Day 1, March 10, 2024 Browning, MT

Hello from Browning!

Our trip is already starting off with one roadblock and one detour but we made it and had an informative and great day! We were five minutes out from making Mass at 10:30 in Browning, and could see town – but the road was blocked off because 60MPH+ wind gusts blew over a truck & trailer across the road. So no Sunday Mass for us with the Browning community.

We backtracked to the Mission property that we are staying at. I can’t wait to explore it more, hopefully when the wind dies down. We unpacked our stuff, had a yummy lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup (thanks Emma, Sarah, and Hailey!), and then were able to drive into town. We had an informative orientation session at the school and then we toured it. It’s pretty small!

Then we walked across the street to the grocery store to stock up on lunch and dinner items. It’s crazy how small town grocery stores are so expensive. One bag of apples was $9. The brothers said that people will drive to big grocery stores in Kalispell or Great Falls, but man, what an out-of-the-way experience just to stock up on basic and affordable necessities – all while having to pay for gas for a 4-hour road trip.

We got back to the mission, rested a bit, and were treated to a yummy dinner cooked by Brother Dale, who’s the president of the De La Salle Blackfeet School and the director at the mission property here. We had dinner with Brother Dale, Brother Jim (who’s retired, and is the caretaker of the bunkhouse we’re staying at here), Brother Dylan (the president of the school), and Brother Brian (he’s visiting here for a month from the East Coast). Brother Dale made a turkey casserole, green beans, cornbread, salad, and a peach-mango crisp!

As we couldn’t have Mass in a church, we were lucky enough to have a communion service held in the church here on the property after dinner.

A bit about the mission property: it is fairly large and includes three homes (one for the brothers, one for working faculty at the school, and another for volunteers). There’s access to the river here. It’s by a buffalo jump (which is basically a tall cliff which the Native Americans would use to hunt and kill the buffalo by driving them over the cliff so they’d fall). There was a boarding school here from 1890-1940 but that building isn’t here any more. The church was built in 1938 and is equal parts simple yet beautiful: lots of old, dark wood, stained glass windows, a bell we each got to ring, and a feeling of simplicity and serenity. We had a very nice communion service, and then headed back to the bunkhouse to pack our lunches, reflect, and go to bed!

Signing off from Browning, Glacier County, Montana! The wind says hello.

-Natalie