Beautiful Pennsylvania Part #1

kayla ruth speaking:
Finally! We were on our way to Pennsylvania! Harrisburg was so close we could have tasted it... if it were tastable :)  We drove along, the windshield wipers keeping a relaxing beat and the fall trees framing our window seat views. My phone rang its familiar song,breaking the silence. " Kris its your mom." I said as I handed her the phone. " Krista, wheres your phone? " Her mom began. " Oh, its in my purse in the back." "No its not, it's at a gas station in Ohio!" Our hearts sank....you mean the gas station we had left 45 min ago? All I could think was "so close ,yet so far..." We turned the 'ol Explorer around and headed back to get the wayward phone. Two hours later we were finally on new ground, bound for Harrisburg and all our lovely, amazing friends. We were planning on having dinner at our friends, the Amstutz', unfortunately we were told that our YWAM friends who were on outreach weren't going to be able to be there like we had originally thought but we were still thrilled to see the Amstutz. We were greeted at the front door by Jordan and lead inside to their cute and comfy living room. As we talked, all of a sudden I heard a scream and I was surrounded by our outreach team friends. Krista and I have never felt such overwhelming joy in our whole lives. I didn't know what to do scream, cry, stand there, faint,or dance!
  It was truly an amazing night, catching up with family like friends and being surrounded once again with the ones we loved. That night we drove to Lancaster after seeing some more of our Harrisburg friends, to the Martin's house. Carrie and Corey Martin greeted us at the door and immediately made us feel like we were one of the family. We spent an amazing week going back and forth from Lancaster to Harrisburg seeing everyone we love so dearly. This journey has been so life giving and is truly teaching us everyday. We were blessed to get to learn and talk with Corey and Carrie about their hearts for community and how they have walked it out practically.
    The Lord has been continuing to teach us about His faithfulness. I have been so struck by what faithfulness is. The Lord asked us to have faith for this trip and in return he has given us the "fullness" of our faith, His faithfulness. He is just waiting for our faith so He can return it with faithfulness. What an awesome God!

new.

alright friends. we have finally linked our paypal to our blog. which means if you have felt led or feel led to share some love by filling up our car with a tank of gas...you now CAN. just click on the fuel page up above and than click on the yellow donate button. and we thank you with all our hearts in advance.

also make sure you check out our pictures page. this is where you can see our beautiful faces and all the places we have gone to. and yess i know, we NEED to post a new blog about our time here in beautiful pennsylvania. it has been aaaamazing. within the next couple days we will post it. so please keep checking back for one massive new post.

we love you all and thank you for following us on this journey.

easy breezy.

Day Five/Six: If there is one thing we are learning from this trip, it is what different types of COMMUNITY look like. We have been so blessed and have laughed till we nearly peed our pants from the memories of all the people we have met.

                We arrived in Allen Park on Sweetest Day. You may think this a fake holiday but turns out it is real, well at least in Michigan. When we pulled up, the Bossio’s were waiting ready to take us out to a big Italian dinner, just their style.  After dinner Mr. Bossio invited us into the family prayer”huddle” making us feel even more welcomed.  Our friend Joel showed us some tricks on the drums and then we headed over to Papa and Grandma’s house where we would be staying. The next morning we woke up ready to head to the church where the whole Bossio family pastors. Right now they are meeting in a YMCA as they are beginning a new church focused on the 5 fold ministry.  The church was amazing and so welcoming. After a fabulous lunch and some football, Joel took us to his friend’s Mexican gift shop in Detroit. We each got to pick out a special treat (thanks JoelJ ) Detroit was beautiful but in a different way than we had expected. With its vacant buildings and graffitied walls it was almost like an urban canvas waiting to be photographed. It had the strange feel of a ghost town.  Finally we headed to Joel’s other church where we had the amazing privilege to speak to some of the youth in their program called “Thrive”. We spoke about identity and the Lord moved. It was so overwhelming to see how God was using us in these ways that we would never have anticipated. We have been truly blessed by every experience God has put in front of us.

 Monday morning we were awakened to the smell of bacon and blueberry pancakes made by Grandma. With full stomachs we were, in the words of Mr. Bossio, ready to “ MINT ON!!!”

 next destination: HARRISBURG/LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

coffee. cups.

Day Four/Five:  We woke up in Muncie, Indiana to once again bright blue skies and the crisp fall air.  Although we could have slept longer, we were excited to head downtown Muncie to Vecino’s (a café our friend Guy Pfanz started).  Guy  also  created a 2 year internship where they dive into the Word and at the same time learn everything about the coffee world including becoming a barista and we were going to attend one of the classes. With a coffee in hand, we began to discuss the book Leviticus. The discussion was great and the coffee was too!! Near the end we were able to share our hearts about our road trip and they prayed over us. Through their prayer we felt so encouraged and affirmed and knew we were right in step with God in this journey. After the class we got an amazing opportunity to talk to a band, Tribe of Judah, who are currently traveling across America as well but….in a BUS!!!!  (talk about a dream come true). It was so good to hear their hearts and about their triumphs and struggles on the road.  After a short lunch, we met up with Guy Pfanz and his wife Judy for dinner and amazing fellowship. We loved hearing Guy’s heart for the coffee ministry and it ignited passion in our own.

                The next morning Guy and Judy took us to a local farmer’s market where again we shared grrreat food and fellowship with them and their friends. After a tour of downtown Muncie and lunch, it was time to hit the road again. How fast our time went but we cannot wait to return!!!!

Next destination: ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN.

27. the number of hours we spent in the car these past two days.

(kayla ruth speaking)
DAY TWO: started at 8:00am after a yummy breakfast, we headed out.  Our journey took us on the red and very bumpy highway of Wyoming. The landscape was a lot different then Montana, with its rocks and yellow fields it was almost as if we were driving through a desert.  We did have one eventful encounter when the semi in front of us hit a deer going 85 miles per hour. We watched as the deer rolled under the truck and came out the back, HEADLESS! Blood splattered on our winshield but thankfully that's all that hit us! Praise Jesus!!
Next we entered the greener but still flat planes of South Dakota and finally at 9:30pm arrived at our destination, Edgerton, MN. Greeted by Krista's grandma, we ate apple crisp and ice cream, then headed to bed preparing ourselves for an early wake up.

(krista janae speaking)
DAY THREE: we traveled through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. Our destination:  Muncie, Indiana. Our morning started out at 6am and we were on the road by 7:15am. We were ready for our biggest day of driving....12 1/2 hours. booonggg. The drive was much much more pretty than day two, that is for sure. Our favorite was when we were entering Wisconsin and crossed the Mississippi River. It was sooo beautiful. The area was just surrounded by trees that were changing colors and it was bright blue skies and the sun was just beaming down on the water making it glisten. Leaves were blowing around on the highway and we were just praying for two to fly into our car through the sunroof but sadly it didn't happen. Next came Illinois...man oh man did we have an adventure there. Both of us have never been to Chicago so we were really excited to see the city but instead we only saw the outskirts...we got a little lost. Chicago drivers are crazzzy, constant weaving in weaving out, cutting people off, no blinkers, and no one goes the speed limit, they all go 15 over! no joke. And there are tons of tollways and to top it all off we were in the middle of rush hour. so it was bumper to bumper traffic. And that is when we decided to get off I-90 and hit a side road to go around the city instead of the heart and well, we got lost. But Kayla and I are both very determined girls to not ask for directions and figure it out on our own and so we did!!! With Kayla's mad map reading skills and my almost bold enough driving skills we got back on the right track after a couple hours of driving around aimlessly in the outskirts and headed towards Indiana. (Maybe one day we will actually get to see the city). We didn't get into Muncie, IN until about 10:30pm. We were in the car for a total of about 15 hours, but surprisingly still felt great. I think there is a grace over us for sitting in cars for hours and hours. :)
We are staying in Muncie for the day and leaving tomorrow afternoon (Saturday). We have been beyond blessed already by the people we are staying and connecting with here but you will just have to wait till the next post to hear all about our time....so keep an eye out for it.

and it begins...

Well, it's the end of day one!  After eight hours of traveling and over 400 miles of driving, we arrived at our first destination: Billings, Montana. So far no accidents, repairs, or AAA calls! The drive over was so beautiful, the sun was out and the trees were sprinkled with orange, red and yellow. We are staying at  Krista's brother-in-law's family's house and it is amazing. We have been blessed already with Mr. Ross' hospitality. Now, full of pizza and ice cream we are ready to crawl into bed.  Tomorrow we will be on the road at 8 am with 10 and a half hours of driving to fill our day. While it is tempting to stay at this amazing house surrounded by beautiful mountains, we are excited to continue on our journey east.
(or west? sometimes Kayla gets a little confused) :)

Next destination: EDGERTON, MINNESOTA