Minnasowda

The funny thing about Minnesota is the accents. They're not quite so prevalent as on TV when people make fun of them, but maybe they will be when we get to Wisconsin. :) Minnesota is Minnasowda and other very funny consonants added here and there.

"The Land of 10,000 Lakes"

there is water everywhere!!!

Our first experience in Minnesota was fantastic! We drove into the state headed for Minneapolis but first stopped in Lakeville, which is a suburb about 30 minutes south because Marc's old neighbors (the Loewen's) had moved there about 6 years ago. So we stopped and went to Starbucks to work on blogs & such while we waited for her to call us back. While we were there, we met a woman named Becky who was helping to run a scavenger hunt for FCA students (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). After sitting at the table next to us for about half an hour, she asked us where we go to church so we told her our story. She gave us her number and invited us over if we needed to shower, do laundry, etc. Starbucks closed so we were sitting outside finishing up and the two ladies who worked there came out & said we looked cold so they gave us hot chocolate! How sweet!
So this lady parks & gets out of her car about to go into Starbucks when we break the bad news: they're closed. :( I know, sad day right? I told her I would look up another one for her so as I did, we all started talking. We told her about our trip and why we're doing it and we got to talk a lot about Jesus. It's terrible how many people we meet who have been burned by religion and religious people and just have a horrible taste for everything Christian because of it. This lady, Dawn, believes in God but doesn't go to church or anything like that. Of course, you don't have to go to church to be saved, but it DEFINITELY helps, not only with salvation, but ensuring that you stay on the right path. All in all it really was a truly blessed conversation. She was such a sweet woman, so willing to talk and be honest. You don't find that too much. As she was leaving, she came back and gave Marc & I a gift. To me she gave a pair of earrings & to him a pendant. She has her own jewelry company called Glass Harbor (www.glassharbor.com) and she makes all of her own glass pendants & things and wraps them, makes them jewelry. It is super awesome, she does amazing stuff.
So Becky called & invited us over that night but right after we got off the phone with her, Jan (Marc's old neighbor) got back to us, so we decided to go to Jan's, but what a blessing Becky was. Even though we didn't end up going to her house, she truly blessed us with her willingness to help us & to serve. Pray for her & her family-they just came back from a 6 month (I think) missions trip. Awesome!!
Ok, so we made it to the Loewen's! Sweet! It was really cool to see this lady that Marc grew up knowing and the stories they relived. Shortly after, her son, Kevin, and her daughter, Amanda, came home so I got to meet them as well. Tuesday morning I met Jon, her husband. This family has been so awesome. They are seriously treating us like we are family. I didn't even know them before we got here and I feel so welcome, it's a bigger blessing then I think they realize.
Monday was tree day! There was a huge birch tree in the front yard that had been damaged in the last snow storm so it now had to be removed. Jon's parents came over and the men got to work at chopping, sawing, and pulling down the tree. Once all of the branches and trunks were down, Marc clipped them into small pieces and Jan, her Mother-in-law, & I all picked them up and bundled them for the trash man to pick up. Man. That was no fun! Haha but something I'm trying to learn is to serve without complaining. I mean, obviously, it is in the Bible! Not to mention, when we were in Iowa, I was put to shame! We were basically doing the same thing-Marc was cutting branches off of this HUGE tree and I was cutting them into smaller, manageable pieces. Well, when we got there, the man who had been using a saw on a pole (whatever you call those) to cut down the branches was SEVENTY YEARS OLD! No joke! And the woman who was cutting them on the ground and picking them up was probably 60, 65. I got tired pretty quickly but how can I take a break when these people who are 2 and almost 3 times older than me are working so hard?! Apparently we Californians have a reputation in Iowa for being sissies and I couldn't live up to that! But anyways, back to Minnesota! So the tree took all day! Eventually they had to get this thing called a stump grinder (basically a huge saw type thing on the end of a big lawnmower looking thing that literally grinds trees into sawdust) to grind down the tree & roots so they could pull it out. Mission accomplished after a really, really long day! For them...I mostly just picked up sticks.

Jon working the stump grinder

I cannot tell you how refreshing and awesome it is to have not only a house to stay in, but a room to sleep in & a tv to watch & (my favorite part) a fridge to raid. The Lord is good! :)
Tuesday we had a family outing :) Jan & Jon took Marc & I to the capitol, St. Paul!

again, the typical capitol building. At least this time it had gold horses on top!

And yes, that is my finger in the top right of the frame. oops!

like my griffin?

the beauty of being places with other people is that we

can take pictures like this :)

some tiiiight pillars

the view from the top

St. Paul's Cathedral

the statue of the golden horses

(Jon, Jan, me, & Marc)

After the capitol building we drove over to St. Paul's, which was really cool!!! I have never been inside a Cathedral so this was a very cool experience. They had the confessional booths just like on TV and people in the pews praying. It was totally different. Marc put it perfectly when he told me that just from looking around you would think that they don't believe in the resurrection. Jesus is constantly depicted in this weak, frail state rather than as the victor that he is! The Loewen's were telling us (as have others) that Catholicism & Lutheranism are the big religions in Minnesota, that most people are one of 2, or so they say.

the confessionals! funny, they don't look like Jesus

(get it? cause He is our mediator.)  :)

they spelled it wrong, so Marc fixed it :)

grand! 

the "tabernacle", as they called it, up front

And then it was off to the place I have been wanting to go: the Mall of America!!! Unfamiliar? Let me give you some facts!

.57 miles is the walking distance around one level of Mall of America

4.3 miles of total store front footage

7 Yankee Stadiums can fit inside the Mall

25 rides and attractions in Nickelodeon Universe

32 Boeing 747s could fit inside the Mall

86 hours is the length of time it would take to complete your visit to the Mall if you were to spend just 10 minutes in each store

100+ pounds of food are fed daily to animals at SEA LIFE™ Minnesota Aquarium - plus 90 extra pounds on the days the sharks are fed

258 Statues of Liberty could lie inside the Mall

520+ stores are located in Mall of America

5,000+ weddings have been performed at Mall of America

11,000 year-round employees at Mall of America (13,000 during peak periods)

12,550 on-site parking spaces at Mall of America in two ramps

1.2 million-gallon aquarium at SEA LIFE™ Minnesota Aquarium

4.2 million square feet of gross building area

40 million visitors annually which is more than the combined populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa...and Canada

So we walked around the first two levels, which was super fantastic! We didn't go in all of the stores, but we definitely went in the good ones. That place is insane, just the things they have inside of it. An aquarium, an amusement park! A bajillion stores! Holy moly! Their Lego store was phenomenal! Above it were tons of these statues/figures that were all built from Legos!!!

even these murals are little lego pieces!!!

then we went to the Disney store where I got to 

be a pretty, pretty princess lol

If you look on the right you'll see the Microsoft store, 

directly across from the Apple store on the left.

So we headed back to the Loewen's house where we met Kevin's (Jan's son) girlfriend, who brought us a gift! It was a package of bacon. I know, funny store! So we picked up the family, and headed out for some ribs! Well, I had a cheese omelette, but the guys all had ribs. A funny side note, I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Peanut butter sandwiches, not so much. You've gotta have jelly but unfortunately because we live in a van without a refrigerator, we can't keep jelly. For this reason, whenever anyone takes us to eat where they have the little individual packs of jelly, we stock up. Does this make me a horrible person that I just like jelly so much? Well, we ended up stuffing a bunch of these in a take out box so now I have a plethora of jelly. :)

this is the 3rd state where my love of jelly has become a joke by the way

On Wednesday we planned to go to church that night but because the church was so far away (about 30 minutes away in Minneapolis), we planned on going into the city maybe around 2 or 3 to evangelize then go to church but that didn't end up happening. Remember the tree the boys pulled out? Well Jon & Marc spent a really long time digging the hole bigger & getting out some roots so they could plant a new tree. We still ended up going to church, we just left later than planned, which is ok because Kevin came with us. Church was really good, we met a few people. Oddly enough, the guy sitting in front of us started talking to us & we found out that his sister goes to our church back home!! I think he said her name was Alicia Broderick, but I can't quite recall. Anyways, small world, as usual!
I have no idea what we did on Thursday. My steel trap has started becoming a leaky barrel & I can't quite recall. I do know that we went to a thrift store and then in the evening we went camera shopping (again) because our camera is on it's way out. The battery hatch doesn't stay shut, the lens shakes like crazy anytime the camera is not upright, and it takes a good 20 seconds to turn on. So we looked around and found the perfect, affordable camera. We were super blessed by the Loewen's, who pitched in $100 to help us out, which took off more than half of the cost of a camera. Thank you Jesus & Jan & John!
So on Friday we finally got out and hit the streets! It was an awesome day!

this awesome bridge that we crossed about 19 times

The Mississippi River!

So the first people we came across were on the bridge. These 3 guys are physicists and were here for a conference. We walked & talked for about 10 minutes and they kinda were doing their own thing so we parted ways. The next people we talked to was a homeless couple. We walked by the girl and they guy was sitting there against the pole with a sign at his feet. As Marc was talking to him for a couple of minutes, his girlfriend came up and got a lighter. As she walked away he said to us, "Ok, I gotta get back to work." How odd right? Only because back to work consists of sitting on his sign, looking depressed (when really he wasn't). Further down the road we came this guy who calls us over & tries to get us to sponsor a child. We explained to him our situation and he was cool with just talking about whatever but then this girl walked by that he was interested in so he called her over and she came over and started talking with us as well. All in all, it was kiiinda awkward at first. But as we hung out and talked some more, Marc asked if either of them went to church. Tony doesn't believe in God and Jovi hates organized religion, which is a very common response. She thinks that many stories in the Bible are ripped off and plagiarized and that there are too many contradictions in the Bible, but when we asked her which ones, she couldn't really say. All that she said was, "It's a long conversation and I'm on my way to do something." It's funny because a lot of time people really want to tell you their opinion, but it's a very one sided conversation. As soon as they say it, they're done. That's how this conversation went. Tony had to get back to work & Jovi took off to run her errands. So it goes.
Continuing through downtown, we saw these 2 guys waiting for the bus. Turns out they were believers, at least one of them was. The other guy was telling us how his sister was a minister. We've had a lot of people tell us that they have a female relative who is a minister or deacon or something which always worries me. As much as I would love to be a teacher of the word, the Bible prohibits women from teaching men so how do you have a woman who is a minister? Does she just skip that section I suppose?
After talking with them, we headed down another street sort of in the direction of where we were parked. Along the way we walked by this guy who was just standing there. I don't remember his name but I think he's agnostic. He did say that sometimes the thought of where he is going to spend eternity keeps him awake at night. Marc was able to share the gospel a little bit, but very shortly after, his wife pulled up to pick him up and he took off. Darn. Pray for him!
As we made our way back to the car, we were heading over the awesome bridge again and this guy was coming across it by himself. We were just about past him when Marc stopped him and started talking. I stood back praying and eventually went over to where they were and joined the conversation. And it was a great one! He goes to church and believes in God, but isn't really sure if the Bible is accurate or how you can know which religion is the truth or why is it fair that Jesus is the only way to get to Heaven. He had so many questions! So we all walked and talked and all in all we were with him for about 30-40 minutes. His name is Brian, if you can please pray for him. He lives in Florida but is here visiting his brother and when he goes back, he'll be joining the Navy!
After we got back to the van, we headed to a suburb called Eden Prairie to have dinner with a family that we met at the church, the Culbertsons and their friend Sam. After dinner we had dessert (yummy!) and then Marc & the family did worship! It was a super huge blessing and really inspired me to have my kids take music lessons and be able to play different kinds of instruments. (I'm sure that would have happened anyways, considering Marc's passion for music.) How amazing to see this family together, glorifying God and lifting up his name. We really had such a good time with them. The conversation was great and they set such an excellent example of a Godly family, something we could tell from the short time we were there.

Syd played the piano

Jack played guitar whileTina sang & pulled up the music

Even Michael is learning to play the guitar!

Jack (left) and Sam (right)

All in all we were there for about 5 and a half hours! How awesome that we have family all over the country. It is a little bit sad sometimes because we meet so many awesome people and then say bye and will most likely not see most of them again. :( oh sad day. If you are reading this & we met you on the trip, keep in touch with us! Everyone tells us to keep in touch with them but we meet so many people that it's hard, so text us sometime! We would love to keep in touch with everyone. :)
Moving on! Saturday morning we snoozed! Well I suppose most days we snoozed :) but that's beside the point! In the afternoon we got dressed and headed back to the Mall of America for round 2! Compared to the first time we went, it was CRAZY!!! In the parking lot, I felt like I was at Disneyland without the parking attendants. Once we got inside, I felt like I was in one of those movies where it's Christmas eve and everyone in the city is at the mall. It was nuts!!!

the packed out parking lot. I parked in Timbuktoo 7.

see what I mean?! It's packed out!

On the third floor we found mini-golf, the food court, and a ton of restaurants from BWW to Famous Dave's  to Ruby Tuesday's to Rainforest Cafe to Tony Roma's and a ton more. It's crazy!!! This is really the most amazing part: there is an amusement park INSIDE the mall. It's called Nickelodeon Universe and is so large! Well, it's big for being inside of a mall.

the mini-golf course!

the ninja turtle ride!

Nickelodeon Universe!

it even has a log ride!!!

See what I'm talking about!? Crazy isn't it! The inevitable happened and Marc got bored of being at the mall (shocker) so we took off.
Sunday morning we went to church with Jan & Kevin at a church called River Valley Church. It was cool, nothing unbiblical, the worship was awesome. It was my first time at a church other than Calvary (or affiliate)  in a super long time. It's funny because in the past I was always really super defensive when people seemed to talk down on topical churches because I came from one. It bothered me a lot and it seemed to always be the first thing that people talked about when assessing a church. Either "well they're topical" or "they teach through the Bible" and it always seemed petty to me, I mean, either way, they're teaching the Bible. While I still think that topical churches have their place and can serve a purpose, it made me value so much more my church back home and their style of teaching.
After church, next on the agenda was Culver's Butterburgers & Frozen Custard. I know, sounds weird, but
Marc said his burger was good and the place came highly recommended. Then we (Marc, Jan, Kevin, & I) went to the local Christian bookstore to get Kevin a new Bible. Eventually when we got back to the Loewen's, Kevin & Marc did a few songs of worship and the family & us hung out and read some verses, had a little study, and talked for a couple of hours. It was really nice.
Memorial Day! (which is today lol) We had a bbq, I made mac n cheese (be jealous people back home, because I'm about to go eat the leftovers!), and ate the yummiest cookies ever. Then the Loewen's treated us to a movie! We all went to see MIB3. It was so good! I loved it!
Our time here in Minnesota is coming to a close. Tomorrow we will be getting our oil changed and on Wednesday we are heading out. The Loewen family has blessed us so much, all glory to God. They have told us a few times that us being here has been a blessing to them which is totally crazy because we're just hanging out with them! But as they say, the Lord works in mysterious ways and maybe this is one of those.
I know it seems like we didn't really evangelize the city too much (and we didn't as much as we usually do) but I really feel like we were where God wanted us while we were here and ministry was fantastic because of that.
<3 from Minnasowda