Hello there. We would like to update you with lots that has been going on over this fall. O my, has it been a whirlwind. As we finish up our fall season and sit here, we are Thankful for what God has been teaching us and the blessings He has heaped upon us.
CAMP
Great things have been happening with camp. We have been busy serving people, from Ironwood sponsored to custom camps. We have had around 35 different groups come in since September, with a average of 2-3 groups each week. Ironwood has hosted women’s retreats, men’s retreat, marriage retreats, youth retreats, and a teachers convention. We heard of testimonies of salvation and people making decisions to do right. What a blessing to hear when people say they are going to follow God no matter what.
Sequoia Meadow
Ironwoods new Sequoia Meadows facility is starting to fill their calendar and making summer plans. We helped close and winterize the facility a couple of weeks ago as we anticipate the cold months ahead. All of the cabins are boarded up and the water is drained. “Why do we have to close up the cabins?” you ask. Great question! Sequoia Meadows is in the Sequoia National Forest which is home to black bears and is also expecting lots of snow this winter. To protect the cabins we have to make sure they are closed, windows are boarded up, and the water is off and drained out of the pipes so they don’t freeze up. Imagine God’s sense of humor giving us desert dwellers a forest camp! We will head back up in April to reopen the camp and the first week of May we will send a team up to start getting ready for the summer. Be sure check out the website: https://www.ironwoodcamp.org/sequoia-meadow/ and see what they have going on. Also check out this video. https://youtu.be/kYGyUeYn5iU?si=nBVvADAHUbGGH2Ui We are excited that Tyler and Alyssa will be heading up there for the summer season to work. Can’t wait to see how God works up there this summer.
Bens Projects
Ben has been working on several projects. This summer he helped with the building of the new horse area building 2 new round pens and a new arena, added lights, built a medicine room and wash rack for the horses, a hitching post and remolded a room for the horsemanship camp to meet in the summer. It was a project that started in May and finish up in October. Ben has now moved to a different project at the old barn. The barn (which was a part of the horsemanship program) will be renovated into a meeting room/activity area. The barn is a 90’x110′ area. We will take out the horse stalls, rebuild a couple walls, and then add a concrete floor. The hope is that by end of February we will have the concrete in and have it enclosed with a new roof and end walls. The next step would ge to start working on the cooling side of things. There will be a couple of mission teams here in January and February to help.
Family
Things are going good with us. God has blessed us and contiues to take care of us. Jennifer has been busy taking care of her mom, and tried to volunteer down at the school for a hour each day. She has been hosting women’s bible study at the house and then for thanksgiving we had pie brunch. Pie brunch, what is that? I am glad you asked! Thanksgiving day is all about fellowship, eating, and giving thanks to God for your many blessings! When you eat your turkey and potatoes, you are usually so full, you don’t want to eat that pie. So many years ago, Jen decide she wanted to make the pies earlier and we would have brunch with mostly pie. Well, it has grown and grown. We started inviting people over and this year we had 81 people here for brunch. We had 24 pies, eggs, bacon, sausage, and fruit. It was so much fun.
Kayla is in her senior year. Whoa. She is doing dual enrollment this semester with Pensacola Christian College as well. She is planning on heading there next year to study nursing. We are excited for her as she follows God. She and her classmate Caitlyn are planning their senior trip for March. They are hoping to do to a missions trip to Indonesia. If your interested in helping her, here is a link. https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-kayla-and-caitlins-missions-trip?attribution_id=sl:746236d1-966a-4e26-8e86-493e4018682b&lang=en_US&ts=1758241068&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp13_t1-amp17_ta&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=facebook
I read a book a couple weeks ago. Dark Clouds Deep Mercy. It talks about lament, and I have been challenged by this book, because I can come to God and bring my hurt, BUT then I have to remember how good God is. I love the Psalms when David would make statements about what he was going thru, then in the next verses he says, BUT God you are good, merciful, loving. As I read this my heart was challenged. Ps 77 is a good one, where the writer says how he cried out to God, sought the Lord, remembered God, complained, and then remembers the works of our Lord, the wonders of old, and then declares how great is our God. I would recommend this book. God is so, so, so GOOD
We look forward to finishing out 2025. We have a few more camps in the next couple of weeks and then we will head into some vacation time and spend it with family here at home. We are thankful for the ministry that God has called us into, and we are thankful for your support. Both financial and prayerfully.
Ben, Jennifer, Kayla
Ben and Jen 