Going to Colorado

Matt, Jenica, and I went to Colorado this weekend. We left Friday at 6am for Brighton, Colorado and returned back in Abilene at 2am Monday morning. What can I say, we're young and crazy! We went to visit Gregory, who has been doing an internship there for the past two months. He has been interning with a guy named Hobby who is launching, organic, home based churches in Brighton. Organic is such a fancy shmancy word these days...all I mean is that they're trying to keep it simple. There were other people that Gregory was working with and being mentored by, but Hobby was kind of the go to guy. The funny thing is that Matt and I knew Hobby before Gregory did. We met him and his wife in 2004 in Searcy, Arkansas. They were in the beginning stages of forming a team to move to New Zealand, and Matt and I visited with them to see if the team was a good fit for us. They were amazing people, but Matt and I were not quite ready for that kind of commitment. Long story short, Hobby and his wife Jerry ended up feeling like God had different plans for them and went to Colorado instead. They are amazing people that God has really bestowed wisdom and encouragement on. Hobby is the kind of guy that makes you feel really important to God and to others, it's quite a gift.
On Friday we got to meet a few people in the leadership group that Gregory really hung out with this summer, and got to tell them God's story in leading us to Ipswich. They in turn gave us many words of encouragement. It was an awesome start to the weekend! On Saturday morning we drove around and Gregory showed us different spots where he spent most of his time this summer: Funshine Daycare, the city pool, the park where the church met, etc. It was great getting to share in the things that he invested his time and energy into. After that we went to Boulder and hiked a mountain. We were all huffing and puffing...I'd like to blame it on the altitude! It was a really beautiful hike, and the view from the little summit we ended on was amazing. The four of us also got to talk honestly about our team, since we have not been together since Gregory left for Colorado. We talked about the things that we think are lacking in our team, like encouragement and the ability to dream creatively. It was a good time together, we were able to be a lot more honest than we have been in the past! We still have a really long way to go, but it was refreshing to be together and talk about what was on our hearts. That night we walked down Pearl street, ate dinner, and enjoyed the outdoor mall scene. It reminded us all of the mall near Southbank in Brisbane that we went to last summer, Queen Street Mall. It was nice to reminisce!
Sunday morning we got to participate with the church in the launching of their house church. It was amazing to meet all the people who were doing church in a house for the first time, people were kind of nervous but really excited! What was really amazing was to get to participate in a house church other than the one we are part of in Abilene, to see what they did and how they did it. Everyone on our team felt like God showed us a lot that morning. After that we drove home...and boy was it a long drive! I'm really sick of fast food now and am pretty exhausted from getting so little sleep last night (or this morning rather), but man was it worth it!