the greatest of these is love

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Ohio! hio! hio!

So it's been slightly over a week since I've posted....I know, I'm a slacker. Woe is me.
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! :)

Friday, June 22, 2012

D-Troy-t

Hello again friends & acquaintances.
Here we are again in my blog.
Beginning from where we left off in Indianapolis: Monday rolled around and we got up & went into the city. As we drove around, all of our usual parking spots were taken and we literally could find no place free to park so being the rolling stones we are, we left for Detroit. The drive took about 5-5.5 hours. We actually are in a suburb called Roseville, about 15 minutes north of Detroit. So we pulled in about 6:40, just in time for Marc to go to the men's study. After study, Marc was asking the pastor where we shouldn't go in the city and he showed us on the map that we don't want to be south of 8 Mile Rd (weird), but the area he showed Marc was pretty much all of Detroit! He told him definitely don't be there at night and that if we stop for any extended period of time, our wheels are getting jacked. Not might, will. Sheesh. So we headed over to the closest Wal-Mart to get ready for bed. Fortunately for us, there was a Starbucks across the street! Sweeeeet. They were already closed, which was fine, we just wanted to sit outside & play cards anyways. (Usually we play in the back of the van with the light from the street light-not the most comfortable lol.). So anywho, we played a game of Three's and then started walking to the van. Unbeknownst to me, Marc had been eyeing a new target! So as I went to the van, he went and started talking to this group of 5 people that had been standing in the parking lot hanging out for a little while now. Most of them go to church and all of them believe in God in some aspect so Marc talked to them for a good little while and made friends! Eventually I was summoned out of the van lol so I joined the conversation and helped Marc to explain something. Shortly after, everyone split & we left as well.
On Tuesday we headed into Detroit! Of course, in the daytime. We were really only downtown so we didn't see a whole lot of typical Detroit but we did see a few buildings soaked in graffiti with every single window busted out. I think it will make me really sad when we eventually do drive through and see the poverty. So as we drove down the street we saw this sign: "Tunnel to Canada". Craziness! Canada was just across the river! I mean, we could see it!!! How awesome!
So we found a parking spot close to the river & walked for forever! As we were passing the General Motors building, we went inside to use the restroom. It was so weird inside....we couldn't figure out if it was the GM office building or if we were in a small mall. There was a food court & shops all along the first level-even a restaurant and a salon but on the second floor there was nothing in any of the windows. I think it must have been an office building because towards the back there was a showroom that had a bunch of different cars in it. It was weeeeeird.
So we kept walking but eventually we just couldn't take it anymore. The beautiful blue water next to us was taunting us, so we walked back to the van and then drove to a little island called Belle Isle that has a swimming beach and we got in the water. It was....beyond great. I had been hot and sweaty and sticky for the past 2 or 3 days because the humidity never lets us. I felt weird, I was fighting grumpiness every second, and I just wanted to cool off. This had been my constant mindset, so to be in the water was a gift from God. We hung out for an hour or two then got out to eat. It was really cool because they had a bathhouse, which was basically a big locker room (minus lockers) where you could change & use the restroom. Best part: it had 3 showers! So not only did I get to cool off in the lake, I didn't have to have lake water all over me for the next week! It was seriously amazing. When I came out of my shower, Marc was talking to this guy who sitting there with his little girl and they were talking about getting out of Detroit. Understandable. Marc had shared with him the gospel, which he had heard before, but he was trying to watch his other kid so Marc didn't want to take up too much of his attention. From there, we found a chill spot on teh island kind of away from everyone to have some time together to chill out. I was crocheting while Marc played his guitar (I know, we're going to make such an awesome old couple!). After a few minutes, this car pulled over and came over to where we were with his guitar. We were parked a good bit away from the curb, so we saw him coming with his guitar case.....awww he wanted to jam! :)
This encounter was such a blessed one! This guy (his name was either Kevin or Patrick, I thought I heard him say both) came up and was saying that he heard Marc playing as he drove by & had to stop and come see. So he busted out his guitar and started finger picking and just playing around but it sounded phenomenal!! He was great! We talked for a couple of minutes and we found out that he was a born again Christian also! What a serious blessing! He was only there for about 4 or 5 minutes, but when he left we thought of the verse that talks about "you never know when you're entertaining angels". We were really touched and it's funny because nothing miraculous happened, it was just one person showing love to others. So sweet.
It got later & Marc was done playing so we went to Starbucks to hang out. Shortly after we got there, one of the guys from the night before arrived as well. Let me tell you about Bryan. Bryan is like, the glue of Starbucks. He hangs out there usually twice a day and knows everyone! Seriously. I would say that 2 out of the 5 or 6 people who walk in say hi to him. Everyone who was there the night before that Marc was talking to all became friends with each other because they were friends with Bryan first! He is a super nice guy and an awesome believer. From what I've seen he encourages his friends in the ways of the Lord-what else is there!? :)So anywho, we hung out with him and his friend, Dana, for the rest of the evening and then it was off to Walmart.
Wednesday was an interesting day. God is so good how he just shows us things. He uses us wherever we are. What a blessing to be used by God, seriously. You feel so unworthy, who am I that God would speak through me to reach people? He could send angels or even just boom His voice from the clouds, but He chooses to use us. What a marvelous blessing! And something else we've learned, is that ministry changes! God doesn't have a pattern, there is no formula that you have to follow. Today was so different, but so blessed.
So we got up in the morning and went to sit outside of Starbucks to have our studies because it was cooler than in the van. So we're sitting there and when I finished reading, I started crocheting again. Then these two ladies came over and started talking to me about what I was doing so I showed them a couple things and we got to talk for a couple of minutes. I didn't get to share too much about Jesus but at least one of them believed in God, for whatever that means to her life, but they left shortly after. Oops. I think that in talking to them, God made the point to me to not be so quick to make jokes about people because as they pulled up I had made a joke about the woman to Marc but then while I was talking to her, felt pretty convicted about it. Oops again.
While I was talking to them, a guy came up and asked Marc for money so he got up and gave him food and the gospel too. Nice. By this point it's not even 10:00 yet. Shortly after they left, Bryan got there so he sat with us and we all talked some more. After a couple of hours, his friend, Heather, joined us. (She was there on Monday night, too, when Marc was talking to them.) By now it's probably around 1ish. So Bryan rolled out around 2, but Heather hung out for a little bit & I tried to teach her how to crochet, which can be a frustrating thing to learn, but she tried really hard! I think she got kind of frustrated and gave up, but it was cool because we started talking about God & the Bible and her beliefs about different things. I was able to really minister to her and point her back to the Bible. Without it, how can we know God?
One thing that I will share about our conversation is something that I think a lot of people need to hear and I have touched on before, but in a different aspect. She was saying that to be called a Christian is a high calling that comes with a high standard and that it's hard to reach. I thought it was so awesome because so many people who call themselves a Christian don't realize that there IS a standard that so many Christians aren't meeting, nor are they trying! But Christianity isn't about being perfect, it's about striving to want what God wants, to have His heart & to love what He loves. You don't have to "fix" yourself before choosing Jesus, you just have to want to be different. Never let your imperfection keep you from God-that's why Jesus came, so that our imperfections wouldn't keep us from Him!
So that was fantastic. After she left, there were two gentlemen sitting pretty near us on the patio speaking a foreign language so Marc asked what they were speaking. Guess? Hebrew! And they were from Israel!!! How awesome is that!? So we got to talk to them for a while. They were Jewish by culture, but not really by religion. Really, only one of them was talking to us....the other tuned us out pretty quickly but our conversation with Dylan was a good one. He explained that in the Jewish culture, for God to come in the flesh would never happen. (Well that's what the Pharisees thought, too....) We talked about history and Jesus and prophecy and travel but, as they always do, he had to go. God is teaching us all the time!
It did break my heart a little bit to see these 2 men, 2 of God's chosen people, with such a lack of understanding of Him. Dylan had a head knowledge in a historical sense, but there was nothing in his heart but disbelief and doubts and his brother didn't care at all. It reminds me of the parable of the wedding feast. Sad sad sad.
After they left (literally like 3-5 minutes), this woman, Melissa, came & started asking me about what I was crocheting. Here we go again! haha
So we talked for a while and I was so blessed again to hear her story. She is a born again Christian and was sharing with us about her husband who is Catholic but, from what I gathered, is realizing the need for a relationship with Christ in his life. Please pray for him (Scott) as he transitions, that he would just fall in love so deeply with the Lord.
Man, what a blessed day. We were literally at Starbucks from 9/9:30 until 6:45 when we left for church and even though we weren't out in the city, we talked to about as many people as we would have anyways, but I just know that we left an impression on everyone that we talked to. God is good! He is giving us little nibbles of fruit here and there, and what a blessing to taste and see that the Lord is good!!!!
So then it was off to church for midweek service, which we thought started at 7 but it wasn't until 7:30 so we were early. We got out and were just standing around when this lady popped out of the door and asked us if we wanted to come over and shower and do laundry. At first we were confused but then we realized someone had to have told her about us! Turns out it was the pastor's wife. Makes sense :) so we went inside and she made me iced coffee :) what a sweet woman! We got to talking and she told us a little bit about how the Lord called them to live in a travel trailer and travel for seven years! With three kids! And I thought my life was chaotic! haha.
Their son, Jason, taught the study that night and it was really good. He taught through a few chapters of Exodus and the law and highlighted key points and prevalent themes throughout. It was really a blessing.
After the study we went back to Starbucks to hang out with "the group" but left after about an hour to go to the pastor's house. They fed us sandwiches (mmmm) and then we watched Tim Hawkins who is just stupidly funny. So hilarious. Then we had ice cream & talked about the trip and their travels. It was really cool because they said so much that we could relate to! I felt like "ah, my people" lol and then it was off to bed!
Thursday was a different kind of day, also. Jason was working on recarpeting a house and asked Marc if he would be interested in helping, so he got up and was out of the house by 8. While he was gone, I helped Roseann (the pastor's wife) to clean her house and then I barbecued hamburgers for the first time ever. It was crazy. I was scared lol, but I did it! And they weren't even burnt or under cooked! .....as far as I know.
So they guys came home to eat. I was excited to see my love again :) We spend all day, every day together so this was weird because we were put into these typical roles of the man being gone at work while the wife stayed home and cooked & cleaned and eagerly awaited her man's return. And I did! But then he left again :( He didn't get home until after 6 but it was super awesome to have been given an opportunity to work and earn money. I know he enjoyed it, also. So we had pizza for dinner (thank you Amo family!) and then Jason & Marc left to a men's study and I went to a young adult study that they've been having outside of Starbucks. The study was about evangelism but it was really cool because during worship, I was really touched. The Spirit moved heavily in my heart and I was so moved. It was the first time I had really felt "He put a new song in my heart". I don't know what it was, but it was amazing.
After study, Marc & Jason met up with us at Starbucks and we hung out for a couple hours, talking and sharing and meeting cool new people. I must say, I love sharing the word of God and teaching people about it. And then it was off to sleep! (I don't know if we mentioned this already, but we're staying at the pastor's house, so this is the 2nd night of going to sleep with an air conditioner literally right over the bed. It's indescribably awesome to wake up cold and not sweaty.)
Marc was given another opportunity this morning for work, this time doing landscaping stuff which, thanks to his mom, he's fantastic at! Haha, a pro at pulling weeds. Poor guy. This time he was out of the house at 7:30!
And now you're pretty much all caught up. :)
Our ministry in Detroit has been much more geared towards discipleship and building people up in their faith than evangelism, but whatever God has for us is a blessing. We'll probably be here for a couple more days. We're hanging out with the group again tonight so pray that that will be a blessed time that edifies the body and glorifies the Lord.

hellooooo Michigan aka state #15

I had to.

WEIRD

that's the fist of Joe Louis.

see the bridge in the background? It goes to Canada!

inside of the General Motors building

Bryan!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Indiana-polis. The City of Indiana.

So this week has been pretty rough emotionally, starting on Thursday. One of my really good friends from back home is getting married and try as I might, I could not find a way to get back home for it. :( It's hard because I already miss everybody so much but then to see their relationship from before it even started to them now getting married and missing it has been really hard. Then on Friday night, I got some terrible news from home. A woman that I worked with who is very near to my heart suffered the tragic loss of her daughter in a way no person should ever have to endure. I didn't really know her daughter, but my heart just broke for her. It was a very emotional couple of days, but through it all, God is so good.

On Thursday morning, Jan & Rheanna (the pastor's wife & daughter) brought us lunch before we left! How sweet of them! Before taking off, we went to their house and got showered up and then we hit the road. The Indiana border was pretty close, but it took us another couple of hours to get into Indianapolis. By the time we did, it was around 6:00, so we just drove around the downtown area for a couple minutes and then found a Starbucks to chill at. Like I said, Thursday was rough. The wedding had been on my mind all day but it didn't really settle in until when we laid down for bed. I was so upset. My good friend Heidi was able to console me a little bit so that helped, but I just knew I had to pray about it.

So Friday rolled around and Marc and I headed downtown to find a cool place to sit and read. We walked down from where we parked (far away as usual), and decided just to sit outside of a Starbucks while we had our studies. After about 15/20 minutes, this guy walked by & he asked us for money so he could go get a White Castle burger. Marc told him, "sorry man, we live in our van" and so he left. Almost immediately after, I looked down and read a verse that was just a few verses ahead of where I was at: 1 John 3:10b:

"Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother." So I looked around to see if he was still around and he was! Right when I spotted him, I told Marc, "I think we should help him" and he said that's what he was thinking, too. So we got up and started walking with him down a couple of blocks to White Castle. As we walked, Marc told him, "I want you to know the reason why we're helping you," and he told him what the verse said. Then he asked me to repeat it and when I did, his eyes started getting watery & glossy. He kept beating his chest saying, "That verse was for me. That was for me, man." I honestly think that this man, Kevin Griffin, needed a touch from God so badly that any verse would have made him weep, which he did. We got a few more steps and he kept telling us that that was his life & the verse was for him, that's what he needed to hear. Then he sat down on the ground, crying by this time, and he said, "It's not even about the White Castle anymore, it's not even about the White Castle" and as he cried, he poured out his heart to us. He told us that he drinks to chase away his problems, but when he comes down they're still there, the drinking doesn't help. He told us that he was raised in a good family, his parents were good people, but he ruined his own life with drugs and that his kids don't trust him and he can't even see his grandbabies. He was so distraught at the thought of his 3 grandbabies and how he never sees them. There was so much pain in this man's life. He knew his Bible, he prays and thanks God every morning that he wakes up but, by his own admission, is afraid to go back to church because he thinks as soon as he walks in he'll be overcome with his sin. He kept saying to us, "man, you don't know the things I've done, what it's like when you have to sleep right here on this street. You don't know who's gonna try to get you and who you're going to have to get." We pointed him to Jesus as much as we could because He's the only one who can free him. So eventually got up off the ground and we stood in a circle and prayed for him. As Marc prayed, Kevin just started bawling even louder, right on the sidewalk in front of people, but it didn't matter because the Spirit was there and this man needed it so badly. He was crying so hard and loud that he kept trying to pull away but we just held his hands really tightly. It was amazing.

We did eventually make it over to White Castle. While Marc took him in to get food, I walked back to the van to get him a Bible & some extra food and water and then we all walked back towards downtown. He told us that he believed we were angels and that we had good hearts because nobody ever wants to talk to him. It was really a blessed situation. Part of the reason I think my heart was moved to help him in the beginning was because I saw him go from person to person asking for change and the first man he went to was typing on his phone and didn't even give him the time of day. He literally did not look up from his phone but gave him the hand, as if to say, "talk to the hand". The next guy was similar. Before he even said a few words the man just waved his hand at him to say no. It broke my heart-this is another human being who is hungry. We can so easily spend money at Starbucks as these men had to please ourselves, but when it comes to another person, those couple dollars are all of a sudden too precious, and this whole time, kevin just needed a friend. Praise the Lord. Remember that you pretend not to see a homeless person that you pass. So many times, a smile is so appreciated. They know when you're crossing the street to avoid them and when you roll up your window so you can pretend they don't exist. But they do, they do exist and God loves them as much as he loves you. Remember that.

After we left Kevin, we sat back down outside of the Starbucks and finished reading. As we were sitting there, I just kept thinking, "If I was home, I never would have had that experience." And all of a sudden I had peace about not being home. As hard as it still is, I know I'm where God has placed me, where I'm supposed to be and even though it's not what I would have chosen, God is sovereign & knows what is best for my life. Amazing.

So as I read on in my studies, here is what I read:

But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:17-18)

Man oh man, I was relieved! I knew that if I hadn't spoken up to help him then read this I would have felt so low! But like I said, God is good!!!! So we finished reading and just as we were getting ready to get up, Marc says, "I think I'm supposed to talk to this guy next to us." There was a man sitting next to us who had been there since before we got there the first time. He looked to be Middle Eastern (turned out he was). So they talked about God & Jesus being the only way to heaven. Ali said that he believed in Jesus but he didn't really pray a whole lot and didn't really read his Bible, which is the story with a lot of people that we meet. Marc encouraged him in that and then he had to leave, so we left too. As we walked down the street, we noticed this entrance to a mall that you totally wouldn't have known was a mall. It just looked like businesses, but we went in to escape the heat. Before too long, we came across this guy who was trying to get me to let him straighten my hair. Creepy? Lol just kidding, but he started talking to us and had a lot of charisma. He asked us where we were from so we told him and asked him the same question back. Crazy story-he was born and raised in Israel and had a crazy thick accent! Awesome right?! Then he asked us why we were there. :) Weeelllll since you asked! We told him we were spreading the gospel and he asked what that was. So we told him! Of course, he had heard of Jesus but the only reason that he could give for why he didn't believe in Him was because he didn't, because he was a Jew. After a few minutes, he told us that he was raised Jewish so he is Jewish. If he was raised Muslim he would be Muslim, just like we were raised Christian, so Marc told him, I wasn't born a Christian, though. He looked confused and said, "then what were you?" "Nothing," Marc said. To which Nathan replied, "What you mean nothing? I do not believe that you can believe in nothing." So Marc says, "You don't believe that people can believe in nothing? Watch this." And he stopped this guy that was walking by and said, "Excuse me, do you believe in God?" And the guy didn't, point proven. It was really thought provoking, the idea that Nathan didn't believe that a man doesn't believe anything. It agrees with the verse that God has put eternity in our hearts. Unfortunately Nathan really only believes because he was raised in it. He says he prays in the morning, but when I asked him how he atones for his sin without sacrifice & without a temple, he said that his good works atone for it. Hopefully we left him with a few good points to think about. :)

And that wrapped up the mall! We then walked down to the capitol building. Fortunately for my feet, it was close! We saw the building (beautiful) and then we were done! So we walked a little farther down the street to this huge monument which, we found out, was the Civil War Memorial. So we went in there....not a whole lot to see, but then we got outside and Marc started talking to these two boy sitting outside who looked to be about 15 & 17. They both had mohawks & were wearing eyeliner. Kids these days, who understands them. :) They both agreed that at this point in their lives they probably weren't going to heaven and they said they were a little worried about it, but were super unresponsive to anything that Marc had to say. Of course, he gave them the gospel anyways & then we headed out to our second home away from home: WalMart!

After being there for a little while, the phone rang and it was a number I didn't recognize so I gave it to Marc. Remember the kid in Wisconsin that said he drinks all day every day but was a believer? The one we gave the Bible to? He called and said that he wanted to change his life around and get serious with the Lord so he called to ask where he should start. How AMAZING! YEAH, praise the Lord, we finally get to see fruit! :) And it couldn't have come at a better time :) so they talked for about 30-40 minutes and then the Bucks was about to close so we packed up. Time for the next awesome thing:

The baristas had literally pulled almost every single thing out of the pastry case and asked if we wanted any because they were going to throw it all away. All of it. Oh my gosh! There was SO much food there, even unopened food! So we took everything they were going to toss and it ended up being over 60 items. Then we bagged almost all of them into about 8 different bags so we could pass them out the next day.

Man oh man, what a blessing of a day! Then that night was a little bit rough. I truly felt like the enemy was messing with us because after such a beautiful day of ministry, we just kept bickering out of nowhere and for things that didn't even matter and things were bothering me that were such little, nit picky things, I knew it was something else so I just prayed that we would be at peace and nothing would stir up dissension between us. So we were good after that but as we were getting ready for bed, I found out some horrible news. I really would appreciate if you guys could pray for this situation also, but a woman that I worked with at Islands lost her daughter in a horrific way the night before. She is such a wonderful friend and my heart just broke for her. I had only met her daughter once but I cried and cried for her loss. I know she must be worried about her grandbabies, too, as they live with her. Please, please pray for her. She does know the Lord, which gives me comfort because I know He can & will comfort her, but I can't imagine what she's going through. So that was another emotional night.

Saturday morning we got up and went back downtown with all of the food & some waters & Bibles to hand out. Again, we sat outside of the same Starbucks to read. As we sat there, a guy walked by and said hi to us, which is unusual because Marc always is the weirdo that says hi to strangers first but they got to talking & this guy, Todd, told us that his apartment burned down in the fire that was downtown the day before. He wasn't quite done moving his stuff in, but all of his clothes were in the apartment so not only did he need somewhere to live, but he needed clothes. We offered him a bag of food, which he took, and started asking him if he goes to church. He does, which is awesome, so we gave him a new Bible because he lost his in the fire and off he went. Shortly after, this guy was walking by. We had seen him walk by earlier and he kinda looked homeless but we weren't really sure. This time, he stopped to pick up a quarter so Marc told him we had food if the guy needed some. He comes over and says, "Well, just so you know, I'm not homeless." Fail. Lol, but he told us a little bit of his story & how he is a vet so he gets free housing but only gets $127 a month and needed a couple of dollars for cigarettes. Marc talked to him about the gospel for a little bit and the importance of cultivating his relationship with Jesus. As the talk winded down, he asked us if we could spare a couple of dollars, but Marc told him we have food & water if you want some, but we won't support a smoking habit. He took a water & off he went!

I'm going to format this part of the blog less like a story and more like bullet points, otherwise we'll be here FOREVER.

We walked around finding homeless people and this is who we talked to:

-Fred-believes in God & goes to church at Calvary every Sunday. Sweet.

-Liz & her friend Nate-Liz believes strongly in God and was saved back in 2005 before she became homeless. She had such a sweet personality! Her friend, Nate, who I'm unsure if he was homeless or not, said that he believes a little bit but isn't sure about anything specifically and is too busy to go to church. Marc did tell him the gospel but he didn't really seem interested to talk so we said bye and took off.

-this guy wasn't homeless-Marc stopped at a bus stop to ask him for directions. He was a rapper from AZ & came to Indy to bust into the music scene (?!?) but has an excited faith in God. Sweet.

-Willie. Willie was an interesting man. He was the token, Southern black guy from Memphis. His look, the way he was sitting, the way he talked. I swear he jumped right off of the pages of a comic book. He wanted money to get a bus ticket to Chicago so we offered him food, but he didn't want pastries, he wanted chili, so then we offered him water but he wanted soda. Such a funny experience. Marc told him the gospel and he replied with, "I'll tell you what Rev, you just go ahead and pray for me and I hope I make it when I get there."

-Nelson was an older man who had a cute dog, Buster. He took some food & water. He did express a belief in God but said that he's too busy to go to church or to really read his Bible so we encouraged him by explaining that that is how we are able to know God.

-Walter was a man in a wheelchair selling newspapers right next to him. He took a bag of food and a water, but then could not get away fast enough. Marc shared as much as he could but all of a sudden it was time for him to be off, so he left.

-Across the street was another guy who's name I didn't get. He was pretty vulgar so I stood farther back and let Marc talk to him. He didn't seem to be too interested either, but Marc was able to still share with him.

-Further down the same street was a lady sitting with an umbrella. Her fiance would come and go on his bike but stayed when we were there. She believes in God, but he doesn't really. We gave them the last of our food and shared with them for a little bit. We discovered that Nelson (see above) is her cousin and Liz (from much earlier) is their friend. They have this little community where they all share and help take care of each other. Nice.

So we were out of food and water and tired so we went to the mall to sit and charge our phone. As we were sitting, a guy sat on the bench next to us and of course if anyone is in a 3 foot radius of us, they're getting the gospel! The man, Curtis, was homeless but a born again Christian. You could hear the joy in his words, he actually wanted to talk about the Lord. It was really cool. So they talked for FOREVER, then he took off. By this time we were getting hungry so we left to walk back to the van & get some food and then it was back to Starbucks. (For those of you who are just recently joining us & have missed the explanation of why Starbucks SO often, here it is: we have no place else to go! Lol. When you get off of work, you go home, you relax in your living room. Well, we have the van to sit in for hours and do nothing. Sound boring? Yeah. So we get a $2 drink to share and get free refills on it the whole night while we read, blog, and make videos. This blog is brought to you by the Bucks! It's pretty much the cheapest option for us.)

After they closed, Marc's video was still uploading to YouTube so we were sitting outside, in range of the free wifi. :) Just after we got settled, these 3 kids walked out who were about 16. Marc started asking them questions and then asked if anyone has ever told them about the gospel & Jesus Christ. All of them were Catholic but two of them (Reuben & Cynthia) said no, but Omar (unless I mixed their names around) said that just a few days ago his cousin's bf's friend (or something) was telling him all about it and so he had been looking into it and Christianity was the best option. How cool, you could see that God was trying to get a hold of him because he remembered so much of the other conversation and was very interested in it. We talked for a good amount of time and asked them if they had ever accepted Jesus but they didn't really know what it meant. We explained what it meant to have Jesus as your savior and gave them these little printouts to take with them of "How to become a Christian" and "How to grow in your Christian faith". Please pray for them, I feel as though God is going to do big things in them! Hopefully soon!

Then came Sunday morning. We went to church, called our Dads, and hung out a park. That was about it, very uneventful. It was super hot & humid at first but we chilled in the shade for a little while and God sent us a glorious breeze and we felt much better! But man oh man, did I wish I was at home for a bbq today! Dad's hot links are so stinking delicious and I have been craving them for a couple weeks now! Oh well, what's another 10 months? Lol

If you are of the praying persuasion, you can pray for us for a few things, if you so please. ;)

1-my dear friend who's daughter passed, for comfort and strength to raise her grandkids

2-when to leave Indiana. We feel like we can move on, but we also feel like we are getting antsy so we're not sure if it's of us, or of God.

3-we're antsy! I don't want to rush through this trip because I'm in a hurry to get home. I don't want to miss one day that God has set up for us, especially because I'm in a hurry.

4-the next place we're going to is Detroit! Detroit has been ranked in the top 5 or 10 for highest crime rate in America for a REALLY long time. Please pray for safety & provision as we get there.

5-after Detroit is Ohio & with 4 major cities, we're not sure where God would have us go. We need direction!

6-continued provision-we are constantly relying on the Lord & He always comes through for us.

7-I'd like to take a shower soon, but that's the least of my worries ;)

Talk to you in a few days friends! I know I've said this before, but if you're thinking about us, shoot us a text! Or call us! It brightens my day so much to hear from home and to know that we're not forgotten. <3

I didn't feel like adding the photos to the middle, so here they all are at the end. :)