Our Western Montana Trip

Ronan, Montana (South of Kalispel)

We got to Ronan on Friday the 10th of August to meet up with Aaron Skogen and his family which was our "contact" for the church in Pablo, MT just outside Ronan. We were taken care of in amazing ways by being fed marvelous food and also meeting tremendous people at our time in Pablo and also during the week we stayed in Ronan.

Houghton preached during the 2 morning services and also the adult sunday school class along with sharing about Vanuatu. That evening we had a time of desserts at the church for more question and answer time with the people who were interested in learning more about our ministry.

Gretchen is singing at the piano for the offertory

The kids playing in the nursery during the service

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Frenchtown, Montana (outside Missoula)

We left for Frenchtown from Ronan on the 17th to stay with our friend from Frontier School of the Bible, Josh McNeal who was our contact for the Frenchtown Community Church. We shared briefly in the morning service about our ministry and Gretchen was able to help lead the song time with Josh. The three of us shared in song during the offertory. That night we had invited people back for our presentation and we were also able to share with the Youth Group that night.

Houghton talking with people from Frenchtown Community Church

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Click to play Make your own Smilebox Bozeman, MT We got to visit lots of friends on our way through Bozeman. We stayed at Lindsey Wilkersons new appartment and got to hang out with her and also meet up with Josh and Lisa Lang. We also got to reconnect with Ryan Solberg, an old family friend of Laura and I's. We thouroughly enjoyed seeing these great friends again! While there we also found out that some friends of ours Josh and Amy with thier four children, Hannah, Abigail, Naomi, and Ezekiel, had just moved to Bozeman and we got to enjoy a meal with them and reconnect. God totally worked out our meeting it was awesome. Click here to view more pics of Bozeman

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Back and all trained up!

On Tuesday we pulled into our driveway from our trip to Atlanta Georgia. We had an awesome time of training to get us closer to Vanautu and also reconnecting with our teammates whom some of we havn't seen since last summer at Pre-field training.
While on the way to Georgia we stayed with Faltynski's as mentioned in our previous post and also with Fred and Betty Foulkes, aunt and uncle of Laura and I. They were incredibly gracioius and let us stay at thier home for over a week total. They also took us to the airport etc. so we could then fly to Atlanta.

We also got to spend time with our grandma as she too lives in Minnesota. This was a sweet blessing to us as we cannot be sure when we will be able to spend time with these people again after we leave for Vanuatu. While visiting with grandma she invited over some of the other ladies in her complex and we were able to share with these great prayer warriors what God is doing with us and how they can join in that work by praying!

Checking out the mall of America

Jesiah and Houghton at the play land in Mall of America

On the weekend inbetween our sessions we were able to go and visit Houghtons sister and brother in law who live outside of Atlanta. Bethany and Waiman. We also got to visit with thier gracious neighbors.

We went to Bible school in Wyoming with Will Vestal who has since gotten married to Kate and they are expecting thier first baby. They live in GA and we got to drive down to see them while we were in their neck of the woods.

Our full Team Vanuatu....isn't God amazing!!!! What a good lookin bunch huh?! :)

The Vanuatu Bush Team (those of us going to live, along with our families, in a tribe) In order of L to R - (top) Gretchen and Houghton Richards, Tania and Jim Kenner (bottom) Laura Thulesen, Amber and Brad JonesWe began classes on the 16th and had our last class on the 25th. Thank you all SO much for praying for us as we took this trip. We were able to see so many answers to prayer! The bedroom that we stayed in while at "school" was in my opinion the best room in the house! Gwen was able to sleep in a walk in closet which was perfect since she loves the dark and Jesiah had his own large bed that he didn't fall out of! We, as a team, were able to meet several times and therefore got a great start on our planning. The Kenner family was accepted by Biblical Ministries Worldwide and was officially invited into the Team to which they accepted. It was a blessed trip and we are indebted to those who prayed for us. Thank you again.

There is a lot in store for us as a family now that we are hitting the road full time to share with others around the country about Vanuatu. Please continue to be praying for us.

*We have experienced a lot of sickness (both Houghton and I and also the kids) because of the hectic schedule etc. that we are now living with. We ask that you keep our health in your prayers.

*The kids don't like driving....crazy huh?!... :) So be in prayer that they will become accustomed to their seats and not dread it. We are so prayerful that our family will not look at this precious time of connecting with people as something that is frustrating but to see it as it is...a true blessing.

*All of our Bush Team is still hoping to be leaving for Vanuatu in March. Pray that things continue to fall into place for this goal to become a reality and that God will continue to raise up supporters for not only us but also those on our team. We intend to all move over TOGETHER (other than the Kenners who will be about a year or so behind us) so if any members of our team are behind in support we will all be waiting until 100% is there so we can do everything together. We feel that this is what God would desire for us to do and are SO thrilled that He is working towards that goal.

On the way home we were welcomed into Ralph and Shari's home in Bismark which was such a blessing. We were then able to split the drive from MN to MT into two days.

Please check out our website to see our full schedule for the next few months and where we will be sharing.

A pic of us hanging out and taking a much enjoyed break in Georgia