Greetings Family and Friends,

Our time here in Montana is drawing to an end and we are preparing to travel again. This has been a Summer filled with God’s blessings and awesome wonder as we served as “Mom and Dad” to twenty-five college students from various states.  All were from the Southeast or Southwest so had no problem with our “Southern drawl”.  As a matter of fact many of the people we met locally come here to work for the Summer just to escape the heat of the South. I guess that makes them opposite of the “snowbirds” who go South for the Winter!!

The students did a great job of sharing Christ with their co-workers in the park and it was obvious as we met many of them at the picnics we hosted at each worksite.  Several of them came back to the church on weekends to attend services, share the Sunday meal, and then go hiking with our kids which gave them additional time to bond and share . For many this was their first experience of spending that much time sharing with unbelievers and the excitement was contagious.  There were many seeds planted and we know many lives were changed throughout the Summer and many of these young missionaries will continue in the mission field as they return to their homes and schools and a few may even return to serve here again.

I has been a blessing to serve in this small church and see how it fills to capacity on Sunday mornings with Tourists.  The regular membership is extremely small and many times in the Winter months there are less than a dozen people in attendance but the tourists and the Summer workers fill the sanctuary on Sunday morning. It has been very different for us since the only other service they have is Bible Study on Tuesday evening. There are approximately eight regulars and then the addition of the four house parents and an occasional drop in. If any of the students had an extra day off they might be here but that didn’t happen often.

Even with a very limited budget they have been gracious enough to try an support the Innovators as best they can and to provide parking and hook-ups for our Rvs. We owe them more than we can possibly begin to repay because I am sure their utilities run much higher during this time with all the kids showering, all of the laundry we have to do when they leave each weekend, the cleaning, and our cooking, and our hook-ups.  We try to contribute as we can but out tithe still goes home to Westwood and the additional expenses here also limits our extra giving.  The Innovators Staff is leaving a small donation to try and offset a few of their additional expenses but they provide much more than that so we praise God for their willingness to support this ministry.

I am including a few pictures which you might enjoy.  One is the farewell in front of the church and Liz and Jean Page are included since they got here in time to serve a couple of weeks with us as House Parents and have agreed to return with us next year if God allows. The others are just some I thought you might enjoy of the area.  We love you all and will see you in a few weeks. Thank you all for your prayers and support as we have been in the mission field here serving while you serve at home.

Love and hugs to all,
Vi and Butch