Finishing out May

Praise God, we made it back to Montana with no accidents and no drama. We did, however, have some fantastic opportunities to see friends and family along the drive. My friend Angie and her husband, John, drove 6 hours from Ohio to spend a day with me in Michigan before we took off. Thanks guys, what a sacrifice! We walked in the state park where I got all the pictures I posted last post. We saw a beaver and lots of poison ivy. It was a pretty walk. Angie and I were roommates at Grace College in Indiana where I attended from 98-00. We were the boring roommates who always studied for our Biology degrees. She and John took off back to Ohio the same day we left for Goshen, Indiana;where we stayed a night with Jodi and her kids Leah and Luke. We missed her husband, Duane as he was out of town. Jodi was one of my other roomates at Grace. I met Leah 3 years ago or so when I was in Indiana for another roommate, Amber's, wedding but hadn't met Luke yet (or seen Leah all grown up!) so it was fun to see them.

The next day we left for Iowa to my Uncle Dave and Aunt Kathy's house. I have 3 cousins from Iowa, 2 of which are married and live nearby. However, all 3 cousins were around because of Memorial Day weekend so I got to see all of them. Here's a pic of us: Gretchen, me, Heidi, Christy, and Dawn. I'm the oldest so I get to be tallest, isn't that how that works? :) Heidi and Christy are pregnant and due this summer/fall. Heidi is having baby #5 (Levi, Asher, Lilly, Violet, and baby) and Christy is having baby #2 (Ariel & baby).

Here's a pic of all the 2nd cousins. Ariel wasn't happy about being in a picture so Christy is helping out... Getting 8 kids ages 5 and under in a picture is quite an undertaking, hence the lack of kids looking and smiling at the camera. They're still cute though. This is: Ariel (Christy) and Lilly in the back.

Front is: Asher, Jesiah holding Adalaya, Gweny, and Levi holding Violet.

Here's Uncle Dave and Aunt Kathy on the left. After eating Aunt Kathy's amazing cinnamon rolls for breakfast, we headed on to Minneapolis to stay with my Uncle Fred and Aunt Betty again. They win for hosting us the most times over the last year - yeah! Your rewards are in heaven; I don't have anything fun to give you... :) We saw my grandma there again and also saw my Uncle Darrell and Aunt Jeannie. Here's all of them at Fred and Betty's and a pic too of my cousin Fred and his girlfriend, Barbara. He's impossible to photograph so I have to get candid shots to get anything. Finally, here's me with Fred and Betty. The next night we were scheduled to stay with friends Ralph and Shari in Bismark, North Dakota. However, as we got on the road, the kids and I were sick and Jesiah had a nasty fever. We stopped in and ate supper with Ralph and Shari so got to see them a short time. Then we then hit the road again and just drove the whole way back to Montana, getting back late that night. Sleeping in one's own bed after a month away is a great treat! Fortunately, we are all healed up again, feeling great so we are practicing getting our "land legs" back on again after a month on the road. It is nice to be back in Montana again for awhile, but I'm so thankful for all the great connections while on the road. Thanks to everyone who hosted us, fed us, and shared their time with us this trip!

So what's up for June? So far I've been spending my time catching up on paperwork from while I was away. Hopefully I'll be through all my old piles by the end of the week. Next on my to-do list is getting a study plan together for learning grammar and starting on Bislama (the trade language in Vanuatu). I also need to go back through all my boxes from moving here from Boise last year and get rid of more things I'm realizing I don't need. We are having a garage sale the end of the month so that will be a great time to trim down more. I also have lots of paperwork still to do for moving overseas - banking stuff, insurance stuff, social security stuff, Australia student visa, a will and burial info to Biblical Minstries Worldwide to name a few. I'm also catching up with friends and supporters here in Montana. The very end of the month, I am looking forward to a short family get-away my mom has planned to the Black Hills (South Dakota). Just 8 short weeks until I fly to California and then on to Vanuatu - wow, look at the time go! Thanks for your prayers for faithfulness, provision, and grace as the time draws near.

Our last major road trip

I've officially left Boise behind... for a long while. We drove over the weekend to Blackfoot, ID and presented at a church there. It is a church pastored by Justin, a fellow BMW missionary, supported by his wife, Heather. We stayed with the family of Lesli, a friend of Hought and Gretch from Bible school. They were super hospitable and it was great getting to know them. Sunday evening we got to Bozeman to stay with lovely Lindsey again (our faithful friend at just the right point on I94). We got to see friends Josh and Lisa as well, always a treat! :) From there, we took off for Miles City and spent 2 day unpacking and repacking, filing paperwork from the last 3 months of being away, and preparing to be away another month. We also got to hang out with my parents. Three cheers for my AMAZING mom who fixed us all our meals for those 2 days so we didn't have to buy groceries or spend time cooking. You're awesome, mom! :)



We figured on 2 days being plenty to do everything, but it was quite crazy to make the turn-around so fast. We packed up the car Thursday morning (May 1) for our last major road trip, Lord-willing. Please check the schedule to the right to see where we are when, but this trip includes stops in: Fargo, North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota (to see aunts, uncles, grandma, and some friends); Waukesha, Wisconsin (to see friends of Hought and Gretch who are instructors with New Tribes Mission); Lansing, Michigan (to hang out with teammates Amber and Brad and their kids Zoe and Piper, do some planning and team-building for about 3 weeks, then go to a wedding with friends of Houghton and Gretchen). On the way back we'll be stopping at my friend Jodi's in Goshen, Indiana (a roommate from Grace College in Indiana where I got my undergrad degree). We'll go from there to Mount Vernon, Iowa to see Aunt Kathy, Uncle Dave, and 3 cousins (and their families). Then back to Minneapolis for a night and over to Bismark, North Dakota to stay with family friends Ralph and Shari. Finally, we'll be back in Miles City as of the 29th, Lord-willing. As we stop and see people, I'll post pictures here in this post. Sorry it's boring words for now, but I promise I'll add pics when I have a chance. :) I'm not sure what our internet will be from here on out, so be patient. I hope to be getting out my newsletter in the next week or so too so watch for that. Thanks for praying for us as we travel with 3 kids now - for safety, patience, grace, rest, and opportunities to share our faith and ministry. Much love to you all!

Out in the Wilderness

The end of October I got to visit one of my alma mater's, Montana Wilderness School of the Bible. Joe, who with his wife Bev and their family was on staff there when I was a student from 97-98, now pastors a church in Fort Benton just NE of Great Falls, MT. Community Bible Church there welcomed us in to present about Vanuatu and God's leading on Sunday morning. Joe and Bev let us stay in their lovely home and Bev fed us an incredible meal after church. We also enjoyed fellowshiping with Greg and Cheryl from their church over the meal. Here are Cheryl and Greg on the left and Bev and Joe on the right. Emily, Joe & Bev's daughter, also lives in Fort Benton so we got to see her and meet her husband Peter at church, which was fun.

After lunch, we zipped through Great Falls and on to where Montana Wilderness School of the Bible (MWSB http://www.mwsb.com/) is nestled, well, in the wilderness, an hour or so from Helena and an hour or so from Great Falls! At MWSB, we met a "new" (to me anyway, they've been there 4 years now) staff family, Kevin and Pat. Kevin and Pat housed the Richards and I stayed with John and Terry, who are the directors of the school and who were hugely impactful in my life especially when I attended there. Here are Terry and John to the right. We spoke for evening chapel to the students and had several hours after chapel to further interact with students (and some of the staff) who had questions about missions or our testimonies, about Vanuatu, and about discerning God's will and making decisions. What an awesome time to be able to encourage college students to pray about and pursue missions! I really enjoyed the girls I got to talk to and new relationships grown from that time. I'm praying for you girls for wisdom as you seek to glorify God with your lives and in the steps taken after Bible school! I had some nice times to catch up with John and Terry and to get to know some of the other staff as well. I talked briefly with Adam, son of Joe & Bev, and his wife Brooke for a bit at MWSB as well as they are on staff there now.

The scenery there was, as always, incredible and it was as always, hard to leave a place that has been over the years such a haven of rest and growth and of encouraging fellowship. God has truly blessed me in allowing me to have a relationship with MWSB and the staff, students, and alumni from there.

The only stinky thing about the whole weekend was that Gretchen and Gweny weren't able to come. A day before we were to leave, Gweny started running high fevers and not doing well. Gretchen and Houghton decided to have her stay back with Gweny to give her a chance to get well. Houghton, Jesiah and I traveled without them then. Jesiah enjoyed playing with toys at Bev's house, seeing Aaron again (who we visited in Ronan in August but he's now going to school in Great Falls so we got to stop in and see him twice on the trip, as well as to run in to his mom and brother who were visiting), and playing with the great boy toys at Kevin and Pat's. Kevin and Pat had 3 boys (of their 7 kids) home when we were there and they were fantastic entertainers for Jesiah. Here are Pat & Kevin, Rob, Ben, and Josh (and Jesiah behind the nurf gun on Ben's lap). He was VERY sad to leave there. :)

This last weekend we were in western North Dakota presenting at our first church in that state. Pastor Dave and his wife Renee were out of town so asked Houghton to fill the pulpit and we were able to share about Vanuatu there. We met some incredible people and aside from the insane wind gusts threatening to blow us off the road on the way home, were blessed at Beach Evangelical Church. Houghton's parents had us over to celebrate his and his dad's birthdays after we drove back so we got some great grub and came the rest of the way home late Sunday night. Houghton turned 28 Saturday.

Friday we leave for Buffalo, MT to visit with my friends Jessica and Ryan, who graduated with me from MWSB. They have 5 kids now so I'm excited to meet the newest, Jared and better get to know the other 4. After presenting in the church in Buffalo, we'll head down to Frontier School of the Bible again to present during their missions conference for the week.