Our First Look at the Chilcotin Region

It’s Sunday May 28, 2006, and we are staying at Steve and Jill Horsman’s at the Redstone Reserve. We left Cody, Wyoming at 5:30 A.M Thursday. We drove about four hours to see Bridger, Jen and Clancy Boyd in Wilsall, Montana. We visited, had lunch and we’re back on the road again by 2:30. We drove till 9:00 P.M. and got a hotel in Spokane WA. Friday morning we decided to try to make it all the way to Chilanko Forks in one day. We had a long but good day. Abigail did a great job in the car, sleeping most of the time. We drove through a lot of mountains and had rain on and off all day. We did hit a couple patches of hail, and saw one car go off the road in front of us, but the Lord protected us. We finally arrived about 8:30 Friday evening. The last couple of days have been giving us a little taste of what life is like for the missionaries who work with First Nation people. We have a lot of processing to do with all the information we are gathering during this time. Praise the Lord today for His Goodness!

The Journey Begins

It’s hard to believe we’ve been moved out for a week. Our original plan to be moved out of our house in LaGrange by Tuesday the 16^th didn’t quite work out. So we spent one last night in our house without pj’s or sheets on our bed and finished up and left on Wednesday. We got all our boxes and some furniture in our trailer which is parked with our truck in La Grange, in a empty quonset hut the Lord provided. The rest of our furniture is stored in a pole barn also provided by the Lord. He is so AMAZING!! Since leaving LaGrange on the 17^th we spent several days with the Chamberlain family. They are good friends of ours that live on a ranch near Douglas, Wyoming. It was so refreshing to be able to relax after all the stress of packing etc. Saturday the 20^th we headed up to Cody to visit my sister and her husband, Brad and April. Again it’s been nice to be able to connect with family and relax. The Lord provided work for Joel for a couple of days, which is a huge blessing. We are so encouraged to see how the Lord has taken care of us. We are so thankful to Him for His Grace on our lives. It becomes more apparent every day that without Him we are nothing. When I sit and reflex the way He works and who He is, I’m awestruck!!! May I encourage you today to believe His Word. Whatever situation your in, He is trustworthy! The next step in our plan is to head to British Columbia and spend about a week in the Chilanko Forks area. It’s exciting to get a chance to see firsthand what it’s like there. We plan to leave Cody early tomorrow morning and tackle the 20 some hour drive. We do have a little detour in Montana we need to make to see the Clancy Wade Boyd, born last week to our friends Bridger and Jen. We hope to make it to the Horsman’s by Friday. We will keep you updated along the way!!

Psalm 27: 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Graduation

We've been experiencing some changes in our household lately. We have been blessed in so many ways here are a few:

• A good friend of Joel's is going to watch his guns while we are raising support.
• A friend from school took some stuff to Michigan for us since we can not haul it in our little car.
• We have most of our house packed and have had help from Joel's Mom and Grandma.
• JOEL GRADUATED FROM SCHOOL! DEBT FREE! (that was one of our biggest goals with going to Bible school, not incurring any debt).
• We wanted to enter ministry debt free and we will! Praise be to God!!!
• We sent out our first letter (not to Michigan people yet, we are waiting till we get closer to being in Michigan if you were wondering).

Thanks so much for your prayers! We have started to hear some response from people who are wanting to support our ministry (both through prayer & financially), and we praise God for that!!!