Hi, everyone! I love you dearly. I live in Bozeman, Montana. Which is absolutely gorgeous. My town is in a valley completely surrounded by the rocky mountains,pop. 30,000, we have 4 national forests within ten minutes of my home and my neighborhood park is Yellowstone National Park. I do not want to live anywhere else. But this morning I am in my closet getting my snow boots out again. It is SNOWING! I am laughing as I type this for most of us do not take our snow tires off until May 30th. So please give me news of warm weather. What does it feel like NOT to wear snow boots in May;-) ah, the life of rural ministry in the mountains. Praise God!

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2003

Answers

It feels like uh, thunder storm warnings for 1/3 of state, tornado watch to 4 or 5 counties and flood warning for the remainder of state. This follows temperatures of 85-92 degrees. When the weather clears it is generally a little cooler for a day or so. We are told to look for a high of 87 today with plenty of sunshine and calm winds. May has been a pretty stormy month here in Arkansas. Hang in there with those boots. Hopefully, you can find more in teh store if you need to buy another pair.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

Sister Helen, you made me smile. Last night we broke a record, it got down to 12 degrees last night. The boots that most of us use in Montana are called "Sorels" they can withstand temps down to 50 below zero and they start at a hundred dollars. So believe me, I take great care of my boots. The sun is out today and it is beautiful with the snow on the mountains. It will be a high of 58 today and 60 tomorrow. I always feel sorry for the tourists who start coming to my town this time of year with shorts. By the way because we are in the mountains we do not have high humidity in the summer. usually about 20 percent humidity is the max. More than that we are all complaining.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

You are welcome to join us in the Sunshine State, Florida, the average temp is 72 year round. I live in St. Petersburg, joined by Tampa Bay and the Gulf of mexico. Our beaches are the most beautiful in the world, infact recently Ft. desota beach which is 5 miles away has been vote the number two in the world. Come on down!!!

-- Anonymous, May 29, 2003

Sis. Linda I love living in Montana!!!! They could not pay me to move. (unless of course my Bishop moves me;-) this is the most beautiful state in the country. My town of Bozeman is in a valley completely surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. I look out of my living room windo and see mountains. There are four national forests within 10 minutes of where I live. And Yellowstone National Park is one hour away from me. It is clean, safe, not crowed, low crime rate. We haven't had a murder in three years and before that one it had been 10 years. I use to live in New York City, before moving to Montana. I do not want to live in a big city again. Too many people!

My town is a ski resort town, we have 2 ski areas, so we have tourists all year round. My town is also known for the best fly fishing in the world. They made the movie "A river runs through it in my town. We have quite a few celebreties in my town that live here. Michael Keaton of Batman fame, Ted Turner,(he has buffalo on his ranch) and allows people to drive on his property to see the buffalo. Tom Brokaw has a house here, Dennis Quaid and others. Every summer thousands of tourist come to my town, I am always sad because so few black people come. I am a Montanan. Besides I can not deal with humidity. I am the only ordained black clergywoman in my entire state! If I leave there won't be any;-)

By the way today May 29th it is sunny, 90 degrees with 20 percent humidity. So my sister I invite you to come here for a visit.

-- Anonymous, May 29, 2003

Invitation gladly accepted, I will do my best to visit you next spring. Thanks for the invite, but I love it here mainly the weather. If you could send me a listing of great jobs perhaps a move maybe on my agenda.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2003

Sis. Linda I would love for you to come and visit in the summer. We don't really have a spring. Since we are in the mountains. And it can snow up until May;-) But the summers are incredible!!! Winter is my favorite season, so Montana is a perfect match for me. The majority of people ski in my town. Since this is a ski resort town. I tried skiing when I first got here but after falling several times. I switched gears;-) So I started a snow shoe club. Everyone laughed because this is a ski resort town. That was 6 years ago. We started with 12 members and now the club has almost 200 members. And my snowshoe club gets invitations from all around the world to come and snowshoe. I turned the club over to my vice-president. In the winter every saturday and sunday the club goes down to Yellowstone National park to snowshoe. Unfortunately Montana does not have great paying jobs for we are not an industral state. We are mainly agricultural. And unfortunately we rank 47 in terms of wages in the U.S. Most of us that live here have a pioneer spirit;-) And have opted for lower pay for a higher quality of life. My town is one of the fastest growing in the state. And people are moving here from california and the east coast. Our kids leave because they want to go to the big city. But within five years they return to live in Montana. They realize what they have. My daughter was one of those who said "I cannot live in this little town!" she went back east to school and came home because she realized how special Montana is. She is happy to be home. We don't cry anymore when the young people leave because they know they will be back. I really come and visit, and I extend that invitation to everyone on the board. I saw several of my church members getting their fishing license today. By the way in the summer after church we go fishing! Or we go to Yellowstone.

please visit the Montana website

www.visitmt.com

I live in Bozeman. Oh we have ghost town, rodeo's and you can pan for gold and sapphires!

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2003