Day Off!!!

Today was an off day as we prepare for another round of campers tomorrow.  The kids come tomorrow. After church this morning....My morning walk in God's cathedral:)  ...Aaron the cook and I smoked ribs, beans, and apple cobbler for the staff.  You can take the man away from his pit...but you cant take the pit out of the man:)

This is Aaron....he has been cooking since he was 14.......

16 racks of ribs....this was a whole new way of smoking for me...never smoked on an open pit before...the crowd was happy, happy, happy:) with the results:)

They even asked us to cook again....so that is a good thing:)...thanks aaron for the good day:)

God is Good!!

Nate

Saturday Sunrise

As many of you know I love the sunrise.  God only allows us so many and I have to see everyone.  So today we took the campers to the airport so a couple of campers decided to walk up the ridge to see the sun rise.  It is about 1000ft climb and we made it in 45 mins.  God blessed us with a good one:)

 

 

 

This is what it looks like to the west...The sun paints those mountain first as the light filters thru the peaks....



 

This is what I got to witness this morning as the sun appeared.....

 

 

And this is what the sun looks like as it makes it over the mountain.....

 

 

The ridge is probably my favorite place to see the sunrise.  When you are hiking up the ridge you often get to see some wildlife as they are eating.....we were fortunate to see some cow elk and some calves......(sorry so blurry)



 

The last picture is pretty cool.....As we were walking back down I saw this cross that was formed when a tree had fallen down.....

 

God's got a plan.  He is always present.  Always with us!!!  I am truely blessed to be out here doing this.  I am way outside my comfort zone not being with my family, but God does not want his people to be sitters but to be doers:).....

 

Matt. 28:19-20  "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

 

In him,

 

Nate

 







Jackson Hole

The campers get a day to go to Jackson Hole.  This city was founded by the fur trade.  Now it is the city the is completely funded by tourist dollars.  It's kinda of like Winona Lake just about 10 blocks bigger and sits on the foothills of the Teton Mountain range.  The campers get to go to the Elk Refuge, Teton welcome center, and the antelope flats.  This is where you encounter the woolly beast known as the buffalo. 


You can see the buffalo in the front and the Tetons in the back.  Not the best picture but you will get the point.

Here are a couple of links if you are interested in what Jackson Hole is all about.
http://www.jacksonholechamber.com/visit/

or if you want to see what is going on in town....a webcam of the town square.  Alot of visitors will call their family and talk to them via webcam...pretty cool....
http://www.jacksonholenet.com/webcams/town_square.php

Its pretty cool little town that has a beautiful setting and a great history.

In Him,

Nate

Made it...

After yesterday I tried again to make it to the falls, but was stopped by the rain.  Well today we made it....Took a couple of campers who wanted to run up the trail.  Well we did it and only took 37 minutes.  It was a single track so running was alot different then nice roads.  I still prefer riding my bike on the trails.:)  After we got back from our run got showered ate dinner and Doug, Jerry, and myself walked back up.  This was a more easy walk.  And I got some great pictures.  The falls are a great place to be when the sun is setting. 

If you look at the block shaped rock formation to the top right that is called "open-door".  It is at 11,000ft up.

 



The picture is another side of "open-door" with the sun setting on it.  If you look close you will see an opening...hence the name.

I am always amazed how much water is coming over the falls.  I wish I could bottle the sound.  Alot of water falling 50+ feet is pretty amazing!!

 

 

 

This is a picture of Doug (my roommate) and Jerry.  They are great guys, and the ones I walk with in the morning!!

 

 

As we were headed home....we saw a moose, and a couple of AWESOME pictures.

 

 

 

The last picture was just as the sun was going down behind the mountain.  It just takes my breathe away.  We serve an Awesome and Powerful God!!!

 



 

Mattew 17:20...if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there.  Nothing will be impossible for you."

 

In Him,

 

Nate



 



Falls hike...well kinda of

So tonite I had plans of gander to hike up to the falls after a full day.  Well God had different plans.

You see when you are in the mountains....rain comes fast and hard.  You dont want to get stuck in any of this stuff....so I had to turn around to try to beat the rain....but that did not happen...As I was coming off the mountain....this is what God showed me.....

If you look close enough you can see a rainbow.  It amazes me how God has His plans and we have our plans...thinking we can tell God how it is going to be...but He lets me know that He is in control and need to experience His plan...I need to experience His expectations and to forget my selfishness and experience Him.  Look what I would have missed.....

 

 

 

 

Ezekiel 1:28  Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.

 

God is good!!!

 

Nate

 

 

First Morning....

As I got up this morning to walk, I thought I would give you some pictures of  what we saw last nite.  I am not staying in the same cabin as last year.  I have a room mate this year.  It will be a guy named Doug.  We got along last year so it is going to be fun times:)

Last night we walked the West Ridge with the campers.  It was awesome to see how things have changed in a year.  If you remember last year, there was not much rain so the mountain was it pretty dry...Well this year it is opposite.  They have had plenty of rain so the flowers are in full bloom.  The colors have to be awwesome.  Alot of green, yellows, pinks, and purples..... 

It sure is pretty cool:)

Here are a couple of shoots of my cabin and the view that I get to see for the next 4 weeks:)

 

 

 

God is good.  He blanketed me with safety on the trip over here and Dawn made it home safely, after taking me to the airport:)

 

Enjoy!!!

 

Nate 

Made it...

Well as you can see I made it.


Well I made it safe and sound today.  I will post pictures tomorrow.  I swear the mountains get better every time I see them.  After dinner we walked up west ridge.  It was good to get back up there.  Looking forward to posting pictures tomorrow.

Because of Him,

Nate

Yet again...

It has been a year since I have written in this blog.  Well I'm back at it.  I will be leaving my family on June 24th to head back to the mountains. This year I will be gone a full month. I am excited but nervous as I have never been away from dawn and the kids this long.  I believe God has a reason for me going out.

As last year I will be using this blog to keep my family up to date.  Remember we don't have texting ability...unless I am out of the mountain.  So email is the best way to communicate.  Looking forward to sending you some great pictures and stories.

In Him,

Nate