Hey all! Wow, this first week on the road has been crazy, tiring, exciting, fun, and full of learning. First of all, 2 days before we were to leave we got a call saying our bass player could not go on the trip. We wdesperatly tried to find a fill in at the last minute but nothing worked, so this trip stared out uncomfortable for us (with no bass). But that's not even the really exciting part....It all started last Saturday when we were trying to leave Okc for Amarillo. We got a call from Michael about 5:50 am telling us he had been taken in to the police dept.....We thought he was joking, but he assured us he was there and had been brought in in handcuffs. So, we jumped in the van and drove in to get him out. What had happened was that he got pulled over for a light bulb that was out on his license plate. Then the cop said that his license was suspended, but didn't know why. Police protocol is to atomatically take the person in. We found out several days later why the license was suspended. A few months earlier Michael had gotten pulled over for speeding and his insurance had been expired for a few days, so the cop gave him a ticket, but the very next day Michael went in and took care of everything. However, in Okc they don't tell you that they automatically suspend your license when that happens. I guess you're just somehow supossed to know these things.....So, there we were getting poor Michael out of the police dept., and our crazy day hadn't even started yet...They had his car impounded, but we found out we couldn't get it out before 9:00, and they were NOT willing to work with us, even though all we wanted was to get his drums out so we could leave town. We had to play in Amarillo at Faith City Ministries (a Christian homeless and drug/alcohol rehabilitatation facility where men and women can dedicate one year to the rehabilitation/discipleship program to come out of addictions and learn to grow with the Lord into what He wants them to be and a homeless mission) at noon and it was now about 8:00 am..To sum up the rest of the ridiculous morning, they had taken his license plate, his driver's license, wouldn't let him get his drums, or even touch his car, we had to leave him to get to amarillo, mitch's parents had to bring him later, and michael had to shell out about $900 to get all his stuff back....Not a good start to a trip... But, on a good note, Mitch and I got to Amarillo at 12:05.. five minutes after we were suppossed to start :) But the Lord's grace covered us, and the service went very well. I (krista) gave a devotional about losing our lives for Christ's sake, and by doing so, we will actually find true life. I also shared a little about how we didn't have our drummer with us because he had been in a little mishap with the cops, and all the homeless people there totally connected with it! :) One lady in the front said, "we've all been there." After we had played several homeless people came up and told us their stories of how they had gone though hard times and we got to pray with some of them. God, used even a horrible morning to reach many people. Mitch and I stayed at Faith City Ministries until Wednesday morning. We stayed in the family homeless shelter, did music for the daily chapels, sanded some shelves, helped bag and deliver groceries to an assisted living home, built relationships with many of the staff and students at the ministry, and had a concert for the staff and students the last night we were there. Being at Faith City Ministries was one of the most impacting, overwhelming, real experiences we've ever had. God taught us so much through the people we met there about being broken before the Lord, and allowing Him to mold us through our shortcomings, and how God uses the weak things of the world to shame the strong. The students who are going through the addiction program are some of the most real people we've ever met. "Real" in the sense that they know they are sinners and are not afraid to talk about it and how God was and is the only thing worth living for. We were excited to be able to get some of our friends from Faith City to give their testimonies on the video camera for us to show all of you. So be checking back here in the next few months for the video. We honestly did not want to leave Faith City...We love and miss you guys!!!!! Next mitch, michael and I headed out for Albuquerque, NM. We were able to play for Sandia Baptist Church youth group and meet some really neat kids there. Andy, their youth pastor is a great guy. He let us stay at his house and fed us at the world famous Dion's while we were there, not to mention the wonderful cinnamon roles!!! We were so thankful that he opened up his youth group and home to us. Thank you so much Andy! You rock! :) The next day we were blessed to be able to take a tour of the Albuquerque Rescue Mission and play a little concert for the homeless there. God has used music to open many doors for us to build relaitonships on this tour. We learned a lot about homelessness at the Albuquerque mission from just simply talking to several homeless men about the subject. Thank you Kip for showing us around and letting us be a small part of your ministry. God bless! From there we went through Phoenix. We stopped and had a chance to hang out and eat dinner with our friends Mike and Sharon Krolak and are now on our way to California through the desert. We will be in California until wednesday. I'm sure we'll put another blog up soon so keep in touch! In Him, Krista
