after 32 days.

Today is Day 32. Thirty-two long days of being gone, away from family and friends. It's even harder because this is the weekend of the retreat! I've been to every young adult retreat since 2008, when I started going to them! Yes, I realize that that means this is only the 5th one I will have missed which isn't too much of a record, but I really love the retreats! Sigh. Anyways.
So here is what we have been up to in the days past.
Wyoming-we went out again with very little luck at finding people. That night (Wednesday) we went to church and had an awesome time.

The message was great. Pastor Shaun thoroughly explained what it meant that Jesus fulfilled the law and it was a really cool breakdown, oddly enough, in the Proverbs, but it worked out lol. That night we met a couple other pastors and got to share a lot about the trip. Pastor Aaron, the Youth & Facilities Pastor, offered to let us stay in the youth annex which was pretty much the best day of my life! Especially because Pastor Dan gave us 5(!) microwavable pizzas to enjoy. So the place was filled with couches & bean bags so we spent the night watching a movie and eating pizza. It was so relaxing and really nice to be able to just chill with Marc. I know we spend all of our time together anyways, but this was more like quality time :)
Ok, the next day we got up and did some work around the church then around 1 or 2 (I think) we headed south to Colorado.

After what seemed like too long to be driving so close, I got a little grumpy because I thought I could read a map but apparently not so well :( but eventually we ended up finding the church we were headed for: Horizon Christian Fellowship in Littleton which, I believe, is a suburb of Denver. We met Pastor Jedda (sp? it's short for Jedidiah) and his wife Amy who are both really awesome people. They took us out to dinner and showed us a safe place behind the church to park our van. Tiiiight! Then kinda gave us some ideas on where in the city we can go.
So the next day we went out! First we went to the downtown Denver area but it was super crazy and overwhelming so we headed back to Littleton which has become our home base area. We ended up parking it at this little tiny park where there was a pretty constant flow of people getting off of the nearby train. Marc was playing his guitar for a while then Jedda joined us and played his djembe and as people walked by they would stop and hand them tracts and try to start up a conversation.

This is kinda exciting I suppose lol. Most of the time (besides in Utah), I rely on Marc to start the conversation and I jump in if he needs me. He's the evangelist and I'm the apologist pretty much. Well, I was looking at this woman in the park while we were eating and I kept thinking, I should go talk to her but I was unsure. Then out of nowhere, not knowing where I was looking, Marc says, "You know, you can start conversations too." Man, talk about a push from the Lord. So I, for the first time, went to start a conversation by myself. Aaaand she didn't speak English lol. I wondered, "Lord, why? She didn't even speak English!" But He gave me peace right away. That wasn't the point. She took the tract and was reading it, but more importantly I realized that it's not a big deal to walk up to people. The worst they can tell you is no right? So to continue, after Marc and Jedda had been playing for a while, these kids came up and we knew we could suck them in with a game of hackey sac :) (thanks Ralph & Jen for those)

After talking to them for a while, we invited them to the Young Adult group that night and gave them a ride home. They didn't end up coming but it was a very cool divine appointment where we got to spend a lot of time talking to them. So we took them home then went back to the church for the Young Adults group that they have. After talking with the leader (Isaac) for a few minutes, he discovered that Marc could do worship which was perfect because their worship leader was out that night! So Marc played "All in All", "Always, Forever" (our wedding song!), and "Revelation Song". It was a super huge blessing to me not only to see my husband being used, but also willing to be used.

After the message, Isaac called us up to share and be prayed for and the people started asking us questions about the trip then asked us to share our testimonies! That was a new experience! But it was cool to be able to share what God has brought us both from and encourage others with that. So that ended Friday, which brings us to Saturday! St. Patrick's Day! Oddly enough, a celebration of a missionary who converted a sinful nation to the Lord, but people celebrate with drinking and debauchery! As if they needed an excuse! So we got up pretty early and headed back downtown for the St. Patty's Day parade. CRAZY business!

So Marc talked to quite a few people and handed out tracts but mostly people weren't too concerned :( There was this one guy who "kinda believed in God" but didn't really know what it meant to so Marc gave him the straight up gospel and an invitation to accept the Lord but he didn't want to. :( heartbreaking.

So that's been the past few days. We're not sure how much longer we'll be in Denver. Maybe a few more days, maybe longer but we're not really sure. As usual, as long as the Spirit leads.
I will say, we have been so humbled by the church. Not just here in Littleton, but the church in general. People have truly shown us the love of Christ and totally encouraged us when we have bad days witnessing or feel like we're getting nowhere. It's so comforting to be able to go anywhere and truly have brothers and sisters, people to fellowship with. It makes missing home a little easier.