Hills of Peace

Each of use have different definitions of what is beautiful and what makes a particular person, place, or thing beautiful.  Last week I served as a guest minister in very beautiful place with beautiful people.  The place was the Hills of Peace campground located near Provost, Alberta.  Hills of Peace is beautiful because of its isolation and tranquillity and the people are beautiful because of their hospitality and grace.  

During this reunion I taught the Sr. High class - something I don't typically get asked to do and something I'm probably not overly gifted in.  The group hung with me and I think all 20 of us learned things throughout

 the week.  Several high qu

ality young adults also attended this reunion and I always enjoy making new friends around my age.  I got to preach on the Tuesday night of the reunion and I have never had to compete with both kids doing gymnastics in the front row and a bat screeching loudly as I spoke.  Good times.  

Some of the other activities of the week included a baptism and Greg Goheen, Sarah Crawford, and I took a trip to Ribstone.  Ribs

tone is a fairly large and success-

ful rural congregation in Alberta.  

It was a great week and people treated me way better than what I deserved.  Unfortunately, I had to leave before the closing worship service so I could arrive at SPEC at a reasonable time.  On the way back I made a slight detour through Culbertson, 

MT and checked out our church facility there. 

Headed North

Yesterday I travelled up through the Northern American Rockies and the Canadian Rockies from Missoula, MT to Calgary, AB.  It was a gorgeous drive and I stopped off at the beautiful Polson Lake.  I also stopped off at Banff where Andi and I honeymooned two years ago.  It was great to see familiar sites, but it did make me miss Andi a lot and I wish she could have been there to.  

I arrived in Calgary in the late evening, but since it is light until 10:30p.m. Greg Goheen (my host) and I went for a bike ride.  This afternoon we head out for Hills of Peace.  It should be good times and I'm looking forward to meeting new folks. 

Missoula, MT

On Thursday, May 10th I left Billings and headed toward Missoula, MT.  I stopped in Whitehall, MT and had lunch with Nancy Sacry who is the pastor of the congregation in Whitehall and she is also apart of the CPI program.  It was good to get to know her and I hope I can make it to Whitehall on a Sunday sometime in the not too distant future.  Whitehall is a neat small community that is worth stopping in if you are ever in that part of Montana.  

When I got to Missoula checked into my hotel and then when e

xploring in the town.  I stumbled on a cool summer festival that had a live band and whitewater kayaking 

with the

 University of Montana Kayaking team.  It was a beautiful night and a good night to be outdoors.  I also stopped by and checked on our church property in Missoula.  We don't have a congregation that meets there on a regular basis and we are in the midst of deciding what to do with the property. 

  

Billings, MT

On Wednesday, July 9th I spent the day with Dave Long who is the current Financial Officer for the Inland West Mission Center.  He has worked for the church for a long time and had a lot of good information to share with me.  He and his wife Sherry are very humble and good salt of the Earth folks.  Dave has kept good records for the mission center and that will be very helpful in getting off to a good start.  

For lunch, Dave, Sherry, and I met up with Frank Young who is the Missionary Coordinator for Inland West.  Good conversations and it was good to meet Frank.  

The picture is from a walk I took in the evening around the bicycle and walking trail that goes around the rim overlooking Billings. 

Wide Open Spaces

On Tuesday, July 8th I traveled to Billings, Montana which meant that I got to travel through all of Wyoming.  If I had an fear of vast stretches of nothingness, I think I have it out of my system.  This picture was taken at a rest stop south of Casper, WY.  

First Stop

On Monday, July 7th I started out on a month long road trip.  The first stop was in Denver, Colorado to meet with my new supervisor, Dave Nii.  Dave is currently the Mission Center President and Financial Officer for the Rocky Mountain Mission Center, but will shortly be transitioning into the role of the Assistant to the Apostle for the West Central Field.  He is a very gifted minister and I have a lot to learn from him.  

On this stretch of the journey I managed to squeeze in a trip to the REI Flagship store in Denver. It turns out they have two of my favorite things combined: REI and Starbucks.

That evening I stayed with some friends from Graceland - Travis and Megan Savage.  They are great people and showed me way more hospitality than I deserved.  Their chocolate lab reminded my of our chocolate lab, Kubwa.

The Starting Point

All journeys and adventures have starting points.  I guess if look back on my life my starting point was in a hospital in Tulsa, OK where I was born to a loving family.  I am at a point in my life where I have reached a waypoint where I am changing jobs.  I have worked for the Community of Christ for five great years and I will soon by starting my dream job as Financial Officer for the Inland West Mission Center and also working with a ministry the Community of Christ calls "Disciple's Generous Response" in the West Central Field.  

I'm looking forward to the challenge and for the next two years I will be commuting out west while my wife (Andi) finishes Medical School.  So this is the starting point for this part of the journey, our home in Independence, MO.