the greatest of these is love: Virginia!

After leaving our friends in North Carolina, we were blessed to be on our way to a place with more friends! When we were in New Jersey (the first time) we made friends with these 2 girls who went to the Calvary there. We hung out a few times and developed an awesome friendship. They even came to see us when we were in Philly! Just our luck, they had moved down to Lynchburg, Virginia in January to attend Liberty University so we were able to spend a couple of days living the dorm life.
We got there on a Monday afternoon when they were already done with their classes, so we hung out for a little bit and when one of their other friends got off of work, they treated us to Texas Roadhouse! Sweet! Their rolls were stinking delicious. As we were being seated, we walked by a table where this guy reached over and handed us two little business cards, each one good for a free appetizer! So basically, we feasted. Most of us weren't very hungry by the time our actual meal got there, but we had good times and good fellowship. Afterwards, they were driving us around a part of their school called the Snowflex. It's this big hill where they essentially have astroturf snow-it's really bizarre, but you can go snowboarding/skiing there for free if you're a student. As stuffed as we all were, someone came up with the idea to go tubing! We started off on the baby hill which was slow and not that great, so we graduated ourselves to the big hill rather quickly. We had about an hour to kill on our passes and I'd say that we probably used most of it! Marc got to share with 2 of the attendants about what we were doing (traveling, not tubing) and we got our first taste of just how bizarre it was to be on a Christian campus. They were both believers and asking him about the journey and talking of the Lord. How great!
Since we were going to crash their classes with them the next day, Brittany shared with Marc the dress code-no shorts/t-shirts. He had to wear a collared shirt or hoodie and he couldn't wear the beanie he was always wearing that hid his little fro. He didn't like that very much, so she offered to corn row his hair, which is how we spent the last bit of our Monday.
Tuesday morning we got up and went to class! Sure haven't done that in a while! First up was Biblical Worldview with Dr. Matthews. He taught part one of his relativism presentation on moral relativism. So here I am at a university, which typically are Godless institutions, listening to a teacher pray before class begins, teach on how/why we should have a Biblical worldview, and bringing everything back to glorifying God. IN CLASS!! At a university! It was amazing!
Before class began, being the chatty Kathy he is, Marc started talking to the guy sitting next to him about his sketches. He asked him if he was a religious guy and he said, "I'm more spiritual" and went on to explain his beliefs about turning into energy or something weird like that. It was definitely funny how their conversation tied into what the professor would soon be teaching on. Just because a lot of people believe something, doesn't change the truth of the matter. Truth is truth. Awesomely, I had learned a lot of these basic principles back home from Pastor Mark and his teachings on apologetics. This encouraged me to learn more so that I could be in a place where I am able to teach these things one day, but who knows what will happen.
After that class, we had Psych 150. I've kind of always been weary of psychology as a Christian because they seem to do a lot of things backwards but yet again, this class was great! The topic wasn't the most exciting-it was "Boundaries", but the way the professor tied it together with being a Christian was fantastic. She talked about the boundaries God sets for us and for Himself and the boundaries that we put up and related it all back to Psychology. It was super sweet.
After class, we went back to the dining commons for lunch. The dorms where Brittany & Yve stay used to be a hotel, so they have a little cafeteria right inside. The set up there is pretty sweet. After Yve got back fro her afternoon class, we all played Yahtzee! I didn't get a Yahtzee :( but stinkin Yve got 3 in one game! Who gets three Yahtzees in one game?!
For dinner we went to their big cafeteria. It was MASSIVE. Seriously, I don't even know how to explain it. There were many different stations so you could have pretty much whatever you wanted. Mexican, Italian, Chinese, salad bar-it was like a huge buffet. After dinner, Marc spent a good chunk of the evening talking to this guy who went to school there about the trip and evangelizing/sharing your faith. I couldn't hear a whole lot of the conversation, but it seemed like it went well. Because it's a Christian school, the boys aren't allowed in girls dorms and vice versa, so anytime we were hanging out in the room, Marc had to be outside of the doorway, hence why the boys were talking outside. It was weird not sleeping with Marc two nights in a row, but it was nice to be able to hang out with my girls.
Wednesday was pretty sweet. (But backstory first-when we were in Alabama, our friend Joanna gave Marc a book to read called Evangelism Is... by one of her online professors, Dr. Wheeler. When we got to Liberty, Yve had just gotten out of her Evangelism class and recommended to Marc that he read the very same book!) So on Wednesday, Yve set up an appointment for us to meet up with him. We spent about an hour or more in his office asking him different questions about approaches and just talking about the Lord and evangelism. It was a really great time and especially touching because that particular day was an off day. There were no classes, but he came in to meet us anyways. He was extremely nice and very knowledgeable, so to be able to glean from him was pretty fantastic. He talked a lot about building relationships with people, namely his students, and how when you show someone you care about them it opens all kinds of doors.
After our meeting, we went to lunch at the 3rd dining commons on campus! As we took the free bus back to the dorms, we were sitting there talking when, from a couple rows back, we hear this guy say, "I just wanted to share these verses with you guys." Then he read a few verses and shared what God had been putting on his heart. The whole time I felt like, "Where am I?! This is so bizarre!" In an awesome way of course, but here you are in public and this dude stands up and starts sharing from the word. And it was received! It was definitely a moment to remember.
So we got back and said our good byes to our awesome friends, and then left for Virginia Beach. On our way, we drove through Colonial Williamsburg and by Jamestown. Isn't that awesome! I felt like watching Pocahontas or something. Then we continued on to the east side of Virginia to visit our old friend, Bobby. He had just moved there after 3 years of being stationed in Italy! As awesome as that sounds, he insisted that it wasn't and I guess he would know better than us!
Our first full day being there, we had phone issues so we went to T-Mobile to get them taken care of. Thank the Lord, we got a new phone for free and they even next day shipped it! How sweet is that! Then we walked around the mall for a bit, but there wasn't too much going on so we spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Bobby.
Friday we had a couple of errands to run then we went down to the beach. Unfortunately it was overcast so there weren't a whole lot of people out. There was an older gentleman sitting outside of a store that I went into, so Marc started shmoozing with him. They were able to talk for a minute or two, but then his wife came out and they were off to the next place.
Saturday was a much more awesome day! We pretty much chilled with Bobby all day-Petco was first on the list. He wanted to see if they had puppy adoptions that day. Unfortunately they didn't, so we moved on. From there, we went shooting! There was a range nearby so we spent a good little while there. They boys mostly shot, but towards the end, I emptied a couple of clips, too. No lie, I was afraid that the rifle was going to hit me in the face. It didn't, thank the Lord, and after the first shot, I realized, "hey, this is awesome!" Marc was happy that he got to shoot an AK-47. Then we had lunch! Normally Chinese buffets sound terrible, but this one was really good! So we stuffed ourselves like the turkeys we are, then headed home. Later that night, we had a bonfire & made smores. All in all, it was a great Saturday!
Sunday morning, of course, was church at Calvary Chapel Virginia Beach. The lesson was great and the people seemed nice. The ushers greeted us, but that was about it. And then we headed out to Delaware!
To get there, we had to take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It was a nice, scenic drive, and then we were in Delaware! (Well, Virginia, then Maryland, then Delaware, but whatever.)
:)