Greetings from Rocky Boy’s!!
January 2025
We are glad to come to you with updates and gratitude in this new year!
First, our deepest gratitude. Two weeks after starting at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church (OSLC) at Rocky Boy’s, the church was dropped from insurance. We are not alone in what I call an insurance crisis around the country, but we do have some special hurdles to get over due to the intricacies of operating on sovereign land.
OSLC is a hub in the community, used by everyone. Each week we host wakes, funerals and feasts that bring the community together here on this campus, making the insurance issue quite alarming. It was also the furthest thing from my wheelhouse. Bp. Laurie, Kay Wittman, and I worked hard on trying to solve the issue, and a cry for help was eventually sent out. Because of the support of the Montana Synod, and the folks around the country who send us support, we have been able to reach our goal and reinstate our insurance.
In addition, our deepest gratitude to those who financially support us – throughout the year, or with special gifts. We would cease to exist if not for the help of all those whose lives this place has touched, or who simply feel called to help. The community here at Rocky Boy is rich with knowledge and tradition, and it truly does change hearts. I’ve read the notes that come each week in the mail and do my best to reply to each one, with thanks and praise for the relationships that have been fostered over the years.
In other news:
I arrived here in late July 2024 and started the call on August 1, 2024. Since then, I have become so entrenched in the community, the people, and the work God is doing in and through all of us. It is such a gift to be here. The council and I have grown quite close and share an abundance of ideas of ways we can serve the community; we take one at a time and move forward into exciting new areas! One thing you may notice is the website . . . it has been neglected but we are working behind the scenes to get it current. The donate button is operational again, and the calendar is now up to date as well. In the next few days, this update will appear with some pictures from the past few months. The updates will become regular, and the website should reflect what is currently happening on campus and in community.
We continue to foster the ministries of OSLC that have overcome financial hardship, Covid-19 and time without a pastor, including the layette ministry, the food ministry, and Sunday morning worship. The light of Christ has been hard at work through the devotion of the women of the council, Loni, Lisa, Renita and Tylyn, who continue to give much of their time and resources to the ministries of OSLC. I am currently working to clean out the basement of the Mission House to better support new ministries that we want to provide (and finding historical treasure!). I am devoted to learning more about what the community wants and needs and ways in which OSLC can fill those needs.
I am also working on a home for myself and my family. The work around a parsonage is at the top of my list, but in the meantime, we have made ourselves a home in the Mission House. We live in community with MCCLR (Cree language program) employees who are here every weekday and who have become family to us.
In all honesty, God really surprised me with this call. I have never felt more at home, more at peace, and more content than I do here with the Chippewa Cree people. I have so much to learn, and they are so generous about teaching me. Praise be to the God who works so far out of my comfort zone, so far outside of the limits of my imagination, and continues to find ways to lead me to the greenest pastures.
One final, and sad, note:
If you weren’t aware, the statue of indigenous Jesus fell from its post back in September or October. The wood simply gave way to the elements of time and decay. There are plans in play to commemorate the statue in a photo that will be displayed in the Roundhouse, and I have had a conversation with a local artist to look ahead to a new creation in that space. We offer thanks to the work of Vernon The Boy, honoring his memory and his creation as we move forward.
Mwestas,
Pr. Amy