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Hi. I’m Ben Benton from Flagstaff, Arizona. I believe that you will enjoy my daily journal from Yellowstone National Park during the summer of 1999. I left downtown Flagstaff with my saddle and duffel in early July and lighted in the horse corral at Mammoth Hot Springs. My journal will continue through September 20th, unless the weather shuts us down earlier. You’ll read about adventures on the back country trails, Yellowstone history, people I meet, and anything else I can think of to write about. I’m the author of “National Park Employment Data,” a guide to working in national parks, which is available for purchase on my web site at www.gorp.com/nped/. I’ve been working in national parks and ski areas off and on for over twenty years. Because I want the data in my book to always be fresh, I continually test the concepts, employers, and tips that I provide. Right now, I’m working for Amfac Parks and Resorts. They are a top notch concession company because they place employee training, morale, and amenities first. |
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Previous 7/16 |
Sunday, 8-29-99I wakened in the basement of Rick’s miner’s shanty in Walkerville and we set out for Bozeman to a church he likes to attend. A quick breakfast at Hardee’s in Butte and a tank of gas got us ready for the 75 mile trip. The road climbs steeply west of Butte and crosses the Continental Divide. My 30-year-old pickup took the climb perfectly at 75 miles per hour and left Rick in his Jeep pickup in the dust. I coasted on the east side of the Divide to let Rick catch up. We got to the little Christian Center, an Assembly of God, 20 minutes early and met lots of folks in the foyer. I can’t remember ever attending an Assembly of God church, and I’ve seen them all: formal Episcopalian and Roman Catholic to Southern Baptist and Four Square Gospel. The service opened and went right to a musical praise session with two guitars, drums, electronic keyboard, and song leader. An overhead projector cast the words on a screen. The body of believers stood, many with arms raised, and sang and praised God. After a while, I saw some of the older folks, a few a time, slip back into their seats. I looked at my watch and it was 11:20 A.M. We had been standing and singing for an hour and twenty minutes! The Holy Spirit was definitely present. Around then, the pastor, David Delgatty, welcomed first time visitors and took an offering. He said to the visitors, “Maybe you’ve never seen a service quite like this one. Well, neither have we. You just wanted to come and ‘have church’ and look what’s happening.” A time of prayer followed and it was nearly noon. I couldn’t believe that two hours had passed and it seemed to me like less than an hour. Rick was getting restless and wanted to leave, so we did. Over lunch, Rick said he was getting a Charlie horse at church. I kind of wished we had stayed to hear the sermon. After two hours of singing and praying, what in the world would happen next? Rick said the service the previous week had lasted about an
hour, so Delgatty’s comment to the visitors was true. Neither
the visitors nor the members had seen anything quite like today’s
service.  |
Previous 8/1 |
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