September 4, 2006

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone  

Dear family and friends,

How hard it was to leave this place with all the beauty that God has created and so willingly shared with us these three summers. We have been blessed to have a total of 62 different college students to serve with as house parents and to love and mentor in so many different ways. As we look back at this time we realize there is no other place we would rather have been although we missed the birth of our granddaughter. That, along with just missing our family has been difficult at times but we know that God chose to send us to Yellowstone at this time in our lives for a specific purpose and we are so thankful for this opportunity to serve Him in this way.

Memorial Day 2006

This is the day we tour Yellowstone with the new group of Innovators for the first time. They get the opportunity to see most of the work locations and some of the wildlife. This year we were really blessed to see a grizzly bear on the very first day and to experience snow. That was a real treat for the kids since all but one of them were from the south; however, the locals were not excited as this was the most snowfall for a winter in Yellowstone for a very long time. The kids even built a small snowman.

Grizzly Bear at Fishing Bridge on Memorial Day

The rest of the summer was a rather strange one compared to the prior two. We had a young man have to undergo an emergency appendectomy. This required him to spend a month recovering at the church with our wonderful nurse in residence (Brenda) looking after him and changing bandages. She also had to drive him to Jackson Hole , Wyoming to see the doctor a couple of times since that is where the surgery had to be performed. That is one of the drawbacks to having people spread out all over the park; there are no medical facilities except clinics. Even in West Yellowstone where we are located the closet hospital is at least 80 miles from us and normally the ambulance or helicopter will take your to either Boxeman, Montana or Idaho Falls, Idaho. This gives you an idea of our medical restrictions and probably helps you understand our excitement at having Brenda join us this year. Praise God for His wisdom in sending her. The next incident was an automobile accident in which one of our girls was injured and again was over in Jackson Hole so here goes Brenda again!! She stayed there until Sara was released and then kept her at the church in order to look after her and change bandages. God was definitely looking after the two girls in this van. The van and the other vehicle involved were totaled and there were no really serious injuries. Sara's arm was cut rather deep but she is really blessed to still have her arm after seeing the pictures of the accident. Anyway there were no other accidents, only illnesses that required us to isolate kids at the church for a few days and take one to Bozeman for tests. With all of this the four “houseparents” survived quite well!!!

(Butch and Vi with Brenda and Ed at Lake Picnic )

We have now traveled cross country to visit Butch's family in Wisconsin very briefly before a scheduled appointment at the factory in Indiana for some work on the motorhome. We have had a great time with the family and have seen all but one brother. The family is sort of scattered around four or five small towns and at this time of the year there was also a county fair going on so things were busy for some of them but we did get to share several meals and lots of conversation catching up on the last few years. We did go to the fair to see Kenny Rogers and it was packed!! Guess we old folks still have some talent!!!

Bringing the motorhome to the factory is not something we really look forward to but just as with your house there are problems that have to be taken care of. I think that is one thing people realize least about our way of life now. This is our HOME and it requires all of the normal maintenance of any other home and some a lot sooner and more often. The big difference is that our home is on wheels (which means it also has BIG tires to be replaced) and it goes wherever we go!! People are always telling us they really like our RV (which it is technically) but are often surprised to find out that we have no other dwelling to return to when we leave an assignment. It opens a lot of doors for testimony of how God called us into ministry and we sold our house (twice), purchased an RV to call home and began to serve wherever He leads. The great thing is that we have no regrets and feel blessed to be able to serve our lord in this way. Do we miss our family? Certainly and ask any grandparent if they want to be 2000 miles away when a new grandbaby is born and you will get the same answer – NO but sometimes it happens that way. We look forward with great anticipation to meeting our new granddaughter, Lily Grace, and also to seeing our other grandchildren as well as the rest of our family and friends. We will also miss those we leave behind but are thankful for the internet and email and being able to stay in touch with so many in that way. Those in AK, CA, AZ, TX, OH, MS, FL, OK, LA, MT, OR, WI, IN, KY, NC, SC, TN, GA, MN, IL, and of course AL. Oh well, you get the picture. God has blessed us with friends and family all over the U.S. and we are just so thankful to be able to stay in touch and be a part of so many lives through Him. As we travel we share with others the blessings that so many have been in our lives and most of all the blessing of Christ. We are so thankful for all of those who remember to pray for us because without you much of our ministry would be weakened. We know that it isn't OUR ministry but God's ministry and that He uses us as vessels to share Christ and we are humbled by the opportunities He gives us and the blessings He allows us to share. You are all a part of this and we thank you for caring and sharing through love, prayer, and support.

Love in Christ,

Butch and Vi

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9

Carly, Juli , Lily Grace, and George Riek                                            Amber, Anthony, and Carly in Spring 2006
attend church together                                                                     (our three older grandchildren)