Teacher Bobbie Battest mails all the Sunday school lessons the kids are missing.

About once a month, the Rev. Jon Mapa travels more than 600 miles to make a pastoral visit to the family in Minneapolis.

And the rest of the Atonement Lutheran Church congregation in Rapid City sends along cards, packages and prayers to support 7-year-old Noah Misselt and his family in their fight against Noah's childhood leukemia.

"They've been incredible. The outpouring of support has exceeded all our expectations. We were literally overrun originally," said Chris Misselt, Noah's dad, who also serves as president of the local Lutheran congregation. His mom, Tammy, is the church youth director and an integral part of the church leadership team.

The congregation's initial response to Noah's bad medical news came almost exactly six months ago, when Chris and Tammy were told their oldest son had leukemia.

"Looking back, there were clues along the way," Chris said. Noah was pale, he was bruising easily and had had some unexplained nosebleeds. His parents thought the little boy, who had recently finished kindergarten at Badger Clark Elementary School, was battling a run-of-the-mill childhood illness. Chris knew something else was wrong the day Noah "walked out of vacation Bible school, laid down on the floor of my office and said, 'Dad, I don't feel well.'"

He quickly deteriorated into listlessness and lethargy at a doctor's visit the next day. "His blood counts were off the charts and the doctor told us, 'He is very sick,'" Chris recalled.

Noah was airlifted to the University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview on July 21 for treatment, and has not been home since.

Tammy and their three kids - including Noah's brother Caleb, 5, and his sister, Mina, 7 months - are staying with Chris' parents in Cambridge, Minn.

"He is being treated as primarily an outpatient, but due to the many quirks that can come up along the way, he must remain close to the hospital. My folks are in Cambridge, about an hour from the hospital, so Tammy and the kids set up camp there. They haven't been home at all since July 21," Chris said.

The sudden disappearance of his entire family led to some erroneous assumptions in the neighborhood, Chris joked. "Somebody said to me, 'I heard your wife left you,'" he said.

In reality, the Box Elder police sergeant remained behind in Rapid City to "do the things that need doing to keep the ship afloat," while Tammy took an unpaid leave of absence from her job at Working Against Violence Inc. to be with her son full time in Minneapolis.

Chris' work schedule allows him to get to Minneapolis about one week each month, and he's there now to enjoy the holidays with his family.

Atonement Lutheran sent along a Christmas surprise, as well.

The Misselts opened a Christmas letter from the congregation this week. Inside was a check for $1,000 to help with the additional travel and living expenses the family is enduring. The small congregation raised the money through a Christmas brunch and other donations in December.

"Chris is really loved by the congregation. He's done a great job as president of our congregation," Mapa said. "And we just really miss Noah, Caleb and Mina. We keep Noah in our prayers. Every week, we pray for him."

Noah's treatment is going well and he's expected to return home sometime in late February or early March, after his chemotherapy and a course of radiation is finished. The family has kept a journal of its battle against leukemia at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/noahmisselt.

"Some entries are news and events, some are mom or dad waxing philosophical. Sometimes they are streams of consciouness. Writing at CaringBridge has been incredibly cathartic," Chris said.

Like any other family facing illness, the Misselts have asked, "why us?"

"For now, the only answer revealed thus far will have to do: God needed a family to do this thing for some greater purpose. For some reason, He thought we could do it," Chris said. " 'The will of God will not lead you where the grace of God will not uphold you' is a treasured verse, repeated many times a day aloud and within."

They are grateful for many things: a favorable type of leukemia with an excellent prognosis, a quality of health care that exceeds all possible expectations and support from family and friends that couldn't possibly have been imagined.

"We are people of faith, and feel the constant presence of angels on this journey," Chris said.

Many of them go to church at Atonement Lutheran.

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com.