Hotel in 1880 Town

Most Western towns had someplace for guests to stay, although communities too small to be called a town might not. Before the railroad came to town, boarding houses often offered that service, but the railroad brought growth, and hotels were a part of that. All my Western novels have either a boarding house or a hotel, but the establishment plays a more important role in some than others.

1880 Town in Middletown, South Dakota, had a hotel, but today's visitors weren't allowed inside yet, so I have no photos to show of the interior. However, I assume it looked like other historic hotels in the region, such as ones at the Patee House in St. Joseph, Missouri. Besides the hotel, 1880 Town had more than one saloon with rooms to rent. This was typical of Western towns at the time. Deadwood, South Dakota, had more saloons than all other businesses combined.

Patee House

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Commissioned

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).  

Most Christians are familiar with the Great Commission. When I served as a missionary in the Philippines, I took notes during a meeting with fellow missionaries of ways God's people could take part in teaching all nations. Obviously, not everyone is called to go to a foreign mission field. However, God does expect us all to carry the gospel message wherever we go.

The following is a list of different ways to fulfill this commandment. The key is to select the ones God leads you to do. More than likely, He won't tell you to do just one, and they may change at different stages of your life.

• Be a Sender - Senders often financially support missionaries so they can go. However, if you personally know the missionary, you might take care of a home place, check on relatives for them, or do any number of things to help support them being gone.

• Be an Encourager -  Missionaries often feel isolated and cut off from their previous life. Cards, letters, emails, and packages mean a lot, especially to those without families with them. I met many missionaries serving as single men and women.
• Be an Intercessor - Pray for missionaries in general, but also for specific missionaries. No one knows the effectiveness of fervent prayers any more than a missionary. They rely upon them. Prayer warriors are always needed.

• Be a Welcomer - Be a friend to those who are different and need a friend. Welcome missionaries into your home if you have the opportunity. I will never forget the kindness of people who invited me to stay with them when I was traveling to the mission field or coming home or the number of people who picked me up at airports or took me to rent a car when I needed one.
• Be a Mobilizer - These are the people who help match people with mission opportunities or recruit people to serve in needed mission positions.
• Be a Helper - There are so many ways to assist a missionary and give practical assistance where needed. You might even consider being an assistant missionary for a term.
• Be a Trainer. You may have experience in an area that would be beneficial to a missionary. Perhaps you could volunteer to help train them.
• Be a Goer - Go where God sends you. Say, "Here I am, Lord. Send me." And remember going isn't just overseas. There are also great mission needs right here in the United States, and where you are. Just be faithful to God and His call upon your life.

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Noah's New Bride

Noah's New Bride is my next book to publish. in about three weeks. It's part of the multiple-author series, Mountain Men and Mail-Order Brides. In my novel, Noah Elder is a lumberjack in a remote region of Oregon Territory in 1878. 

However, Noah gets lonely in the logging camp, and now that he’s a crew boss with a cabin, he could get married, but what woman would want this rough life? Still, he writes to his sister who’s been known to do some matchmaking. He’s pleased when she finds a young woman for him, but he soon learns that Meleah Baldwin, through no fault of her own, has problems too. In addition, trouble comes from an unexpected source. Can they work together to overcome the obstacles?

Mark Wisehart, the same narrator who produced Carmen's Wedding Dilemma, is now working on the Audible version of Noah's New Bride. I think he'll be perfect for the voices, and I look forward to hearing the finished audiobook. Noah's New Bride is on preorder now. Check it out and hopefully order it. You won't be charged until it comes out on October 3.

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 The Patience of Job

Curse that night for letting me be born, for exposing me to trouble and grief (Job 3:10).

Most of us have probably heard people mention "the patience of Job." I can remember my mother saying it often. However, did Job really have patience? The question was raised in a recent Bible study. The author made a good case for Job not being very patient as he went through so many trials.

O that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me (Job 6: 2 & 4).

Job cries out in despair and for relief again and again in The Book of Job. It is understandable when we consider all that he's going through, but it hardly demonstrates patience. He goes to the throne of God, angrily insisting on some answers. Again, that's not showing patience. However, through everything, Job does maintain great faith in His Lord. He refuses to curse Him and die like his wife tells him to do. In fact, he says, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him" (Job 13:15).

Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job..." (James 5:11a).

However, after enduring so much suffering, it makes sense that Job came out on the other side with great patience. He had learned some important lessons, and patience was one of them. The Apostle James mentions it in the last part of his letter. God often uses our trials to refine us and make us into better people.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (James 1: 2-4).

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2

School in 1880 Town

Most towns of any size would have a schoolhouse in 1880. Many began as one-room schools with all the grades in the same building, taught by a single teacher. You can imagine how challenging that would be. As the student population grew, the grades might be divided and two teachers hired. Eventually, some schools would expand to include a teacher at almost every grade level.

Rules for teachers were often strict. Women teachers couldn't teach after they married. They were given guidelines about how they dressed, where they could go, and who they could see. Pay was very low, and housing varied. Some towns offered teacherages, but others housed teachers in parents' homes, a situation that could be good or bad. 

The wooden and iron student desks were arranged in neat rows facing a chalkboard with the teacher's desk at the front. Somewhere in the room would be a stove for heat in the winter. Out back would be one or two outhouses. The teacher and students brought their own lunches.

The situation was rarely ideal, but students still learned. As a former teacher, I don't think I'd want to teach in the 1880s, but I admire those who did. It was one of the few jobs opened to single women in the 1800s. To read one of my novels that deals with the education system in the 1880s, check out Simon's Shame.

*1880 Town is a reconstructed Western town in Midland, South Dakota.

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