You don't need to do raids now to get Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno! All you have to do is get 6 (or was it 7?) of the field research and one of them appear as the legendary mystery pokemon (right now its Zapdos). It makes it easier for us rural players (I too live in a small town). Getting the stamps are pretty easy even in a small town since they allow you to delete ones that are to hard which is super nice! ^^