Days 8-10: Libby & Lewistown, MT with Glacier & Yellowstone on the Side

Well, we had a 12:00 noon check-out time at our motel, and took advantage to sleep a little late, then plugged in the computer to get some work done on the internet. We lost an hour today when we crossed the ID/MT state line, and arrived at the church in Libby 1/2 hour late. Our host, Lee Kibler, was waiting for us in the parking lot, helped us move our display in, then led us to his house in the country. His wife, Dede, had prepared a delicious salmon dinner for us. We saw wild turkeys out their back window.

The church had a good turnout, 25 or 30. I had a brief but good visit with senior minister Phil Alspaw after the service. He's a Manhattan graduate who has helped the church grow significantly, including a move across the river to their new (2 years old), nice, modern facility.

Next morning, Lee, who was a Starbuck's barista for a time, made Emilee a hot chocolate and mochas for Susan and me. (Susan now writing) We also saw 2 deer beside the highway, and next morning had some cross the road in front of us. We were up at 6:00 a.m. to make the most of the day. Those who know us well know that borders on fanatasism for us! But we had a LONG drive and wanted so much to see as much as possible of Glacier National Park. We stopped in Kalispel to visit with long-time supporter Eloise Mycroft. She treated us to some delicious apple pie and coffee, then we were on our way. We found out the pass through the middle of Glacier NP was already closed by snow, but managed to go about 15 miles into the park before we turned around. It was gorgeous. Reminded us of Itasca but with huge moutains towering above. The whole drive just around the southern edge was awesome. We finished the drive arriving at Lewistown, MT at 5:45, in time to put up the display and sit down to bean soup and cornbread that was shared with the church family. We met up with another NWSOM speaker, Johnny Orr, and we shared the program that evening. We stayed that night with Phil's 1st cousin-once-romoved and husband, Lois and Ron McConkey. What a delight to be with them again. Ron does woodworking projects like Phil's Dad used to do. He gave us a very special present for our next grandson, but I can't tell what it is here, or it will ruin the surpise (Sorry about that, Tim & Shauna!) We went early for a big breakfast, and then visited with a long-time supporter in her assisted-living apt. Then off we flew driving a couple of hours (OK, Phil drove, I slept) to the North entrance of Yellowstone. We took off seeing geysers, hot springs, mineral deposits, obsidian cliffs, deer, elk, antelope, a coyote, buffalo and a partridge in a pear tree. At one place Phil asked a park ranger what time Old Faithful would erupt again and she said at 4:06. It was 3:00 and we were an hour away. So we roared along at 35 mph and turned into the parking lot with 2 minutes to spare! We rushed to the benches with just a bit of time to spare. It was worth the rush--very cool! It was my favorite thing. We did the "gift shop" thing and then took off for Boise, another 350 mile drive! It was almost 5:00 p.m. and Emilee kept asking when we were going to eat lunch! We finally drove in to Boise about midnight. We had come full-circle--and what a huge circle it was--since our departure from Boise just last Saturday. We were very glad we stayed with the same people who were our hosts last weekend, Gary and Joyce Anderson, and they were fine with our late arrival. They went to bed and left the door unlocked.

Day 7: Lewiston, ID to Coeur d'Alene, ID

Today was a "travel day"--we need to be in Libby, MT tomorrow, but today we had free to travel, sight-see, etc. We traveled from Lewiston to Coeur d'Alene, checked into a Days Inn, answered emails for a while, then headed out to see the beautiful sights around here. I've said before that this is one of America's best-kept secrets. It is really beautiful here--a lake surrounded by pine-covered mountains. On our drive around the lake, we stopped and hiked a while on a couple of trails through the pines.

Here, I'll let Emilee put in a few words:

Hi This Is Emilee. I Went Hiking Today I Have blisters on my heels. We ate out at outback steakhouse tonight. I'm keeping up with my homework. I'm having fun with my mom and dad I really hate theese blisters on my heels but I Had my shoes on. I had to walk more but i had blisters on my heels It started to sting and hurt i wanted to cry but i didn't cry my mom gave me a bath with my blisters on my feet blog to you later love your student Emilee Casey

This is Susan. Poor Em did so well on the hike. Just had the wrong shoes on. So back to flip-flops in coolish weather! I finally got to check my email and have several "to do" things on my list! We found a good deal on a motel for tonight because we mentioned the price in the AAA book. The motel lady said she had to honor the price that was printed as a mistake! Great save. We stayed with a wonderful couple last night who made us feel very loved. More later! Susan

Day 6: Athena, OR to Lewiston, ID

The Athena (OR) Christian Church is full of loving people. There is a sweet spirit in that place. Lots of families. We loved it! I preached in the morning service, which is before Sunday School. Then we went to the basement where everyone sits around round tables and I got to do the LATM PowerPoint presentation. Good attendance, good attention, good questions. M/M Dan Wilcox, who served as PBT missionaries for several years in Papua New Guinea, were part of the congregation.

Delbert and Kayla Durfee took us to eat at a Mexican Restaurant ("La Ramada") in neighboring Milton Freewater (yes, Virginia, that's the name of the town)--on the way to our next stop. It was a sleepy, two-hour drive from there to Lewiston, ID, where we spoke at Orchards Christian Church. Adrian and Evelyn Burd were our gracious hosts for the evening. What a sweet couple! Their generous hearts are evident in the family pictures and stories of children, both their own and foster, that they've welcomed into their lives over the years. They were the ones who started the church back in 1982, and are still very active in the church, even though Adrian recently celebrated his 80th birthday.

As I was setting up the display, they said we could expect maybe 5-10 people, but somewhere around 30 showed up! Minister Chuck Powell remembered me from a missions program in which I spoke a few years ago in the Mountlake Terrace church near Seattle, and gave us a warm reception and gracious introduction. There was good interest from various ones in the crowd.

The weather is beautiful--light jacket necessary in the early morning & evening. There's something about the air here--the flowers just seem to flourish better than in the Midwest.

Phil

Day 5: Boise to Athena, OR

After sleeping in, we cleaned up and packed up and took off for Wal-Mart. Phil got a much needed haircut while Emilee and I got some baskets to organize our maps and papers all over the van. We decided to skip lunch and drove the 4 hours to Athena. We were over rivers and on top of mountains and in valleys all day. We followed the Oregon trail and read the history at each rest stop of the area. We tried to feature the weary wagon train travelers and imagine what they must be thinking. Emilee did 9 pages of homework. And Mrs. Stinnett should be proud! We did not "give her the answers, but we helped her with the steps and gave her the choices." Our new favorite joke which Emilee read to us from the back seat is: "What is green and sings? Answer: Elvis Parsley"

We arrived at the church 30 minutes early, so read and waited until the preacher, Delbert Durfee showed up. We set up the display and prepared the power point and then Delbert led us out to our host family. Tim and Karen Albert are wonderful people who have 4 grown kids. We ate out at the ONLY restaurant in town. Yummy salmon. Then home where Emilee is in Hog Heaven, since they have Disney on their T.V. We have visited and compared pictures of families and are ready to head for bed! Thanks for coming along with us!

Susan

Day 4: NWSOM Orientation in Boise

The Northwest Schools of Mission began in 1949. The idea was to invite a handful of missionaries to visit the churches in this area of the country, to educate them on what was happening in missions (thus the "School" in the name). The NW was divided, originally, into six different regions, with the missionaries moving from region to region, taking one region per week. Within each region, each missionary would be given a different itinerary of six or seven churches in which he/she was to speak, one each night and two on Sunday. Originally, neighboring churches would cooperate and visit a given church where a missionary would be speaking. In this way, there was a potential for a missionary to have exposure to up to a hundred or so churches within the six weeks. There is a stress and a focus on missions education, so we do not see this as a fund-raising event, although sometimes that is a by-product of churches and individuals coming to know the missionaries and their works. A continuation committee, including regional coordinators, does all the planning and scheduling each year.

When I did this marathon in 1996, it was down to five weeks. This year, it's four. It has become increasingly difficult for churches to gather a crowd on a week-night to hear a missionary speaker. Many of the larger churches have their own missions programs and don't participate anymore. But the NWSOM continues on, and I believe it still has value. From my perspective, where else can you get to tell your mission's story at so many different churches in so short a time?

We had Orientation yesterday (Friday, my birthday), in the beautiful old Capitol City Christian Church building in downtown Boise. Gary Anderson, former missionary to China, son of Carl and father of Steven, is the senior minister and our host for the two nights we're here in Boise. We got to meet the other four missionaries who will be doing this along with us:
--Dr. Glen Basey, representing Christian's Haven, a children's home in the Philippines
--Johnny Orr (with his son), with Rancho de los Pinos (children's home) in Honduras
--M/M Eldon Shaw, with TLC (Teaching and Training Leaders for Churches and Countries, International) in the West Indies
--Jaffet and Norma Perez, with Spanish Evangelism based in Puerto Rico

Each of us got to give our presentation and critique each other. It was good to see who all will be speaking on the NWSOM. After the presentations, which took most of the day, we met with the regional coordinators to get our schedules, and our up-front cash for expenses, had a prayer time send-off, and went home to our host's home, which in our case was the Andersons. I stayed up fairly late talking missions with Gary. It was fun, and informative.

Phil

Day 3: Rawlins, WY to Boise, ID

So after another motel breakfast we were off from the middle of Wyoming about 8:15 a.m., glad we didn't have to end up sleeping in the van. Emilee entertained herself with DVD's, game boy, CD's, and workbooks. She is a terrific traveler. After reading several chapters out loud from Garrison Keillor's new novel, I finished my nights sleep with a nap. We stopped for lunch in Ogdon, Utah and I took a turn at driving so Phil could snooze for a bit.

The scenery is incredibly different from Missouri, and very impressive in its own way. It was high plains in Wyoming, crossing the Continental Divide. Then in Utah, past the Salt Lake and into a semi-arid plain. We saw cattle, buffalo and deer. Southern Idaho is very bucolic, with lush alfalfa fields, corn and of course, potatoes, all irrigated. My favorite thing is the 75 mph speed!

The afternoon was spent helping Emilee with her homework as we tooled along, arriving at the church in Boise just in time to find the group (School of Mission committe and speakers) walking to dinner. We joined them at a Chinese Restaurant for dinner, and returned to the church to set up our display in preparation for the orientation tomorrow. We are staying with Gary and Joyce Anderson tonight and tomorrow night. For those of you who might have IBS or OCC connections, Gary is Carl Anderson's son and Steve Anderson's Dad.

We have enjoyed reading your comments!

Susan

Day2: Hays, KS to Rawlins, WY

We had a good day, traveling through W KS & E CO. Got to Denver in time to go to the Apple Store to check on the Birthday present Susan wanted to buy me--a new iPod Touch. When we got there, we saw them, I played around with one, and Susan went to find a salesperson. She did--he said they were all out! Maybe in Portland...

Our meeting with the missions staff at SECC went really well. We shared for about an hour in Steve Brien's office. He traveled with Mercy Ships for many years. His assistant, Ron Barnes, was with SE in Louisville for years. They are thinking of pushing the Book-of-the-Month idea for us, which would be fanTASTic.

We got into Denver's rush hour traffic, but finally made it out and headed North to Wyoming. It's quite a gradual climb all the way to Cheyenne, where we got I-80 and headed west. We made it to Rawlins by 9:15 or so, but all the motels at the first exit were full, and some of the others. We finally got the last double at another motel, but it was over $100! And a smoking room to boot. But we didn't want to chance it, so we took it.

Pretty scenery--Wyoming is definitely different! High plains desert has a beauty all its own. Emilee's a good traveler. More later.

Phil

Day 1: Joplin to Hays, KS

We knew before we went to Costa Rica on Sept. 6th that leaving only 2 days between our trip to Costa Rica and this one to the Pacific NW was stretching it--well, cramming it, really--a bit, but that's the way it worked out. Monday was crazy, trying to get everything unpacked, washed & cleaned and repacked, and when we hit the sack at midnight, we still had a lot to do. We had hoped to leave by 11 am, but didn't get left until 2:14pm. But that's OK, we left 3 days to make it to Boise.

We had no problems today, unless you count having to jump-start the van and hitting Kansas City at rush hour in a downpour, but we made it through that fine, got some chalupas in Salina and arrived here at the Sleep Inn in Hays at 9:08. Tomorrow we have an appointment with the new Missions Pastor, new Associate Missions Pastor and the Missions Assistant at SE Christian in Parker (suburb of Denver), at 3pm. Pray our meeting there goes well. We hope to make it to central Wyoming by tomorrow night.

Let us hear from you!

Phil

Ready to Hit the Road

Well, it's 1pm on Tuesday, Sept. 18th (¡Feliz Dieciocho de Setiembre a todos mis amigos chilenizados!), and we're still packing the van. But in less than an hour we should be on the road.

Keep coming back to this blog for the next 5 weeks to keep up with us as we travel to and around the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We will be representing LATM at what is called the Northwest Schools of Mission. We start with orientation at Capitol City Christian Church in Boise, ID on Friday. Saturday we travel to our first destination, which for us is a small town in E. Oregon. I'm sure we'll give you the blow-by-blow as we go.

Thanks for your interest, but we also ask for your prayers as we go--we're excited to get started! Emilee is already in the van, and we haven't even showered yet!

Phil