DG National Conference 2011: Finish the Mission

This past weekend we spent in Minneapolis, MN at the Desiring God National Conference. It was an amazing weekend, opening our eyes to God's heart for the nations and what He is doing around the world.

We wanted to share this video...David Platt's talk was one of our favorites from the weekend.

If you want to listen to some of the other speakers, you can find all the videos on the Desiring God website: http://www.desiringgod.org/searches/2011%20national%20conference?utf8=%E2%9C%93




A few of the key speakers for the Frontier Missions track were really interesting to hear...check out their website and see what these ministries are all about!

 David Stitton, founder of To Every Tribe (www.toeverytribe.com)...

And Greg Livingstone, founder of Frontiers, a ministry specifically to Muslims (www.frontiers.org)

We also heard John Piper throughout the weekend, which was a huge blessing. He has had a huge influence on us, and it was a privilege to be there and hear him preach.

We had the joy of staying with a family from Bethlehem Baptist Church while we were at the conference, and they were amazing! So hospitable, and so much fun to be around. We really enjoyed their two kids, Sam and Sarah, and their big Bouvier Leah!

We took a group picture, but Sam was still asleep and Sarah didn't want to be in it...I don't blame her, we surprised them with the camera in their pajamas (sorry Kurt and Heather!).

Leah didn't mind the photoshoot though ;)

We left Minneapolis on Sunday and are trekking our way back to the Northwest. More to come!

The National Parks...

Now that we're back home, it's hard to have the motivation to keep posting on the blog. But people keep wondering what happened after Minnesota, so I guess we should keep going on the posts!

We spent a long few days driving from Minneapolis to Yellowstone...10-14 hour drives both days! There was not much to see in South Dakota, except for beautiful night skies and beautiful sunrises!

South Dakota did offer one beautiful sight...Mt Rushmore. It's crazy to be driving along, turn a corner, and BOOM- there's Washington's head!

After South Dakota we ended up doing a crazy zig-zag through the northwest. We drove from Wyoming to Montana to Wyoming to Idaho to Montana to Idaho to Washington to Idaho to Washington to Oregon. Whew!

We decided that Yellowstone is a place that you have to see once in your life, but probably not the first national park we'll go back to. It's geographically fascinating, but kind of ugly!

And of course the famous "Old Faithful"...

This was the only place on the entire road trip that the Stanza gave us any problems. At the very top of Yellowstone we got out to see the thermal water and when we came back the car wouldn't start! There was no cell phone service and no where to go, so we were just praying it would start again. When it finally started we kept it running for a while, added some fuel injector cleaner and a few tanks of high octane gas, and she's back on the road...running strong!

After driving through Grand Teton National Park we stopped for the night in Idaho Falls and visited some good friends. Jesse and Mallory put us up for the night, took us for a good walk, and made us a delicious fresh apple pie! Thanks guys!

(We forgot to take a pic before Jesse left for work, so we added him in by ourselves!)

The Big Apple....New York!

New York City...drowns a "city" like Seattle. It completely redefines your definition of a city, but we really enjoyed our time! We stayed for 5 days with Craig's cousin Jared in Jersey City, NJ, just right across the water from Manhattan. They were two stops away on the Subway from being in the heart of the City, so we had a fun time exploring!

Jersey City is a great angle to view Manhattan and the new World Trade Center...

We spent several days just walking, seeing sights like the Brooklyn Bridge...

Or just a beautiful view of Brooklyn from across the water in Manhattan...

We had a few nice surprises too! We found out some friends from Moscow were visiting their son and daughter-in-law in Jersey city, and were only two blocks away from Jared's apartment! It's always fun to catch up with friends on the other side of the country!

We also ran into some friends from the hospital we worked at in Seattle. Francis and Katherine were visiting New York the same time we were, so we met up for lunch one day in Manhattan!

We headed out right before the weekend for a tour of New England. Hard to believe we're over 2/3 done with our trip!

New England

We fell in love with New England. So far on this trip, there has been no where we have been that we have thought, "we could live here". There hasn't been any place that has held any competition with the Pacific Northwest...until now. New England is the Northwest of the Eastcoast. It was absolutely beautiful! It was also the first time we felt like we actually needed an extra blanket sleeping in our car!

We drove about halfway up Maine to a little town called Franklin. We have been intrigued lately by a guy who designs tiny houses...from 99 sq ft up to about 800 sq ft! Definitely something to check out. I'm sure you'll be as intrigued as we have been!

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

We have wondered what one of these "bigger" of the small houses actually looks like when it's built, and we found a family in Maine who had built one. They were kind enough to let us see their house and put us up for the night!

It was breathtakingly beautiful everwhere we drove in New England. We have barely seen stars anywhere on this trip, but they were out in droves in New Hampshire. We parked one night with our back tires almost in the water of a small lake in southern New Hampshire, with this amazing view of the heavens!

Not all fun and games at this site though...we did get woken up at 6am by the local Sheriff! Some locals had called in that there was a "suspicious car" parked by the water. I guess a Nissan Stanza with a box and bikes is suspicious these days!

Our entire trip through New England was filled with beautiful countryside. I think we've said that a million times by now. Can you tell we like it?

On our way back down through Maine, we stopped in Portland in search for some famous Maine Lobster. And we found it alright! Neither of us have ever eaten a full lobster before, and it was definitely an experience. A messy experience!

We ended our tour of New England with a long drive through Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New York, finally to arrive at Niagara Falls! We are pretty sure Canada gets the better view of the falls, but it was still breathtaking!

It's crazy to think that our trip is almost over! We will be back in Moscow, ID by next weekend, then over to Seattle, and finally ending our epic trip in Portland, OR in about two weeks. Time has sure flown, but it has definitely been an adventure! We are now in Minneapolis, MN and getting ready to attend the Desiring God National Conference we had talked about many weeks ago. We're so excited to hear great speakers like John Piper, David Platt, Michael Oh, and many others!

We'll update on the Midwest after the conference is over...and then it's back to the beautiful Pacific Northwest!!

Amish Country

As promised, we are excited to share our experiences staying with our Amish friends in Lancaster county! 


We met Amos & Katie Zook in California about a month ago as we were driving through the Redwood National Forest. They were on a 4 week trip, being driven around the country with several other Amish couples. They had asked if we were coming through Pennsylvania, and if so where we were staying, and when we told them we did not have a place in mind to stay they invited us to stay with them!


We were set to arrive about a week earlier than we had originally told them, so we sent them a letter from Florida letting them know when we were coming. Snail mail comes in handy when you realize you can't call or email! 


We drove up to Ronks, PA from Annapolis, MD...and on entering Lancaster county it almost feels like you've stepped back in time! The first thing out of the "ordinary" that you notice is laundry on long clothes lines strung from the house to the barn. It's easy to tell the Amish homes!

All throughout the towns and along the highways the shoulders are extra wide to easily accommodate all the horse-drawn buggies.

This is the farm we stayed at. Katie and her first husband had lived here on the dairy farm for a long time. When he passed away about 15 years ago, her son Stevie, 18 years old at the time, took over the farm.  Now Stevie, his wife, and their 7 children live next door and run the farm.

The evening we arrived Katie was waiting for us at the end of the driveway and said they had just got our letter the day before, so they were expecting us. We sat on the couch with them for awhile looking at the pictures they had from their trip (the driver and his wife were not Amish, so they could take pictures and give them all copies).  Amos gave us a tour around the Dairy farm, and then they asked if we wanted to come with them to visit Amos's granddaughter and her family for the evening. So we climbed in the back of their buggy as Amos hooked up the horse, and we drove about 4 miles down to Ben & Elizabeth's place! It took at least 30 minutes to get there in the buggy! 


Ben & Liz were so nice! They have two young boys, Elias and Paul, who both don't speak English yet. Children grown up learning to speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and it's not until they start school that they learn English! Ben owns a potato chip factory that he gave us a tour of the next day...and sent us away with several bags of his hand flavored chips!

It is very interesting seeing the lifestyle the Amish live. The houses have no electricity, but there will be hooks up in each room to be able to hang a lantern from. Most people have Kerosine lanterns with propane tanks built into a rolling cabinet! The women spend a lot of time canning...right now it is peaches, pears, applesauce, and grape juice. The older girls help out in the kitchen while the boys with help out on the farm. The kids go to school through the 8th grade and then are done, while some continue with agricultural vocational school for a few years. 


Before we left the next evening, we sat out on the porch with Amos & Katie. We had just finished having ice cream with all 7 kids, Stevie, and his wife Linda. Their oldest daughter, Ruthie, is sitting with us in this picture.

As we left, they loaded us with gifts! Amos picked us a gallon bag full of grapes, and Katie gave us potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon, and eggplant from her garden. Linda brought us a dozen eggs from their hens and Stevie filled our milk jug with fresh milk (less than an hour out of the udder!). We felt incredibly blessed by their hospitality!


Overall and AMAZING opportunity!


And now we're in New York, still enjoying the FRESH cow's milk :)

The Carolinas

We thought since we've just recently passed the Halfway Point on our trip that it would be fun to update everyone with some statistics. So here we go:

Miles driven to date: 7,429

Number of days Craig has worn the same shorts: 29/35

Number of times they've been washed: 3

Longest time between showers: 3 days

Favorite on the road snack: hummus and anything dip-able (veggies & corn chips)

Food most often bought at a restaurant: sushi

Food most often made in the Stanza: kale salad

Best place we've stayed in the car: Pismo Beach, CA

Worst place we've stayed in the car: Walmart parking lot, St Mary's, GA

Most looking forward to on the second half of the trip: Visiting the Amish couple, New York City, missions conference, Montana...okay, pretty much everything!

Number of friends/family we've seen along the way: 25

Scariest thing Craig's done while driving: Pretended to fall asleep at the wheel and drove off the road

Number of times we've felt like sleeping with a gun under our pillow: 2

Sleeping stats: nights with friends- 18, nights in the Stanza- 14, nights in a hotel- 2, nights Couch Surfing/ in a Tree House- 1

We really enjoyed our time in Charleston, SC. What a beautiful city! We stayed with some friends of ours from our community group in Seattle...Matt & Stephanie had moved down to Charleston about 3 weeks before we drove through. Nice timing!

We hung out in Charleston for two days. Swan in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, went to the famous South Carolina Aquarium, ate lots of Fro-Yo...it was a lot of fun!

Our next stop was the JAARS center in Waxhaw, NC. We had been looking forward to seeing this for awhile. Their name stands for Jungle Aviation And Radio Service and they are the main source of transportation for getting Wycliffe Bible Translators into otherwise unreachable areas.  

We joined the Center Meeting in the morning and heard them describe the celebration that had just taken place in Peru after the translation of the Bible into their language had finally been completed...after 40 years! It was amazing to see pictures of people holding a Bible in a language they could read for the very first time.


We also met someone at the JAARS center that we were not expecting! The woman giving us a tour of the center mentioned something about Jo Shetler walking by, and we both stopped. THE Jo Shetler? She wrote a book that we read when we very first started dating..."And the Word Came with Power". An amazing book about Jo and another woman going to a remote tribe in the Philippines to translate the Bible into their language, and the intense spiritual battle that insued in that village. And we got to get our picture taken with her!

We also decided to try Couch Surfing for the first time in Waxhaw. For those of you who don't know, Couch Surfing is a network of people with an open couch (or bed) and a willingness to share it with travelers. Of all things, we ended up with a guy who lived less than five minutes from the JAARS center and whose parents had been Wycliffe missionaries in Peru for 20 years. We even got to sleep in his tree house! Here's a pic of the Tree House to prove it :)

Up next: The Amish post! We'll get this one out soon...it was an absolutely amazing experience. Can't wait to tell all about it!

On Film: New Orleans

And a *brief* fly by of New Orleans!

On Film: Dave Ramsey

A brief documentation of our time with Dave...

The Southeast...

We've come to a conclusion...the south is a different place. People are still people, sure sure, but they talk different. Food tastes different. Air feels different. Buildings look different. It's been fun!


We did a quick tour through Nashville on our way south, which culminated (especially for Craig) at Dave Ramsey's Office...Financial Peace Plaza. We walked in the doors and were warmly greeted by this super sweet mom/grandma-esque woman named Martha, complete with coffee and cookies. Turn to the right and...there's Dave Ramsey! Behind the glass, in his studio, recording live that days broadcast. I felt like I was watching a celebrity :)



We made our way down to New Orleans over the next two days. C-r-a-z-y place. We literally felt like we were in a different country down in the French Quarter.

Streets were narrow, buildings stacked high, and the air was thicker and muggier than we had felt anywhere else. Occasional buildings were eerily boarded up, still untouched after Katrina. And it was HOT! So hot, we soon realized, that sleeping in our car would be a death sentence! The best $60 I think we've spent on this trip bought us a comfortable bed in a deliciously air conditioned room. A welcome relief!

We left for Florida the next morning, hitting the freeway just as the rains of Hurricane Lee began to hit (good timing!)

Panama City Beach, FL was another welcome stop. We stayed with some of Nicole's good friends, Tim & Hilary Marston and their 7 month old baby Annie. Got a little beach time...

And a little friend time...so good to see you guys!

It was also time for another oil change...I think we should have four in a total of 9 weeks!

We've now started our slow trek up the East Coast...hoping no more hurricanes try to stand in our way (that's you Katia!).

On Film: The Tandem Movie

Little Rock, Arkansas

High time for another post, and this one is loaded! We had a great week being in one place and hanging out with some great friends. We spent the week in Little Rock, AR with Rob & Teresa Smith. They are some good family friends that moved to Arkansas 11 years ago to join staff with Family Life. They did our pre-marriage counseling with us before our wedding, meeting every Sunday with us over Skype!

We had so much fun with them, cooking great food...



Taking some time on the lake...





Hiking to the beautiful view from Pinnacle...



A little squirrel hunting...by the weeks end Craig & Rob were 4 for 7!!





And lots of tandem bike riding!



It's hard to tell from this pictures, but we had just ridden 30 miles through the biggest thunder and lightning storm these "Northwesterners" had seen in a long time! There were a few times I wasn't sure we'd make it home alive!

We headed out on Monday to continue our tour of the south, planning to be through Nashville, New Orleans and to the coast of Florida by Saturday. On the road again!

On Film: Squirrel Hunter

On Film: Blue Hole

This was the one redeeming factor of New Mexico...a natural water hole that is 81 ft deep! A welcome surprise in the middle of what seems like desert.

Beginning of the South...

My goal today is to get us caught up on blogging...so we're at least for a day at the same place on our trip that our blog is!

After leaving California we swung through Las Vegas for a night and then on to the Grand Canyon. We woke up at 5am to catch the sun rising over the Grand Canyon, and it was worth it. Beautiful!





The rest of Arizona and New Mexico was...barren. I'm not sure how anyone lives here! Albuquerque was an exception, and was actually a pleasant place to spend the evening. We had "Date night" in the back of our car...propped the seat up under our bed so we could recline and watch a movie in the back!

We drove on to Amarillo, TX where my grandma was born and raised. We stayed with Nicole's great Aunt and Uncle there and had a great time with them!



They took us down to Palo Dura Canyon to ride our bikes (which didn't last long in the 100 deg heat!) and showed us a dug out house similar to the one Nicole's great grandmother was born and raised in.

Here's a small video clip Craig made of the dugout...



This last night we spent near Dallas staying with some good friends of Craig's. We went to The Village Church yesterday to hear Matt Chandler preach, which was a treat, and then got to spend the rest of the day with Drew & Caity.



Dallas was H-O-T. Hot enough, we thought, to fry an egg on the driveway! Didn't quite work like we thought...



We're off to Little Rock, AR tomorrow and looking forward to spending a week in one place!