Alrighty then. Where were we? Oh yes, Detroit.
Friday night in Detroit we met up with the new homies at Starbucks where Mark (one of the guys we had met on Monday) gave Marc a video camera! He was so excited! And what a blessing! Then we all headed to Mexicantown, which we thought was the name of a restaurant but was really a neighborhood, much like Chinatown. Except Mexican obviously. There was about 10-12 of us and we had a really good time! Dinner was delicious and we got to know our new friends a little bit better. All in all it was a fantastic night, although on the way home the freeway we needed was closed so we had to take a massive detour and it took FOREVER but it was cool.
the homies. (cut out of the picture was Sam, but he was the homie too!)
We got back really late from dinner (around 1:45 am) so we slept in the van rather than at the pastor's house because we didn't want to wake anybody up.
So 7:30 comes around and we get up because Marc was working again! Poor guy-late night, early morning, but it was a blessing for us. While he was working, he gave me a honeydew list, as he is fond of doing. I had to defrag the computer which, if you don't know, takes about 24 hours -_- wah wah. So I did the other stuff first then went to Starbucks to do all the computer stuff. While I was there, I saw Bryan & Mark, but then one of the ladies (Melissa) that we had met on Tuesday, came over so we sat and talked for a couple of hours.
Let me tell you guys, I think the thing I've learned most on this trip is that God is good! Duh, right? I mean, I know He's good, but sometimes He's so good, I jsut can't stand it! I don't know why He blesses us so much but I imagine it is like spoiling your child. Either way, here's what happened. On Tuesday, we were sitting outside of Starbucks when this lady asked me what I was crocheting and that's how we started talking. (That's the short version....read the previous blog for more info if you'd like.) So we were texting back & forth earlier that day so she came over and we hung out, but she brought me a GIGANTIC bag full of all kinds of goodies to further enhance my love of all things Grandma! She gave me tons of yarn! Probably about 10 rolls, maybe more, of a bunch of different colors. She gave me 2 looms so I can easily make beanies (and 2 "how to" books), knitting needles & a DVD on how to knit, 2 yarn needles, and a few other things. I was so blessed! I know I keep saying "he was blessed" or "I was blessed" but really, there is no other way to explain it....it was awesome! The coolest part is that when I started crocheting a lot a few days earlier it was originally because I wanted to get rid of all of the yarn in my drawer so I could have more space but as I did it more and more, I really started liking it and wanted more yarn, but I didn't want to spend any money on it. One of the coolest parts, I think also, was that a week earlier I had told Marc that I wanted a yarn needle but didn't want to buy one and that was one of the first things she gave me. I know it seems small, but it was like God was saying, "Here you go, I heard what you wanted and wanted to spoil you." I love that God uses people more than they know to bless us. :)
Alright, so eventually Marc got off work and I met him back at the pastor's house. So let me tell you about this family: (because I don't remember if I did last time or not!) They have 3 (now adult) kids but when they were younger, God called them to travel the country in a trailer! Which they did for 7 years! It was so cool to meet someone who understood better the "open road" lol. Anywho, their 2 younger kids (Ruthie & Jason) live with them so we had gotten to meet them before, but Sunday we got to meet their oldest daughter, Sarah and her husband, Jonathan and their 6 children. Yes, 6 of them. How awesome! They've been married for 7 years and they have some pretty awesome stories between the 2 of them. They were super cool. We talked for a little while, but then they went home and the rest of us went down to the park to watch the fireworks show. Marc and I got there a little bit early to walk around and talk to people. As we made our way through the crowds it was the weirdest thing, it felt like hopeless there, as if the air that people breathed was hopeless and it filled them with hopeless oxygen and they ate hopeless food and wore hopeles make-up. It was almost oppressive, this feeling that we got from being there. After a little while we went back with the family and laid down to watch the fireworks. And they were beautiful! I really am not a huge fan of fireworks, I never get excited for them, but this show was really good. Something about lying there in this foreign place with my man, just watching his face become illuminated because of all the fireworks was great. Afterwards we went to Starbucks just to say bye to our friend Bryan. Bryan if you're reading this, we totally enjoyed our time with you & your friends. You are definitely one of the ones we will talk about for a long time! :) And there went Saturday.
weird. someone's side yard
man oh man, I love this guy. <3
Sunday morning came and we got up & went to church. Justin (the guy that Marc had been working with) and his wife Sara came to church and afterwards treated us to Arby's. Mmmmm. Thanks! :) We took our food and met up with the pastor's family at the park where we all hung out and talked for a couple of hours. Sara and Justin have a pretty cool story, too. Sara went on a missions trip to Romania when she was 18 and saw a little baby in the hospital and instantly knew that she was supposed to adopt her. After a 4 year battle, she went back to Romania to pick up her little girl & met Justin who she married! I thought that was the coolest story! They were such a sweet family, I really enjoyed our time with them, even though it was short.
After lunch, we said good bye to everybody and off we went.
Jason (pastor's son who Marc worked with on Thursday)
Roseann (pastor's wife who was on the road for 7 years)
Justin & Sara
(Marc worked for Justin on Friday & Saturday and they treated
us to lunch on Sunday)
Ohio! ...hio! ...hio! (For those of you who got the reference, we didn't go to Cleveland, we went to Columbus....sorry to burst your bubble.)
We got into town around 8:15 and headed to the church, as usual. We didn't expect anyone to be there, but at least wanted to know where it was. When we got there, there was a few cars in the parking lot so we decided to try our luck. There were a few guys there having a men's study but they saw us come in so the assistant pastor, Khris, came over and we told him what we're doing and that whole bit and headed out.
For the first time on the trip, we decided to go on a date. Sweeeet. We've been out to eat before, but always with people, never on a date so we looked up the movie theater but the next showing wasn't for another hour and a half so we went to dinner first. We were going back and forth between a few close places but finally decided on this place called Uno's Pizzeria. When we walked in, the manager sat us and asked if we had ever been there before. When we said no, it started the conversation of where we're from & what we're doing. He was super nice and really excited for our travels. He blessed us a whole lot! We left there again wondering why God was so good to us. Then we saw the Avenger's and went to bed!
mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm
On Monday morning we went to Starbucks to read & get out of the heat. We were there for kind of a little while but from there we went to the mall. We walked around for a little while, but there weren't a whole lot of people there. Then, as we were leaving, this guy was standing there trying to sell his cd's, so Marc stopped to talk to him. When Marc asked what there is to do in the area, he answered with a lot of the usual answers: bars, clubs, and this concert where everyone does totally ungodly things. This immediately just made me really angry because he was wearing a shirt that said "In the Lord's Army". As he & Marc talked more, he was saying that he was a Christian and all this stuff, so Marc asked him how that works with what he was talking about earlier. It was really cool because they got to talk about how we are to walk with the Lord and to stay strong in struggles and be set apart. Basically, how to walk the walk. I was super blessed by Marc in that conversation because he's so good at getting to the heart with people whereas I was just mad right away that someone who claims the Lord would dishonor Him like that. I do know that it's wrong for me to be mad because I used to be one of those people, but instead of getting mad, Marc was able to talk to him and encourage him.
Then, as they finished their conversation and Marc walked out the door, there was a guy sitting on a bench so he started talking to him. They talked for a few minutes and when Marc asked if he knew if he was going to Heaven or hell, the guy totally blew him off. He said that he knew he was going to heaven and that he was a Christian, but he didn't want to talk about it right now. So my bold, crazy husband tells him, "Well if you're a Christian and you love God, why wouldn't you want to talk about Him?" Crazy guy. The conversation didn't last much longer after that, but Marc gave him some words of encouragement and we walked away. Another 10 feet away was this woman standing and a kid sitting on a bench so we started talking to them. Man, this chick had some crazy stories! Like, fo real. Not to mention, she had literally, the most gorgeous eyes I had ever seen in my whole life. You would think they were contacts but they weren't! I guess she worked with fire for a long, long time and without the proper eye gear, her retinas got burnt so she had to wear eye patches for a week but when she took them off, here eyes were the most vibrant teal ever. Awesomeness.
Ok, eyes aside, after talking to her, we went to Pastor Khris' house for a Bible study they were having. There was about 12-14 people there, kids included and he taught out of Matthew. Afterwards they invited us to stay over so we hung out and got to talk for a little while. They are a super awesome family. They have 3 kids (KK, 12, Lily, 10?, and Reese, 8) and are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia!!!! I was so incredibly blessed to hear that, especially because it is something that Marc & I talk about all the time! But please pray for them, their journey is an expensive one. It costs $30,000-$40,000 for all the paperwork & travel & everything so please pray that God would continue to provide for them. After all, God's heart is for those in need and who is more in need than an orphan child? (They have a blog on blogspot if you want to check them out. "Tales of the Rogi" is the title of it. On it they have a paypal account, should the Lord lead you to donate.)
Tuesday morning we got up early with Michelle (Khris' wife) and the kids and we all went to the barn where her horse lives! We helped her clean out the stalls and brush the horse, super awesome.
well, Marc helped clean the stalls
the barn
Marc & Michelle shoveling poo
this is Story.
Marc was excited to drive the tractor!
brushing Clancy
me & the kids! Reese 9s standing in the back, KK is in the middle, and Lily is on the front
the kids wanted to have a photo shoot
The Rogers! minus Khris who was at work. lame.
Alrighty, after the barn we went back to the Roger's house where Michelle made some yummy tomato soup & Marc made grilled cheese sandwiches. Then Michelle cut my hair in her little salon in the basement (which was legit!) and then we headed out to the city! We first went to the capitol building but missed the last tour :( so we walked around and saw the building, then headed out to see the sights.
As we walked around, this girl stopped us and wanted us to sign this petition for support for clean air so we talked to her for a second and she said that she doesn't go to church but is really spiritual and definitely believes in something. As we kept walking, we saw a guy selling newspapers so we stopped to talk to him but he was kind of rude & didn't seem like he wanted to talk so we kept walking. On the next corner was a guy who was probably about 20 standing on the street corner, playing the guitar with a sign that said something like "Playing to travel and eat" so we asked him if he wanted food and he said sure, so we went back to our van to get him some. When we came back, he was still there playing so we gave him some grub & talked to him for a bit. He said that in the past he has accepted Jesus but he, too, seemed agnostic. He said that he believes in God and Jesus and all that but believes the Bible has been twisted in the past. If you've read a few of my blogs, you've heard this argument before. People are so quick to discard the Bible because they don't agree with what it says and they think that "God didn't really say that" or "this is ok now," or whatever, but when we discard the Bible in favor of our thoughts, we discard truth. How can you know God if not through His word, and if you don't have His word, you make up your own ideas of who He is and He calls that blasphemy & idolatry.
It was really cool talking to him (Earl Cookie was his name) and as we were encouraging him, this other guy came up and started talking to the 3 of us also. He was a big, big man! He was much like Big Black (from Rob & Big) and he had overheard some of our conversation so joined in to talk about the holies for a couple of minutes, and then kept going.
A few minutes after our conversation with Earl ended, a guy named Jamico came up to us to ask us to sign his petition for redistricting. We explained that we weren't from the area so we couldn't sign it for him :( but then of course, Marc struck up a conversation. Jamico was a believer, loved God, read his Bible not as much as he should, but sometimes and prays, so Marc told him, "Sounds like you're on it. The only thing left to ask you is are you living a life that would bring honor to the Lord?" From his face, you could see that he wasn't, and he knew it. I feel like one of these days, Marc is going to get punched out for prying so much in people's lives! Lol but that didn't happen. They had a really good conversation about the need for repentance and exemplifying the Lord. After we started to walk away, he called after us again and told us that we should stay in Columbus because Columbus needed people like us. Tiiiiiight.
The next guy we came across was named Devon. Marc said hi to him and he goes, "Hey man!!! What's upppp?!" like he knew him. It was pretty great. Marc spent about 10 minutes witnessing to him and then we headed back to the van.
inside the capitol building
if only the people who put this up believed it!
the entrance. SWEET.
talk about a hallway!
mmmmhhhhhhhmmm
downtown Columbus
Earl Cookie!
some Greek dude.
Devon
Justice!!!
Why would you trust a bank who, as their name, has an improper fraction?
Come on people!
After that we went back to Uno's pizzeria to see Chris, the manager who had blessed us that past Sunday! He told us to come in again and see him, so there we were! And just in time for trivia! So we met another manager who was super sweet and really interested in following our trip so we gave her a card. And! We got 2 free appetizer cards so we're going back next Tuesday to use them.
Wednesday! was pretty boring! haha we started the day at Starbucks because it was hot and because Marc had just gotten a free 30 day trial of Abode so he wanted to go see what he could learn and make a video. That took FOREVER. No joke, we were there for days! By the time we were ready to leave, we didn't really have enough time to go anywhere before church, so we just went to the close by park so Marc could practice doing worship. While he was playing, this 15 year old kid sat at the next table so he talked to him for a couple minutes but the kid left with his gf and we went to church. Khris taught an intro to Ephesians, which was really tight. Besides church, it was a pretty uneventful day! Although we did go back to spend the night at the Roger's house again, so that was cool.
On Thursday morning, Michelle made us some delicious eggs for breakfast and then we all packed up and went to Allen Creek! (I think that's how you spell it anyways.) It was so hot that day that to be in the water was super refreshing. We swam for a good little while and while the kids and I were swimming, Marc got out to tell Michelle something. After a little while, I'm looking around for him and he's gone! I look at Michelle and she points over to the right where Marc had found someone to talk to. I am so blessed by his heart of evangelism!
Shortly after, I got out also and we walked around. We talked to this guy named Shane but he didn't seem like he cared at all! So we walked for a little while and as we did, we came across this girl named Von. We got to talking to her and found out she's from Oregon. She asked what brought us out that way so we told her about the trip and she was excited about it and told us how she had led others to the Lord. Later she said something about "I used to have the Holy Ghost, but I'm not saved or nothing right now" so we were talking more and she said it was because she was gay. However, you could tell that she still has a love for the Lord. She asked, "Do you believe prophets are true? Cause when I was little this lady from my church came up and told me that I was going to burn in the pit of hell." Dude. Talk about intense! And I think she was worried about it! It was a really blessed conversation we were able to have with her. We told her about the importance of repentance and not living a sinful lifestyle and she knew it was necessary. Normally when you tell a gay person about repentance, there is an uproar, but it was really cool to see the Lord working in her heart. She asked how long we would be in town and said she wanted to come to church with us on Sunday if she could get her shift covered. She wasn't able to make it, but to hear that she wanted to was cool.
As soon as we walked away from her, this guy named Magnus came up to us and said, "I heard you talking to that girl." SWEET. Nobody ever comes up to us! Well, turns out he came up to us because he was a Jehovah's Witness so we got to talk to him for a few minutes. Pray for him because I really felt like he was just a lost soul genuinely looking for truth, but deceived. I guess a lot of them are deceived but he just felt different to me. Either way, the conversation didn't really go too far, but I think we at least gave him something to think about.
"Black" was the first guy's name
Magnus, the Jehovah's Witness
So we headed to the Roger's, showered up and headed over to this place called Brumby's Coffeehouse & Pizzeria to celebrate KK's birthday! It was about an hour away but the pizza was super yummy and the owners have a really cool story. It's so amazing the people that we meet. We get to hear of God's goodness & mercy. He is truly amazing how He works in our lives. On the way home there was crazy traffic and the 1 hour drive turned into a two hour drive! So lame! I hate road construction! Especially when I'm driving!
Friday morning we went out into the city to try and find some people. It was hot & early so we went to Barnes & Noble to get out of the heat. Later we didn't really know where to go...we were going to walk around the mall we were at, but it was outside and way too stinkin hot so we headed back out to the mall we were at the other day. After being there for a little while, it began to storm like crazy! Thunder, lightening, rain, dark sky! But it was still really hot! :( We went back to the Roger's house for dinner but because of the storm there was power out sporadically all over the place! It took us about 45 minutes just to get off of the freeway! It was crazy! It turns out, because of that storm and the devastation it caused, Ohio is in a state of emergency and is getting emergency FEMA aid! How crazy! Thankfully we still had power at the Roger's house but a whole lot of people in the area didn't. We watched a DVD of Tim Hawkins who is an amazingly funny comedian who is a Christian so he is clean. So fantastic.
me & my sweet new friend, Lily
Brumby's Pizza!
Marc & Khris playing chess
happy birthday KK! :)
the necklace I made for KK
Calvary Chapel Columbus
and the necklace I made for Lily :)
On Saturday was KK's actual birthday so I made her a necklace then I made one for Lily too. Those pretty much took all day! Around noonish the power went out :( no good, especially because the Roger's have $700 worth of meat in their freezer!! Eeeeek!!! That night for dinner we went to Khris' sister's house. She invited us over for dinner because the power was out so by the time we got back to their house it was all kinds of dark! It was weird cause we were laying down by like 10:45 cause we had nothing to do.
So by the time we woke up today (Sunday) the power was still out! Oh no! So we get up and go to church and when we get there, Lily comes running out and says, "The power just shut off!" No stinking way! Fortunately it turned back on right before service was supposed to start. Thank the Lord!
So service was fantastic! The pastor, Dave, was really good and pretty funny, but if you would, please pray for him. I don't remember the exact details but he has a tumor in his head that is stage 4 and the size of an egg. He had a pretty eventful week this week. Pray also for his congregation because you can see that his sheep really have an intense love for him and we can see why, he seems like a great guy.
So that's about it! We stayed for the potluck after church (yummy).
We will be in town until Wednesday, Lord willing. Tomorrow (Monday) at 9 we are going to get our van a tune-up because it will randomly not want to drink the gas that we give it and then all of a sudden gulp it down and lurch forward. It's kinda annoying! Thankfully it doesn't do it too much, but Steve Kirkwood (our awesome mechanic back home) always taught us to get it fixed before it breaks, so we are. Tuesday we'll be helping clean the church and then Wednesday morning we plan on heading out to Pittsburgh!
Thank you for your prayers! :)
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