North Carolina

(sorry there are no pictures in this one-my laptop charger died so I had to do this from someone else's computer)
North Carolina! State #34! Started out badly! 
We pulled off the road as usual to take our "Welcome to North Carolina" picture, when I noticed a pretty big puddle underneath the van. So we got in and drove a mile or two to the next rest stop and called our awesome mechanic, Steve Kirkwood. (If you live in Mo Val, call him to work on your car. He's fantastic.) Turns out there wasn't a whole lot wrong with it, Monstro just has a hard time going up and down hills, which we had been doing a lot of. So we got back in and off we went!
We got to Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Good Friday, just in time for service!
Never before in my life have I been to a Good Friday service because I always figure, "oh, I'll just go to Easter service. Same thing, no biggie," but for some reason this year, I really wanted to go. I wasn't really sure why, but I felt almost like I needed to be there. I think mostly because this year, it just felt heavier to think about what God ad done for me. In the past, when I was first learning to walk with God, I lived a very hypocritical life unfortunately. I went to church and I loved God and I loved what Jesus had done for me but I think that at that point, it was all about what God had done for me, focusing on the "me" part. I would be at church and the feeling that I got from it was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. I felt so clean-that's the only way I can explain it, it was an overwhelming feeling of cleanliness. I didn't necessarily feel dirty when I wasn't at church, but when I was there, hearing the word, worshiping, it was an indescribable difference. At the church I was going to, we took communion every week. As they passed it out, I would hold the bread and look at the cup and every week without fail, it made me cry-hard. Back in those days, I didn't cry and if I did, it was for a really good reason. I think I only remember crying twice in that whole year, besides at church. I think deep down, I knew it was because I was leading a totally compromised life and looking at these symbols made me realize the truth of the statement-this is the body of Christ broken for Bonnie, and the blood of Christ shed for Bonnie. Jesus suffered and died for me. Too often I forget the gravity of these words because they're said so often-a man who was God, spent His life in pursuit of me, so I could become a follower of Him. He was whipped and beaten so badly that many die, then He was nailed to a cross and He did all of this willingly so that I could know God. Yet here I was, every Sunday, convicted because I was abusing the system. He did all of this for me, but I lived however I wanted to Sunday night-Saturday night. I did things that I knew were wrong in God's eyes, but I didn't really care-society had conditioned me to love these things and I accepted it and embraced it. I loved my life but when I was at church, I wanted to change. Not because I ever felt condemned because I didn't, which was the amazing part about it. I felt God's love and I wanted so much to make Him happy. I would sit there thinking, "I want to stop cussing and drinking and I need to break up with my boyfriend" and I did genuinely want these things, but as soon as I walked out of the building, it's as if I never felt that way. James 1:23-24 says it perfectly: "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was." At church, I saw the potential that God saw in me and I loved it, but as soon as I left, I forgot. So every Sunday when I went back, I would hold the communion cup and remember that I laid these stripes on my Savior, my King who willingly made the choice to save me while I continually made the choice to put Him on the cross. I don't know if I fully realized at the time why I always cried, but this year, looking back on where He had brought me from since then, I definitely knew. I knew that that stripe was for my lying habit, and that one was for my pride, the other my inability to forgive. So many things that were laid upon my Jesus because of me and I needed to be at Good Friday service to honor Him. All that to explain why we made sure to be in North Carolina, because we knew they had a GF service and I needed to be there.
And it was AMAZING. They just went through two chapters of Matthew that talk about the Last Supper and the crucifixion. There wasn't really a message-different people came up and read different verses and the scriptures spoke for themselves. How could I so easily overlook one of the most important events in history and my life? What a fool I had been.
So service was fantastic. It was especially cool to be able to see our friends again. Pastor Gregg & Cathy Griffith had moved out there about 3 years ago to start Calvary Chapel Fellowship of Winston-Salem and Joe & Ashlee Ziemann with them. I hadn't met Joe & Ashlee before our first time passing through NC, but they are definitely special people. Also there are 2 of the Griffiths daughters, Amber & Kristin then Kristin's husband Ricky who was actually our wedding photographer. How sweet to have so many friends in one place!
On Saturday, we went over to Joe's friend's house (Derek & Malisa) and had a BBQ! They were super nice. One really cool thing that happened while we were there was that we had a grown up conversation and actually enjoyed it! We've never done that before! They were talking about bills, property, assets and things like that and we were both very interested in the things he was saying. That has pretty much never happened before-generally these things don't apply to us so we basically tune them out and become really bored but as this trip is coming to a close, we talk more and more about these things and so finally, we're interested in them. It got us even more excited about the future especially because we're always hesitant to buy a house because of the debt factor, but they showed us an Excel spreadsheet that shows you when you pay even a little bit extra on every payment, it takes off more than you are actually paying. If that makes sense, but it was encouraging to see that we can knock years off of our loan by just being responsible with our money. So we had a great day! 
Sunday was Easter, another monumental day in the faith. :) Service was so good, I just love my Jesus. Afterwards the church was having a potluck so we got our grub on and hung out with Kristin, Ricky, and Ricky's boss, Kyle & his wife Kaylah. Sweet people man, good times. Later that night, we went with Joe & Ashlee to the Griffiths for dinner and some fierce games of Jenga!
Monday we went to the mall to try to talk to people, but not too much was going on. It was a big enough mall, but we couldn't really start any conversations so instead we hung out with Ricky at Teavana for a while then went with him to get lunch. We killed most of the day moseying our way around the mall, so then we went back to the house to kick it with Ashlee and Joseph (the baby) until big Joe got home. 
Tuesday was pretty uneventful as well. We drove around downtown a bit looking for the "kick it spot", but there wasn't really one there so we ended up at Krankie's Coffee, a total hipster spot in an old semi-industrial building. I got the idea that they were going for, but it was just a bit too rough & dirty. The tables were spread out just far enough that it was hard to talk to anyone around you naturally so we had our studies and weren't there for very long. Eventually we gave up and just went home. And by home I mean Joe & Ashlee's house. 
We really had such a great time hanging out with them. Not to mention that their baby is ridiculously adorable. They were having a really crazy week and I'm sure it wasn't the best of times for us to be there, but they made us feel so welcome. Some of their plumbing had stopped working and it seemed like something broke every other day but they were in great spirits the whole time, despite all of the issues. The plumbing was already being a pain in the butt and every time someone was supposed to come fix it, something happened that prolonged it. (The ground was too wet to dig, the fence was too close to the tap, the ground was blah blah blah. It was ridiculous.) On Thursday, Joe's car broke down so he got it towed home & he and Marc spent the day changing the alternator in his Jeep. The next morning, Ashlee woke us up to see if Marc could go get Joe because his Jeep had overheated and he was on the side of the road so Saturday was spent fixing the Jeep's radiator. Even in all of this, they were not only great hosts and friends, but excellent examples of Christ.
Winston-Salem isn't exactly the most hang out friendly spot we've ever been to so finding people was a little rougher. Our back up was usually the mall but even that never really worked out well. We went to a nearby park a couple of times to see who we could share with. The first time was really good-Marc started playing soccer with these two guys. The older one didn't really speak English but I think he was a church going man. The younger one went to church as well, he was actually the drummer on the worship team but he said that he didn't understand anything they talk about at church because nobody explains it to him. So they talked for a few minutes but then the guys had to go so Marc gave him a card and told him that if he wanted to get together, Marc would try to answer his questions. The other time we went to the park, nothing happened. We walked around but to start with there weren't too many people out so the people that we tried to talk to didn't really bite on the conversation so we sat and watched some people play tennis, and then headed out. 
Here is something noteworthy that happened-on Thursday, Marc and Joe had spent all day changing the alternator in the Jeep & by the end of the day, it worked! Then on Friday morning around maybe 7:45, Ashlee woke us up and asked Marc if he would take Joe some coolant because he was overheated on the side of the road. Gosh, poor guy! He had already missed a whole day of work because of his jeep and it was looking that way again. Eventually they got the Jeep home and Marc took Joe to work and then we went to Autozone to get a Jeep manual so Marc could troubleshoot, which he did-all day. But while we were there, the worker recognized him from yesterday so they got to talking, first about cars but after we were rung up and leaving, he followed us outside to keep talking so Marc was able to talk with him for close to 20 minutes, give or take. He didn't get to say as much as he wanted because the guy had to go back to work, but it was just cool to see how faithful God is to always bring us people, even when we're not expecting it. Marc tried a few different things throughout the day but the Jeep was still overheating, so Saturday was spent on the Jeep. Marc and I washed Monstro also. About time! He was filthy!
Sunday was a great day! After church, we headed out to Mt. Airy, better known as Mayberry-the city where "The Andy Griffith Show" was filmed! It was a sweet little walk up and down with a lot of typical tourist shops-t shirts, postcards, candy. Down the street a little bit was Wally's service station, it was old school and looked awesome! After we were done walking there, we went to Pilot Mountain and walked around the rock formations a bit. It was gorgeous! I love seeing the different scenery & beauty that God has designed. 
That night, Ashlee made a delicious dinner! The Griffiths came over to say bye and we had a great time. So all in all, North Carolina was pretty great. We were there 10 or 11 days and really had a wonderful time, especially hanging out with familiar faces. 
On to Virginia!