Meet Us In Montana

My apologies to those who check this often, we have been out of touch with internet access or way to busy to write. Since we haven’t written in two weeks, I will try to give you a quick update of what we have been up to. After visiting some friends in Yelm, Washington (near Seattle) we left Tuesday, June 13^th for Montana. It was our longest day yet this trip. It was a fourteen hour trip, with lots of different scenery. At about 10:30 P.M. we arrived at Bridger and Jen Boyd’s in Wilsall, Montana. We were able to stay there for the next week. They are friends we know from Frontier and have an adorable one month old boy. We were able to visit them and Bridger’s parents who manage a beautiful ranch. It was a great time of fellowship and it was so nice to be in one spot for a while. Sunday the 18^th we shared briefly in Shields Valley Bible Church in Clyde Park, Montana. Tuesday the 20^th we drove to Cody for some family time with Brad & April Ruckert (Amanda’s sister). We also had a chance to reconnect with some old friends that have a heart for Native ministry. Thursday the 22^nd found us back on the road and headed east for Miles City, Montana. Pat and Lori Linger graciously allowed us to come stay with them and share at the Ismay Community Church, where Pat is the Pastor. Their son Ty is a friend of Joel’s and they both graduated from Frontier this year. Ismay is a small community east of Miles City and they have a wonderful community church. They meet at 8:30 AM to beat the heat. The church building is around 90 years old and it is in beautiful shape, there is something special about those old country churches. The people were very welcoming and encouraging. One of the perks of this time in our lives is meeting so many great Christian people in all areas of the county. Praise the Lord!!! We are so thankful for the way He is blessing us in so many ways. I wish you all could experience this journey with us, it’s amazing. Thanks for keeping in touch with us.

The Pacific Coast in Oregon

What an amazing week! Monday we drove ten hours from Chilanko Forks to Bellingham, Washington were we stayed with Stan and Ginny Gillespie. Tuesday after a great breakfast we headed down to Boring, Oregon, with a short stop at the Warner’s in Yelm, Washington. It was great to be back at InterAct’s home office, Joel and I both felt like we were seeing family. We had various written and oral tests Wednesday and Thursday that we did as a part of our final interview process. Friday morning we got packed up and headed towards the Pacific Coast. We stayed that night in Tillamook, Oregon at a hotel for some family time. Saturday we drove down the coast to Pacific City where we were scheduled to speak on Sunday. Joel’s friend from Frontier (Zach Canady) dad is the pastor at Pacific Coast Bible Church, and they invited us to come share our ministry. Sunday morning we shared in their Sunday School hour. It went great; the people were so welcoming and encouraging. The couple we stayed with this weekend have an interest in missions and were very hospitable (as well they had an awesome view of the Pacific Coast from their house). We have much to be thankful for and are pumped up for the next leg of our journey. God is taking care of every detail in amazing ways. We are heading to Wilsall, Montana next to be with friends and share at Shields Valley Bible Church.

The Britany Gathering

I have been wanting to share about our awesome weekend since Sunday night, but haven't made the time to do so. I was doing some reading in Psalms today and came across the old familiar verse Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" I know this verse is often misunderstood, but it reminded me of some of my old "dreams" that are now coming true in some ways in my life. As a child I always wanted to live hours from any major city, I also had a fascination with Native culture. This last week I got to experience both, which is just a preview of what our future will hold. Friday evening we drove about two hours south-west of Steve and Jill Horsman’s (Chilanko Forks) to a place called Henry's Crossing. We arrived about ten an night, and were supposed to meet up with a group coming in on horses. I'll spare you all the details, but with a little bit of adventure we finally had the horses taken care of and tents up for everyone by about three in the morning. That evening is a story in itself and not really the point of this blog. So anyway the next morning, we did sleep in, the fun begins. First we learned why the Chilcotin people even had this gathering together. Basically this gathering started about fourteen years ago and was done in protest of a certain lumber company and how they were logging the land. The place that we had gathered was called the Britany triangle (hence the name Britany gathering). They are still battling all the details in court and every year they get together to celebrate and remember. We got to see some parts of the Chilcotin culture first hand like singing and dancing (see picture). We also got to taste some traditional foods like moose jerky and ban cook (fry bread) but done on a stick over the fire. Moose jerky is great for teething babies. The best part of all was when Saturday night we stayed up around the camp fire and hung out with some new friends (who are Chilcotin). We had a blast just talking and laughing and enjoying the outdoor night. Sunday was a long day because we had to break down camp and take everything back home, but it was worth the weekend of new experiences. We were so thankful for this opportunity and it has given us a new sense of urgency to raise support and come back to the Chilcotin to share Christ.

A Little Bit About Our Week

Well it's Friday the day we were scheduled to leave Chilanko Forks, but we our still here and plan to go camping for the weekend. The new plan is to leave Monday early in the morning and drive all day to Bellingham, Washington. Staying the weekend will give us a good opportunity to meet more people and see the culture firsthand. More about that latter. For now I want to catch you up on our week. Monday and Tuesday slowed down a little, we were able to really relax, (which was nice). Wednesday we had a few projects to help out Steve and Jill. Thursday got busy as we started getting ready for our weekend, and today was too! Tonight we are going out camping (we get the camper b/c we have Abigail) and coming back Sunday morning. We will be at a First Nations gathering which will be a neat experience. Some of the highlights of the week are:

• We met quite a few non-native people in the community.
• We had a great talk with Steve and Jill giving us more insight and information.
  
• Abigail took her first steps on Monday and has been walking a little more everyday, Yeah!

Today is Abigail's birthday and she is going to have birthday cake while camping. Thanks for reading!!