Utah or Bust

Friday: So, Friday we drove through Kansas. It is now my least favorite state. There is NOTHING. We played "The Question Game" for a few hours. The Question Game is a game where you have to reply to a question with a question. We had to play until Nick won…so it took a while. We also game everyone nick names. Sam: Philip. Mark: Doug. Nick: Niki Alex. Andrew: Dinkleman. Ryan: Shep. Melissa: Pep (pretzel eating punk). Me: Belva, Ray Ban, and Ni-hole. Jessica: NO ONE. Yeah, we didn't pick and decide for her. She is just destined to be nick name-less. We stopped after HOURS of driving in some town called Limon in Colorado. We swam until after the pool was closed and had a grand ol' time.

Saturday: More driving. But today was better  because we got to look at the mountains. They still had snow on them and reached to the sky. It made you feel so small just seeing them. We stopped at a pile of dirt and the guys climbed it. It was pretty big! Ryan would point out EVERY goat he saw and after a while we all started being sarcasticly amazed by the goats. Nick got annoyed, and now the goat is like, his least favorite animal.  We got here Saturday night and met John, Tami, and Zack (whom we have nick named Lucky due to his hair color (GINGER) and petite frame).

Sunday: Second Baptist Church is around the corner from us. It's an African American church. And it is SO amazing. You can just hear the passion for the Lord in these peoples' voices and their songs. We got to see two baptisms and the dedication of a baby (who was adorable). The people didn't want to shake your hand because they wanted to hug you and thank us for what we came here to do. It was just an amazing thing to walk in as strangers and feel like family. In the afternoon, we attended a Mormon Ward. It's the first time we really got a feel for these people and realized like, wow. All the things that people told us to be true REALLY ARE. You see, Mormons put on this fake smile everyday because they have to be perfect. They a works religion and they don't understand that salvation is a GIFT and they don't have to earn it. They pretty much spend their time trying to reach something that is unreachable. Utah has one of the highest suicide rates in the country. And I can very, very much see why. They are empty, broken people. Anyway, at the Ward the whole church knew we were from Arkansas in about…seven seconds. Nick, I think, after two different classes was the most fed up by what they were saying. Like, I just looked at him and knew he was mad. It was..just a bad time there. Some of us left before the family ward service thing started. It was a lot to handle.

Monday: We split up and my group of Ryan, Nick, Zach, Sam, and Jessica went prayer walking around the Mormon Ward and the streets around it. A girl creeped up on us and parked and watched us for a while. We eventually just went up and asked if we could pray for her or with her and she said  "no, i'm good." It wasnt' until we were walking back that I realized WHY she said no.. But I have learned that spiritual warfare is very much real and it is very much going on here. I don't think i've ever REALLY had to deal with it before. But you can't avoid it here, because it's everywhere. Later that day, we were still split up only we traded Sam for Andrew and went to the local laundry mat. Partly to do laundry and mostly to witness and pay for other people's. We met a man named Andrew who was homeless in the summer time and just traveled around. Ryan and him got to talking and he came back to the house with us and turned out to be a very good guitar player. Ryan bought him a meal and brought him to the homeless shelter for the night. We gave him another Bible (he had a LDS one) (LDS = Mormon) He was a pretty cool guy. Sam and I are redoing the prayer room downstairs. It's pretty legit, not gonna lie.

Tuesday: We got to go play with kids at a Christian day camp today. Oh my goodness. Those kids were amazing. They were so happy and fun and made us laugh and let us play games with them. They were really just great. I think they all liked playing chase with Ryan because he's like Big Foot to them. Nine trillion feet tall and all. 🙂 In the afternoon, we went to Temple Square. Temple Square is pretty much Home of the Mormons. We split up and ended up on a tour with 8 of us, plus a man and two of his children. He was LDS and our tour guide quickly found out we were not. Don't get me wrong, their building and paintings were very pretty. But it was SO empty of emotion.  So after that, we went over to their temple (where I found a semi secret door) (It wasn't really secret, but I like to think it is) and we prayed in front of the steps. No came up and tried to talk to us like we thought they would or anything. But we talked to two sister Mormons and they let us pray with them. We went to hold hands, and they were freaked out. Didn't really touch us at all. (Mormons cross their arms when they pray). And we watched a video when we learned that they have GOLDEN OXEN around their Baptism tub so we pulled out our Bible to see if the verses this video was telling us were true. A lady laughed at us, but neither Sam or I noticed until someone said some thing that night. It's just heart breaking to see these people. It really, really hurts.

I can say that we will not be the same people that we were when we left. Half way into this trip and I can look at these people and be amazed at how God works. Nick is leading by example, and even though he won't like to admit it, he is protective over us. He is like my brother. Man, these people are my family. It's such a blessing to see that even in this place, people are changing. God is working in us to prepare us for His will.

"For we are saved by grace through faith- it is not of ourselves, it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man shall boast."
-Ephesians 2: 8-9