It sure has been awhile...

It’s hard to know where to begin with this update. Let me start by apologizing for being out of touch for so long. Several factors contributed to our silence, the biggest one being the loss of our computer and with it our contact information for all of you, thankfully the latter was just a temporary problem and the Lord provided for a new computer as well. Now I will attempt to fill you all in on what has happened in our lives the last 6 weeks or so.

Our last blog entry is dated June 25th, so I will start from there. We finished our packing and said our goodbyes to the “Chilcotin” on June 27th. Joel drove our truck and trailer with the girls, and I drove the car. (just as far as Williams Lake) We had a bit of scare with our trailer brakes coming down a long, steep hill just outside of town, but other than slow us down a bit it nothing further developed. We left the car in Williams Lake, and I got in with Joel and the girls and we set out for Golden, BC. Our car was brought over by some friends of ours and actually gave them some trouble on the way, at one point we didn’t think it was going to make it. It has since been fixed and is running, but still a bit on the rough side. After resting up a bit on Sunday the 28th (of June) we drove the rest of the way to Longview, Alberta, our new home.

We had only been “home” an hour or so when our first visitors arrived. Roy and Laura Thiessen (they are Interact Appointees and are raising support to work with the Blackfoot tribe in Cardston, AB) and their two daughters stayed for two days helping us get the trailer unloaded, cleaning done, and some unpacking started. It was such an encouragement to have friends on the scene so soon after our arrival. The next weeks were mainly consumed with unpacking and getting settled, (a never-ending job). Another big encouragement was having my sister (April) come for a week in the early part of July, she helped do some painting and it was great to have family around at a time when things seemed in such an upheaval.

We were able to get our house in order enough to have celebrate Ruth’s first birthday on the 27th of July. We had a really nice day and enjoyed some refreshing fellowship with friends. She enjoyed getting presents and took all the frosting off of her cake and then wanted down to play. She started walking right before our move and loves to climb, so she keeps us on our toes.

The next day found our family driving down to Gladstone Gathering Grounds in Pincher Creek, Alberta. We spent the week at a kids camp for First Nation’s youth. Several different organizations work together to make this camp happen. Being “the new kids on the block” our learning curve was big. We were in charge of the work crew, young teens that come to camp to help do dishes and other work projects. We were also able to get to know some of the kids who live at Eden Valley.

Saturday the 2nd of August we attended our first Stoney funeral. We were able to meet some new people. The man who passed away is the grandfather of one of our friends, that we are getting to know.

This week has been spent playing catch up and by the end of the week we will be packing for our 8 weeks in Missouri to attend a course on Church Planting with New Tribes Mission.

Thanks for being faithful with your notes of “Hey, how are you guys doing?”, prayers and gifts. It is our lifeblood many times over.

Love,

Amanda (for the 4 of us)