change of pace in DC

So we've been in DC for a couple days now, and I'll be honest, it hasn't felt like we've done a whole lot at all. We haven't conducted a normal interview in 4 days. Compare that to our 16 interviews in just 5 days last week... But it has been such a good break for us. God has blessed this team in more ways than I could ever imagine. We are currently staying with Andrew's cousin BJ and his wife, Alison, in Leesburg, VA while we do our work here in DC. It's about 40 miles outside of the city, and about an hour and a half drive with the traffic, but it has been absolutely worth it. I could have never imagined the blessings God would be lavishing on us here. Once again, such a beautiful host home for us to have a place to just get away from our busy schedule and relax. Three nights in a row with home cooked meals. BJ even took us to this really fancy restaurant called Jaleo for lunch just so that we could experience some downtown DC dining. What a generous dude!


One thing I've been noticing on this trip is the commonality of beautiful families that we have come across. There is honestly nothing that I treasure more on this earth than a beautiful family. It's one thing I look forward to having in such a great magnitude. I cannot wait for the opportunity to build a loving home, chasing after and loving Jesus. That's even part of why this issue of trafficking is such a big deal to me. I could not stand the thought of something like that ever happening to my family, and I do feel like God has prepared my heart to do something towards not letting that happen to anybody else's family, because nobody deserves to have to sell their body. I don't care who it is; I don't care if people say they are doing it by choice. In absolutely no manner should anybody ever need to sell their body to support themselves or their family. Our culture should not have such a desire for purchasing somebody else's body that allows them to fall into that position.

How about a little update on DC now? Well, we got into town Sunday evening and BJ and Allison   welcomed us right in and got us feeling at home. BJ fired the grill right up and made hot dogs and burgers for us. Mmm, the first hearty meal we had since leaving for the trip. We took the opportunity to stay up a little later that night to hang out as a team, study God's word together, and just relax since we didn't have any pressing schedule for Monday. The next morning we got up around 9 and made our way out of the house around 10:30 to head on into the city. We definitely did not experience a good first impression on the city. Never ever ever try and find parking for a 12 passenger van downtown DC... worst idea ever. To make matters worse, I had to pee worse than ever before for some reason. I didn't understand; I even went before we left. But I knew we couldn't stop until we found parking, so I figured there was no use in me complaining about having to pee, so I kept my mouth shut. That didn't matter. I was sitting there in  the back bench clenching my jaw, grabbing the door, grabbing Andrew's seat in front of me, pressing my head into Andrew's seat, just doing anything I could possibly think of to get my mind off of how bad I had to pee. I honestly felt like I was going to pee my pants. The whole time, Kimberly thought I was just frustrated with traffic haha. But thankfully, God got us lost and on a street that led us out of town and right to a park with a bathroom! Luke pulled into the park and up to a stop sign, and I jumped out of the van and ran to the bathroom. Such a relief! After that fiasco, we finally got parked and into the city to meet up with a few people that we wanted to pop into offices and talk to. No interviews, but still a successful day for us. After that, we just drove back to the house and hung out. Tacos were for dinner last night! After experiencing that crapiness of driving in the city yesterday, we decided to ride into town with BJ today on his way to work. We had to get up at 6:30, but it was worth it; it made our impression on the city much better today. We didn't have any interviews scheduled today either, so we just kind of roamed the city and hung out. We got a couple of people to do street interviews with us, so I guess you could say we did interview people today. BJ showed us a little around the town, including the beautiful view of the city from the roof of his building. That was a really neat opportunity! Now we are back at the house waiting for a pizza dinner = ) ... I wish we never had to leave,

It's been a really good few days for us; I'm super excited to see what God has in store for us in the remaining week. Things just continue to get better! Praise God for the strength and cohesiveness he has provided in this time. I honestly don't know any better feeling that having the ability to study God's word together with some amazing friends each and every night. We are constantly growing together as we pursue him on this journey, and we would be nothing without him. Boy, this turned out to be longer than expected... Especially considering we have no new big interviews to talk about. God is good.

peace and love,