Montana: Day 2

We were all up and about around 6:30am today (not bad for teenage standards!) after a great night of sleep.  We had a few hours to kill so after breakfast a number of students walked to the end of the property and a few others cleaned the house.  We left for Mass at 10am and it was pretty slow going after last night's snow.  We only got a few inches but I guess nearby parts got about 14 inches!  We attended Mass at Little Flower Parish which is about 15 miles from where the brothers live.  The parish is actually the ones that invited the brothers to Browning many years ago. After saying no a couple of times they finally agreed and started De La Salle Blackfeet School in 2001.  The school is a renovated CCD building right next to the church and the parish and the school are very much intertwined.

We arrived a few minutes late for Mass but they waited for us.  The pastor, Father Ed Kohler, greeted us all at the door and showed us to reserved pews (Father Ed has been the pastor there for 36 years).  He graciously welcomed us at the start of Mass and during the Prayers of the Faithful he asked the congregation to pray for us and they immediately all turned to us, extended their hands and sang a blessing.  It was very moving.

The church's exterior is made of stone and is quite beautiful.  The interior is rather simple but one thing I noticed is that all the stained glass windows are the Stations of the Cross.  The congregation was mostly Blackfeet Indians with some non-natives.  Another striking moment was the Sign of Peace.  This took a number of a minutes as people walked around giving each other the sign of peace and it continued as people went to communion - they would continue to shake people's hands on their way up and on their way back.  Following Mass a woman's group was hosting a breakfast so we all went downstairs for a second breakfast/first lunch.

We walked 3 miles just to get to this sign!  It was worth it.

We then all headed over to the school where we met the principal Roonie Leittem-Murrell and her husband Joe (who teaches theology at the school).  Roonie is in her second year as principal and she and her husband moved to Browning from Colorado via Oklahoma.  She and Joe had been Catholic school teachers for many years and were looking for a work a few years ago.  Roonie saw a posting about a principal opening at De La Salle Blackfeet School and applied.  She got a call from the president within 2 hours, came out for a 5-day visit/interview and decided to take the job.  They live in a nearby home and their lives pretty much revolve around the school (there isn't much else to do in town anyway!).

There are mountains and a lake behind us 

After our visit we decided to visit Glacier National Park after all.  Bro. Ray wasn't sure what it would be like when we arrived because of the snow but we thought we'd take the chance.  When we got to one of the entrances, the road was not plowed.  He parked the bus and we all decided to take the walk down to the park entrance.  It was a 3 mile walk (6 miles round trip) and it was snowing, windy, and there was lots of snow on the ground.  Luckily some trucks had come through which made it easier to walk.  About 4 members of the group decided to back out after a bit but the rest of us made it all the way to the entrance.  The last 1,000 feet of the walk was almost knee deep snow but we were all excited to take pictures with the sign and know we made it.

We were worried about the walk back as it was snowing heavier and we were all a little paranoid about  animals (I swore I heard a bear snort at one point).  At one point I also happened to look down at the ground and saw a smily face in the snow.  There was no one else around but our group and since it was snowing it should have been covered.  No one in our group did it so we were a little freaked out!  I was telling my wife about it tonight and she wonders if it was from a woman from our parish who just passed away last week.  Hmmmm.   Luckily the snow stopped and the fog cover lifted and we were able to see some amazing, amazing views.  We stopped many times to take pictures and the walk back did not seem all that bad.  We ended our day with dinner at a local restaurant called Two Medicine Grill where most of us had delicious bison burgers.

Tomorrow will be our first day of school.  We have to be there by 7:30am so we are going to all head to bed soon.  Please continue to pray for us and the wonderful people here.