Hi friends!
Many of you may or may not know that I recently moved up to Havre, Montana. It is a small town of around 10,000 folks located about 45 miles south of Canada. I am working on Rocky Boy Indian Reservation doing nutrition counseling, primarily with Diabetics. I teach group classes and prepare Diabetic friendly meals. Last week for breakfast we had green smoothies (with spinach and fruit) and boiled eggs. Every single patient loved it and my supervisor even got her kids to try it a they beg for her to make them one every day! It's really great here and everyone is very friendly. Montana is absolutely beautiful and is currently covered in a thick coat of white fuzz. The rez is huge with lots of mountains, wild game to hunt, a fitness center I use every day, and even a ski resort, which I've already used 4 times. It is small but very cheap and never any lines. I even bought a used snowboard and boats from a friend last weekend. My town is one of the coldest in the state with lots of snow and cold weather often below zero. Last week it was 22 below zero with a windchill of negative 40. After forgetting my jacket one day when the windchill was negative 30 I learned quickly to always make sure I have a heavy coat, hat, and gloves. I ride a free transit bus to work (which is about 30 miles away) most of the time.
My apt. is Huuuuuge! It's really nice. Two bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, and a giant living room/exercise room complete with dumbells, kettlebells, weight bench, golf clubs, pull-up bar, bicycles and trainers, radio, and treadmill. The people before me left a pool table, treadmill, weight bench, couch, and dart board. I also have an outside balcony overlooking an alley behind me where I will hang a hammock this summer and I have access to the roof. I live downtwon on the 2nd story above a radioshack that is next to the movie theater and a hardware store. I'm in walking distance of pretty much everything in town, and for everything that's not in walking distance, I just run there.
I am slowly starting to make more friends outside of work. Next week I will begin teaching a boot camp class at a fitness center in town. There is a small college in town (Montana State University North) that has a disc golf course, a small weight room and gym, and a open once a week. I went last night and climbed for an hour straight until I had no grip left and it hurt to even open the handle on my car door. After climbing I headed to a young adult group from one of the churches in town. They have a really nice setup in a building with raqcuetball, air hockey, ping pong, Wii, Guitar hero, pool table, homemade dinner, carpet ball (bet you've never heard of that one), and a giant projector screen that we're going to watch the olympics on Sat. night after the college regional wrestling tournament.
Other fun things I've been busy with: My friend Cody (who rode his bicycle across the country with me last summer) moved to MT in Dec and lives about 4.5 hours south of me. He came up to visit and we went snowshoeing (super fun!), participated in a tribal round dance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of some couple we didn't know but welcomed us, played "stick game"....which we never co played basketball, and went skiing. I've gone running a few times at night when it's above zero degrees and can't wait till it gets warmer. Someone gave me some cool rubber things with metal spikes that go on your shoes to keep your from sliding on the ice. They've been a life saver. Last Sunday I went to a fundraiser for a chapel that had Chuck and Loraine Buck (owners of Buck Knives) as the speakers. They told the story of how the business got started and their personal testimony as a couple. It was good. Last weekend I drove to Billings for a work conference, shopped at a co-op and loaded up on organic veggies since we have very few in Havre, and watched the high school state wrestling tournament (where Havre won their fourth straight state title). Then I went to Livingston to visit Cody again, drove to Bozeman where I bought my snowboard and boots, shopped at another food co-op, and connected with a UNT BYX (Brothers Under Ch I headed back to Havre and drove through some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in the US.
Things coming up:
My head boss lives on the rez and offered to take me fly fishing, elk, deer, and antelope hunting, maybe bird hunting, and horseback riding up in the mountains on his horses.
I'm taking some of my diabetic patients to a fun run/walk in March for St. Patty's Day and planning a community garden for this summer. We are also planning a 4 day diabetic retreat at some cabins.
I'm running the Nashville Rock N Roll Marathon in April.
This summer I am doing a mission/biking trip with Venture Expeditions (who puts on Ride:Well). We are going to bike around Turkey for 3 weeks and help a church there that has a big ministry with refugees from Iran and several other countries trying to get into Europe. The leader of the trip was one of the leaders from Ride:Well last summer. There are only 3 of us going and we are all really excited! The trip will be at the end of May and last till the middle of June. I have to raise about $4,000 before the start of the trip.
After that I will be working, training for more races this summer, running and biking all over the mountains of the rez, visiting the nearby lake to ski/wakeboard, etc, and lots of camping. The reservation has a big Pow-Wow this summer which is supposed to be incredible! I look forward to learning more about the culture and traditions here and hopefully changing people's lives.
To see pictures of Montana look at my albums on: http://s763.photobucket.com/home/Batmanrunning/index I will be updating it with more pics and videos periodically.
Also, if you want to learn more about my biking trip through Turkey and/or are interested in donating, please let me know and I will send you my support letter.
Serving Him,
-Brian Elliott
PS. Add carrot juice to your gasoline for Beta mileage!!! Hahahhaha. (This is a joke by the way...don't really try it)
Many of you may or may not know that I recently moved up to Havre, Montana. It is a small town of around 10,000 folks located about 45 miles south of Canada. I am working on Rocky Boy Indian Reservation doing nutrition counseling, primarily with Diabetics. I teach group classes and prepare Diabetic friendly meals. Last week for breakfast we had green smoothies (with spinach and fruit) and boiled eggs. Every single patient loved it and my supervisor even got her kids to try it a they beg for her to make them one every day! It's really great here and everyone is very friendly. Montana is absolutely beautiful and is currently covered in a thick coat of white fuzz. The rez is huge with lots of mountains, wild game to hunt, a fitness center I use every day, and even a ski resort, which I've already used 4 times. It is small but very cheap and never any lines. I even bought a used snowboard and boats from a friend last weekend. My town is one of the coldest in the state with lots of snow and cold weather often below zero. Last week it was 22 below zero with a windchill of negative 40. After forgetting my jacket one day when the windchill was negative 30 I learned quickly to always make sure I have a heavy coat, hat, and gloves. I ride a free transit bus to work (which is about 30 miles away) most of the time.
My apt. is Huuuuuge! It's really nice. Two bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, and a giant living room/exercise room complete with dumbells, kettlebells, weight bench, golf clubs, pull-up bar, bicycles and trainers, radio, and treadmill. The people before me left a pool table, treadmill, weight bench, couch, and dart board. I also have an outside balcony overlooking an alley behind me where I will hang a hammock this summer and I have access to the roof. I live downtwon on the 2nd story above a radioshack that is next to the movie theater and a hardware store. I'm in walking distance of pretty much everything in town, and for everything that's not in walking distance, I just run there.
I am slowly starting to make more friends outside of work. Next week I will begin teaching a boot camp class at a fitness center in town. There is a small college in town (Montana State University North) that has a disc golf course, a small weight room and gym, and a open once a week. I went last night and climbed for an hour straight until I had no grip left and it hurt to even open the handle on my car door. After climbing I headed to a young adult group from one of the churches in town. They have a really nice setup in a building with raqcuetball, air hockey, ping pong, Wii, Guitar hero, pool table, homemade dinner, carpet ball (bet you've never heard of that one), and a giant projector screen that we're going to watch the olympics on Sat. night after the college regional wrestling tournament.
Other fun things I've been busy with: My friend Cody (who rode his bicycle across the country with me last summer) moved to MT in Dec and lives about 4.5 hours south of me. He came up to visit and we went snowshoeing (super fun!), participated in a tribal round dance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of some couple we didn't know but welcomed us, played "stick game"....which we never co played basketball, and went skiing. I've gone running a few times at night when it's above zero degrees and can't wait till it gets warmer. Someone gave me some cool rubber things with metal spikes that go on your shoes to keep your from sliding on the ice. They've been a life saver. Last Sunday I went to a fundraiser for a chapel that had Chuck and Loraine Buck (owners of Buck Knives) as the speakers. They told the story of how the business got started and their personal testimony as a couple. It was good. Last weekend I drove to Billings for a work conference, shopped at a co-op and loaded up on organic veggies since we have very few in Havre, and watched the high school state wrestling tournament (where Havre won their fourth straight state title). Then I went to Livingston to visit Cody again, drove to Bozeman where I bought my snowboard and boots, shopped at another food co-op, and connected with a UNT BYX (Brothers Under Ch I headed back to Havre and drove through some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in the US.
Things coming up:
My head boss lives on the rez and offered to take me fly fishing, elk, deer, and antelope hunting, maybe bird hunting, and horseback riding up in the mountains on his horses.
I'm taking some of my diabetic patients to a fun run/walk in March for St. Patty's Day and planning a community garden for this summer. We are also planning a 4 day diabetic retreat at some cabins.
I'm running the Nashville Rock N Roll Marathon in April.
This summer I am doing a mission/biking trip with Venture Expeditions (who puts on Ride:Well). We are going to bike around Turkey for 3 weeks and help a church there that has a big ministry with refugees from Iran and several other countries trying to get into Europe. The leader of the trip was one of the leaders from Ride:Well last summer. There are only 3 of us going and we are all really excited! The trip will be at the end of May and last till the middle of June. I have to raise about $4,000 before the start of the trip.
After that I will be working, training for more races this summer, running and biking all over the mountains of the rez, visiting the nearby lake to ski/wakeboard, etc, and lots of camping. The reservation has a big Pow-Wow this summer which is supposed to be incredible! I look forward to learning more about the culture and traditions here and hopefully changing people's lives.
To see pictures of Montana look at my albums on: http://s763.photobucket.co
Also, if you want to learn more about my biking trip through Turkey and/or are interested in donating, please let me know and I will send you my support letter.
Serving Him,
-Brian Elliott
PS. Add carrot juice to your gasoline for Beta mileage!!! Hahahhaha. (This is a joke by the way...don't really try it)
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