My Trip to Montana Feb 09

Better Late than Never

Well, I thought I would fill you all in on my trip to Montana in February 09. Why did you get to go to Montana you may ask? Well I'm glad you asked that question. So I was sitting at my computer in my office doing the ministry email thing when I get this email that says, "Free trip to Montana with other Bellevue Youth pastors". I immediately rolled my eyes and deleted the obviously spam e-mail. For several weeks I didn't even think about the e-mail again until the church doorbell rang one Friday afternoon.

At the door was woman who didn't look like she needed money or canned good items so I decided to open the door and see if she might be looking for a place for her daughter to get married. She was very excited to be talking to me I could tell and her first inquiry was, "hi I'm with the Luke 12:48 foundation and I was looking to speak to pastor Jebodiah". "Well, that's me" I declared.

Karen went on to tell me about this free Bellevue Youth Pastor get-away to Montana and made it sound really good. But I had a lot of excuses like, "I don't know if I can get the time off, I have a wife and kids, I cant afford the road trip". "Oh the airfare is taken care of." Karen said. After Karen said that the airfare was taken care of I knew I wanted to go.

I left Karen thinking that I was unsure if I would go, but the very next week I put into motion the wheels to get me on the plane to Bozeman. The trip was more excellent than I had imagined.

We all loaded up in the Q-400 Tuesday February 17th. None of us wanted to say much but later on I learned that many of us were thinking it. The previous week a Q-400 went down in Buffalo killing all passengers including one widow who's husband died during 9-11. That kind of stuff always makes you nervous, but it actually was a very pleasant flight.
Although it was very sunny, I could tell it was going to be cold...Look at those lakes!

When we landed in Bozeman I didnt know what to expect, but I can tell you that it was a beautiful sight to me.
After we got off the plan we loaded up in our Lexus' and Infinity four wheel drive vehicles. We didn't know exactly where we were going but we knew it was about a 1/2 hour N. of Yellowstone. We arrived at the entrance of where we were staying. One person asked, "Where is this place?" "We are at the Yellowstone Club private ski club Resort" our driver answered. Our first stop was to the Warren Miller Ski Lodge!
I dont know if you can see, but on the bar there is candy and trail mix and drinks and a latte machine and it's all free!! An interesting bit of information is that Warren Miller built his own home somewhat near this lodge. I am sure it is one of his many vacation homes.
In the Ski shop they hooked us up with our rental ski's and boards. All the guys working there were super excited and would say things like, "You guys ready to shred the mountain!" It was fun. Outside the ski shop was the lift to the top.
Our first night was very exciting. After getting fit for or equipment we headed to the house. The house was more like a small lodge with all the amenities. Our first step into the house was the garage, which was actually the basketball court.
This is us shooting some hoops getting warmed up to play bump to see who got which room. Here are some more pics of this incredible house.
What a great week that I will never forget!

Me Shredding for Jason Hill

Me Snowmobiling