Crazy Summer

Here we are at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch for the Summer. I am planing on a week long trip to Kansas to visit friends and family come July.  Still no new funds for rent, as our support has dwindled.  It is not easy...  we are not free to return as of yet to support raise, so are having to be creative.  We were able to babyset over the weekend, and that is what paid the phone bill.  Praise God for that.

Robby is busy this week at BABR with his campers, they are such cute little guys ranging in age from 8 to 12.  I am helpin' with the worship team on weeknights.

~ Michelle

Gypsy - Michelle's Bike

Joy of joys!  I was blessed today to be able to add a bicycle back into my life.  She is blue and silver, and I have dubbed her "Gypsy", as it seams the truck, "Gypsy Dakota" might not be with us long.  At last I can ride about as in the old days... I can fly on my wheels and feel the wind in my face.   Truly, having a bike to get around even for short rides, here in Flagstaff and on the Rez, keeps me from going crazy.  I dont feel so trapped.  Sure walking is cool, but riding "Gypsy" is better!

~ Michelle


PS:  Thank you Pastor David Hart for this blessing!

A Week of Travels

What a week it has been, traveling all over the eastern side of the Navajo Reservation.  From Kinilidi (Flagstaff) to Naʼnízhoozhí (Gallup), up to   Shiprock then  Chinle and Window Rock, what a trip!  Most of the time we were sleeping on a hard floor or an old sofa bed with the springs poking out, but sharing at churches and seeing the young people and adults getting excited about what they can do to help eachother was well worth  the floor and couchsurffing.

~ Rob and Michelle Nickles

Snow in Flagstaff

Here we sit in the scared mountains surrounding Flagstaff, AZ. We have been snowed in all weekend, with over two feet of snow, and horrid colds on  top of that.  Ahh, such is the life of missionaries.  Soon a friend should be able to rescue us, and we can get out to get cold meds at last.  Ran out prior to the roads being good enough to get out.

~ Rob and Michelle

The Path We Walk...

We walk the path less traveled, the wind in our hair and the sand warm beneath our feet.  Sage brush covers the land and Navajo Tea grows all over.  The majestic rocks come out from the sands, and the mesas glow in the setting suns.

This is the land we love, our homeland, though not born to it.  Here we have found belonging, though it can be lonely at times.  It is here we hope to raise our future children, it is here we pray to grow old.  It is here we are home...

~ Rob and Michelle

Coal/Wood Stove

Out here at the trailer in Kayenta we stay at while ministering in the area, and most of the other homes on the Rez, coal/wood Stoves are the norm.  I grew up with Daddy using the wood burner in the basement, but he never taught me out to run it.  Rob grew up having used a coal stove as a teen.  It has been hard but fun relearning the old art of keeping a stove running through the night, but  we are getting there.


I always as a child told my parents that most likely I would be living where I needed to have a wood/coal stove.  I use to pretend to gather wood.  I never guessed how hard it would really be.  To make sure the wood pile stays dry, and how painful it can be to carry a big pile inside in my arms.  The worst was when I got a blast of coal smoke in the face when we had to adjust the coals, and learned some were still hot.  Good fire place tools would be such a blessing to both Robby and me right now.

~ Michelle

Journey to Flagstaff

We have left for Flagstaff, AZ stopping off at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch to work for the last week of this summer of 2010! Flagstaff lies just beyond the southwestern boarder of the Navajo Rez, and was nested in the southwestern scared mountains of Dine Bikeyah called the San Francisco Peaks.  We are going be to get more training to aid us in our ministry, while going out to other locations like Gallup and Kayenta, and maybe others.

Flagstaff is an awesome city, a mix of Hippyishness with Old Westerness meeting in a modern college town, and though it is beautiful, and traditionally part of Dine Bikeyah, it still is not "Home".  After a year dwelling here we hope to return to Broken Arrow Bible Ranch for a summer, and hope to settle in  the eastern part of Dine Bikeyah.

What does this journey hold for us next?  Little do we know, save He who created all of Heaven and Earth, tis He who charts our course and show us the path to walk,.. May we His servants but listen to His guidance, and follow His path.

~ Rob and Michelle