With the People, then off to pray in the wilderness: Day 3

1/13/2015

Hi there. Cory and Colin here. Aka, “Golfers Delight.” We are writing to you from Browning, Montana. Today we spent our morning in the school—another day filled with high testosterone levels and jokes about Cory’s creepy mustache. As one kid pointed out, “Cory looked like a Hobo with an old lady’s mustache.” Another part of the day I (Colin) spent the day at Medicine Bear Shelter and the last part of the day we all spent snowshoeing in Glacier National Park!

Although the kids are highly energized and rambunctious in the classroom, they are an absolute blessing to spend time with. The kids at De La Salle (and Browning in general) are faced with many challenges. Many of them deal with discrimination, high levels of alcoholism and drug addiction, and family issues.

Despite what looks to be a hopeless situation, De La Salle is providing the kids with an experience that allows for a loving and caring atmosphere that strives to re-instill hope. We see this being done through daily prayer and religion classes, as well as mass once a week. We can truly see Christ working through the teachers and forming the students every day. Although the system isn’t perfect, it is an amazing alternative to what the students could be facing.

Later that day I (Colin) went to Medicine Bear Shelter to help them sort food and serve the homeless. Medicine Bear is amazing. Although they don’t have a lot to give, they are able to give them a hot meal and unconditional love. This reminds me of the quote by Mother Teresa “You can do no great things, just small things with great love.” Marla, the director and cook, is there every day from 7:30AM until well into the evening. She is truly a beautiful witness and disciple in Browning.

To finish our Tuesday adventure, we all loaded up the vehicles and made our way into Glacier National Park to partake in snowshoeing. I (Cory) was well prepared for this event, however others in our group (Colin plus a select few) were dressed in only jeans and tennis shoes. Nevertheless, we all put our snowshoes on and trudged through the deep dark forest of Glacier National Park. The conditions were treacherous with the wind blowing at least 5 mph and the sun shining bright. The hike was beautiful. We followed the tracks of animals in an effort to find their stories and we were prompted to make our own tracks and find our own story. We ended with a few minutes of silence and basked in the glory of God’s Creation. Our two leaders Kelly and Kelsey were really what made this experience great. The passion that they both had towards the outdoors, and their jobs was something that you don’t often see.

God reveals himself in everything as long as you are willing to take the time to look. This immersion trip has been centered on the idea of living simply and taking the time to see God in all things. Although it has been a chaotic adventure, God has been generous and present in every person and everything we have encountered. We can’t wait to see what God reveals to us in the last couple of days that we have here in Browning, however we know that in whatever way it happens it will be incredible.

Peace out,

Colin and Cory