Texas girls take over Montana

Rebecca came to visit for her spring break, and we went all over this part of Montana doing all kinds of fun things while she was here. She got in on Monday March 7th at 10:00pm. On Tuesday, we got up and headed to Glacier National Park (the part that is open anyway). We spent several hours there admiring the lake and mountains, hiking a little, and taking lots of pictures. Then we drove back to Hungry Horse and I showed her the church and she met the girls who were getting help with school work. We didn't stay at the church for to long because I took her up to the Hungry Horse Dam and reservoir and we spent about an hour there before we went home. Wednesday we were going to go into Bigfork and look at the shops before going to church, but we ended up sleeping until 11:30 so we decided to do that another day. We drove to Hungry Horse and looked at some of the gift shops there, and then went to the church to help tutor the girls and get ready for Team kid that night. Rebecca got to meet a lot of the kids and see how a typical Wednesday night usually goes. Afterwards, all she could say was wow! Thursday we got up early to hit the slopes at Blacktail mountain for her first ski lesson and my fourth. She started off with a bang, or should I say a wipeout! Her first trip down the bunny hill was a little faster than she planned on and she ended up taking out the orange fencing made of bamboo poles and netting. They had to get a drill to fix it! The rest of her day was much more successful and she had gone down the big slopes several times by the end of the day. That night, we played cards over at another family's house. We usually play hand and foot in teams of two but this time we played in teams of three. Rebecca joined Caleb and me and this time we actually won! Friday, we went skiing again and both had fun and successful days. Mine didn't start off that way because my boots were to tight which caused falls, and then my instructor was ready before I was to get on the lift and so I kind of fell off. It was a good thing we weren't to high off the ground yet! He apologized over and over and got me some hot chocolate. We switched out my boots and decided to start the day all over again. I did much better and even decided I love to ski! Rebecca and I think we should visit Blacktail at least once a year. I guess we better keep going to school so we can get good jobs to pay for this new expensive hobby of ours! That night we were supposed to take the Burdett's out to eat and pay for the meal. We did go out to eat, but when it was time to pay, both Rebecca and I realized we left our debit cards in our ski stuff. How embarrassing! So they paid and I paid them back today. Then we went home and watched a movie and went to bed. Today was the last day Becca was here. We got up and packed her stuff up and went to Bigfork to look at the little shops. Half of them were closed and the other half were to expensive, so that was disappointing. We gave up on unique Montana shopping and went to your everyday ordinary Wal-mart. Then we ate lunch and I took her to the airport. I said goodbye and drove home in the snow to start the next 11 weeks feeling relaxed and happy ( and with a big dent in my wallet).

Refreshing

The past two Sunday nights I have gone to a college Bible study in nearby Kallispell. It has been great to get to have fellowship with people my own age who love the Lord as much as I do. The group ranges anywhere from 30 to 60 students and is a lot of fun. We meet at a house that belongs to a local youth pastor and his wife. They have 4 boys and so they added on a room for the Bible study that also serves as a play room for the boys. They feed us supper and then we sing, study the Bible, and pray together. Right now the youth leader, Joey Gardner, and another pastor from the church, Matt, are leading us in a study of 2 Timothy. Last week we talked about verse 19 of chapter two, which says, " Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, ..." I think that it is so refreshing to know that even though people can preach falsely and lead many to their lies, that our God stands firm and His church, His truth does not die.

Visitors

On February 26th, the Burdett's daughter and her family and also their son came to visit. They stayed until the 6th of March. Their daughter has a five year old son and three year old daughter. Their other daughter that lives here in Montana came over and spent a couple of nights while her siblings were here, and she has a one year old daughter. So, the house was full of toys and was quite a noisy, busy place during the week. The family spent several long, fun days together going hiking and skiing. I joined them for the baby's birthday party and one of the skiing days. It was my most successful ski day yet with 12 runs down the slope and only about half of them with falls. The last ones were done with great speed. The kids liked it when I read to them and wanted to show me all kinds of things they could do. We played lots of hide and go seek and had lots of fun together. They were sad when it was time to go home.

During the week I drove the jeep to the church and continued to tutor the kids even though the Burdett's were not there. Two of the teenage girls came to get help and we stayed for quite a while at the church. Wednesday was a pretty good day but the kids were kind of wild. On Sunday, our numbers were low. We only had 7 kids all together.