halfway

I just realized today that we are already half way through the summer. That means that a ton has got to happen in the next 4 weeks. But before i talk about whats got to happen let me talk about whats already been happening. First of all i would like to talk about camp. The LORD is doing big things at pine ridge this summer, in fact just this week we have had around 10 decisions for Christ on our ridge camp alone, and the week isn't even over yet. That also doesn't include campers we have down on the oasis camp(the larger of the two.) The High school staff program that we work with doesn't usually see many people come to Christ, as it is a program that is geared for teens that are already believers. But we have seen some tremendous growth in some of our teens this summer. One of our teens wrote up the testimony of what God has done and is doing in her life and one part of it stood out to me. "Right now, I would say that I'm going through a period of discipleship/development. I've accepted Christ as Savior, I know who He is, I'm plugged-in in a church, and now I feel that for the last few months the Lord has really just been training me so that I can effectively show Him to others. That training has come from my small group, Pine Ridge Bible Camp, and just getting in the Word and interpreting it as it was originally meant to be interpreted. I know that that training will continue for the rest of my life--I'll never stop growing and learning--but right now, I'm just trying to keep my head above water. I'm just trying to learn the basics so that I might be a sharp tool in God's hand." She wrote this to me in an email after her three week session with us this summer. This is what we are here for. Teens want to be Godly but don't always know how, they want to know how but they cant understand what the bible is saying. This is were the high school staff program at pine ridge comes in. We teach them how to properly interpret the bible, as well as some tips and tricks for wrestling through those issues that teens wrestle with most. But most importantly of all we love on them. We attempt to show each one of these kids how much of a valuable part of the body that they are, and we let them know how much we care. and you would be surprised what kind of response you can get from a teenager when they know how much you care.

Next i would like to talk about my dental work. The LORD has blessed us in big ways this summer as people have really gathered around us to help get this taken care of. we have been connected with a dentist that is doing the work for less than half the price that the first dentist had suggested. We have also had a lot of people that have helped to pay for this still hefty bill. we arent out of the woods yet but we are starting to see how things are going to wrap up. I still need a few more visits for fillings and getting some teeth pulled, but i got my first root canal done and I have another visit this coming monday. Thank you for your prayers on this. If you would like to help with the cost of these procedures it would really help to share the burden of those others who are currently making payments for us. thank you again

Now that you are a bit caught up on whats been going on lets talk a bit about what needs to happen. We need another 8,000 ish to finish our schooling in jackson. We need around 2,000 of that by august first in order to get back to our studies this fall. We should be able to earn about half of that between now and then. This puts us yet again in a place that has become all to familliar, waiting to see what God will do. I am confident that the LORD is wanting us back in jackson this fall. If you feel led to help with that aspect of our training we would love to make you part of our team. Another thing that has got to happen is that we are going to need a little help moving. If you have a truck and trailer that you would liek to volunteer for the 12th through the 14th of august that would make our life a lot easier. Also we are yet again in a position were we will be in need of some text books for this semester of classes. If you would like to aid us in that we will be including a book list in our next prayer letter.


thank you all once again for your prayers and support.

The Pratts.

Week 3 of camp...

Right now:
This is now our 3rd week of camp this summer and it has been neat to see how God has worked theses past 3 weeks.
Karalise has been learning a lot in the kitchen about how to cook for large groups as she assists the cook. She has also been learning a lot about supervising our high school staff as they work in the kitchen most of the time.
Malachi has also had many opportunities to learn and develop his maintenance skills as he works under the camp's very skilled maintenance guy, Caleb.
We have enjoyed our evening Bible study time with our 6 high school staff these past couple weeks, tonight we3 will be studying Psalm 103 for our chapter on "poetry". Our highschoolers have been amazing! They have worked very hard, even on jobs that aren't the most fun... would you still be smiling after 1,180+ dishes? They usually are! They have been faithfully studying God's Word daily and then asking some pretty tough questions during our evening group Bible study. God has really blessed us with a great group of teens for the past few weeks!

This weekend:
This Friday we will be traveling down to Indiana for Malachi's dental work/oral surgury. Some friends hooked us up with a dentist in Plymouth, IN and these friends are covering the cost of the dental work. They wish to remain anonymous but if you would like to help them out, You may do that by sending us a check and putting "dental" in the memo and then we will send it to the dentist. Please pray that Malachi will heal quickly and thet hae will not have a lot of pain as we are only off for the weeked.

This is our memory verse for today, hope it is an encouragement to you!
Psalm 103:11-12
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so grreat is His (the Lord's) love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

Have a wonderful day!
~the Pratts

one for the books

This week was the first real week with campers, which was exciting.The excitement wore off for me about half way through day two when i was called in to clean up a mess in the bathroom left by a sick camper. But the Lord is good and he provided some major encouragement for us this past week as he has put it on the hearts of some of our brothers and sisters in Christ to pay for the dental work that needs to be done. This came right about the same time as we received the disappointing news from yet another doctor that he cant find any reason as to Karalise's health problems. Please be in prayer for us that we would finally find some answers and be able to take a more proactive role at here recovery. After the rough start to the week things really started to pick up. we got our first group of high school staff on Monday and by about Thursday they were really starting to open up. Friday night they had so many questions that twenty minutes before curfew i finally had to cut things short so that they could get ready for bed. working with these teens is such a blessing to us. The Lord uses our interactions with them to further reveal himself to us. They test our patience, they test our bible knowledge, they test out self control...etc but in the end it all comes down to the testing of our faith, and theirs. we spent this whole first week studying the book of James, and these kids just ate it up. we gave them a list of helpful questions to ask the text and they came back and asked for something a little more challenging. we worked them for 10 hours a day and they still found an hour a day to study the bible, and then another hour and a half to talk through the proper interpretation of the passage. It was incredible. needless to say even though we are there teachers and there supervisors we are very humbled by the quality of these kids.

God is at work at pine ridge bible camp. stay tuned for more updates on how he works in and through us this summer.


In His Love

Mac and Kara

1st Anniversary

• Yesterday, May 2nd, 2010 was our one year Anniversary! We were able to celebrate by going out to dinner for some authentic Mexican food and them watching a movie. Malachi surprised me with some orange, pink, and white roses. :) We thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and neglected all our homework.

We have started teaching Children's church for the elementary age group at out church. We are on a rotation with another couple until we leave in a few weeks. We have really enjoyed getting to know the kids and also be able to connect with their parents. We love our new church family in Albion, MI and have had fun getting to know them through Sunday School, Dinner, and helping with their kids.

• Our Spring Semester ends the 13th of this month, just under two weeks away. Currently our classes are: Hermeneutics 2 (How to Study the Bible), 1 Corinthians (for 2 periods), and Partnership Development. We have been busy with lots of reading; and this week we have to complete several big projects. I have been learning a lot about how the different time periods in the Bible fit together and how the covenants are related to each other and how they apply.

• In three weeks we will be heading to Pine Ridge Bible Camp in Cedar Springs, MI for the summer. We will be leading and discipling the High School service teams by teaching them to serve joyfully and guiding them in personal Bible Study methods. We will accomplish this through serving alongside the teens in aiding in the day-to-day functions of the camp (ie. maintenance, kitchen, grounds keeping, etc). We will be teaching daily sessions on Bible Study and interpretive methods.

Thank you for your continued prayers!
~Mac and Kara

New Job!

Today was Malachi's first day at his new job. He is a Q.A.C. clerk for the US Census at an office here in Jackson, MI. This is such a huge answer to prayer as the hours will work perfectly with school and he will still have some time in the afternoons to get homework finished.

We had a wonderful time this past weekend as we were able to host a couple who are currently at NTBI's Waukesha campus in WI. They were an encouragement to us and we enjoyed just hanging out with them and watching the "NTBI Spring Tribal Cup" as the two schools competed in various sports.

This past Tuesday, our Korean friends who we help out with English invited us over for dinner. We had a tasty Korean meal, learned a new game, and had an amazing time with our friends. We have learned a lot from them as they are adjusting to a new culture and language, in not too many years we will be in the same boat they are in. It's been exciting to see their progress in our difficult language and persevere even when things aren't easy. We are so thankful for their friendship!

Please continue to pray for us as we will be starting our 4th block this coming Monday and will be getting three brand new classes. Please also continue to pray that the Lord will provide a vehicle.
Love,
Malachi and Karalise

Happy Almost Spring!