To all who participated in the 2006 UHBC Spring Mission Trip to Arrowhawk/Redstone and Saddle Mountain, a big thank you! Many who were unable to go contributed with food or funds, and that was greatly appreciated. Of course, the prayer support was essential.

On Sunday, John Talley came with FCA athletes: OSU football players Pagitte McGee, Adam Gourley, and Marshall Tetsworth; Alison Erzinger of the OSU track team; and Andre Williams, former OSU basketball player. The FCA athletes gave their stories and participated in John’s presentations and other activities with the young people from Anadarko, and the surrounding area and Riverside Indian School. The youth got very involved with John’s illustrations concerning making choices and listened intently as the athletes talked as well. It was rewarding to see Adam with the kids in the swimming pool – he must have been extremely tired that night! The girls really warmed up to Alison.

Those who were there besides the FCA group were Barbara Johnson, Alice Boydstun, Lorraine Owens, Bill and Carol Cooper, John Mills, Ron and Joy Sanders, Yupi Tipsanthapornchai, Bonita Warren, Dick Whitney, Verlin Hart, Paul Jones, Jim George, Page Provence, Anna Martin, Les and Joan Hix, Bud and Pat Chamberlain, Keith Weaver, Susan Smith, Ben Smith, Sam Smith, Tim Smith, Will Smith, and Dean and Earline Schreiner.

Ken Sullivan, pastor of Redstone Church and Director of Arrowhawk Camp, planned this year to have activities for the area school children as well as those from Riverside Indian School during Spring Break. To that end, in addition to the Sunday program, Monday through Wednesday he invited kids to ArrowHawk camp in the afternoon to play. UHBCers then fed them a meal and an early evening meeting followed. Monday evening, Michael Howard joined us and spoke at the service. Tuesday night Laughter Smith, Ken’s son-in-law and Assistant Dean of Students at Riverside, spoke giving his personal testimony. Wednesday evening, Ben Sullivan, Ken’s son spoke. A total of 26 young people made decisions during the event. Please pray with us that these young people will grow in the faith.

Alice Boydstun and her mother Lorraine Owens were the chief cooks and did a wonderful job of keeping us fed. They not only made sure we had good meals, they also made certain the young people had afternoon and evening snacks, in addition to waiting for the work crew from Saddle Mountain to arrive for meals.

John Mills did a great job keeping track of our finances.

Most of the physical work this year was done at Saddle Mountain Indian Baptist Church. This is a mobile home being used for a church. The church planter and temporary pastor, Shaw Artichoker, wanted the walls of a bathroom removed to make more space for their meeting area. Keith Weaver was a great help, bringing his own van, tools, and even his compressor! Some of the ceiling was replaced, a door frame replaced (ask Dick Whitney and Verlin Hart if they would like to do another one anytime soon!), walls painted white to lighten up the interior, and the door painted by Bonita Warren. Jim, Paul, Dean, Les, Bud, John, and Ron all performed various jobs. Page Provence tackled the kitchen cleaning with gusto. Anna, Yui and Joy washed windows, painted, and oiled pews – what workers! Susan, Joy, Earline, Pat, and Joan cleaned and organized the storage/Sunday School room along with others. Ben, Sam, Tim, and Will assembled a basketball stand outdoors. Ken Sullivan, his brother and a friend, very quickly and expertly laid new carpeting in the meeting area. In reality, everyone performed a number of tasks. I guess that is part of being flexible on a mission trip!

One of the highlights of working at Saddle Mountain was getting to hear the two great-granddaughters of a deacon of the original mission church there tell some of the history. They visited us, along with two of their daughters on Tuesday. The work at Saddle Mountain was begun in 1896 by a 28 year old American Baptist missionary Isabel Crawford. The original white wooden church was built in 1902. Ms. Crawford left Saddle Mountain in 1906, but the church continued at the same location until 1961 when the congregation was told that the land it was on had been “inherited” and the church would be moved. In 1992, the Southern Baptists restarted the work, and it now meets in the mobile home which we helped remodel just east of the site of the original church. Ms. Crawford, along with the first pastor and at least one of the first deacons is buried in a cemetery just behind the mobile home. The present pastor has a website www.jesusroadministries.org which has some history in addition to information and pictures of the present work. There are two books about Ms. Crawford’s work there. Light on the Mountain by Leonard Sanders is out of print, but there is a copy in the church library, and we also have a copy we will lend. It may be somewhat fictionalized, but is based on her diary and extremely interesting. Another book that contains actual diary entries is Kiowa – A Woman Missionary in Indian Territory. This was printed in 1998 by the University of Nebraska Press (ANSI Z39.48-1984), but originally published in 1915.

Again, many thanks to all of you who helped with the trip in whatever capacity. We pray that God will bless each of you and that you will be enriched and challenged to continue His work, wherever He leads you and us as a church!

Dean and Earline Schreiner on behalf of the entire mission committee