From Marcn to August in North America

I have been rather remiss in keeping this blog updated, but instead of dumping several entries on you, I'll try to summarize the last 5 months in one entry.

After my birthday, I left sunny Canada in mid-March...and arrived in snowy New Hampshire! I thought it would be a two week stay...two months later I was still there! As it turns out, I now have a new position as a foreign mission youth leader. This means I get to travel overseas much of the year, so that's rather exciting! While in NH, I stayed with John and Colleen Ruotsala and worked with John on various foreign mission projects.

While in New England I got into all sorts of things: hiking waterfalls, maple syrup tasting, climbing mountains, cooking meals on the manifold of the car, fishing, swimming, and hanging out at bonfires to name just a few! The meal cooked on the car manifold was great! But oddly enough, the chicken cooked fine but the potatoes never did! It took a couple hours, I think, to cook the chicken—and, oh, was it good! I definitely recommend that you all try it on your next road trip!

In May I decided I'd been in the USA too long, so I convinced some friends to join me on a road trip to Canada! We took in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Niagara Falls in three days. Not bad! It was absolutely awesome to see John and Cheryl Hood and Aliyah in Toronto (which was actually one of my reasons for going!). Also enjoyed camping on the side of the road outside of Montreal and running madly through Ottawa in order to get back to the car before our metre ran out.

In June I was off with John, Colleen, and Bruce Ruotsala to Ironwood, Michigan. We couchsurfed on the way in Flint, Michigan. It was a great experience! Check out the website for more info: www.couchsurfing.org.

While based in Ironwood, I traveled around with John and Colleen to several different churches talking about the foreign mission. We hit places in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota! Next I jumped on the plane and flew to Sylvan for a few weeks for a Hilman reunion and then was back by the beginning of July to attend our church convention in Hancock, Michigan. The reunion was fun! It was great to see everyone. Scary that I can say I hadn't seen some of my cousins in over 10 years...

I'm back in Ironwood now and enjoying idyllic days (and nights) by THE lake (Lake Superior), evenings of volleyball or bonfires, and lots of relaxation! Next week I will attend two different Bible camps (first a family camp and then a youth camp). The week after that I fly to Russia.

Cheers for now!