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| Cross on our property at site of planned Temple. |
At an informal meeting of the parish after Divine Liturgy on Father's Day, June 17, 2012, Fr. Damian introduced two new inquirers and gave thanks for Fr. Peter's stewardship.
Sean McFarland announced that our bank note for the land on Love Lane was paid off. The land is ours! We are grateful to American Federal Savings in Bozeman for their trust in our parish family. Glory to God!
Sean also shared a version of the original site plan modified to accommodate the drainage characteristics of the land and to reduce the cost of mandatory site work.
The servant of God Mark Headley presented his drawings and plans for a new (temporary) temple which would eventually become the (permanent) fellowship hall. He informed the parish of a large gift of Big Sky Structural Insulated Panels from which the walls will be constructed. Although Mark has not completed the process of getting firm estimates, he stated that our goal is to build the temporary temple and pour the foundation for the permanent temple for under $200,000. He and Sean offered a timeline for construction: site work completed this fall and temple construction to begin in the spring of 2013, with an outside possibility of being able to pour the foundation walls and complete the stone work this fall. He invited questions and comments.
I thanked the members for their financial generosity and expressed my hope that we would be able to complete the necessary site work this summer and fall through a combination of volunteer work, the $25,000 in our building fund, and any additional monies we can raise this calendar year. I proposed that next winter we could finance the $200,000 project (temporary temple/permanent fellowship hall and foundation for the permanent temple) internally and invited any parishioner willing and able to loan the mission this money at 3% or less for 5 years to speak with me. I am confident that the Lord will provide these funds and that we will be able to worship in our own space by the time we celebrate Holy Nativity in 2013, with no more financial cost at this interest rate than what we are paying to lease and maintain our current space.
Fr. Damian closed our meeting by announcing that there would be a semi-annual meeting of the parish on July 15, 2012, to vote on these proposals.
Glory to God for all things. Christ is in our midst.
-The Servant David Hicks
