Pacific Northwest

Since we left off, we went over to Shoshone falls with Virginia, Haley, Mike and Fernando. They graciously treated us to a burger and fries and we parted ways.

We then headed to Boise, where we headed up (and up and up) Bogus Basin road to an old logging road to camp, finding an overlook of the city. We took a hike and did some talking the next morning.

Heading back into town in the afternoon, we found a gearshop, and learned that Boise is close by to everything outdoorsy. We were pointed to another gear shop downtown and perused the guidebooks, to discover that Idaho has many natural hot springs. We purchased the book of hot springs of the northwest, and after chatting with the sales lady, we picked one to visit the next day. We set off by motorcycle north towards the mountains there. Beautiful country, with high rivers and many trees. A short hike up a hill by some waterfalls and we found Skinnydipper  natural hot springs that users maintain, with adjustable hot and cold pipes. We stayed a few hours and chatted with a couple people, soaked and soaked up the sunshine, too.

Afterwards we were going to head north for a bit more adventure but the north was quickly becoming socked in with rain. We turned back to Boise and went to Ha' Pennys pub to celebrate my (Laura's) birthday a day early.

We drove the next day to Bend, Oregon. It seemed like Boulder had transplanted itself here, trendy and outdoorsy. We met a bartender later that evening who recommended us to a nearby church she thought was pretty cool, so, the next morning we went to Westside Church. We liked the gospel message we heard and chatted with a few people. Daniel, who sat next to us, was looking for a job, so pray for him. We also met someone (whose name I am spacing - sorry!!) that we shared our story with before the service as he welcomed us to the church.  After not really making any connections for later that day, we toured a little of Bend, talked, and read more of the book we've been reading - "God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew. It's been making us think of what ministry really looks like and how faithful some of God's elect are and how faithful God is.

We're asking for prayer for us, as it is difficult to let the Lord be in control of all the fears in the new circumstances we're in. Talking and loving on all sorts of people, especially new ones, is something the Lord is teaching me I need to work on, to let the benefits and good things that may occur from doing something top my fears and 'what ifs'. We had to decide the next step recently of an opportunity that came up a few weeks ago - and we're on our way towards Seattle to help sail a boat up Vancouver island with the guy we met, Ivan. Pray that we keep following His direction as we head up the coast.

We're currently in Portland, after driving through the impressive Des chutes forest.

stretching our legs in the forest

the vouse and tall trees