Wednesday, June 10 - Twentynine Palms, CA

Our first few days here in California have been great! We left Arizona City on Monday early afternoon and picked up our missing team mate at the airport in Phoenix on the way to California. We're so glad to have Hannah back with us! We were super excited when we crossed the California line and we actually saw green grass for the first time in a while, but the scenery quickly changed back to desert and mountains. This area is very beautiful, but definitely different than what we're used to in Tennessee, Alabama, or Florida! On our way in, we stopped by the Joshua Tree National Park. We just missed the welcome center closing, but decided to stop and look around anyway. We had a mild incident when Rebecca walked around a corner and encountered several bees. She spun around to get away and unfortunately smacked her head into the large pole that was there. We were a little concerned about her but she seems fine now, besides some bruising and a few little cuts on her face. We're constantly thankful for the Lord's care and protection over us as we travel this summer! We arrived at the Anderson's house around 6 that evening and went and ate a meal together. They then escorted us to the hotel where we'll be staying this week and made sure we were settled in.

On Tuesday we met a lady in the church named Irene and she took us to breakfast. We had a great time eating at the Carousel, which is a great restaurant here, and spending time with her and playing with her two small boys. We then had some free time to settle in and were invited to the Richards that evening for dinner. They live on the Marine base here and we had a great time at their home. They are such a sweet family and we enjoyed a wonderful meal and then spent time fellowshiping with them and their three children. Mr. Richards had lots of great military stories to tell us and we learned a lot about military life and living on base.

This morning we met with Pastor Anderson and his family around 9:30 am and we all drove to Ontario, CA, with is about 2 hours away. A family in their church was returning from vacation out of town and we were there to pick them up from the airport. However, their flight did not arrive until early evening, so we enjoyed a great day with their family there. We ate lunch at Famous Dave's, which is undoubtedly the best barbeque I have ever had in my entire life. It was great! We then spent some time at the massive mall there and running some more errands with their family. It was a wonderful day getting to know Pastor Todd Anderson, his wife Debbie, and their two children Hannah and Robert. We are greatly looking forward to our time here! The church here has their mid-week prayer service on Thursday night, rather than Wednesday. It was a little strange not having church this evening, but we're excited about tomorrow!

Rebecca, Jen, Hannah, and the Anderson children (Hannah and Robert) with the bear outside the Famous Dave's resturant!