DC

So in the last week or so I have had the opportunity to go up to Washington, DC twice. My first trip was this past Saturday to visit a dear friend of mine who is now working there. I got into the city and parked at her house and then took the metro down to the Smithsonian where she had just finished a walk for the homeless. It was a wonderful meeting when we finally sited one another as we had both been on our cell phones directing each other on the phone about our location! We walked to the grand re-opening of the American History Museum and it was packed but we walked around. Some of the cool things I got to see were Dorothy's shoes from the originial "Wizard of Oz", three or four Stradavarius violins, Apollo Anton Ohno's speed skates from the olympics, a photo moment with R2D2 from "Star Wars", and a nostalgic moment when we listened to some live bluegrass music. We took a walk through Chinatown and then ate some delicious food at an Irish Pub and watched some soccer and rugby. We spent some more time walking around and got hot white chocolate before heading back to her house. I was so blessed to have been able to spend some time with her and catch up and encourage one another. Please be in prayer for her as she works with the homeless of DC.

My second trip was yesterday. The entire orientation group headed up in tour buses on a mission to explore DC, meet some people from the country where we will serve, pray, and spread love. When we first arrived my group for the day decided to take part with some other groups in going to a large catholic church there. We went and walked around in the church and it was a gorgeous church with ornate architecture and detailed murals and mosaics throughout. But it almost gave me a sick feeling at my stomach because there were people praying to saints and there were mostly statues of Mary and praise to here rather than to God and to Christ. While there we sat and began to pray for the people who were part of this idle/saint worship and also the misinterpretaion of Mary within the catholic church. After we left the church we journeyed across town to go to a Peruvian restaurant called "El Pollo Rico" or "The Rich Chicken". We had a delicious meal of chicken and steak fries! I had expected it to be a sit-down type restaurant but it was more like a fast-food place with a really small menu, but it was very tasty so we all enjoyed ourselves. The afternoon was spent seeing some of the monuments and a rushed return to Union Station so we wouldn't miss the 5pm departure time.

Please pray for the people of DC. There are tons of different people groups represented in that city and so much lostness. But we definitely saw evidence of the Lord working there! I have a little over two weeks of training left and am looking foward to a strong finish here before heading back home for the holidays!