Back from special meetings in Manitoba!

Hello again,

It's been a while since I posted as I was enjoying great times in Manitoba. My schedule is over to the left still, though that will probably be changed here soon enough. While in Manitoba I didn't find wireless access even once! So....no posts. :)

We, Sandy Pheifer and I, flew to Winnipeg on the 19th of November from Billings, through Denver. We had forgotten it was Thanksgiving week so we were a little surprised at the crush of travelers but we did have good flights and arrived in a brisk and windy Winnipeg in time for the workers' tea. We were loaded down with lists and plans and were soon on our way.

What a wonderful 4 weeks! As always with special meeting rounds, I came away so very thankful for the beauty of God's work that I saw in His peoples' lives there. I also came away with many "for life" (hopefully for eternity too!) friends and a broader perspective of this great Family. I'm glad for the effect it had on my heart and I don't want to forget any impression made during that time.

We flew back to Billings after the workers' meeting there at the Portage la Prairie convention home, on December 18th. Sandy went to Cody, WY for their special meeting and I went to Sheridan, WY.

Now this finds me back "home" in Missoula and shortly I'll leave the field for a little rest and "catch-up on my correspondence" time with my sister Dorothy in her home in Coeur d'Alene, ID.

As another year winds down to a close I hope you are thankful for past help, encouragement, and provision AND that you're looking ahead with great anticipation. All the best and I hope to post again before the actual new year begins.
d.

Here we are at the end of another week. We're at Kimmo and Monica Virtaneva's these days. It's been so nice to be here while Kalle is feeling a bit better. He's on about his 37th medication and this one is allowing him to do so much more than some of the others recently.

For those who don't know his story: he was hit by a car when he was 10 and sustained severe brain trauma. Since then the entire family's life has undergone a dramatic change. It's been a crash course, for Kimmo and Monica, on how to deal with brain trauma as there really weren't very many resources for them to draw from. They love Kalle so much and it's very evident in all they've done for him. He's now 17 going on 18.

These past few days we've even been able to joke with him so that is very special as his world has been very dark for a very long time. Yesterday I went with him and his mom to his riding therapy session. It was SO great to watch him ride the horse under direction and see his constant smile for the entire hour!

There are times when things aren't so easy. For just one example: his brain often throws him into unexpected catatonic states. When this happens he can't move at all but he can hear everything that is going on around him. It's such a helpless thing. I really feel for him. While we've been here it's happened several times but luckily always while he's been sitting down. Mika and Kaisa (his brother and sister) were telling me that one time it happened while he was in a swimming pool and he almost drowned. All in all, it makes one very very thankful for a healthy brain and body, eh?

His mom shared something with me that really touched my heart. She said that recently Kalle has told her that he used to pray that he would just die rather than live with his brain the way it is. Now he prays each day that God will just help him get through that day. Isn't that what we all need? I'm thankful that our God is the one God who can help every one of us in just the way we each need.

Hope your week, and the approaching weekend, is a happy one.

It's hard to believe it's been a week since I last posted here. It's been a busy one, that's for sure.

I had a great Sunday afternoon with Logan and Elissa Braaten last week as our gospel meeting had to be canceled. It was so nice to see them settled in their new home. They will celebrate their first anniversary the 6th of January so they are still newlyweds. Elissa is a trained photographer so she took some companion pics of Aunt Alice and I. I haven't seen them yet so we wonder how they turned out. Later that evening Duane and Jeanette (Logan's mom and dad) came down from Kalipell so we had a really nice time with them too.

After our Wednesday gospel meeting, on Thursday morning, we picked up my mom and dad and all went to the wilds of north Idaho for a couple of nights in a cabin with my sister, Dorothy. Dorothy had her birthday on Wednesday and it was a significant one (I won't say how many years!) so this cabin thing was how she chose to celebrate it. We had such a nice relaxing time together. I got a picture of her with her birthday treats so one of these days I'll get it put on my blog. Keep watching. :) Nothing happens too quickly around here though so don't hold your breath.

Speaking of photos....if you haven't scrolled down and looked--I've posted some new photos to the left here. I put quite a few on because I was having so much fun! These are mostly my favorite AK photos as well as recent MT/WY photos. Enjoy--or not, as you choose.

We're back in Missoula now and in the swing of things. I look forward to our day and the meetings tomorrow. Thanks for checking in and I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Thought I would touch base again. We had a lot of fun last night. We all got together at the Stevensville Senior Center at about 6PM or so. One of the ladies in the field had baked 50 HUGE potatoes in her convection oven and everyone else brought every kind of topping they could think of. Of course they made sure there were a few desserts too. :) Like caramel apples and brownies and a couple of particularly gooey desserts. YUM! Then, after we ate, the kids all carved pumpkins--some of us were kind of BIG kids but we carved pumpkins anyway. (You know, just had to encourage the kids and keep them company, right?) Following the pumpkin-carving we sang a few hymns too. It was just a lovely evening all the way around. Wish you could have been there!

Tomorrow we're not able to have a gospel meeting as the room at the library here in Missoula isn't available. It feels very strange but sometimes it can't be helped. We're glad that we've had interest in every meeting so far so we hope they'll come again next week when we will be able to resume our meetings there once more.

Today my sister Dorothy came over for the afternoon. You see, she had been given two tickets to a Grizzly game in her company's corporate box. She was even kind enough to ask me to go with her!!! Wow. How could I refuse? :) It was such a nice afternoon with her, and the Griz won too. Even better. For those who aren't sports fans: the Grizzlies are the University of Montana football team and they are undefeated this year. They seem to be quite a hot item and all the games for the entire season are sold out so I had quite a privilege today. Believe me I fully understood and appreciated it. Most of all I appreciated being in a box seat as it sleeted most of the game and there was a brisk wind. I felt quite badly for the rest of the spectators while we were all cozy and dry. Well....I guess I shouldn't say that because I didn't feel badly enough to leave the box and endure their hardship! :)

So that brings you up to date with my little world. Thanks so much for the comments some have left at various times. It's great to hear! Take care and hope you're happy and healthy.

More on the cat.... :)

It turned out a little better than we thought at the time I last posted (last evening). This morning we all went out and looked at the site and found drops of blood and a bloody paw print or two so we know that the cat WAS clipped by the bullet. The reason I say this is "better" is that now the cat will associate man with fear and pain again which just might recondition him to be stay away and therefore it won't be necessary for the Fish and Game to track him and kill him. It doesn't appear from the amount of blood that it was a serious wound and he ran away without any difficulty after the shot was fired. Then when the dogs came to track him he was able to evade them. So...the hope is that he was just wounded enough to know to stay away from man and buildings in the future.

Just wanted to post that update--though you may have absolutely no interest. Hope your week is going well.

The cat came back!

Here's the update on the mountain lion situation here on the Lost Horse. As I mentioned in my last posting, a mountain lion killed a deer right in the tackroom/stable area of the friends we're currently staying with. Then the lion drug the deer carcasse under the camper and ate on it. We came on Tuesday afternoon as the folks of the home returned from a trip to Idaho so we all found out about the situation at the same time. The hope was that the cat would return that night to feed on his kill again and the man of the home was keeping watch to try and shoot it. The reason the lion has to be put down is that he is obviously not afraid of humans and the game warden says this is the kind of mountain lion that will end up attacking humans. Well....the man went out several times in the night but had no luck finding the cat there.

This morning after breakfast the game warden came with another man who has hounds. They tried to get the scent and track the cat. I followed from a distance and got a wonderful walk/hike out of it but alas, no cat.

Tonight Aunt Alice and I had our gospel meeting in Stevensville so when we returned we checked in with the main house (from our little cabin) to find out how things were going. We found out that the CAT CAME BACK! At at about 7:40PM just as it was getting really dark the husband and wife were sitting out keeping watch. They shown the light and there were two big eyes looking at them. Of course, they saw the rest of the cat too. Anyway, the man took a shot but unfortunately didn't hit the cat so the cat took off. Now the men and dogs are out in the dark on the trail. They hope to get the cat before morning.

As sad as it is to me to think of a beautiful wild animal being put down, at times a cat will demonstrate that they have no fear of humans. This cat killed a deer right in the barnyard so to speak. This is such bizarre behavior when this is such open country. If they don't get this cat it's pretty sure to target the horses in the pasture...or even worse, the woman of the home (she's very small) as she's out hiking and walking in the woods. We'll all rest a lot easier when it's gone.

I can hear the dogs baying as I write this. Hopefully I'll have more to tell you in the morning.

That's all the excitement from this neck of the woods.

Special Meeting Plans

Just thought you might be wondering what those 4 Manitoba links are about on the far left of this blog. The plans this year are for me to go to Manitoba for their special meetings. Yes, those four cities (I think "towns" would be a better descriptor) are the four places I will be each of 4 Sundays between November 19th and December 18th.

We'll fly out of Billings on the 19th of November, through Denver, and into Winnipeg. Our returning flight is the same coming into Billings on the evening of the 18th of December. This is really nice as it allows us to get in on the last of the MT/WY specials too. I'm to be at the Sheridan, WY special on the 23rd. This is doubly nice as I've not been to Sheridan before. Well, I should say I've only driven through Sheridan. Now it will be really nice to meet the friends there.

Tonight, Tuesday, we're staying in our own little cabin in the woods!! It's so delightful here. We're up the Lost Horse, outside of Hamilton, MT, up in the woods. We're here visiting some of the friends. The main house is just down the road, or driveway, through the trees but we have our own little 2 bedroom cabin--which is really a "house" more than a cabin. Our living room window and deck overlooks a beautiful valley. It's an exceptionally pretty view since the trees are all golden and the leaves are falling.

There is one added note of excitement to our "cabin in the woods". The folks we're visiting returned from a few days in Idaho this afternoon as we were arriving. As they were checking on their livestock, etc they found that a mountain lion had paid them a visit. Thankfully it didn't kill one of their horses but instead it had killed a deer right in their stable/barn/tackroom area. It had only eaten part of it's supper and then stashed the rest of it under their camper parked nearby. The man of the home knows a bit about wild animals and animals in general as he is a retired veterinarian. He knows the cat is dangerous as it came right inside the buildings and corrals to hunt so....tonight he gets to sit out and watch in case the "cat comes back." The hope is that it WILL come back to finish it's supper and then he'll shoot it. I ALMOST want to stay up and watch the action but.....my body wants to sleep more! :)

I just hope the cat does come back tonight so Stan can take care of it as I want to be able to take my walk in the morning without worrying about a troublesome and dangerous mountain lion on the prowl.

Well, that's my little update from my corner. Hope your corner is cozy!

Saturday October 13th

Here we are again. It's been an eventful week. We found out on Monday evening that Harold Kolden, who was 95 a couple of weeks ago, had gone into kidney failure that afternoon. He was such a faithful and wise man all these years. He and his wife Ruth have been living at the home of his son Norman Kolden for the past several years where his daughter-in-law Bonnie has been their caregiver. She takes care of 6 older folks and three of them were relatives and professing. So, on Tuesday we went to visit Harold and Ruth. It was touching to see them laying in twin beds side by side. "Side by side"-- the way they've been for probably 70 or more years. Harold was resting peacefully and woke up for a few words with us. He said he had no real pain, just weakness and thirst. He was so accepting, as was Ruth. We had a little time with them and the family and then returned back up the Bitterroot valley where we were staying for a few days. It was unknown just how long the body could survive with failing kidneys but he didn't have long to wait. We heard Thursday morning early that he had slipped away during the night. When Bonnie went in at 1AM to check on him he was gone. His funeral will be in Kalispell on Monday the 15th at 3PM. We plan to go for the service but we'll just drive over and return all in one day.

On another note entirely--we were staying with Lyle and Bonnie Coleman later this week. They are a lovely young family. They have two boys, Chance and Cody who are in 6th and 3rd grade and then a little girl, Shelby, who is 3 yrs old. Its a busy household and I enjoyed seeing them working on the children's questions. Shelby knows who Jesus' mother is but...we haven't gotten there yet as we're still working on John the baptist's birth! :) So she is ready for when we DO get that far. These are the only kids participating in the questions right now as the only other 2 kids in the meeting are teenagers, but the boys don't mind answering all the questions between them and I really enjoy their eagerness.

On Thursday we went to Chance's football game. The previous Saturday we'd attended a couple of soccor games for some of the other kids in the field and I was struck by the difference between soccor and football mentality. During the soccor game the coach's son, who is the largest boy on the team by quite a bit, accidentally knocked another little boy flying as they were madly kicking the ball between them. The coach yelled to him, "Luke, say you're sorry and help him up!" Right before Thursday's football game the coach was yelling at his players, "Hit someone! Hit someone!" Quite a contrast between the two. But, all in all, I was impressed with the sportmanship and teamwork demonstrated at both the soccor games and the football game. We had a very enjoyable evening AND Chance's team won after a very hard fought battle. We all left very happy and went home and ate chili. :)

Now we are getting ready to go to Farmer's Market where one of the young professing ladies (Elissa Braaten) will be running her and her husband's "Farm to Market Pork" booth by herself this morning as Logan has to work. I haven't been to Farmers' Market yet so I look forward to all the fall harvest veggies and wonder how big the pumpkins will be.

This morning we read Mark 9 together. It was a good reminder that the worst offenses come from within ourselves, not from others. I need to be willing to "cut off" whatever there is in me that could offend my soul for all eternity.

Thanks for checking in and hope you're having a good weekend.
d.

Welcome to my blog. This is my first blog so bear with me as I am learning this whole process. I don't even know if I'll have very much to put on here but it seems like for family and close friends this might be a good way to keep in touch without making lots of phone calls and trying to remember what I've told to whom! :) I know you get tired of hearing the same thing over and over.

So....it's Monday the 8th of October and it's raining and gloomy here in Missoula, MT. Fall is well on it's way to winter and the "termination dust" is making it's way down the mountainsides--particularly in the Bitterroot valley. I'm sitting on my bed while the first load of laundry is in process and I'm drinking my second cup of tea. Ahhhh!

I need to go out soon for my walk but I'm still waiting for it to get a little bit lighter as the mornings are coming later and later every day. BUT--not as bad as they are in Alaska right now, I know. For those of you there....well, I think of you every day and hope you're enjoying your special meeting rounds. Privileges like that help you forget the loss of daylight and the encroaching darkness, don't they?

Yesterday we had a really nice day. We're staying with a new couple to Missoula. They lived in Seattle before they moved here in March of this year. They are Theron and Chelsea Thompson. We have enjoyed them SO much and we're glad they chose to come to Missoula because we need them very much. Anyway, back to yesterday, it was Union Sunday so I went up the Bitterroot Valley and met with about 30 people there and Aunt Alice went out to Mom and Dad's to meet with all of the Missoula folks so that would be about 50 people or so.

Our gospel meeting at 3:30 at the library was attended well and we were very happy to see seven new folks there in the meeting! All of them have professing family of one sort or another (parents, sisters, wife, etc). They all listened very well and it did my heart good to see each one of them. We hope they'll want to come again. There was a family of four that usually come but didn't make it yesterday so we hope to be in touch with them some time this week.

After the gospel meeting we returned to the Thompsons' to find that they had invited the Tooles over for dinner. It was such a nice evening! Lots of laughter and visiting AND....now we're well on our way planning a field-wide baked potato-pumpkin carving-sing-potluck evening on the 19th of this month. So, you'll have to check back and see how it all went. It should be a lot of fun.

Maybe I better let this be all for this time and I'll write again soon. Thanks for checking in! Hope you have a great day.