Half Way From Home

Song for the day: Alpha Rev – Sing Loud

Hey everyone!

Thanks for reading and staying in touch, the past few days have been the first time I (Josie) have felt home sick so it’s a comfort to receive your messages and responses to the blog. We've been on the road a whole month now, one more to go.

This week has been pretty exciting with lots to tell you and we’re about to move on from Texas for more adventures so I will try and keep on topic!

We left you last week while we were couch surfing in South Dallas which was pretty good but it’s a

The Village Church

little awkward being in a strangers house and trying not to get in the way of their everyday lives.

On Sunday we headed out to Flower Mound campus of The Village Church to see Matt Chandler speak live. The topic was on gifts of the spirit such as prophecy and tongues and it was the best biblical exposition of the topic I have heard so far, it makes sense to me now and helped me decide where I stand on this subject. It was helpful to listen again when we were serving back at the Fort Worth campus in the evening to let it all sink in. An extra bonus was that we also had donuts afterwards because it was the campus' one year anniversary!

On Monday 21^st we left our first couch surfing digs and were homeless for about four hours. We had decided against the second couch surf we had booked as it just didn’t feel safe. We told Britt at the Village, who had been letting us help out at church, at the weekend and she sent a message around to ask if anyone could host us. Amazingly we ended up with a whole house to ourselves because a kind lady named Meredith had just got married and had her home up to rent so it was sitting there empty! It was GREAT. So we spent the morning at church doing a few more odd jobs and having a super helpful chat with some of the staff about how the church runs and then we moved into Meredith’s for three nights. We had a microwave and a fridge and a real bed and air con and TV to watch some movies!! Backpackers’ heaven. Needless to say we didn’t do a lot but sleep, eat and watch movies on Tuesday…

Wednesday was cause for more excitement. Church jobs in the morning and then about 5pm we went out to Cousins BBQ house to meet Kerby. She has been on the welcome team with us for the last two weeks and invited us out to dinner while we are in town. We had a great time getting to know one another and tucking into some pulled pork and ranch beans! She then invited us to attend her home group afterwards which was such a blessing. There were about fourteen adults, plus three brand new babies who were all very sweet. We felt so welcome and really enjoyed the study based on a chapter in Knowing God by J.I. Packer. It was a strange relief to have a time of prayer with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and realise these men and women are just like us; yes they live far away and have a funny accent, but they believe what we believe and they trust the God we trust. We’ll be in heaven with these people and millions more we’ve never met…

Gaudalupe River - Float the River Tubing

After an amazing evening we got back out on a road trip past Austin to the Guadalupe River. For $15 each you can hire a tube and get shuttled out to float the river. We covered ourselves in factor 50 and then spent two and a half hours cruising along. It was pretty busy at first but still so peaceful and relaxing. The lush vegetation lined the banks as we floated by and then wriggled down over the shallow rapids with lots of laughter and occasional separation depending on who got stuck on the rocks! We were well and truly exhausted by the time we checked into our cabin at Leander KOA. On the Friday morning we hoped to see Hamilton Pool before driving back to Dallas but we didn’t realise it was such a huge tourist attraction and couldn’t get in. There was nowhere to wait nearby and we were on a schedule so had to leave it. A bit of a shame but there’s always google!

With the decision made we stopped for a quick lunch and arrived back to North Dallas by 5.30pm for our horse trail at 6. What a fun experience! I’ve been on a horse a couple of times and have even been lucky enough to do a horse trail in the states before. But for Jimmy it was a first. He was a bit intimidated by the horses at first, I don’t blame him as they are huge beasts and a couple of them didn’t like being tied up when we arrived, but that soon left once he had climbed onto the back of a gentle mare called Pina Colada. She was the cheekiest horse who loved to stop and munch on grass and Jimmy didn’t mind because he thought she deserved lots of treats! I was riding the grumpy old granddad of the group called Duke. He was easy going enough but assumed he knew best when to go and when to stop. The trail was two hours long in the blazing heat but even with all the sweaty backs and legs it was so memorable and well worth it!

After the trail the evening before we just chilled out on Saturday and watched a couple of movies

John 3:16 & Proverbs 24:16

as we are now in a lovely hotel for three nights as a treat! Eventually went out to have a quick dinner at In-N-Out Burger (spot the Christian company!) then drove downtown to the Granada Theatre for a gig we booked when we were back home. 

Alpha Rev & Levi Weaver

Every week we listen to the Relevant podcast by the guys at Relevant magazine down in Florida and they feature different a music artist every podcast. A while ago they spoke to Levi Weaver and we really enjoyed his music, so when we found he was playing in Dallas while we were here it was only a few minutes before we bought tickets! If you listen to our songs of the day you will have heard one of his tracks a little while ago. He was the first act so only had about half an hour but he was great! We met him afterwards and picked up two of his CDs, lovely guy too. There were three more bands throughout the evening and only one of them sucked. The Rocketboys and headiners Alpha Rev we’re both awesome and are now on our youtube playlists. Overall – a great night!

Today was lovely and a little sad. It was our last day in Texas and our last day at The Village Church. This morning we went over to Flower Mound again and heard their campus pastor as Matt

Josie & Kerby at The Village

is on holiday now. In the afternoon we skyped mummy Hill to catch up and then for the evening service we went back to Fort Worth which has become our home church of sorts while we are here. Pastor Mason was preaching tonight and spoke on Colossians 1 which was really helpful on how we view the character of Jesus, have a listen to any Village sermons online. Afterwards we had a couple of thank you cards to give out and goodbyes to say. Brittany, Kerby, Mason, Randell, Stephan and Jill and their home group and more – thank you for your welcome and generosity! We’ll miss you guys.

And now, I’m finishing up this post so we can pack up and get ready for a nine hour drive to Albuquerque tomorrow then onto Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon the rest of the week.

Us with Levi Weaver & merch goods!

Please pray for us as we journey on the next few days, for safety and that Jimmy gets enough sleep each night when we're back in the tent and it's crazy weather.

So goodbye from Texas and onto more adventures!

All our love,

J&J x