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Showing posts with label Miles City. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miles City. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Baptisms 8-11
Some of my friends got baptized recently and what an honor it was to get to witness it! Here's pictures of these Christians, demonstrating publicly, in obedience to God, that they have trusted in Christ as their Savior from sin. Praise God!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Water treatment plant fun
So
just before I left for Vanuatu, Brenda threw the Richards and I a fun little supporters party from our sending church (Grace Bible in Miles City). Here's some of the group that was able to make it to that. Love and miss you guys!

Friday, August 1, 2008
Friends visiting and final church goodbyes
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Grace Bible hosted sending off services for us for our last Sunday in the States. That evening we drove out to Coalwood country church to spend one last service with them as well. Here are pictures from those churches.
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Posted by
Laura Thulesen
at
8:36 AM
Labels:
Commissioning,
deputation,
friends,
July,
Miles City,
Montana
Monday, June 2, 2008
June newsletter
Posted by
Laura Thulesen
at
9:13 AM
Labels:
family,
friends,
Indiana,
Iowa,
itinerary,
June,
Miles City,
Minneapolis,
Minnesota,
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schedule,
support level,
Team Vanuatu,
travel,
Vanuatu,
Vanuatu Ventures
Friday, May 2, 2008
Our last major road trip
I've officially left Boise behind... for a long while. We drove over the weekend to Blackfoot, ID and presented at a church there. It is a church pastored by Justin, a fellow BMW missionary, supported by his wife, Heather. We stayed with the family of Lesli, a friend of Hought and Gretch from Bible school. They were super hospitable and it was great getting to know them. Sunday evening we got to Bozeman to stay with lovely Lindsey again (our faithful friend at just the right point on I94). We got to see friends Josh and Lisa as well, always a treat! :) From there, we took off for Miles City and spent 2 day unpacking and repacking, filing paperwork from the last 3 months of being away, and preparing to be away another month. We also got to hang out with my parents. Three cheers for my AMAZING mom who fixed us all our meals for those 2 days so we didn't have to buy groceries or spend time cooking. You're awesome, mom! :)
We figured on 2 days being plenty to do everything, but it was quite crazy to make the turn-around so fast. We packed up the car Thursday morning (May 1) for our last major road trip, Lord-willing. Please check the schedule to the right to see where we are when, but this trip includes stops in: Fargo, North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota (to see aunts, uncles, grandma, and some friends); Waukesha, Wisconsin (to see friends of Hought and Gretch who are instructors with New Tribes Mission); Lansing, Michigan (to hang out with teammates Amber and Brad and their kids Zoe and Piper, do some planning and team-building for about 3 weeks, then go to a wedding with friends of Houghton and Gretchen). On the way back we'll be stopping at my friend Jodi's in Goshen, Indiana (a roommate from Grace College in Indiana where I got my undergrad degree). We'll go from there to Mount Vernon, Iowa to see Aunt Kathy, Uncle Dave, and 3 cousins (and their families). Then back to Minneapolis for a night and over to Bismark, North Dakota to stay with family friends Ralph and Shari. Finally, we'll be back in Miles City as of the 29th, Lord-willing. As we stop and see people, I'll post pictures here in this post. Sorry it's boring words for now, but I promise I'll add pics when I have a chance. :) I'm not sure what our internet will be from here on out, so be patient. I hope to be getting out my newsletter in the next week or so too so watch for that. Thanks for praying for us as we travel with 3 kids now - for safety, patience, grace, rest, and opportunities to share our faith and ministry. Much love to you all!
We figured on 2 days being plenty to do everything, but it was quite crazy to make the turn-around so fast. We packed up the car Thursday morning (May 1) for our last major road trip, Lord-willing. Please check the schedule to the right to see where we are when, but this trip includes stops in: Fargo, North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota (to see aunts, uncles, grandma, and some friends); Waukesha, Wisconsin (to see friends of Hought and Gretch who are instructors with New Tribes Mission); Lansing, Michigan (to hang out with teammates Amber and Brad and their kids Zoe and Piper, do some planning and team-building for about 3 weeks, then go to a wedding with friends of Houghton and Gretchen). On the way back we'll be stopping at my friend Jodi's in Goshen, Indiana (a roommate from Grace College in Indiana where I got my undergrad degree). We'll go from there to Mount Vernon, Iowa to see Aunt Kathy, Uncle Dave, and 3 cousins (and their families). Then back to Minneapolis for a night and over to Bismark, North Dakota to stay with family friends Ralph and Shari. Finally, we'll be back in Miles City as of the 29th, Lord-willing. As we stop and see people, I'll post pictures here in this post. Sorry it's boring words for now, but I promise I'll add pics when I have a chance. :) I'm not sure what our internet will be from here on out, so be patient. I hope to be getting out my newsletter in the next week or so too so watch for that. Thanks for praying for us as we travel with 3 kids now - for safety, patience, grace, rest, and opportunities to share our faith and ministry. Much love to you all!
Posted by
Laura Thulesen
at
4:28 PM
Labels:
BMW,
Boise,
deputation,
grandma,
itinerary,
May,
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Wisconsin
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
We made it!
We made it to Boise, fairly uneventfully, praise God! Thursday night Lindsey let us stay at her place in Bozeman, which was a nice break in the long drive. Friday we drove the final 8 or 9
hours to Boise. Gweny was sick and the kids didn't enjoy the long day in the car strapped to their carseats, but they were troopers. The passes and roads before and after them were snowy, but not very packed or icy so we were able to cruise through!

God has blessed us in amazing ways here in Boise. My friends Kara and Travis hooked us up with some great housing for the entire time we are in Boise. We are in a 3 bedroom duplex that is fully furnished and is plenty roomy for all of us. We'll even be able to host some of our home groups here, which will be so nice! Also, my past co-worker, Debi, provided us with a 2nd vehicle to use while we are here. Her husband, Adam, was kind enough to check it all over and get it running smoothly for us. It's a stick shift, so I'm having
fun driving stick again! Having another vehicle to use is great. This way I can do things like visit kids and teachers at my old school where I used to work while Houghton and Gretchen can still get around to run errands and head somewhere with internet access to keep up with correspondence. Another awesome provision was a screaming deal on a short-term gym membership. Houghton is able to swim to his heart's delight while we are in town and all of us are able to get our bodies back in shape for heading over to Vanuatu.

Sunday we shared at Columbia Heights Baptist in east Boise. It is a church plant so for them
to have such a huge heart and focus on missions was a big blessing. We met some fun new friends. God continues to fill out our schedule for our time here so we are excited about the opportunities. Here's a fun home group we got to attend already this week. We got all kinds of great Asian food.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007
December small groups
December
is here and churches were difficult to schedule with for the month so we went to plan "B," small groups. Indeed it should have been plan "A!" We have a few more home groups to schedule from our home church but we are already going to several a week and they are so
much more fun than full church presentations. Not only do we get to stay in one spot for longer than a few days (here in Miles City, MT), we get to know people at our sending church better and
build deeper relationships here. Also, the time is more informal and relational and we get to answer more basic questions about missions and give better understanding about the kind of "home team" we are hoping to have backing us and how people can be involved that way.
Keep checking back as I'll continue to add pictures as we go along of the different home groups we share at in the coming weeks. Nothing beats a cup of tea, a Vanuatu video, time to chat, and dessert with other Christians!










Posted by
Laura Thulesen
at
3:50 PM
Labels:
December,
deputation,
Miles City,
missions,
Montana,
Vanuatu
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Life in Montana
Well, friends, I thought I'd update you on what I've been up to the last few weeks and give you a really tentative schedule for what is coming down the pike.
If you are interested in seeing the plethora of activities my home town of Miles City has to offer, here's a great website about it: www.city-data.com/city/Miles-City-Montana.html It is really a bit of a culture shock just coming from Boise to here. :)
One of the main things I've been enjoying doing here has been hanging out with my family a lot. I'm working on ministry stuff with Gretchen and Houghton every day so it's inevitable that I see them and my nephew and niece too. My nephew can't say Laura so he calls me "Wara" and he's super fun to play with.
My niece, Gwenny (Gwenyth) is a lot bigger and a lot happier than when I saw her last in Vanuatu in March and any day now she'll be walking.
She stands and balances beautifully but hasn't figured out the stepping out part quite yet. This picture is of Jesiah
and I after he'd been "fixing" my hair for me and we were wrestling around. They are both very fun and I'm thankful to get to be involved in their lives.
One of the main things I've been enjoying doing here has been hanging out with my family a lot. I'm working on ministry stuff with Gretchen and Houghton every day so it's inevitable that I see them and my nephew and niece too. My nephew can't say Laura so he calls me "Wara" and he's super fun to play with.

So what have I been doing? Well, it would seem that life here has been crazier than I even expected it to be. We've been running from the time we wake up until when we head to bed. We have about 7 books we are to have read by our training July 16-26 in Georgia so we started a "book club" and have been reading either during afternoon kids' nap time or after they go to bed around 9PM or both. We've finished 1 1/2 assignments so far so have a long way to go, but we're trying to get through them. If you are bookworms, I'd highly recommend 2 of them so far anyway. One is "Passing the Baton" by Tom Steffen about doing ministry in a way that raises up leaders rather than making dependants. It is specifically for church planting so making sure church leadership is native driven rather than missionary driven but wow - if we only did discipleship and ministry like this in the States! There would be a lot more dynamic leaders here passing the baton on to those they've shared Christ with and we'd have really amazingly well trained "laypeople" out there spreading the gospel with confidence. It is a must-read for any Christian, I think. The other that I've only just started but is very good so far too is an old school book by Roland Allen called "The spontaneous expansion of the church" and so far seems to be similar in topic to the first book. The others on our list are:
"Missionary Methods - St Paul's or ours?" by Roland Allen
"Planting churches cross-culturally" by David Hesselgrave
"Mission Deputation: A Biblical Ministry and a classroom of learning" by Harold Loucks"
"Cross Cultural Connections" by Duane Elmer (we are most of the way through this but it is a bit more elementary so hasn't been as helpful)
"Let the Nations be Glad" by John Piper (I have read this one too actually and it is a must-read for every Christian too - very convicting and a great discussion about what missions really is about theologically.)
Aside from reading, we've been helping a lot with some huge fundraisers put on by my mom for one and another by some people in my sending church here. There is a family outside of Miles City about 11 miles that is moving to Lewistown, MT who decided to sell all their old farm tools and equipment and donate them completely to the Vanuatu fund. The money raised by that covers a lot of our outgoing expenses for a shipping container to send over to Vanuatu when we are moving so that was an awesome provision!
The other big one was the one organized by my mom that pulled in around 25-30 families from our church here. It was like the mother of all garage sales. We had it in my parents' yard and had 15 tables piled with all the donations to sell. That was quite an ordeal to clean, price, set out and sell everything and God brought a huge amount of people to buy stuff! The picture to the right is my sister, mom and Gwenny, Houghton, and my dad when we were working on setting everything out. Jesiah was helping me take the picture. :) The Lord raised enough money from that one to fully cover our plane tickets to Georgia for our training as well as the majority of the cost of the training and board to be there. Wow! The Lord has been so good to provide all along the way for each step and each expense. Praise Him!
Another activity is that I got to go visit my grandpa and grandma in the teeny tiny town of Newell, South Dakota. It was nice to see them, even if it was only for a day. My grandma's sister, Aunt Ann, who is the one I inherited my car from lives there too so I saw her as well. Another surprise is that my grandma's brother and his wife (Bob and Virginia) drove through that day and visited a bit too so I saw them again after many years.
We have also been working on having things together to present to churches as well as packets to send out to individuals and churches interested in being part of the ministry. I've been brushing up on my piano and we've practiced some songs together. We met with and updated my pastor here, Jerry Coon (www. gbc-milescity.org) and the elder in charge of missions, Shawn Kelly. Grace is supporting us now as we are in this time of sharing the ministry so when our savings run out in the next month or so, we'll be living on and traveling on that.
Here is the schedule for what is upcoming, Lord-willing:
July 5 (this Thursday) - leave for Minnesota
July 8 (Sunday) - present at a church in Deluth, MN
July 9 (Monday) - drive to Minneapolis to hang out with my mom's side of the family and share with them the ministry in Vanuatu
July 14 (Saturday) - fly out to Georgia for training called "Pre-Field" with our organization, Biblical Ministries Worldwide (http://www.biblicalministries.org/)
July 16-25 (Monday -Wednesday) - training in Georgia on team-building, finances, church planting, and being effective cross-culturally
July 26-28 (Thurs. - Sat.) - meeting with our team, hopefully welcoming in a new family to our team!
July 28 (Sat) - fly back to MN
July/Aug? - possibly present in another church in MN, then drive back to Montana
August - spend most of the month in Western Montana at churches there, possibly into September as well
September/October - Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska churches
* salad/dessert dinner at home church here in Miles to fill in on our schedule, training, and more about the ministry in Vanuatu
*Sept 15-21 training in CO Springs on cross-cultural church planting with our whole team and another chance for further team-building
Fall - California?
Winter - Boise area
That's what we have so far and time is flying so it is crunch time to get meetings set up. If you think your church would be interested or if you have a group of friends or home group you'd like to have us present to, that would be awesome! Just let me know and we'll get it in our tentative schedule. Please pray for us as we travel this week that the Lord would ordain meetings with people he'd have be part of the ministry to Vanuatu and that we would be prepared for the training. Also, as always in traveling with young children, please pray that they would be able to endure all the driving and flying! I'll try to update while on the road from Minnesota and Georgia to let you know what we are learning and doing. Thanks so much for your prayers and support up to this point!
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