First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
P.O. Box 170, Eagle Butte, SD 57625
(605) 891-1704
Dear Friends,
Summertime has come and gone, and Eagle Butte is running off the adrenaline rush of Labor Day Celebrations. We cherish Labor Day particularly highly in this city, and it is celebrated with almost the same enthusiasm as Christmas! Labor Day weekend is the time of the annual Pow Wow. Drummers, dancers and singers come from every corner of America, and even Canada, to take part in the dancing. This year was unusual, since we had so much rain that the Pow Wow was forced into the High School gymnasium. But everyone made the best of it, and the whole city had a good time.
And there was more to the weekend than just the Pow Wow. The local ranchers put a full-scale rodeo together, a carnival came to town, and the whole thing was capped off with a large parade down Main Street! Now it’s time for the kids to go back to school, and the adults to start preparing for the winter.
A Mission Trip to North Carolina
You might remember reading our last newsletter, where we were planning a mission trip to North Carolina, which had suffered terrible damage from Hurricane Helene. Hundreds were dead, and many more had lost their homes to floods and mudslides. Railroad tracks hung in midair, roofs collapsed and many buildings disappeared entirely. This tragedy hit especially close to my heart, as I grew up in that exact part of the country. So after carefully saving money for several months, we were ready to go on a mission trip.
I was joined on this adventure by Joven Alanzalon and Mark Castro, members of our church. Also joining us was Bobby Yazzie, who graduated Windswept Academy this Spring. After three days’ journey, we arrived in Morganton, North Carolina. There, Burkemont Baptist Church provided us with food and a place to sleep during our time there. This is the very same church that I attended many years ago, when I was a teenager!
On our first day, we helped put the finishing touches on a new house that had been constructed. We were privileged to complete the day’s work, knowing that the home was ready to be lived in. The second day, we moved into the mountains and were guided to the house of a young woman. She was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, and the ramp she used to enter her house was badly damaged. We threw ourselves into that task for the next two days, pulling up rotting wood and replacing it with new lumber.
By the end of the third day, we had finished that project, and the young woman could enter and leave her house more easily.
On day four, we became a moving crew. An elderly man’s house had been soaked through with flooding, and mold had begun to grow. It was impossible for him to live there anymore, so volunteers had built him a new house at the top of a hill. Our task was to take all the essentials out of his old house, and put it in the new one. This we did, with a great deal of legwork and the aid of a most-appreciated pickup truck.
Three more days of driving brought us back to Eagle Butte. We were utterly exhausted, but grateful for the opportunity to be used to bless our southern neighbors. Thanks to Baptists on Mission, for organizing the work that we did. And thanks to Burkemont Baptist Church, for their overwhelming hospitality!
Vacation Bible School!
For the first time, First Baptist Church was pleased to host a mission team from Fellowship Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tennessee. They brought a team of enthusiastic and capable volunteers to host a Vacation Bible School here in Eagle Butte. There were games, and songs, and crafts, and Bible lessons. Everyone had a good time, including me! And the children were super excited. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have met the people of this church, and look forward to working with them in the future!
Attacked!
Throughout the summer, a rash of vandalism broke out here in the city. The number of people involved is not known, but they have been extremely active. They broke out all the windows of the UCC church, and many of the windows of Windswept Academy. Our church was not immune to their efforts. Someone stabbed all four of the tires of our church van. After we replaced the tires, the vandals returned. They stabbed all four tires again, broke out the glass in the driver’s side window, and threw a cinderblock through the windshield. This kind of malice is disheartening, but we will make repairs. By God’s kind provision, both attacks took place during times when mission teams were visiting. Sevier Heights Baptist Church bought two new tires to supplement the spares we already had, and put them on for us. When the second attack occurred, Calvary Baptist Church gave sacrificially to cover needed repairs. I am humbled by the generosity and servant hearts of these good men and women.
In the near future, we’ll be putting up some cameras for better security. And I would appreciate your prayers, since I have heard that the vandals have been looking at my house.
Outreach to Red Scaffold
This July, we had the honor of receiving our friends from Sevier Heights Baptist Church of Tennessee. Each year, this group of young people travels to Red Scaffold, a small settlement on the Western edge of the reservation. There, they host a Vacation Bible School for a week. Excluding the time of the pandemic, they have been doing this outreach for the past fourteen years. In that time, they have built such good relationships that the children who attended the first year are now grown, and they are bringing their own children to the VBS. Some of the volunteers even fell in love with each other over the years, got married, and are now showing me pictures of their children!
This year’s Vacation Bible School was outstanding. There was basketball, and hiking, and duck-duck-goose, and a daily Bible study. The children of Red Scaffold were overjoyed to see their old friends come back. And the young men and women of Sevier Heights cherished every moment they spent here.
Old Friends Come to Windswept Academy
Windswept Academy received a visit this summer from Calvary Baptist Church of Sparta, Illinois. They hosted a Vacation Bible School there, with songs and games, crafts and Bible stories for all the local children. For four days, they enjoyed themselves immensely. We are grateful to our Illinois friends for spending so much of their time and their energy to make this week possible!
We Celebrate an Ordination
Ronald Alanzalon is pictured here with his wife, Joy, and his son, Caleb. They moved from the Philippines to the United States, where they found work as schoolteachers and became members of First Baptist Church. Ronald made a return trip to the Philippines this summer, and while he was there, he was ordained by his home church! We were very excited, and eager to celebrate this occasion. So we got a cake and some ice cream, and held a reception after church.
Ronald has earned great respect in our church, and we are considering making him an elder in our church leadership.
Sports Camp!
As the summer came to a close, we were happy to receive visitors from Calvary Bible Church of Pennsylvania. They held a sports camp for the children of the community. There was soccer, basketball, baseball (or a softer version of it), and more. Bible lessons, songs and crafts were also a daily occurrence. While Calvary Bible Church has come for a few years already, this was the best-attended sports camp that they ever did here. The children had a fabulous time!
But these volunteers were not content to end their help with a sports camp. They turned their attention to some wooden benches in front of our church, which were rotten and ravaged by time. They refurbished these and restored them to full strength. They repainted our railing in the front of the church. They replaced our old icemaker, which was more than 14 years old and had stopped working. And they touched up the paint in our fellowship hall. There was no part of our church that was not better off for their having been here, and I am very grateful!
So perhaps you are wondering how you can become a partner with us in our ministry here in Eagle Butte? If so, we welcome your help, since we treasure any assistance from the body of Christ. Here is what we need the most:
Prayer. It may be true that our church is getting along well at the moment, and that God is doing great things here. But it is precisely when a church is being used by God that Satan does all in his power to destroy it. So please pray, my brothers and sisters. Pray that our leadership will keep their hearts pure and humble, and that we will live at peace with each other. Pray that we will be protected from the power of the enemy, and that God’s Holy Spirit will shine through in our lives. Pray that the Lakotas in the community will come to know the Lord, and that the commitment they make will be real and lasting.
E-mail addresses. For those of you who have e-mail addresses, please send them to me. That way, these newsletters can be forwarded to everyone in your church who wants one! Just send your name and email address to me at benfarrar777@hotmail.com, and I’ll make sure you receive this newsletter as often as it comes out.
Financial Assistance. Our church is fortunate to have members who are generous in their giving. But some of our most generous members still have very little that they can give. We have long been blessed with assistance from outside churches and individuals, and we work hard to use those gifts wisely and well.
If any one of you wishes to bless the church with a financial gift, you may send it to:
First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
P.O. Box 170
Eagle Butte, SD 57625
If you wish to give a donation in memory of another person, or in that person’s honor, we will recognize the person you designate in our newsletter.
May God bless you all, and draw you closer to Himself each and every day.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Ben Farrar
Pastor
First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
