How the blog started...

Hello! This page is designed to get folks up to speed on what we are doing out here in NM. It's kind of a long story, but if you want to know it all, read on!

First some background info- we live near Thoreau, NM. We actually live at Bluewater Lake fifteen miles off I40. Thoreau is a small city 110 miles west of Albuquerque, NM. Erin and I had been coming out here on mission trips since our high school years and our heart has always been to work with the Navajo in the area. We have lived out here since the summer of 1999. We came out as school teachers, but Erin stays at home now with our two kiddos, Kadin(5) and Jace(3). I taught at the local high school for the last ten years, with a three year teaching job at the Bureau of Indian Affairs school at Fort Wingate. (Out here on the reservation, native kids can go to the public schools or their tribal equivalent, the Bureau of Indian Education schools.) That three year gap from my local public school job is now the cause of my transfer to Crownpoint Middle School. I currently work for Gallup McKinley County Schools- one of the largest districts in the nation (land, not student wise) So now Erin and I are seeking God's will concerning the direction he is leading us. (It seems like we will probably need to move to Crownpoint- it's an hour commute from where we live now) While living here we found a great church, Crosslands Bible Church, to get plugged into. We teach Sunday school, help organize summer VBS, work with Angelo Bible Church and their mission trips out to our area. So that is a little of our background... Now the rest of the story!

Over a year ago my high school was rocked with a series of suicides. Erin and I began to pray and think of ways we could share the Gospel to inject hope into the lives of the kids out here. Last summer we got the idea to do movies outdoors at the Saint Bonaventure trailer park. There are about 120 homes for lower income families at the park. St. Bon has a basketball court where many kids congregate, and the court was the site of several suicides. We wanted to take the area for God's glory, so we started showing Veggie Tale and Billy Graham movies from August through September. (The kids had never heard of Veggie Tales!) We would show the movies- a short Veggie Tale- share the Gospel, and discuss the issues of the longer Billy Graham movie at the end of the showings. The goal was to share the hope of the Gospel and to build relationships. The movies were a hit, and we plan to do them this summer as well.

While the movie stuff got rolling, my mom began to find folks that were interested in what all was going on out here. It was obvious God was moving us into an area that was largely unreached with the Gospel, and we wanted folks to be praying for us as we tried to reach the lost and hurting kids and families around us. An email list was formed, and I began to send out regular updates on how things were progressing. (Email me at mesquiers@Gmail.com if you want on the list... :-) ) As word spread of the need out here, friends began to pray and think of ways to reach our area with the Gospel. Two things happened-1. God opened the door for Erin to start a CEF afterschool program at the elementary, and 2. God lead me to pursue getting a Christian sports camp started in Thoreau. (CEF is Child Evangelism Fellowship, an organization that helps spread the Gospel through backyard clubs or in public schools. They are all about presenting the Gospel to young kids!)

We are now into the fall of 2010. The movies are over for the season- it's too cold for outdoor movies in October! But now we had two other avenues to pursue. Erin, with the help of our pastor Jacob, and the CEF director, Ed, met with the principal at Thoreau Elementary. The end result was that the club was able to start in January. God had just opened another avenue to reach the lost kiddos around us! The club was the first one in the Gallup-McKinley district, and one of about 18 in the whole state! God raised up workers, and the club was a great success. After the club ended in May, one of the ladies, Norma, decided the local Indian school (remember there are two types of schools out here...) needed a CEF club. Erin and Norma went before the school board today with this new proposal. It may even be the first federal CEF club in the nation(?). It appears God is moving to have His word shared with kids through the CEF clubs.

Meanwhile, through a friend of my mom's, the camp idea began to get rolling. Nancy (my mom's friend) contacted some folks at T Bar M camps. They are an organization that has two camps in Texas. But they use their Christian camp model to start sports or adventure camps throughout the world. Their goal is to use camps to reach kids for Christ and then have the local churches follow up with discipleship. Well, I get an email from T Bar M last October saying they want to hear what we would like to get started out in Thoreau. Over the next few months I talk with and email Drew, the T Bar M guy tasked with seeing what, if any, involvement the camp should pursue. T Bar M has never done stateside mission camps. To their credit they did not just jump in, but had me do the research to find local help willing to pursue this camp idea. God opened the doors, and I met Roger, a missionary that runs a sports camp in the Zuni area. (Zuni is a Pueblo south and west of us by about an hour or so.) Long story short- I began to meet with Roger and his team to see what we could do campwise in Thoreau. God opened doors along the way, getting me the high school gym as a facility, insurance, etc. We decided to launch the camp in 2012. Lord willing, it will come to pass. Well, T Bar M was interested in the opportunity out here, and back in April we had a meeting with Roger's camp guy, Jacob our pastor, and Drew and Keith from T Bar M camps. The meeting went well, and it was decided to continue to pursue working together and to see where God takes us all.

Enter a third opportunity- youth group for our church. After the April meeting it was clear that we needed to get some youth involved. The idea is to use the camp idea to build relationships and eventually disciples. A good friend, Denise wanted to do youth group more regularly, so together we recently started having youth meetings on Sunday night. Our church is small-town only one kiddo from the church is in the group; yet we have about five other area youth attend. I wanted to find a CORE, or group of youth committed to Discipleship to train for camp work and more importantly a lifelong relationship with Christ. God again raised up two or three youth willing to be discipled. Things were looking great-- God has been opening opportunities and doors for local outreach, and then God showed Erin and I that His ways are not always our ways.

I found out about a week ago that my teaching job in Thoreau was gone. Due to budget cuts and other reasons, I was let go from my job in Thoreau and offered a job in Gallup (45 miles west) or Crownpoint (30 miles north). I praise God that I still have a job; I was just being transferred to another school within the district. Now before I go on, you need to know another part of the story-- how God was preparing us to move 4 months ahead of time....

We love where we live-in it's the perfect place to raise boys. The lake, the creek, and the national forest are all a short walk away. It's like a small retreat- beautiful, peaceful, and very quiet. But after reading Radical last fall, I told Erin that I knew God had something bigger in store for us. I did not know what, but I knew God was going to move us in a new direction. We began to pray and seek His will. Well, several books, sermons, and months later (there is much more to it than that, but that's a whole other sermon!) we realized that God wanted us to change the way we lived and did ministry. We decided that the best way to impact our community, and the area that had seen so many suicides, was to move to the St. Bon trailer park. We wanted to buy a single wide home and live debt free. The money we saved from not having a house payment could be used for ministry/outreach. By moving we could have a greater impact for the Lord. So, four months ago we met with a Realtor and put our house on the market. It would be a miracle to sell in today's market, and it would be a clear sign that God wanted us to move to St. Bon. As the months have passed on, our whole family got excited about the prospects of moving to the trailer park. We longed to go, but could not understand why it was taking so long to sell the house if God wanted us to move. Our hearts had changed and we were ready to go, but God's timing is perfect.

If we had already sold our home, we would have been in the process of buying a single wide and moving to St. Bon. We would have been unprepared for the possibility that God has something different in mind. Now, because of my job transfer, it appears God may want us to move to Crownpoint instead of the trailer park at St. Bon.

With all the ministry opportunities God had opened before us, it now seems that He is asking that we put our lives completely in His hands. We made plans, knowing God was directing our steps. We knew what God wanted us to do and specifically what ministries God wanted us to use to reach our local community. But, God is GOD. He was and is simply preparing us to trust Him more and not our own plans.

So now here we are. It feels like a veil has been pulled over our eyes and we are having to seek God for guidance in everything we do. We simply do not know what the job transfer to Crownpoint fully means. But we know that God is faithful and if we follow Him, if we wait upon Him, He will direct our path. We have many questions about where to move, what about the ministries currently running, etc. We also know that many folks outside of NM have begun to take an interest in what God is doing out here. Hence the need for a blog. We want to keep everyone up to date on what God is doing, and our pray is that this blog can be used to share that information with those that are interested.

Now you know the gist of what is going on with us and our wonderful Saviour. I want you to know that serving God is the only thing in life worth doing. How that service looks varies among His servants. But the point is that true Christians will serve their Lord with their lives. We are all commanded to fulfill the Great Commission, and this blog is to be a tool to inform and inspire us all in becoming more and more obedient to God's will in each of our lives.

There is much more I could say and would love to share if you are interested. We don't have all the answers. We are just two lowly slaves wanting to obey our Master. But the process our Lord has taken us through and is leading us into is exciting. If what we have gone through can help you, feel free to contact us. We would love to hear from you! God Bless!!

Matt and Erin Squiers
mesquiers@Gmail.com