We've made it to Calgary!

So we hitched a ride with some friends all the way to Calgary. They were already headed that way with a moving van and told us they had space for Jeremy and I. It was a fairly uneventful thirteen hour drive across the prairies. I have been told that that is the toughest stretch to hitchhike on my journey and we were thankful for the ride.

After getting to Calgary we've been staying in the houses of a friend of our friends. They are moving things out of one of their houses and were trying to keep the other house clean because they are trying to sell it. They are a fairly large family with plenty of kids running around. We've spent the majority of our first day here in Calgary helping them move, cleaning some stuff up, and playing with the kids. It's definitely been a fun time. Things seem fairly chaotic for them at the moment and it's great that God's given us the opportunity to help them out and a safe and free place to stay here in Calgary. The kids are incredibly cute, the family is nice, and it's very good exercise helping the family move the furniture and things.

Calgary is a very beautiful city. As we were driving into town today the first sight to catch my eye was the skyline. It's a fairly modest skyline, not an insane amount of tall buildings, but it was definitely a gorgeous view. Then suddenly the mountains came into view. It wasn't a perfect view, it was fairly hazy, but my first glimpse of the mountains was very impressive. Seeing the mountains is definitely a big thing on my list of expectations on this trip and I'll be able to see them even closer up on Monday as we head for Banff.

As I write this blog I am without internet access in the house they are moving some stuff out of. It's a fairly nice place and we even have a very faint but very beautiful view of the mountains!

Sunday we did some more moving, I was up around 7:45 to unload another van load before church. We then spent more of the day after church traveling with the kids towards the mountains and towards the new place the family is moving. It was the most incredibly beautiful place I have ever seen. With the mountains as a backdrop there were ranches in among the mixed tree forests and picturesque views. As we drove into the town that is about three minutes from the ranches, we discovered that there is a biker meet every weekend. The parking lot was filled with hundreds of gorgeous bikes! The mountains, the horses, the steel horses, the fun crazy kids. Overall the day was fabulous.

We'd like to thank everyone that has been praying for us so far! God definitely has been protecting us, especially during the long hours we've spent on the road so far!

Shalom!
Matthew


PS Tomorrow I'm going snowboarding in Banff...