Laurel Lake Baptist Camp

We shared this Wednesday with the about 30 youth at Laurel Lake Baptist Camp.  We actually shared with 3 classes divided between ages: Grade School, Middle School, and High School, each with about 10 children.  It was awesome.  They especially were in awe of John 3:16 when read in Navajo, no matter what age.  It was good to share.  God bless the camp, and may many more youth come to Christ this summer!  Thanks for having us!

~ Rob and Michelle Nickles

A Shady Garden?

 I have been researching for the past two months "Dark Plants" especially veggies, herbs, and fruits for the gardens and homesteads out there.  Much to my surprise 2 months in, I have thus far discover over 90 plants, and the numbers are still growing.  Sadly, due to travel, my time to researching has been greatly cut, but I am continuing to work on info.

One thing that has caught my eye is Shady Plant growing.  Where we are at now, we do have a large garden we share with family (corn, beans, and potatoes) and pots on the deck, but I am eyeing under the deck for more growing space.  According to my research, beans, broccoli, salad greens, beets, radishes, leafy greens, cauliflower, beans, are good for shade gardens.

This means one can grow have stunning Detroit Dark Red Beats, Bull's Blood Beets, Black Elephant Kale, Black Tuscany Kale, Red Russian Kale, Lacinato Kale,  Purple Passion Spinach, Red Romaine Lettuce, Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage, Purple Cauliflower, 21 types of Beans, Dark Read Beats, Bull's Blood Beets, Black Elephant Kale, Black Tuscany Kale, Red Russian Kale, Lacinato Kale,  Purple Passion Spinach, Red Romaine Lettuce, Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage, Purple Cauliflower  and maybe more   ... now if I only knew what grew well in pots!

~ "Morria"

Christian Chapel Foursquare Church

Shared at Christian Chapel Foursquare Church about our hear for the Navajo this morning.  Started out by singing the chorus of "Jesus Ayoo'asho'ni (Jesus Loves Me in Navajo)".  Then shared about Rob and my past and future ministry working in Dine Bikeyah.  Things went well.  We received a few pledges, plus a Love Offering of about equal to 2 1/2 to 3 tanks of Gas.  When ministry gas money goes from one Love Offering to another, that is a major blessing!  Thank you so much to everyone at Christian Chapel who gave, thank you to those who gave pledges, and thank you soo much for our prayer friends.  Everyone makes a big difference in this ministry!

~ Michelle

Prairie Trail Cowboy Chuch

It was wonderful to see everyone at Prairie Trail Cowboy Church, Wednesday Night.  Thank you so much for giving me a chance to share with you about Rob and my heart for reaching the Lost among the Navajo.  Your hospitality and prayers, make you true "Sending" and "Praying" friends!   Rob and I both will miss you greatly, and we look forward to future visits when we are in town.  God bless!

~ Michelle

Trip going great!

Here I am in Kansas for a flying trip around Wichita (Hutchison Family I will see you next trip...) visiting churches, speaking with Friends, going to a medical check up, seeing adopted family, and all this while still connecting with our past Friend/support teams.  Yet, my mind keeps wondering off to this coming January to March, and our move to Dine Bikeyah.  I am so hom sick right now, in part because of how much I keep sharing about it.  Flue for the fire to get us back home....

~ Michelle

Travel and Our Hearts...

 So, our travels begin with Michelle taking a trip to Kansas.  Then we will be traveling around Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and then Texas and who knows where else.  It will be good to reconnect with old friends, make new ones, and see how missions is done around the USA at the churches we visit.  Cannot wait for this adventure... but even more we are longing to return to our home in Dine Bikeyah, the San Juan Region of the Navajo Reservation!


What can we say?  When there are over 265,000 Navajo living in an area a little larger than the state of West Virginia, and only 1% - 2% are born again believers.  48,000 of these live in the San Juan Region, and we have only 10 churches among the Navajo in this region. That is 1 Small Church (holding 100-200 people) per 4,800 Navajo.  Poverty is high.  Many areas have not had electricity yet, in 2013!  Hopelessness is a Great Plague, and often is the root of alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual abuse, and suicide all of which are 5x's higher than the National averages.  Is it any wonder we long to get back to our mission work among the Navajo?

~ Rob and Michelle Nickles

Trip Up Coming...

With Michelle upcoming trip to Wichita, KS,  we have been gathering the needed items for "Friend Raising"... What does it take to start off on "Friend Raising"?  A table to place items from the Navajo Nation, a long piece of Turquoise Velvet as a table cloth, 100 Prayer Magnets, 100 Support Cards, Table Banner, Presentation Board, Pictures, Offering Bucket, Money Box, plus of course the Tablet and Printer which was via Donation.  But even more than all of that we need Friends to Join with us!

Want a Prayer Magnet and to be a "Prayer Friend"?  Email us your mailing address to robmichellenickles at yahoo dot com, and we will send you one ASAP!

~ Rob and Michelle Nickles

Monsoon ~ Rob's 3 Wheel Bike

Came home from church last night to a big early birthday surprise.  Sitting between my parents car and truck, was a midnight blue (purple in certain light) 3 wheel bicycle... I had asked for one a few years back, but they had never found one.   Then surprise, one showed up last night a month before my birthday.  This is an answer to prayer, and an item we did not even put on the wish list.  So it is "Monsoon", joins our transportation, and I can ride him while Michelle rides her bike "Gypsy".

~ Rob

PS: Thanks to Mom and Dad Nickles for the Schwinn 3 Wheel Bike!

A Church Camp and Children's Church!

Blessings of all Blessings!  We will be sharing at Laurel Lake Baptist Camp on June 26th, and there is a possibility of other churches from this. We also have a Childrens' Church Wed. night class to share at in July!  Our prayer team is growing, and several possible Giving and Going Friends too!  As always, we have few supporters who stay anonymous, but come through just when we need them, but we never know when or how!  God is so good!  Still no love offerings or gas cards, but where God guides, He provides!

Thanks to our Anonymous Donner for the HP Printer and Galaxy Tablet for our ministry use!

~ Rob and Michelle Nickles

The Next Stage Starts...

Well, here we are in Kentucky, with 9 to 11 months of Friend Raising a head of us.  With all that travel and prepping for ministry, there is not much time for other stuff.  Yet we still have a storage unit full of items that moved back from the Rez with us.  Now, before we get super busy is the time to get it and our room sorted through...  What will we do with the stuff we don't keep?

The Flea Market of course!  Just like there are open air/flea markets out on the Rez, we have them here in Kentucky too. So any furniture, clothing, decor, and the likes that we don't need will go to a booth and sell off. If Michelle can gather supplies, we will most like sell soaps too.  Where will this money go?  Gas Money for traveling, and if there is a wee bit to spare: Rob's favorite chair gets reupholstered.

~ Rob and Michelle