Nebraska. Insert Witty Title Here.

Hello again friends, acquaintances, and strangers! Today is May 14th, day 90 and we have just arrived in Des Moines (pronounced DUH Moy-nn), the capitol of Iowa. But let's not skip Nebraska! So here is the story:
Day 1 of Nebraska was pretty much just chilling out at Starbucks, blogging & reading & doing not too much. While we were there we met these 2 baristas....one who's name I don't remember (sorry!) and the other's name is Megan. As he is so good at doing, Marc made friends really fast. Usually people are pretty intrigued when we tell them about our trip, so that's always a good conversation starter.
On Friday morning, we realized we were out of milk, so we went to three different grocery stores looking for it! (We use small, individual packs of almond milk that don't need to be refrigerated.) Finally we found it at a health food store (duh). So from there we went to find a park to eat breakfast & have our studies, but we ended up at the capitol building.

Nebraska was the first capitol building that we went to that was shaped differently. It doesn't look super tall from this angle because I was trying to fit it all in, but it's higher than 14 floors! Which we totally went to the top of!

the view from the top! When NE was first settled, there was not one single tree!

the creepy padded elevator we took to get to the top

spooky, no?

this is about as close as we got to a normal picture.

we took a tour of the building...with 55 fourth graders!

inside the Nebraska Supreme Court...because I'm a nerd!

the awesome ceiling in the echo proof Supreme Courtroom! This ceiling was built by hand and has no glue or nails, it's all held together with wooden pegs!

a weird angle of a dome ceiling. that chandelier weighs 3,500 lbs! don't ask me how...

Ok, so that pretty much concludes our tour of the building. After some well made PB & J's, we headed downtown to walk around a little bit where Marc got to talk to a homeless man named Bob who has been on the streets since 2003! As we walked back to the van, a man in a car yelled out to Marc about  his beanie (this is the 3rd time a convo has been started because of his beanie) so of course, Marc started talking to him. Of course he believes in God because everyone "believes in God" but he started pouring his heart out about all of the drama going on in his life. He had been living out of his car for a little while now because of unfortunate circumstances, but wasn't too interested to hear about God or church. When Marc brought it up it was a lot of "yeah, yeah, yeah, I know". It's hard to see people who so need a touch from Jesus so unwilling to yield to him.
After those interesting convos, it was back to visit our new friends at the bucks....where we live! Marc worked on videos for pretty much forever.  We got to talk more to Megan, who is a total free spirited, super sweet girl! She asked us where we shower while we're on the trip & I told her that usually people invite us over to shower at their house (thanks for that by the way!). She gave us her number & said we could shower at her place so after she was off, we headed over there! This is where we met her cousin (Kelsey I think) and her boyfriend, Jason, who Marc played MarioKart with for aboout the next hour. Once I was done showering we all went over to her friend's apartment (Jake) who lived just across the way. It wasn't my favorite scene to be in, it was more like a kickback, which I haven't been into since my partying days but I just  prayed that God would use us somehow. I mean, that's why we're here right? To seek & to save that which was lost! We were there for a couple/few hours and made friends. Megan, Jason (bf), & Jake (neighbor) are all super cool, really chill, just nice people.

(Jason & Megan)

 It started getting late & I was tired so we left, but we got to the car & Marc realized that he left his keys, so he went back to find them while I waited in the van. This fool was gone for like 10-15 minutes! When he finally came back, he told me that Jake had asked why we were on the road so Marc was able to share about our mission & why we're here. It was cool because he had tried to bring it up a few times before that, but kept getting cut off or the subject changed but now he had an open door. After explaining, Jake & another girl that was there said they would be down to come to church on Sunday morning! Tiiiiight! Then it was off to Walmart to sleep.
Saturday morning was more business- we headed to the University of Nebraska (Corn Huskers) to see if we could find people, but being Saturday, nobody was there so we stopped at the highly acclaimed Dairy Store on campus because the capitol tour guide told us that they have CORN ON THE COB ICE CREAM! How nasty does that sound?! Lol. Well, they didn't have it in stock so we couldn't try it...bummer. So we took some update footage & of course, went to Starbucks, to edit it. It's weird, usually we don't spend as much time at Starbucks as we did in Nebraska, but we always found ourselves there, which actually worked out really well this time.
When we got there, Megan told us about how Jake was excited to go to church with us, so we invited her & Jason as well, but they didn't really seem interested. So we were there, editing, writing, reading....you know, the usual. Jason was there also, so we played a couple of games, then Megan got off & was sick so they left :( shortly after, we left as well & went to Walmart. When I came out of the restroom Marc had made a friend. Surprised? Haha, me neither. So we stood there and talked to this guy for about an hour about everything! Movies, music, his band, work, family, but always bringing it back to God. It really was a sweet opportunity to plant seeds. I'm not sure how many penetrated the soil, but God is bigger than circumstance, so we'll see.
We got a text at some point that night from Megan, that said that they were down to go to church with us in the morning! Suuuper sweet! Jake didn't end up coming...I think he spent Mother's Day with his mom....who does that?! Haha JK! So we picked them up for church the next morning and boy oh boy was this an experience!
Alright, here goes. We get to church at about 9:50 & there is literally one car in the parking lot for the 10:00 service. No biggie, Calvary's have a tendency to run a little behind, so we get in and sit down. There were 2 guitarists (1 electric, 1 acoustic) practicing for worship and they sounded so good! Things were looking up! So we started at about 10:15 and worship was, as expected, good. And then the pastor came up. Pastor Loren (assistant) and this is where it all went out the window. First he introduced himself & talked about the role of an assistant pastor & what his job entails & what it could be likened to. Then he talked about Mother's Day and said that a lot of times, churches like to give a Mother's Day message but because we're at Calvary we like to go verse by verse through the Bible, so we'd be sticking with that, but just as an example of something a church might do, turn to Genesis 21. Then he rambled about I honestly don't even know what for about 10 minutes, then got to Genesis. He proceeded to start to tell about 3 different stories & would say, "but you know how that story goes" and then ramble about nothing having to do with the Bible. One time he even started talking about a time when he had to take a break from ministry & how his wife was so strong & how his autistic son helped him grow, followed by multiple stories of raising his son. Again, all nothing that had to do with the Bible. Just when a beacon of hope appeared on the horizon, he had us turn to 2 Timothy, where we would be studying, but immediately corrected himself saying, "well, since we're here, let's look at Exodus whatever and gave another sample Mother's Day verse and of course, more rambling! I was super upset the whole time. We brought guests to church & told them that we like Calvary because they teach the word, and this was literally the biggest waste of an hour and a half I've ever spent. (Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to demean the Calvary ministry, just this particular pastor has somehow made it past the "screening" process or something.)
When he finally did have us turn to 2 Timothy where we would be studying, he read about 6 verses and didn't expound. He simply repeated what the text said-that Timothy's mother & grandmother had faith, which was something he had talked about in his ramblings. Then time was up. I know what you're thinking because I was there-I thought it too! Ridiculous! He taught his "lesson" for literally 5 minutes, if that. Maaaaaaan, I was SO unhappy.
It's good because Megan & Jason have been to church more than a few times before and they were smart enough to realize that there was a reason that this guy doesn't usually teach on Sundays. It's funny because when he was talking about himself in the beginning, he made a joke about people not being there because he was teaching. They say behind every "just kidding" is a half truth, I think this one was a whole truth. Hopefully Megan & Jason weren't totally put off by this guy!
After service, Jason treated all of us to breakfast at Village Inn (which is basically a nicer, yummier Denny's). I was super happy :) and full! He also filled up our tank! Thank you Jesus! And Jason! God is good! Please pray that God would bless Megan & Jason, they were super good friends to us while we were there. Marc & I were talking about all of the people that we've met and how awesome it will be if they come to visit us when we get home. It would be cool for everyone back home to meet all of these people that they've heard about and (hopefully) prayed for, and for us to be able to see them again!
So after breakfast, we showered one last time at Megan's, then bounced out to Omaha! When we got there we headed downtown & kinda walked around for a second. Marc stopped this guy & was asking him questions about the city, then he brought it back to Jesus & was asking him if he was a believer & they got to talking. He was, but they had a really good conversation on things that he was misdirected about. He also said hi to this homeless man that we walked by and then after a minute we realized that he was behind us & yelled out, "hey, you wanna see something weird?" Ugh, I don't know, do I?! lol, but he showed us this crazy body contortion that he did! Weiiiird indeed. Marc started talking to him, asking him about church & God & his beliefs, which were totally crazy! He's kind of agnostic, kind of new agey, just a weird mix of stuff. Well, we weren't really feeling Omaha, so we decided that in the morning we would leave, and leave we did. So here we are in Des Moines, Iowa, which I will blog about in the next few days.
Hope you enjoyed my Nebraska update!

I'm going to Wichita...dumb song -__-

Oh Oklahoma. What can I say about you? Goodbye! :) 

We left Oklahoma on Thursday, May 3rd after heading to the church & taking a shower. There were 3 guys there that had been keeping up with us, so as we were leaving, they prayed for us & gave us a case of waters, which was extra sweet because we had just run out! And we were off! After an uneventful drive, we made it to Wichita, Kansas, where I had "Seven Nation Army" stuck in my head all week. Literally every day. SO lame. The capital (where we usually like to go) of Kansas is Topeka but there was no Calvary there and Wichita is bigger, so we decided to go there instead, which is perfect because Topeka is super out of the way of our next destination. We got to Wichita somewhere between 1 & 3 pm and headed to the church. We pulled into a near empty parking lot & locked doors. After knocking for a second, we were turning to leave when someone finally answered the door. The pastor wasn't there but this guy (James) asked if we needed something so we told him about what we were doing & where we could go to find people. After talking to us for about 10 minutes, he offered to put us up in the youth room. SOOOOO sick! 

Calvary Chapel Wichita

(the building in the front is the youth room-the back one is the church)

The SWEET youth room we got to stay in.

The other side of the room, including the bean bags we slept on for the week.

Not only did James let us stay in the youth room (that had a shower!), but he piled us in his car & took us around town showing us the spots where people hang out! What a nice guy! The rest of Thursday we didn't do a whole lot, just chilled out. Friday morning we got up & went downtown. We went out too early though, and there was nobody out so we wandered down the streets and came across a park type area that had a Veterans Memorial.

A list of MIA, KIA, and WIA for all of the countries involved in the Korean War. A very staggering number.

a giant torpedo that was just laying around

After walking a little farther down, we discovered a river! Well, I'm sure other people have discovered it before, but we happened upon it. :) It was a cute little area, but a little bit surreal & totally opposite of Salt Lake City! There were so many tracts! They were on the steps, the ground, & the light pole. It wasn't anything like you'd see at a concert, but at home the only tracts you ever run across are the Watchtower's. Here, there were probably like 10 of them in a 50 foot stretch of sidewalk! Just across the river was this place called "Exploration Center" so we crossed the bridge & went in. I think it was just a fun little kids place but we had fun doing their brain teasers anyways. The security guard (who was at least 65), came over and helped me with probably 5 out of 12 of them....at least lol. We got to share a little bit with him. He is an Episcopalian, which we should have expected because everyone and their mother here goes to church. He was a super nice guy though. :)

Exploration Place

the first brain teaser...build a cube out of funny shaped blocks

after going head to head, Marc prevailed.

And then the most awesome thing in the world happened. I was so happy! We saw these guys: 

his voice even sounded all "Storm Trooper-y!" So sweet. In Kansas of all places!

After indulging our kid sides, we decided that we had been at the kids play area for too long & we might start to look creepy soon so we continued our journey through the park/river side, where we came to this guy:

the keeper of the plains!

a more panoramic style picture of the keeper

the very aesthetically pleasing bridge to go visit the keeper!

While we were visiting Mr. Keeper, there was a couple sitting there that was getting up & about to leave. As Marc has a habit if doing, he interrupted their time together and asked if they would like to be in his video. Because nearly everyone is self-absorbed and interested in self-promotion, they of course said yes! Neither of them were believers-they believed in something but they weren't really sure what exactly they subscribed to, it wasn't one solid idea, which is funny because so many people pick and choose from different religions and compose the different aspects that they like. If you think about it, that's pretty arrogant. It's almost as if they're saying, "The billions of people who believe & have ever believed in religions got it wrong. Here is the right idea, here is the truth of religion and what is right and I am the only one that has it right." Arrogant no? Anywho, if you watch Marc's video when he posts it, you'll see that he just talked for DAYS! Usually he asks a lot more questions but he said he just couldn't stop talking. Oh well, maybe they needed to hear it!

After the park we were starving! We had a little bit of lunch money left over so we headed to Pizza Hut because ever since San Antonio, we had been craving the $10 dinner box-pizza, breadsticks, and cinnamon sticks! After we ordered, we talked to the guy who worked there. He was pretty envious of our trip and pretty excited for us. After talking for a few minutes, he gave us his number and told us to call him when he was off later that night so he could meet up with us and give us food vouchers! And he did! We met up with him at 8ish in the downtown area and he gave us SO many vouchers! Some for personal pizzas, some for wings, breadsticks, and cinnamon sticks. Thank you Jesus! Two times during the week we went in to redeem the vouchers and he told us to get whatever we wanted & keep the vouchers for the trip. What a blessing! So we all walked around for a little bit and shared the gospel with him & invited him to church. Soon we went our separate ways. We went into this store for local artists to sell their crafts & art pieces. Marc was talking to the cashier & this other lady kind of butted into our conversation and so she & I started talking about the trip but as soon as I said "to spread the gospel", it was like she couldn't get away from me fast enough! It was a sad realization. People here are so "over-churched" and under-loved, that most fall into 1 of 2 categories: church goer or church hater. 

Afterwards, Marc talked to a guy named Sky who had a pretty interesting story. It was his birthday & he was just hanging out there by himself. He was telling Marc that he didn't really hang out with his old friends cause they all got into gangs and him & his mom don't get along & he works 3 jobs. Just a whole bunch of drama. We talked about the Bible & I tried to explain to him how we know there is a God & a heaven/hell, but I don't know that it was sufficient for him. After about 45 minutes, we went our separate ways. 

As we walked away, there was a man sitting alone on a bench-Marc's favorite, the poor guy lol. So we sat across from him and as we talked we found out that he was from New York and he was Jewish! I've never talked to a Jew before! Obviously, he didn't believe in Jesus but the only reason he could give as to why not was "Because I'm Jewish". After chatting a little longer, Marc said bye, right when I was going to ask him a question, but it's ok. By this time it was probably close to 11:00 so "home" we went.

Something kind of unnerving happened-the first night we were at the church, as we were going to sleep I swore I heard footsteps above us. (There is no upstairs). Every night we were there we just heard noises, which we attributed to "old building" noises, as the church was a schoolhouse built in the 1920's. (Creepy right?!) We'll come back to this later. 

Saturday we were supposed to go to a free show that we got invited to at the mall on Friday, but when we got there we discovered that you have to order something to be there so there went that idea. We were supposed to be meeting up with a couple of evangelists around 6 pm so we went back to the park that we were at & saw gobs of prom goers coming & going taking pictures with the keeper. Interesting. Around 6 we headed back downtown but then found out that they wouldn't be there until later, around 8. So we just hung out & talked to people. The first guy was from Iraq. Him & about 6 or 7 other guys where there taking a flight safety course. This brought up an interesting discussion between Marc & I based on the same (or similar) thing that you probably just thought-the 9/11 terrorists did the same thing. And how sad that we live in a world where our generation will always think that. With all of the memorials we've been to (various war memorials, Columbine, & Oklahoma City bombing) this trip has made me realize a lot about the state of humanity but also the wonderful severity of hope & how important it truly is in this world.

As we waited for the guys, Marc struck up a conversation with a really nice military guy but as soon as he brought up Jesus, he became coldly disinterested & borderline rude. So sad. After him there was another guy sitting on a bench. Marc talked to him for about an hour, then there was another guy who came up & started talking to both of them so Marc talked to him too! They both are fairly new believers but they got to talk & encourage each other for a good little while. Then we met up with Sheldon & I can't quite remember the other guy's name...I wanna say it's either Dean or Frank, but I'm leaning towards Dean. (Don't judge me, I meet tons of people.) They familiarized us with a little bit more of the area then showed us the restroom. After I came out of the bathroom, Marc was, of course, talking to someone who's name I never got. :( 

(Really quick side note, something that sounds totally obvious that God showed me was to be available. Duh right? But usually when Marc is talking to someone I'm kind of in the background praying. Well, hello, be available to jump in. So that's where I'm at now, which is perfectly awesome because.....)

He started talking about how big the moon was supposed to be & then how people have some crazy theories about where it came from (aka open door). We got to have a really great conversation that was kind of all over the place but it was a mixture of random conversation, the Bible, God, science, music...many things. We ended up talking for over an hour as we walked around then gave him a ride to his friend's house because he doesn't have a car. He got tired of paying for it, so he sold it & now he walks everywhere. He lives 12 miles away from where we ran into him. WOW.

Sunday morning we got up for church and this is where we come back to the schoolhouse being built in the '20's. As we're walking up to the church, James & Becky (his wife) say, "So have you guys been hearing any crazy noises in there?" which totally means that it wasn't our imagination! The night before Marc woke up in the middle of the night because he heard voices! TERRIFYING MUCH?! Yeah. The pastors have even gone in there and anointed the walls & prayed over the building before. Over the course of the next few days, even though we heard some super creepy stuff, it was cool because we had a peace that literally surpassed understanding. That stuff scares me so much that I can't even watch movies with ghosts or anything demonic in them, but being there wasn't the same. It was like I could hear the noises, but it almost felt as though there was a wall surrounding us. I remembered the verses in 2 Kings 6 where Elisha prays that his servant would see who was with them & suddenly his eyes were opened and he saw chariots of fire surrounding them. Thank you Jesus for the reminder! Greater is HE who is in us than he who is in the world! So we joked about the creepy haunted building for a little while & then headed inside.

Church was LEGIT! Pastor Patrick Farrel is the head pastor & his teachings are super amazing. He's insightful, he makes awesome connections, and brings everything back to Jesus. It was cool because the people there seemed really, authentically nice. Totally not used to that! lol. It was also kinda cool, before the study started, he told the congregation about us & made us raise our hands so a lot of people were talking to us when service was over. 

After church, Becky & James and their daughter Mary took us out to lunch. Yummy :) we heard some of their testimonies and just had some really good conversation. We got back, took a nap, then woke up for prayer & worship.Monday we got up early (9 am lol) to help around the church. Marc & James were running around chopping & organizing stuff & I spray painted some pictures & then headed to the youth room to finish painting the bathroom. Here is the before:

I painted for about 6 hours, then Marc made me stop & go to the ladies study which was totally funny because I, of course, did not want to go. (No offense to lovers of ladies' studies, it's just not my thing. I don't fit in, I don't feel like they're "my people", if you will.) But the whole afternoon Marc was telling me to ask Jesus if He wanted me to go. Then around 5 or 6 I get a text from Heidi that says something to the effect of "maybe I should start getting involved with women's ministries while on the road". Really Heidi? Unprovoked and everything. Thanks lol. After study it was games & then bedtime. 

Tuesday I literally painted all day (until 1:15 in the morning) except for about an hour when James & Becky took us to Wendy's for lunch and another half an hour when Becky took me to get ice cream (thank you Jesus & Becky!). Also, about half an hour while I made dinner & we ate. Other than that I painted & Marc helped James with other things around the church.

Dinner! For Marc: tuna sandwich, some green beans, pears, and a little bit of noodles.

For me, green beans & noodles!

sitting on top of the shower painting the walls. I was about 7 feet off the ground...and I'm afraid of heights!

the finished product!

On Wednesday, we did more work around the church. I touched up the bathroom & painted the ceiling and did Lord knows what else. By the time we were done, we got cleaned up & went to church! Three long, but rewarding days. Church, again, was so sweet. Pastor Patrick drew awesome parallels between 2 Samuel 10 & Jesus & the fall of man. Who'da thunk! :)

We left this afternoon after James & Becky took us out to lunch & here we are in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our time in Wichita was unexpectedly fantastic. The people at the church were just so nice & truly showed how the body of Christ can work together & come alongside each other. The ministry was sweet, between evangelism and working at the church. If there is something I say too much and not enough is that God is faithful! Our food bin was running empty & James and Becky filled us up with these:

(basically super legit cup of noodles and pho)  :)

Even just driving to Nebraska I realized how amazing it is that the van is even still running. God is good, faithful and just. What a mighty God we serve :) I just wish that we could get people to realize how good He is & how much He loves us. Ok, look for a Nebraska update in a few days. :)

Oooooooklahoma where the wind....always blows!

For those of you who are recently joining, here is what my blog is: a chronicle of our (me & Marc, my husband) awesome road trip. We are going from state to state telling people about Jesus. We started in Southern California (specifically Moreno Valley) and have been to Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and (currently) Oklahoma, respectively. No we're not rich, but we penny pinch & the Lord provides. We stay in our van, shower at people's houses by the grace of God, and talk to whoever we can. It's not the easiest life but it's where we are with Jesus right now & we love it. Also, a quick side note: there are many people who have donated to us financially & for that we are sincerely grateful. Thank you for your support & letting God use you to minister to our needs. Please don't feel as though we aren't appreciative because we don't put your name up in the videos or blogs, we believe that your reward in heaven will be much greater than recognition from man. Enjoy the fruit to your account :)
Ok, shortest synopsis ever haha. So we left McKinney (Dallas) on Friday afternoon. We kissed our vacation goodbye & packed up the giant mess of stuff we had back into the van, returned Sabrina's apt key to her, and headed out! The drive was pretty uneventful. We stopped at a really pretty rest stop with super nice bathrooms but that was really it. Its weird because the more "inland" we get, the less graffiti we see, which is cool, just so different from what we're used to. A pretty spot that isn't tagged up-strange.
So we made our way up to Oklahoma City. It was after 5 so we figured the church would be closed so we headed to the capitol building to be tourists.

(I don't really know the point in putting these up-they pretty much all look the same-dome top, tall pillars.)

Of course it was closed too but we snapped our pictures & walked around for a bit then realized we were really close to the Oklahoma City bombing memorial so we headed over there. It was, as memorials always are, very somber. The first thing you see to the left of the entry way is part of the wall that was still standing, jagged and torn up. The first gate was marked "9:01", the time right before the bombing when the federal building still stood. There was a big reflecting pool, which was really beautiful. On the left of the pool where the building once stood was a field of chairs. One hundred and forty-nine tall chairs and 19 small chairs, each symbolizing one of the 168 people who died in the blast. The back gate read "9:03", the minute after the bomb in which the city was forever changed. Outside of the gate was a chain link fence that was filled with bracelets, pictures, flowers, keychains, notes, shirts, anything & everything to commemorate those who died. On one laminated picture was two yong boys, Chase and Colton. After I saw this, I had to walk away. It was too much. These poor boys were probably only 1 & 3 years old and were now remembered by two small chairs in a field of 168. So sad.

9:01-the minute before it happened

the inscription before you enter the memorial

the reflecting pool that used to be 5th st.

this was spray painted on the building that faced the explosion

this area was dedicated to the first responders

a bit of the remaining wall

the field of chairs commemorating the victims. each one has a name written on it.

a view from the opposite side. here you can see the shorter chairs, for the children who died

 

a view in the reflecting pool of a building that sustained a lot of damage

the back gate, the minute after it happened

just a portion of the chain link fence outside of the memorial.

Chase & Colton are two little boys who died in the blast. 

After visiting the memorial, we headed downtown a little bit. Apparently we came to OKC at just the right time! It's funny because everyone seems to tell us that in every city we go to. Thank you Jesus for guidance. :) The city puts on an art festival once a week every year for the past 30 years & it draws over a million people (word on the street). We totally stumbled upon it, too. So we parked & headed in. By this time it was probably around 7:45ish but we walked around & explored the beautiful surroundings. We passed a man sitting on a bench (Frank) and Marc just said hi & they started talking. It was a nice little conversation that only lasted a couple minutes. As we walked away I asked Marc why he didn't tell Frank about Jesus & he said he wasn't sure, but that he didn't really have the words or the leading. So we kept walking.
They had a couple different stages where people were playing and we happened upon had a guy playing who was kinda folky-rocky, either way interesting, so we sat. He played a few songs & had a few Christian-esque lyrics mixed in.

We talked to him afterwards. Turns out he is a Christian. His dad is actually a pastor! His name is Justin Joslin if you wanna check out his music. Marc says he's kinda country but I say he's folk because I don't like country, so he can't be. From there, the festival ended for the day so we headed home, aka to the Wal-Mart parking lot!
Saturday morning Marc went to a men's prayer breakfast at Calvary Chapel Oklahoma City. He met a few guys there, one of whom gave us directions about where to park for the art festival. Today would be even crazier because not only was the art festival was on its last day, but literally right next door the Oklahoma City Thunder was playing the Dallas Mavericks in game 1 of the playoffs AND there was a marathon so a ton of the streets were going to be roped off. However, before we left, Marc took a nap. Poor guy was tired. as he rested I read about Ted Kaczynski who, for some reason, was fascinating me. After he woke up we were having our study before heading out and all of a sudden a siren starts going off. This wasn't like a police siren, this was like a "Toto, get in the basement" kind of siren. That's right, a tornado siren. For real. Marc was like, "What is that?! That's a tornado siren!" And it was but I didn't know what to do. I wasn't really too worried about it, which is probably pretty dumb. I mean, they have those for a reason right?! Marc got out to see if he could see anything (and to record) and as he did, a car drove by pretty nonchalantly so I really, really wasn't worried anymore. A minute or so later it stopped so we were like, "eh, whatever."
And we were off to the art show! So we parked far away (because we almost never pay for parking) and walked back to the fest. This was our first real day back out since our "time off" and it was kinda hard to get back in the swing of things. People were doing things & with people so it wasn't as easy to spot people to talk to. Marc did strike up a few conversations but only one of them was really good. He helped this guy to understand a verse he was totally misunderstanding & getting tripped up on. Another couple we talked to explained that they test the sirens every Saturday at noon, which was what we heard. Aaahhh, a false alarm :) and a totally funny story. All together we were at the festival for 5, maybe 6 hours. We ran into Frank again & got to sit with him for a bit. Turns out he is a believer too and like half of his family is a deacon or minister or something! We left not too long after that and went and killed about 3 1/2 hours at Starbucks reading & doing research.
As they always do, they closed & we had to leave :( lol so we went to Walmart. We always park kinda far from the door, towards the back where the other RV's, vans, & big rigs park. We went in to use the restroom and by the time we came out it was pouring! There was thunder & lightening everywhere!  It was AWESOME! I have always loved watching lightening. Marc was a little worried about getting hit but we were good...until we got a text from Jeppa, a guy Marc had met that morning. Long story short, there was a chance of huge hail, which, in these parts, is known to reach the size of grapefruits!!! And 60 mph winds. And they were on tornado watch. Wow. Thanks for that. So we left Walmart & went over to the church because they had an awning we could park under so at least if there was murderous hail it wouldn't break our windows.
Well if there was a tornado or giant hail we never knew about it! God kept us safe & tucked away. Sunday morning we went to church. Pastor Ken taught from Mark 7 about being legalistic. It was a very good study. Afterwards we headed to Qdoba with the young adult group. There's only 5-10 of them, but they are solid. They spent about a half an hour asking us questions and talking about the trip then we went over James 3. The format of the study was really laid back, a lot like our old Saturday studies for those of you who attended. Afterwards we headed over to my friend Karen's house. Karen used to live in Moreno Valley & attended the first church I went to in Mo Val, Discovery. She worked with a friend of mine in the mall so I always sat next to her on Sunday mornings. She moved out here to Oklahoma a couple of years ago so she had us over for dinner. It was SO bomb! Chicken risotto& a black bean/corn salad. Mmm mmm mmm. And cream puffs & strawberries for dinner! So yummy!
On Monday we worked on some catch up at Starbucks where we were once again blessed with food & good conversation :) Marc started talking to this girl who ended up being a lesbian who goes to an affirming church, which basically means they teach that homosexuality isn't a sin.  (if you're reading this & I don't know you, don't get all crazy, it was a civil conversation about what the Bible teaches where nobody was offended & nobody pointed fingers.) It was interesting.
From there we headed to Penn Square Mall where Marc started talking to a guy at Zumiez named Blake. He was a pretty cool guy & wanted to hang out. Marc gave him our card but he never called. Oh well. On the way out there was these 2 brothers having car trouble so Marc started talking to them & was able to give them the gospel. The conversation went super well, one of the best so far. Next we headed to church so Marc could shower and then we stayed for their schol of ministry class. It lasted about an hour and 45 minutes. For the 1st half hour we covered some church history which, to me, was super interesting. Marc looked bored lol. For the rest of the time a man named Ray covered Romans ch. 3-6. Talk about jam packed!
As it always does, it stormed again that night. Major sized buckets of rain! Lightening so bright it hurt my eyes! Thunder that would make you pee your pants! Not that we did lol just sayin. We were running into Walmart to pee before we went to sleep & the thunder was so loud it made me scream like a little girl! As we settled in for the night we got a slightly disturbing text that read: "Tornados on the ground two hours south of the city. Keep the radio on if you can. After dark is the worst time cuz you can't see them to track them."  Talk about terrifying man! Dang! Lol. I wasn't really worried about it...Marc says I was in denial but God kept us safe like I knew He would. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us that night :)
Tuesday we went to get our van window looked at because the motor was going out. As we were sitting there writing postcards, the guy next to us started talking to us! He was an older man and has been to all 50 states. We talked for quite some time. He gave us more info on tornados and at one point asked if we had enough to cover the cost of the window. What a sweet man! It was funny when we were leaving we asked his name and he says, "Fred Shows. That's S-h-o-w-s." It seemed like a very southern way to introduce himself.
Remember Ray? The guy that taught those 4 chapters of Romans? He invited us over for dinner & to stay the night. He & his wife Kathy were super nice!

 Marc & their 22 yr old son Zachary played a couple games of chess & Go. Marc was excited to have someone to play with cause I won't play with him but Zach plays competitively and has studied under a master. Cuh-razey! This morning (Wednesday) they took us to breakfast at a place called Jimmy's Egg.

It was fantastic! Even though we left at 7 am! Needless to say, after breakfast was naptime :) then back to the glass place to get our window motor repaired where Marc talked to Marcus in the waiting room, who is also a believer. I swear everyone and their mom goes to church here! In just a little bit we'll be heading off to church. In the morning we plan on leaving for Kansas, Lord willing, as always.
Ministry in Oklahoma has been different. Usually we spend a good chunk of the day finding people to talk to but in Oklahoma we mostly talk to people that cross our path while we're going about our business. It's been an interesting change. It's difficult in a sense because we're in the Bible belt so everyone goes to church which makes me feel like we should move on because they've "got it covered" but at the same time, not everyone who goes to church is going to heaven so they need ministering to. Its a delicate balance.
Also, if you could be in prayer for my purpose on the trip. Marc is a great evangelist which leaves me to pray, but is that all I'm here for? Or is there more? I'm just kinda unsure of my "job" if you will. I have a passion for teaching but that doesn't fit in on this trip & I love apologetics but you can't argue someone into believing Jesus. Facts don't win people over, a softened heart and a realization of a need do.
Well that's the update. Thank you for your prayers & love. :)

Don't Mess with Texas

Alllrighty. April 17th was the last post and we had just gotten into Dallas. Weeeelll, we are still here. This week has essentially been a time of much needed rest & re-cooperation. On Wednesday we pretty much went to every thrift store in town looking for skirts or summer dresses that I could wear because I have discovered that jeans are not friends with summertime or the south....I happen to be painfully near both of these! We stumbled upon "Plato's Closet", pretty much the most awesome thrift store I've ever seen! I guess they pay people for their clothes so they get a lot of nice stuff. Anyways, I found a couple of dresses but there were like $8 and $16. Eight isn't bad, but for $16 I might as well just go to Target and buy a new dress! It's funny how that would have been a good deal back home but now, $8 might be too much! Oh priorities. This whole "summer heat" thing was never a problem back home-all I had to do was throw on some basket ball shorts but out here I feel a little strange going up to people looked like a bum. I guess it's not that big of a deal since technically I am, but they don't know that. Anywho, the dresses were a no go. Next step-church! Calvary Chapel Plano! Plano is a small city just north of Dallas. We got there around 6 and ate dinner (which they serve for free!) with our friend Sabrina Pagenkopp. Ok, backstory-2008 Marc & the homie Aaron Pagenkopp went and did hurricane relief in Texas/Louisiana. Marc only stayed for 2 weeks but Aaron was there for a month. During this time he met Sabrina, who was from Calvary Chapel Plano. They met, they hit it off, they fell in love (that might have happened later, but it's more romantic this way). Eventually Aaron moved to Texas where they dated & fell more in love & got married! That was 2 years ago, which brings us to the present. Ok, back to the mainstory-eating dinner with Sabrina! The dinner was a disgusting mush of nastiness! It has ham, rice, pineapple, peas, & corn....I think. It really was the most interesting food....ever. Like leftovers meatloaf, but I ate it cause it was free! After church the 4 of us & Teresa & Nolan Rising went out to Taco Cabana! yummy! Another backstory is needed! Back home a few months ago, Marc went to a friend's house (Jennifer Negrette, perhaps you know her! lol) to pick up her son (Gabe) so they could hang out. Just so happens, her sister (Teresa) was in town from Texas. Marc told her about what we were going to be doing so she said to look her up when we get to Texas! Turns out she goes to the same church as Aaron & Sabrina! So we all went to dinner! Thursday was a bunch of doing nothing...it was great :) Friday was another day of doing nothing :) I think actually...I don't really remember lol. In the evening we went to church & afterwards went out for frozen yogurt. The people we met at the church were really cool. Crazy story! The pastor was leaving the next day (Saturday) to go out of town to teach at a different church. Then he was coming back and on Monday flying to Haiti! Then coming back for the youth lock in on Friday! (I think anyways.) Either way, crazy schedule! Saturday was an experience and a half! Teresa picked us (Marc, Sabrina, and I) up and we headed to Fort Worth for the rodeo! As we pulled into this town it really did look like it would be a Universal Studios backlot. Old town cowboy look. Sweetness. It was crazy-there were cowboys everywhere! So we get down to the main street and see this sign:

Fort Worth Stockyards! Where we saw this:

a cattle drive! Marc was a little bit worried about the bulls going crazy and attacking me, but Sabrina assured him that they were "Disney cows" and just did what they were told. We walked around, looked in some shops, and then headed over to Riscky's to have some Texas bbq. I had a chicken sandwich that would've been great if they had normal BBQ sauce but Marc, Teresa, and Nolan all had All You Can Eat beef ribs for $9.95! Crazy price! After dinner Aaron met up with us and we headed to the rodeo! It was awesome, no lie. When it started off they played "The stars at night are big and bright, down in the heart of Texas" then everyone would clap 4 times. It was SO sweet!!! It made me love Texas even more! The rodeo was sick! Bull riding! (Which nobody successfully accomplished). Calf roping! Bronco riding! Barrel racing! A really awesome thing was that I won a pair of boots in a raffle that Teresa bought us a ticket for! The Lord is good! :) I actually really wanted to win, too. After the rodeo, we headed somewhere I hoped to never be! A honky tonk! Not just any honky tonk....Billy Bob's. The world's biggest honky tonk. (We got in free with our rodeo ticket stubs-definitely wouldn't pay to go to a glorified Branding Iron!) Rich (from Big & Rich) was performing, not that that mattered much to me. We were only there for about 10 minutes. Everyone else wanted to line dance but nobody was dancing so we bounced. (phew) Sunday was church! Then we went to Cabela's (basically Bass Pro Shop) and Cavender's Boot Barn to try on boots :) Welcome to Texas! Cabela's was kinda crazy because of all the semi-automatic weapons they had for sale. Sick. That night we headed over to Marie's house. (Teresa is staying with her until her house is ready....long story). A few of the high schoolers & young adults & regular adults were there and we had a time of eating, worship, and good times. This was when I discovered Duck Dynasty...best hick show ever. It is SO funny & fantastic! Watch it! They're even Christian! haha so far anyways Monday we hung out by the pool.....marvelous :) then headed over to another couple's house (Christine & Brandon) with Aaron & Sabrina for a couple's get together. There were 7 couples there altogether! In a one bedroom apartment! Geez! But it all worked out and it was a blessed time with tons of food (phase 1)! At one point Marc got up to go to the bathroom & looked at a picture on the wall and he knew one of the guys! He was Christine's brother! Small world. Phase 2 was worship with a short devo & phase 2 was Oodles, a trivia game we played. Boys vs. girls. Of course, the girls won :) I have a new nickname-ninja! Haha it was a ton of fun! We left at 1 am which was not so great for Aaron, who worked the next day. Tuesday was another pool day :) Today was pretty cool! Marc, Aaron, and I caught the train down to Dallas. We walked around downtown and saw the grassy knoll & the X on the street where JFK was shot. That was some pretty crazy stuff! Our time in Dallas is coming to an end. Tomorrow we are making dinner for Aaron & Sabrina then going to Nolan's last baseball game. Friday morning we will be leaving for Oklahoma City! The vacation is over!

constant "pick me ups"

Alright, I know I just updated yesterday.....two updates in two days is unprecedented! haha but this is important so hear ye, hear ye!
If you know Marc & I you know that he is definitely the outgoing one, always starting conversations with strangers, a very social guy. I, on the other hand, usually let him do most of the talking while I pray in the "background". I don't jump in more than I do jump in.
A little bit of background, Marc & I have been feeling really drab.....this week has just not been the best for us, really weary & tiresome but for no apparent reason.
Recently I've been kinda feeling like I need to be more outgoing, willing to start more conversations but I really like letting Marc do that. A little bit because I'm fearful and partly also because I know that if a stranger came up and started talking to me, I probably wouldn't want to talk to them. Another part because I felt awkward in not knowing how to start conversations. (All of these dumb, especially considering why I/we are here & what we're doing right?!) Despite feeling like I should be talking to more people, I still just relied upon Marc & let him do all of the work. Consequently, it's been more than a few days since I really felt like I had heard from the Lord, despite reading and praying everyday. What was wrong? In the back of my mind, I had a sinking feeling that it was because I might have been being disobedient in not wanting to talk to people on my own. Sigh. So we set aside a day of fasting for other reasons as well as my desiring to hear clearly from God. So as we were sitting outside of a Starbucks (I told you we spend a ton of time there!) mooching off of their internet (because outside you don't have to buy anything), I was transferring what I had just blogged from the blog to my journal and thought, "What am I doing? This day is supposed to be focused on hearing from God & I'm not even trying." So I prayed to hear from God through His word and started reading where I was at in my devotionals, Ephesians 5.
As I read, nothing really happened....it was just reading. Then as I read verse 16, it seemed to scream off of the page at me.
"redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
Right when I read that, these three girls walked out the door and sat one table away from me. Well, there it was. That was what I was supposed to do....start a conversation with these girls which, of course, I fought. I kept reading and nothing else happened, nothing stuck out or anything. Then I really knew I was supposed to talk to them buuuut I still didn't want to. I liked having my crutch...aka Marc. Then this other guy came and sat at the table in between us which made me even more hesitant to talk to them but as time wore on, I just knew, I had to do it so I tried to talk myself into it. It's so funny writing/"admitting" this because I'm on the road as a missionary, an evangelist, and most of the time I just let Marc do most of the talking. But anyways, I eventually was ready to go, I had the conversation starter, I had my transition, I was good. Now I just needed to get up and go. Oddly enough, the hardest thing to always say to somebody is "Hi". Seriously. Once you start talking, the Spirit takes over or you just find a way to keep the conversation going but I think that the enemy just so easily gives you this fear of talking to people but that totally goes away right after they say hi back and you realize, "they are humans too!" But anywho, I had everything ready to say but I did NOT want to get up. Time went by and the other guy got up (one of my excuses gone) and I knew that if I didn't do it soon I would lose my chance. I told Marc that we should get going and he got up to go to the bathroom.
It was go time. UGH lol. So I got up went over & just started talking to them. Conversations almost never go as planned! My transition was gone and I had no good way to go from small talk to "God talk" so I just said, "One other thing-the reason we are traveling is to spread the gospel and I wouldn't feel like I was doing my job if I didn't tell you about God." Turns out they are the daughters of southern baptist preachers so they know what's up but we got to talk for another 5-10 minutes. It was so rejuvenating and awesome, especially just being obedient and not having to feel guilty about not doing it.
While I was talking to them, Marc came out and started talking to the other guy who had switched tables to the other end of the patio. After I was done talking to the girls, I joined their conversation which was fantastic. He was asking all of the questions that people are skeptical about. We talked for at least half an hour. What an amazing night!
So this morning we left for Dallas. After walking around for a little while, we happened upon our favorite place :) Starbucks. While ordering, Marc told the worker a little bit about what we were doing and half an hour later, she took all of the food they were going to throw away and gave it to us!!! DUDE. Blessings rain down from heaven. Thank you Lord for the constant "pick me ups".

Keep Austin Weird!

Once again, I have waited too long to blog so I'll try to remember as much as I can.
So we left off at Good Friday....that night we went to a turntable fellowship type thing. There were a few people from the young adult group who get together every other Friday and just kinda jam on the turntables then have a study. Afterwards, we went to Rick's house with everyone where we had pizza & played "Bible Baffle" (I think) shortly. It was funny because everyone there said they stopped wanting to play with this guy, Mike, because he was too good. Well, you know me, this sounded like a challenge so we had Marc read the questions while him and I went head to head. Man oh man, I felt like I had never read the Bible! I don't know if I've ever been so humbled so quickly! He knew the answer off the top of his head to questions like, "Who was the king of Babylon when so and so died?" as if I was asking him, "how many commandments are there?" But it was really cool, you could tell that he doesn't let all of that knowledge go to his head. He always has a smile on his face & has a warm, loving heart. We will definitely miss him! Later that night, we had a bonfire & Marc did worship. It has been such a blessing to see my husband being so used on this trip, not only in talking to non-believers but in being able to use his gift of worship to fellowship & bless others.
Saturday we just kinda relaxed & took a recoop day. We had gone to the University and done a ton of walking everyday that week, so we decided to just hang out & watch tv at the home of our gracious, awesome hosts, Lindsey & Jesse. Later that night, we said bye to them then went to Walmart that was closest to where sunrise service would be & knocked out. Funny sidenote, Calvary of Albuquerque's sunrise service starts at 7:30 in the morning.....when the day has already dawned. Before we went to sleep, we set an alarm on Marc's watch for 5:50 a.m., but that dumb thing almost never works so when I woke up and it was light out, I started freaking out! The only reason we had stayed as long as we had in New Mexico was so we could go to sunrise service! I looked at the clock & luckily it was only 6:45. phew, we were gonna make it! So we get there & meet up with Rick & co, and enjoyed awesome worship from Phil Wickham & a great message by Skip Heitzig.

(Phil Wickham-obviously the one with the guitar-try to look past the large head in the picture)

(Pastor Skip giving the message)

(2 pictures of the 24,000 people who showed up!)

After service, we headed back to Rick's house where we had breakfast. What a blessing! I was just telling Marc a couple of days before that I was a little bit sad that we were going to spend all of Easter driving and not able to hang out with any family or friends but Rick & his wife (who's name unfortunately has escaped me) had a bunch of people over for breakfast so we went along. Eggs, potatoes, waffles, fruit, pastries, candy! What a perfect breakfast :) We hung out for a bit, Marc played some bones, I ate a ton of food :) then we went to take off. Rick & everyone prayed for us and we said bye. As we were getting ready to leave, we were checking the levels (since we have leaks) and this guy who was previously there, had just gotten back. He asked us about what we were doing & we got to talking. Come to find out, he grew up in Moreno Valley for a little while! Crazy! If you have a second, check out his clothing/skate company/ministry "unrvld" aka unrivaled. He has a pretty cool story.
Moving on, we began the SUPER long drive to Texas. Heading south, we went through Roswell, NM which was definitely weird. There were alien statues EVERYWHERE. No joke. Outside of KFC there was like an 8 foot, green alien. They were all over the place! They seriously embrace the tourism of aliens there.....even one of the hotels at the entrance said "Aliens Welcome".

(see what I mean?)
Continuing south, we got into Texas around maybe 5 or 6:00 and stayed the night in Fort Stockton, a small town where the 285 & I-10 meet. So small in fact, that there was no internet data reception but not too small that there wasn't a McDonald's & Wal-Mart. It's so funny where we find ourselves, especially at night. Wal-mart has proven to be pretty much the best spot to sleep, (ironic if you know me because I refuse to shop there or support it). Most of them are 24 hours & there are always big rigs & RVs staying there and there is security! Wonderful.
We drove for about 8.5 hours that day. It's exhausting doing nothing for so long lol. The next day we woke up and continued the drive. Five and a half more hours and we were finally in San Antonio! Our first stop was to look for a church but all of the Calvary's we found in the area were either closed, not in a permanent location, or super in the ghetto where I was not comfortable so we decided to wait till the next day and just go sight seeing. Next stop: the Alamo! Haha it was so funny, I told Marc, "we can go see the alamo!" and he says, "I forgot about the alamo!" Get it? "Remember the alamo!" haha anyways.
So we saw the Alamo:

Then continued walking around the area, where we stumbled upon the San Antonio Riverwalk:

(also known as "stinking gorgeous!")

and then we stumbled upon a family of ducks! One of the cutest things in the world :)

After a gorgeous (but long) walk, we headed back to the car & found our favorite place to sleep. Thus ends day 1 in San Antonio! Waking up, we headed to Calvary Chapel San Antonio, which is actually in Universal City. We got a few church flyers & they gave us a couple boxes of Bibles to hand out, which is super sweet :) We headed out! I wasn't feeling well so while I took a nap in the van, Marc went to go play soccer with this guy. They got to talking & he already went to church. He actually used to go to the church we just came from & informed Marc that the school they run out of there would be coming soon to have P.E. with them. So they came & this guy recognized Marc so he told him his story & what he was doing. The guy ended up telling the pastor, who wanted to talk to Marc to make sure he was legit (since we were promoting his church), and somewhere in this process someone gave our number to this guy named Robert who does a lot of evangelism. So Robert called us & invited us to breakfast the next day & then to go out evangelizing. So the next day (Wednesday) he treated us to breakfast (thank you Jesus! and Robert lol) and then we headed over to the University of Texas, San Antonio. We got to have about 4 or 5 really good conversations with everyone from jocks, to frat boys, to science "nerds", to the average joe, and even with a Christian club. We were there for a couple hours but because we drove with Robert & he had to leave for work, we left too.
That night we went to church where we met Pastor Ron Arbaugh who said he used to t.a. for Pastor John Milhouse! (my pastor back home) What a small world! Robert & Olivia (his wife) invited us over to hang out that night so we went & talked for a bit then they said we were welcome to stay at their house & eat their food. I do love eating people's food! haha so we slept there & in the morning had waffles. Oh, delicious waffles.
The next day we headed back to the University by ourselves. I started to feel really weird that day (Thursday). It was like I was starting to get sick but I felt something beyond the physical, almost like an oppression. I was just not feeling being there, but I knew that was where we should be so we went. It seemed like everyone we met that day was a believer! When we first got there, the first guy we met was actually with a Christian club (Chi Alpha) and was about to open air preach! So we watched him for a while....him and this other guy traded off & it was really cool to hear him share his heart. He had a very appealing presence about him, like you wanted to listen to what he had to say....I guess Charles Manson did too, but that's another story haha. Most of the time he was talking, Marc was talking to this guy who ended up being a Messianic Jew. One of the girls from the club (also a missionary) approached me and we talked a lot about witnessing and serving God. Moving on from there, the next couple people we talked to were Christians.
One thing that we always wanted to do but never really knew how to ask, was to record our convo's with people so you folks can see what we do. So we just asked this girl, "Hey, we're kinda documenting our trip around the country, would you like to be in our video?" And she was down! Turns out she was a believer and was able to answer all of our questions. Because so many people we meet say they believe in God, one thing that Marc likes to ask people is "if you died today would you go to heaven or hell?" The people who are really honest mostly say, "I don't know, most likely hell" but we get a lot of people who also think they are going to heaven but when you ask them why, the overwhelming majority say something to the effect of "because I'm a good person". This girl however, gave the right response" it's all because of Jesus! Either we met a lot of legit Christians that day, or people in the Bible belt pay attention during church and know all of the right answers. When it comes to that, we've done our part. It isn't for us to judge who is really saved or not, just to share truth as much as we can. So we moved on.
Originally we were planning on leaving San Antonio on Thursday morning but Wednesday night after church Robert had hooked us up with a mechanic who was willing to look at our van & fix it if he could, for the cost of parts.(Amazing, because the last mechanic told us that it would cost $1,100 & only $200 of that was for parts!) The only catch was that he couldn't see us until Friday afternoon, so we stayed. So Friday morning came & we waited for a call from the mechanic, Scott. His meeting that morning ran longer than he thought & he was going out of town that weekend so he was going to look at the van but wouldn't be able to actually fix it until Tuesday. Weeeeell, it had already been 5 days in San Antonio when we were only planning to stay for 2 or 3 so we said it's ok, and got ready to leave. The next day, Saturday, we left for Austin. We said goodbye to Robert & Olivia & their 4 awesome kids with awesome names (Athena-15, Acacia-7, Apollos-4, & Alexander-2). Funny side story, one day when we were there, Apollos came up to Marc out of the blue, put both hands on Marc's belly, and started shaking it. Funniest thing to happen so far!
On to Austin!! It only took about an hour to get here, THANK THE LORD! :) We stopped by the church & said hi, got some info & headed out! Our second stop was the capital!

We went to the visitor's center then over to the capital building.

Funny story, we actually ran into the girl who we recorded!
Moving on, we chilled at Starbucks for a few hours. Usually by the end of the night, we have nothing to do & nowhere to go but it is way too early to go to sleep so a lot of times we'll go use our Starbucks gift card and take care of business. (blog, make videos, read, write, etc.) Then the usual, off to Walmart to sleep.
Sunday morning was church at Calvary South Austin where the head pastor is named Bungee. Cool right?! After we walked up & down Congress St. where there are shops & vendors & all of that cool stuff. It's funny, a lot of the shops you go in have memorabilia that says "Keep Austin Weird" which is so stinkin fitting. There are a bunch of characters here, but it is really cool. I suppose the nice way to say it is that people here are really "unique". Here is a good example of something weird in Austin:

One cool thing we noticed is that all of the graffiti that we saw has a positive message. None of it is just throwing up your name but a lot of it is stencils or has a purpose or something interesting. For example:

We saw these in the river area, where we walked around for a couple of hours. It was super beautiful!

Pray for us because the past few days have been pretty wearisome. I don't know if maybe we have been too "on the go" and not had enough rest time, but we just have been kind of struggling the past couple of days. We don't have a lot of push to go out but even in that, God keeps bringing people to us. Yesterday we helped this guy get his car out of the road then gave him a ride to his house. While he was parking, these 2 girls came up and asked us for a ride to the grocery store. The guy was a believer but the girls, who were 17, didn't really feel like talking. I was trying to get them to open up a little bit because I think they were living on the streets, but they seemed almost afraid to talk to us, which just gave me a bad feeling about what was going on in their lives. Please pray for them, they wouldn't talk, but I feel like they have some serious issues.
Here, also, is a big issue that we need prayer for. We were planning on staying in the south and knocking out the southern part of the country then heading up the east coast but now we are not so sure. As terrible as it would be to be in the summer in the south, it would be nearly impossible to weather the north in the winter so we are praying about going north to Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, and on eastward. This is a huge deviation from our plans and we really need to make sure we are in God's will. Please pray that God would confirm & show us clearly where He wants us to go. :)
That's all for now. We should be leaving Austin on Tuesday or Wednesday and heading to our friends' house in Dallas, where we plan on resting & recooping.
Until next time :)