The Faith Baptist Montana Summer Mission Trip was packed full with
Divine Appointments that no one in the group was really prepared for.
The two vans left the church building early on July 14, with a trailer of luggage and tents in tow.
Upon arrival in Hot Springs, (population 500, on the Flathead
Reservation), the group was greeted by the host church. After the
customary welcome, the road-weary troupe soon found out there was a
major miscommunication – they had arrived a week earlier than was
expected.
What the mission trip organizers had envisioned was
having the teens staff the local church’s regional “PathWalkers Camp;” a
native Teepee Bible camp for grade school kids.
“So rather
than staff the camp, we prayed that God would direct us to needs within
the church, and the community to which our student ministry could serve,
believing that it was no heavenly mistake that we had arrived a week
early,” wrote Pastor Phil Campbell. “It was evident that by the time we
departed Hot Springs, our early schedule was right on schedule to when
and where God wanted us.”
In the end, the mission group
encouraged the local church by helping with building projects, assisting
in extensive prep for “PathWalkers Camp”, visiting street-by-street and
prayer-walking through town, helping an elderly lady with her garage
sale, visiting the nursing home, organizing car washes with the proceeds
going towards the Senior Center, assisting at the local food bank and
many other projects big and small.
“By the time we left Hot
Springs, we were exhausted from all of the ministry that God had led us
through,” continued Pastor Phil. “At the conclusion of our week, we were
asked to lead the Sunday Service at Hot Springs Bible Church. The
mutual [belief] was that God had orchestrated our early arrival, and we
were all eagerly waiting to see how God would provide counselors for the
“PathWalkers Camp,” since our group would not be there to staff it.”
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