CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS FROM THE RIEKS

Hello to all from Gulf Shores, Alabama and may God bless you richly as we join together in celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  After receiving emails from Brad from Big Sky, Montana I am glad that our ministry at West Yellowstone is from May through early August.  Cameron Ortego, of GA, the new Semester Missionary got there on November 26th it was ten degrees BELOW zero !! The temperature here was in the seventies yesterday. Obviously we are not easily excited by the idea of Winters in the snow.

Beach restoration is slowly progressing and more businesses are re-opening daily but there isn’t much here that looks like Gulf Shores prior to Hurricane Ivan.  I take that back, the ocean is still rolling in on a regular basis. The beaches themselves are minus dunes for the most part so I think there is a program being initiated to bring in Christmas trees to begin to create new dunes in many areas.  Some of the Condos are open for business, some have been bulldozed, many are still being repaired, and many still have no utilities. The State Park is still closed and only some of the cabins will be serviceable for a while yet. Even the lakes have to be drained, the sand removed, (along with all the dead fish), debris of every kind imaginable including automobiles since the campground itself was under ten feet of water. We attended a

meeting last week and the State director shared what they have been going through and it was a very emotional time for him trying to explain the devastation. He has survived every one that has hit this area and he said he has never before seem this kind of damage. The one thing that all of the people we have talked with have in common is they all realize how important prayer is and if you ask how you can best help them they ask that you continue to pray for the people, the area, and for those so much less fortunate than they were.
Butch had the opportunity to preach a couple of weeks ago and the activities building here was supposed to be ready on December first. However it has not been repaired so he met with the board of directors of Baldwin Community Theatre tonight and we are hoping to have that building available for worship services.  It will seat 125 people and the Resort Missionary,Jeff Ford, will be the Pastor and Butch will fill in as needed. As chaplains here we will try to encourage and invite people to attend and be here if they need us for hospital visitation, transportation to doctors, etc. Everything else will take place as God opens the doors.

We will be going to Alabaster on Christmas day and spending a couple of days with family there. That will also give us a chance to attend Westwood which is always special to us. We will go to First Baptist Tilman Corners, in Mobile this Saturday for their Christmas Drama. Our son will have a part in that and we will enjoy that since he was in Kuwait last year at Christmas.  Butch has been resting a little after all the cleaning up and carpentry work he was doing at Camp Baldwin. I will include a few pictures of our last week there as well as a couple from this park

We want to say a special “thank you” to all of you for your support during this past year.  There is no way to tell you how much it means to know that people are praying for you and for the work that you are doing in God’s name.  God has allowed many of you to participate in ways that only you know and there are special hugs in this letter for you too. Without your love and prayers there are times the road we travel would be a mountain too high for us to climb. God knows how much we need each of you and that’s why He blessed us with your love and friendship and I wouldn’t be surprised to know there is a special little star to be added to your crown for supporting these Seniors as we travel His road on the way to Beulah Land.

In His Service
Butch and Vi

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:15