobsen, Justus, and Kreft families.
The second challenge occurred when our walk-in freezer temperature started rising higher than it should. We had a repairman come check it out and we ordered the part he recommended. The company from which we ordered the part offered a discount when they found out we were a ministry. What a blessing! God’s timing is perfect because the part came when the Jacobsen and Justus families were out at the Ranch helping with maintenance projects. Who knew that Dallas Jacobsen had a hidden talent as a trained appliance repair tech? He and Dean Justus were able to work together and put in the part and fix the freezer. Thank you, Lord! Unfortunately, it seems that is not the only problem with the freezer, so we are still trying to figure out what else needs to be done. Thankfully the freezer stays cold enough, but it is not down to the temperature we want it to be. - In June we had problems—water problems. Thankfully it only involved the dining hall. At first, the grease trap was having issues: it was overflowing and not draining. (A grease trap is a box-like thing that takes the grease out of the water). This keeps the septic tank from getting clogged up with all the dirty grease water. That wasn’t our only problem. One day when we were doing dishes, my mom noticed that water was pouring up out of the floor drains so we immediately shut off the water. No more dishes, bathrooms, or handwashing (very convenient when we are trying to NOT spread a virus!) Some of the men there had some experience with this type of problem so they decided to push a 50-foot snake (a long, thin metal hose) down the drain. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a clog in the drain or pipe. The next thing to do was to look at the septic tank underground, but we didn't know exactly where it was. Some of the men dug long trenches around the Ranch House trying to find it. After a day of searching, they found it! We were able to see what was wrong once we lifted the lids. It needed to be pumped. We called a pumping company and he came out and pumped it all out that same day, which was a miracle because he just happened to have a small window of time when we called, and his next available time would have been four days later. Praise the Lord!
- July & August—Because we had to cancel our Character Camps with the Boys and Girls Club in Nespelem, we decided to have the families who were going to serve at these camps come out to the Ranch and do work projects. What a huge blessing! Thanks to our July and August work crews we were able to finish the roof. Thanks so much to the young and older men who worked on it! We were able to accomplish so much this summer that would never have been possible without everyone’s help. It would be impossible to fit onto one piece of paper all the work that was accomplished. A huge thanks to all who served! We also learned more about how to share the gospel and to draw closer to God.
