Psalm 78:19
Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? YOU BET HE CAN!

Dear Partners in Rodeo ministry,

Nearly four months has passed since my (Paul's) panicky letter of Linda's illness went out, and they have been a tough four months indeed. God still advances His work against all obstacles, Praise Him Forever!

Summer is our busiest time, as anyone trying to make contact with us knows! Let us bring you up to date as smoothly as we can.

We anticipated May as the beginning of the Rodeo Bible Camp season, but Linda's health had not been normal since she finished her trickriding clinics in April. She became seriously ill on Mothers Day while at Lighthouse A/G in Parachute, CO with Bro and Sister Eisenach. The doctors found no identifiable ailments, but suspected hepatitis. Naturally we were quite alarmed and put everything on hold while tests were begun. The tests, were at best inconclusively vague, so there was no treatment until a firm diagnosis was made.

We were joined on May 18 by Jared Berry, our energetic intern from SWAGU, who was a valuable help. When it was determined later that Linda would be unable to travel, he became an irreplaceable part of our ministry. Waiting on more tests, Linda stayed home, very run down and fatigued, while Paul and Jared went to Howard, KS for a Rodeo Bible camp and Ft. Smith, AR for services during the Old Fort Days Rodeo Week. Jared proved himself quickly, as a cowboy, minister and Royal Ranger leader, with 8 souls being saved at our first service together! We made a hurried trip back to Colorado for MonteVista's Rodeo Bible Camp, where a huge enrollment (112 students) waited for us. After the first night, word came from home that Linda's condition was extremely serious, and the work was left with Jared while Paul went home.

Fortunately, last years intern, Cory Young, had come to join us and took over all of Linda's teaching duties. Cory was fantastic, and is becoming a grand young minister. Arriving home in Boone, Linda was found very weak and yellow as a cantaloupe. We went quickly to Parkview hospital in Pueblo where she spent the next 5 days. She was re-hydrated (she had been so nauseous for days that she couldn't keep water down), was given medication and the jaundice symptoms left. They could not isolate the strain of hepatitis, and took several tests to see what might have caused her liver to stop working and the pancreatitis. They looked for lupus, many kinds of hepatitis, liver cancer, gall bladder and gallstone trouble but found no sign of any of these. Upon returning home, she developed terrible hives which demanded a restricted diet to rest her liver. They continued tests to isolate what form of hepatitis it might be.

All of this happened during the Monte Vista camp and when it was over, all the horses and trailers went to La Veta with Jared and Cory for the next camp without Paul and Linda. Paul went for a few hours a day, making an 80 mile trip one way, and Linda felt good enough to be left alone for a day for the Rodeo performance at LaVeta. Our family at our home church, Praise Assembly of God, in Pueblo cooked delicious meals, came in to clean our home, filled our freezer, and precious friends, Forrest and Rene Watkins, did the feeding throughout the summer when Paul was gone and Linda was home.

All this was going on in the midst of the very worst drought Colorado has ever had. Unbelievable heat and severe unrelenting winds made it doubly uncomfortable for Linda, bedfast all this time. Hay went out of sight for price ($200 a ton) and no pasture had grown at all. No snow all winter, no irrigation, no rain all spring (or summer either, as it would be). We were found faced with dumping (selling at a great loss) most, if not all of our livestock (which is an integral part of our ministry) because there was nothing to feed them. In all of this, Linda was so sick I thought we might lose her, really.

The interns went on to Kersey, CO, always a stellar Rodeo Bible Camp, aided by Dave and Linda Jellison from Burlingame, KS. Paul delivered the horses and equipment, then stayed by Linda praying and housekeeping (and fretting and crying a great deal), then left early in the A.M. to be involved in the rodeo performance at Kersey and a special commemoration for Katie Dives and Chuck Murphy. Both were tragically lost in 2001. Jared left us after this camp, promising to return next year. What a great servant of God he was to us. Cory remained, speaking at two camps and seeing converts each time. We could not be more pleased with Cory.

God also gave us an incredible gift in June when Dave and Hope Taylor, and a group of believers from Ranch of Hope in NY, came for 3 days to build, remodel, and repair numerous projects on our place that get left undone as we travel. They not only furnished and made all the meals, but rebuilt the blown off roof of our barn, but replaced the uprights and the rest of its sagging roof, Then they started on the house and replaced our broken tile kitchen floor with a new wood floor, replastered, repaired, repainted, and replaced doors, ceiling fans, windows. They also did work on the house roof by replacing some shingles and the rotted fascia board. All the while nursing, pampering and blessing the socks off Linda!!!!

Linda seemed slightly stronger by the end of June, but not so much as to travel, so Dave Jellison came to assist with Hotchkiss, CO at their RBC, leaving his wife Linda with my recuperating wife. What a great camp with great students! God did great things there, and most of the Sr High students got such a grip on God that they committed to return as staff for the Jr camp a month later.

July 4th is known as the "Cowboy Christmas", because of the huge number of rodeos they can win money at that week. Our celebration happened at Dickenson, ND with the Roughrider Subchapter of the FCC where a grand service was held in the arena, largely due to the efforts of Robyn Nelson, former Miss Rodeo ND and one of Linda's exceptional trick riding students. The foundation was also set for a Rodeo Bible Camp next summer in that area.

Much travel! Right after Dickenson, we began the RBC at Colorado Springs, Co at the fantastic facility at Shiloh Ranch near Black Forest. The biggest enrollment ever was waiting there, and what a challenge it was. A Jr and Sr camp went back to back, needing a lot of livestock shuffling and other logistical challenges. Praise God, Cory Young was still with us and did an outstanding job of ministry.

Immediately, and I mean the same hour, we (Linda and I) tried Linda's strength by driving to Springfield, MO for the Chaplains Conference. She did well, but got tired on the way home and felt some abdominal pain. Fortunately, rest remedied that. Royal Ranger Day camp for the younger boys followed that at Colorado City, where the star was Don, the burro that PR, our son has trained. More inconclusive tests at the Dr's office the last week of July, and the last RBC held at Hotchkiss, CO again. It was a large, well-behaved Jr camp. 20 students and 18 parents were saved, and 3 folks baptized in water!!! What a good deal.

Throughout all this ministry, God kept us in the livestock business. Hay came in from eastern Kansas and Northwestern Pennsylvania from wonderful, wonderful Christian folks and churches who believed in our calling. Churches in El Paso, Grand Junction, Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, and many other states send funds, and Hilandville, Mo sent 8 big round bales home with us. No feed all around us, but God had plenty for us! Only He could do that! And only folks who have livestock depending on them can identify with the helpless feeling a stockman has when there is no feed.

The first week of August brought our 26th wedding anniversary and praise God we both had enough health to enjoy each other. Last week had the Rocky Mt District Powwow for Royal Rangers, this year held in 3 segments, and a corresponding light attendance, but a great move of God's Spirit nonetheless. Just when Paul returned home, the Dr had found that Linda had contracted a case of mononucleosis in the spring that had affected the liver resulting in what acted like hepatitis. They said her liver was now functioning normally and she was well!! She actually feels better than Paul, who has had 3 weeks of summer flu, complicated by dust and forest fire fallout.

So, in spite of unrelenting drought, serious sickness and numerous hardships imposed by the enemy, God's work in rodeo continues at a high lope. 210 souls have been save, 12 filled with the Holy Spirit, 3 baptized in water, God is providing the hay, the well isn't dry, and Jesus is Lord!

The Colorado State fair begins this Friday, and it will be the first rodeo Linda has attended since March, when her health started downhill. We have much to do yet! Pray for us, fervently and earnestly! We want to be found faithful when Jesus returns! Praise Him above all names forever!




Paul and Linda Scholtz, your Ambassadors in Rodeo

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