Indiana-polis. The City of Indiana.

So this week has  been pretty rough emotionally, starting on Thursday. One of my really good friends from back home is getting married and try as I might, I could not find a way to get back home for it. :( It's hard because I already miss everybody so much but then to see their relationship from before it even started to them now getting married and missing it has been really hard. Then on Friday night, I got some terrible news from home. A woman that I worked with who is very near to my heart suffered the tragic loss of her daughter in a way no person should ever have to endure. I didn't really know her daughter, but my heart just broke for her. It was a very emotional couple of days, but through it all, God is so good. 

On Thursday morning, Jan & Rheanna (the pastor's wife & daughter) brought us lunch before we left! How sweet of them! Before taking off, we went to their house and got showered up and then we hit the road. The Indiana border was pretty close, but it took us another couple of hours to get into Indianapolis. By the time we did, it was around 6:00, so we just drove around the downtown area for a couple minutes and then found a Starbucks to chill at.  Like I said, Thursday was rough. The wedding had been on my mind all day but it didn't really settle in until when we laid down for bed. I was so upset. My good friend Heidi was able to console me a little bit so that helped, but I just knew I had to pray about it.

So Friday rolled around and Marc and I headed downtown to find a cool place to sit and read. We walked down from where we parked (far away as usual), and decided just to sit outside of a Starbucks while we had our studies. After about 15/20 minutes, this guy walked by & he asked us for money so he could go get a White Castle burger. Marc told him, "sorry man, we live in our van" and so he left. Almost immediately after, I looked down and read a verse that was just a few verses ahead of where I was at: 1 John 3:10b:

"Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother." So I looked around to see if he was still around and he was! Right when I spotted him, I told Marc, "I think we should help him" and he said that's what he was thinking, too. So we got up and started  walking with him down a couple of blocks to White Castle. As we walked, Marc told him, "I want you to know the reason why we're helping you," and he told him what the verse said. Then he asked me to repeat it and when I did, his eyes started getting watery & glossy. He kept beating his chest saying, "That verse was for me. That was for me, man." I honestly think that this man, Kevin Griffin, needed a touch from God so badly that any verse would have made him weep, which he did. We got a few more steps and he kept telling us that that was his life & the verse was for him, that's what he needed to hear. Then he sat down on the ground, crying by this time, and he said, "It's not even about the White Castle anymore, it's not even about the White Castle" and as he cried, he poured out his heart to us. He told us that he drinks to chase away his problems, but when he comes down they're still there, the drinking doesn't help. He told us that he was raised in a good family, his parents were good people, but he ruined his own life with drugs and that his kids don't trust him and he can't even see his grandbabies. He was so distraught at the thought of his 3 grandbabies and how he never sees them. There was so much pain in this man's life. He knew his Bible, he prays and thanks God every morning that he wakes up but, by his own admission, is afraid to go back to church because he thinks as soon as he walks in he'll be overcome with his sin. He kept saying to us, "man, you don't know the things I've done, what it's like when you have to sleep right here on this street. You don't know who's gonna try to get you and who you're going to have to get." We pointed him to Jesus as much as we could because He's the only one who can free him. So eventually got up off the ground and we stood in a circle and prayed for him. As Marc prayed, Kevin just started bawling even louder, right on the sidewalk in front of people, but it didn't matter because the Spirit was there and this man needed it so badly. He was crying so hard and loud that he kept trying to pull away but we just held his hands really tightly. It was amazing.

We did eventually make it over to White Castle. While Marc took him in to get food, I walked back to the van to get him a Bible & some extra food and water and then we all walked back towards downtown. He told us that he believed we were angels and that we had good hearts because nobody ever wants to talk to him. It was really a blessed situation. Part of the reason I think my heart was moved to help him in the beginning was because I saw him go from person to person asking for change and the first man he went to was typing on his phone and didn't even give him the time of day. He literally did not look up from his phone but gave him the hand, as if to say, "talk to the hand". The next guy was similar. Before he even said a few words the man just waved his hand at him to say no. It broke my heart-this is another human being who is hungry. We can so easily spend money at Starbucks as these men had to please ourselves, but when it comes to another person, those couple dollars are all of a sudden too precious, and this whole time, kevin just needed a friend. Praise the Lord. Remember that you pretend not to see a homeless person that you pass. So many times, a smile is so appreciated. They know when you're crossing the street to avoid them and when you roll up your window so you can pretend they don't exist. But they do, they do exist and God loves them as much as he loves you. Remember that.

After we left Kevin, we sat back down outside of the Starbucks and finished reading. As we were sitting there, I just kept thinking, "If I was home, I never would have had that experience." And all of a sudden I had peace about not being home. As hard as it still is, I know I'm where God has placed me, where I'm supposed to be and even though it's not what I would have chosen, God is sovereign & knows what is best for my life. Amazing.

So as I read on in my studies, here is what I read:

But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:17-18)

Man oh man, I was relieved! I knew that if I hadn't spoken up to help him then read this I would have felt so low! But like I said, God is good!!!! So we finished reading and just as we were getting ready to get up, Marc says, "I think I'm supposed to talk to this guy next to us." There was a man sitting next to us who had been there since before we got there the first time. He looked to be Middle Eastern (turned out he was). So they talked about God & Jesus being the only way to heaven. Ali said that he believed in Jesus but he didn't really pray a whole lot and didn't really read his Bible, which is the story with a lot of people that we meet. Marc encouraged him in that and then he had to leave, so we left too. As we walked down the street, we noticed this entrance to a mall that you totally wouldn't have known was a mall. It just looked like businesses, but we went in to escape the heat. Before too long, we came across this guy who was trying to get me to let him straighten my hair. Creepy? Lol just kidding, but he started talking to us and had a lot of charisma. He asked us where we were from so we told him and asked him the same question back. Crazy story-he was born and raised in Israel and had a crazy thick accent! Awesome right?! Then he asked us why we were there. :) Weeelllll since you asked! We told him we were spreading the gospel and he asked what that was. So we told him! Of course, he had heard of Jesus but the only reason that he could give for why he didn't believe in Him was because he didn't, because he was a Jew. After a few minutes, he told us that he was raised Jewish so he is Jewish. If he was raised Muslim he would be Muslim, just like we were raised Christian, so Marc told him, I wasn't born a Christian, though. He looked confused and said, "then what were you?" "Nothing," Marc said. To which Nathan replied, "What you mean nothing? I do not believe that you can believe in nothing." So Marc says, "You don't believe that people can believe in nothing? Watch this." And he stopped this guy that was walking by and said, "Excuse me, do you believe in God?" And the guy didn't, point proven. It was really thought provoking, the idea that Nathan didn't believe that a man doesn't believe anything. It agrees with the verse that God has put eternity in our hearts. Unfortunately Nathan really only believes because he was raised in it. He says he prays in the morning, but when I asked him how he atones for his sin without sacrifice & without a temple, he said that his good works atone for it. Hopefully we left him with a few good points to think about. :)

And that wrapped up the mall! We then walked down to the capitol building. Fortunately for my feet, it was close! We saw the building (beautiful) and then we were done! So we walked a little farther down the street to this huge monument which, we found out, was the Civil War Memorial. So we went in there....not a whole lot to see, but then we got outside and Marc started talking to these two boy sitting outside who looked to be about 15 & 17. They both had mohawks & were wearing eyeliner. Kids these days, who understands them. :) They both agreed that at this point in their lives they probably weren't going to heaven and they said they were a little worried about it, but were super unresponsive to anything that Marc had to say. Of course, he gave them the gospel anyways & then we headed out to our second home away from home: WalMart!

After being there for a little while, the phone rang and it was a number I didn't recognize so I gave it to Marc.  Remember the kid in Wisconsin that said he drinks all day every day but was a believer? The one we gave the Bible to? He called and said that he wanted to change his life around and get serious with the Lord so he called to ask where he should start. How AMAZING! YEAH, praise the Lord, we finally get to see fruit! :) And it couldn't have come at a better time :) so they talked for about 30-40 minutes and then the Bucks was about to close so we packed up. Time for the next awesome thing:

The baristas had literally pulled almost every single thing out of the pastry case and asked if we wanted any because they were going to throw it all away. All of it. Oh my gosh! There was SO much food there, even unopened food! So we took everything they were going to toss and it ended up being over 60 items. Then we bagged almost all of them into about 8 different bags so we could pass them out the next day.

Man oh man, what a blessing of a day! Then that night was a little bit rough. I truly felt like the enemy was messing with us because after such a beautiful day of ministry, we just kept bickering out of nowhere and for things that didn't even matter and things were bothering me that were such little, nit picky things, I knew it was something else so I just prayed that we would be at peace and nothing would stir up dissension between us. So we were good after that but as we were getting ready for bed, I found out some horrible news. I really would appreciate if you guys could pray for this situation also, but a woman that I worked with at Islands lost her daughter in a horrific way the night before. She is such a wonderful friend and my heart just broke for her. I had only met her daughter once but I cried and cried for her loss. I know she must be worried about her grandbabies, too, as they live with her. Please, please pray for her. She does know the Lord, which gives me comfort because I know He can & will comfort her, but I can't imagine what she's going through. So that was another emotional night.  

Saturday morning we got up and went back downtown with all of the food & some waters & Bibles to hand out. Again, we sat outside of the same Starbucks to read. As we sat there, a guy walked by and said hi to us, which is unusual because Marc always is the weirdo that says hi to strangers first but they got to talking & this guy, Todd, told us that his apartment burned down in the fire that was downtown the day before. He wasn't quite done moving his stuff in, but all of his clothes were in the apartment so not only did he need somewhere to live, but he needed clothes. We offered him a bag of food, which he took, and started asking him if he goes to church. He does, which is awesome, so we gave him a new Bible because he lost his in the fire and off he went. Shortly after, this guy was walking by. We had seen him walk by earlier and he kinda looked homeless but we weren't really sure. This time, he stopped to pick up a quarter so Marc told him we had food if the guy needed some. He comes over and says, "Well, just so you know, I'm not homeless." Fail.  Lol, but he told us a little bit of his story & how he is a vet so he gets free housing but only gets $127 a month and needed a couple of dollars for cigarettes. Marc talked to him about the gospel for a little bit and the importance of cultivating his relationship with Jesus. As the talk winded down, he asked us if we could spare a couple of dollars, but Marc told him we have food & water if you want some, but we won't support a smoking habit. He took a water & off he went!

I'm going to format this part of the blog less like a story and more like bullet points, otherwise we'll be here FOREVER.

We walked around finding homeless people and this is who we talked to:

-Fred-believes in God & goes to church at Calvary every Sunday. Sweet.

-Liz & her friend Nate-Liz believes strongly in God and was saved back in 2005 before she became homeless. She had such a sweet personality! Her friend, Nate, who I'm unsure if he was homeless or not, said that he believes a little bit but isn't sure about anything specifically and is too busy to go to church. Marc did tell him the gospel but he didn't really seem interested to talk so we said bye and took off.

-this guy wasn't homeless-Marc stopped at a bus stop to ask him for directions. He was a rapper from AZ & came to Indy to bust into the music scene (?!?) but has an excited faith in God. Sweet.

-Willie. Willie was an interesting man. He was the token, Southern black guy from Memphis. His look, the way he was sitting, the way he talked. I swear he jumped right off of the pages of a comic book. He wanted money to get a bus ticket to Chicago so we offered him food, but he didn't want pastries, he wanted chili, so then we offered him water but he wanted soda. Such a funny experience. Marc told him the gospel and he replied with, "I'll tell you what Rev, you just go ahead and pray for me and I hope I make it when I get there." 

-Nelson was an older man who had a cute dog, Buster. He took some food & water. He did express a belief in God but said that he's too busy to go to church or to really read his Bible so we encouraged him by explaining that that is how we are able to know God.

-Walter was a man in a wheelchair selling newspapers right next to him. He took a bag of food and a water, but then could not get away fast enough. Marc shared as much as he could but all of a sudden it was time for him to be off, so he left.

-Across the street was another guy who's name I didn't get. He was pretty vulgar so I stood farther back and let Marc talk to him. He didn't seem to be too interested either, but Marc was able to still share with him. 

-Further down the same street was a lady sitting with an umbrella. Her fiance would come and go on his bike but stayed when we were there. She believes in God, but he doesn't really. We gave them the last of our food and shared with them for a little bit. We discovered that Nelson (see above) is her cousin and Liz (from much earlier) is their friend. They have this little community where they all share and help take care of each other. Nice. 

So we were out of food and water and tired so we went to the mall to sit and charge our phone. As we were sitting, a guy sat on the bench next to us and of course if anyone is in a 3 foot radius of us, they're getting the gospel! The man, Curtis, was homeless but a born again Christian. You could hear the joy in his words, he actually wanted to talk about the Lord. It was really cool. So they talked for FOREVER, then he took off. By this time we were getting hungry so we left to walk back to the van & get some food and then it was back to Starbucks. (For those of you who are just recently joining us & have missed the explanation of why Starbucks SO often, here it is: we have no place else to go! Lol. When you get off of work, you go home, you relax in your living room. Well, we have the van to sit in for hours and do nothing. Sound boring? Yeah. So we get a $2 drink to share and get free refills on it the whole night while we read, blog, and make videos. This blog is brought to you by the Bucks! It's pretty much the cheapest option for us.)

After they closed, Marc's video was still uploading to YouTube so we were sitting outside, in range of the free wifi. :) Just after we got settled, these 3 kids walked out who were about 16. Marc started asking them questions and then asked if anyone has ever told them about the gospel & Jesus Christ. All of them were Catholic but two of them (Reuben & Cynthia) said no, but Omar (unless I mixed their names around) said that just a few days ago his cousin's bf's friend (or something) was telling him all about it and so he had been looking into it and Christianity was the best option. How cool, you could see that God was trying to get a hold of him because he remembered so much of the other conversation and was very interested in it. We talked for a good amount of time and asked them if they had ever accepted Jesus but they didn't really know what it meant. We explained what it meant to have Jesus as your savior and gave them these little printouts to take with them of "How to become a Christian" and "How to grow in your Christian faith". Please pray for them, I feel as though God is going to do big things in them! Hopefully soon!

Then came Sunday morning. We went to church, called our Dads, and hung out a park. That was about it, very uneventful. It was super hot & humid at first but we chilled in the shade for a little while and God sent us a glorious breeze and we felt much better! But man oh man, did I wish I was at home for a bbq today! Dad's hot links are so stinking delicious and I have been craving them for a couple weeks now! Oh well, what's another 10 months? Lol

If you are of the praying persuasion, you can pray for us for a few things, if you so please. ;)

1-my dear friend who's daughter passed, for comfort and strength to raise her grandkids

2-when to leave Indiana. We feel like we can move on, but we also feel like we are getting antsy so we're not sure if it's of us, or of God.

3-we're antsy! I don't want to rush through this trip because I'm in a hurry to get home. I don't want to miss one day that God has set up for us, especially because I'm in a hurry.

4-the next place we're going to is Detroit! Detroit has been ranked in the top 5 or 10 for highest crime rate in America for a REALLY long time. Please pray for safety & provision as we get there.

5-after Detroit is Ohio & with 4 major cities, we're not sure where God would have us go. We need direction!

6-continued provision-we are constantly relying on the Lord & He always comes through for us.

7-I'd like to take a shower soon, but that's the least of my worries ;)

Talk to you in a few days friends! I know I've said this before, but if you're thinking about us, shoot us a text! Or call us! It brightens my day so much to hear from home and to know that we're not forgotten. <3

I didn't feel like adding the photos to the middle, so here they all are at the end. :)

oh yeah, crossing the border

weird

Civil War Memorial/Museum

Colts stadium

an awesome mural we saw

capitol building!

this was carved into the capitol building

aayyyblinkin!

oooooh preeeeeetty

WE GOT TO SIT IN THE CHAIRS!

They never let us sit in the chairs!

so they say, but do they?

this plaque was actually in a few different places.

oh yes, they let me wear the robe!!!

oh happy day!

another pretty shot of the interior

heeeeeeey!

this guy has an awesome story.

Look it up on Google.

a better shot of the memorial

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

all the food we were blessed with!

mmmmmmm. dinner. :)