A North Dakota Luau

My in-laws have been in town this week and so we've been doing a lot of touristy stuff. Actually apparently there's not much touristy stuff in ND since it ranks dead last in vacation destinations among the fifty states. Anyway, we took them to the Lewis and Clark interpretive center in Washburn (built near where they wintered in 1804), the heritage center in Bismarck, the International Peace Garden (on the border with Canada) and the Knife River indian village.

But maybe the most fun we had was taking them to Medora. If ever there was a tourist trap in North Dakota, this is it. Medora is located by the Teddy Roosevelt National Park (TR spent quite a bit of time in ND before his years in the oval office), features a bunch of shops and restaurants, an outstanding golf course, the Chateau De Mores (a house built by a French aristocrat who owned started up a meat packing plant in the town), and most importantly the nationally renown "Medora Musical" (a country/western production that changes every year). Before attending the musical we ate at the "Pitchfork Fondue" (steaks are cooked in large vats of oil with the help of some pitchforks). As a couple people joked before we went, "Make sure you know what they used the pitchfork for before!" The location of the dinner and musical is in a beautiful setting on one of the numerous buffs in and around the national park. The best way I could describe this event is the North Dakota version of a Hawaiin luau.

This past Sunday we had our "Worship in the Park" service and it went exceptionally well. We had some families from the community join us as well as a number of relatives who happened to be in town. The weather was great and of course we had plenty of food at the BBQ. Thanks for all of your prayers regarding this event. From the feeback I've heard even from those in town who didn't attend, everyone was appreciative that a church would seek to serve the community that way. You can pray for two other outreaches we have scheduled for this summer: a booth at the county fair (July 10-12) and one at Undewood's harvest fest (Aug. 9).

By God's Grace, Jeff