Hi all this
is our next leg: hope you are all well and God’s blessing you. After leaving
San Antonio we stayed in Dallas and got up early as we hand a lot to fit in;
our first stop for the day was the 6th Floor Museum - this is the
place that Oswald shot and killed JFK from the 6th floor window. We
were able to look down from where the shooting was meant to have taken place (he
could never have made the shot). We then went down to the grassy knoll where
the second shot was, I mean may have been from.
Grassy Knoll
Middle window is the one Lee Harvey Oswald apparently shot JFK from
We were then
lucky enough to stay with Holly’s cousin Kevin Forbes and his lovely Texan wife
Lorree who took us all around Dallas and Fort Worth showing us all the things
only locals know. We went to an awesome saloon that had saddles for seats and
ate fried catfish. We walked down the main street of the old Fort Worth Stockyards
where cowboys still hang out, and once a day they still run the longhorns down
the street. The old west where gun fights used to take place, and for a small
price you still can get your picture taken with Buffalo Bill. We then popped in
to the biggest cowboy bar in the USA; where Lorree taught Holly the Texas
two-step while me and Kevin held up the bar.
Longhorn on the street
Later we went
to the home of the Dallas cowboys (football team) and then met Lorree’s 89 year
old mother who goes to the burger bar for lunch and dinner every day since she
was a teenager, as that is all she will eat! On a sadder note we saw some of
the damage from a tornado that had struck Kevin’s community a few weeks ago and
tore up a lot of houses and businesses. We also saw a burger bar where a
teenage boy shot another boy a couple of weeks back over a bag of marijuana. It
makes you think of the connection to the countries past.
Us with Lorree and Kevin
After two days
we had to go as the road was calling. We went to the site of the Oklahoma City
bombing and I don’t think that we were expecting the sadness and depth of emotion
we felt when we heard about what happened to the people of the city of Oklahoma
when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Federal Building in 1995 killing 168 people
including 18 babies that were at day care.
Museum of Oklahoma City Bombing, building has damage from the bombing
Then we
drove through Kansas where Holly was trying to chase tornados, but as the
weather was hot and sunny without a cloud in the sky she was sadly
disappointed.
The next day
we awoke to the excitement of Holly’s birthday and we had presents first thing
in the morning and a breakfast of waffles, we were heading for Kansas City and
the best cake shop in the state. We spent the rest of Holly’s special day at
the Kansas City International House of Prayer. We went home utterly filled with
God but utterly hungry and made NZ style mac and cheese as best we could (as US
mac and cheese is disgusting!) and enjoyed some yum but very over the top rich
chocolate cake. Actually American cheese is so gross that we have started
buying cheese that has been imported from New Zealand.
We spent 6
days going around to the different IHOP ministries and sites in the city and
being stretched in God. Missy Edwards, a worship leader would lead some amazing
sessions – but then all the musicians at IHOP where amazing, and IHOP is
definitely a place where God hangs out.
Worshipping with Misty Edwards
Mike Bickle
was awesome and gave some very strong Biblical words that spoke to our hearts. We
were able to go to a prayer meeting for the evangelist team and heard an awesome
message by a young man of God about how time is short and we don’t have any to
waste, and how we need to return to how on fire we used to be.
God was
doing a lot in us and giving us insight into our lives and the call He has on
us and speaking to us a lot; we both have pages of notes that we got in the prayer
room. We were finding it hard to go home to eat as there was such a hunger in
us to pray and listen to God.
When the
time was drawing near to having to leave both Holly and myself were trying to
think of ways to stay a bit longer and we have decided to stop in again on our
way back around. But we had to leave in the end L
We stopped
in at Lexington Missouri at a Civil War battleground and saw the graves of some
Confederate soldiers on our way to St Louis where we went to the historic courthouse
where a black slave named Dred Scott sued his owner for his freedom; which
would then bring about the American Civil War. We also looked at the site where
the old slave market had been where slaves were sold by a man called William Lynch
who claimed that the term “lynching” was named after him, as apparently he
treated his slaves so badly.
Ewan outside a large old home used as a hospital in the Civil War and also the sight of a battle, hence the gunshot holes in the wall
Courthouse in St Louis where Dred Scott sued his owner for freedom, and they also used to sell slaves on the front steps
Our next
stop was a part of the Trail of Tears walked by thousands of Cherokee people –
they were forced from their homes in North Carolina and had to walk to Oklahoma
where the Government had designated they were allowed to live. It took them
months to get there and many died along the way during winter time.
Holly walking the trail of tears
Next we were
off to Memphis to the Lorraine Motel where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was shot
and killed as he stood on the balcony right before a big Civil Rights rally. They
have now turned the Motel into the National Civil Rights Museum. We heard
speeches he made the night before he died; he was such an amazing man of God, I
am amazed us Christians don’t celebrate him more. He was doing the work of God
and was killed for it like a martyr. He knew he was going to die soon too, and
he said he was at peace as long as he was doing the Lord’s work.
Lorraine Motel, wreath was where Martin Luther King was shot
While in Memphis we also went to Beale St – the blues capital, and enjoyed dinner while listening to a live blues band at BB King’s club. We also had a quick look at Graceland.
BB King's
Beale St, Memphis
Next we headed to Mississippi where we checked a sweet old fashioned small southern town called Holly Springs, and then went to Jackson for lunch. Then we went to these old Greek looking ruins of this old plantation mansion that burned down and all that is left is the pillars. The house was built nearly two hundred years ago by slaves and was huge. It overlooked the Mississippi River. The man who built it died a week after it was finished at the age of 34.
Windsor Ruins
Then we headed to New Orleans. We knew about the Louisiana Bayou, but were not expecting that as we drove in New Orleans was completely surrounded by swamp for miles and miles – we were on a massive long bridge going over it for more than half an hour.
In New Orleans we went to the French Quarter where all the beautiful old buildings by the riverfront are, and where the famous Bourbon St is. And we took a ride on a real Steamboat up the Mississippi – the tour guide pointed out where the levies had broken during Hurricane Katrina and whole communities were flooded out. He also told us that New Orleans is the biggest port in the world, some of which we rode past. We saw the site of the last major battle between the Americans and the English in the war for Independence, where the pirates came to the aid of the Americans to help them win the battle. The steamboat we were on is the last authentic steamboat on the Mississippi River. In the inside room there was a really cool live jazz band playing in a ballroom where you could imagine the old gentry sitting around playing cards and smoking cigars in the old days.
We ate alligator for lunch at a French café and we saw the old cobbled streets where the pirates used to hang out. Then we went for a drive out to the back of nowhere to see where the real Cajuns live in the Bayou. We bought a shrimp dinner from a shop overlooking the Bayou with the shrimp boats sitting right behind us. We met some real Cajuns and heard their cool, very weird accents that sound something like French mixed with Southern American mixed with Canadian and a little hint of English as well.
Levies that broke in Hurricane Katrina
Our River Boat
French Quarter of New Orleans
Bayou where Cajuns live in homes alongside their fishing boats
The next day we went on a Cajun Critter Swamp Tour, and saw heaps and heaps of alligators, the longest was about 9 foot. We also saw some amazing birds and other wildlife. We had a real Cajun tour guide who was telling us all these stories about how he hunts alligators. He also told us about the destruction that had taken place on his Bayou during Katrina, and how now he is the only tour boat down there when there used to be about four operators. We also saw a run-down old house right on the Bayou where an old lady used to live alone and our tour guide would bring her groceries. But she died and someone else bought the house and lives there now. It’s pretty creepy as it’s so remote and surrounded by trees and alligators and a swamp that often floods. We also checked out a Cajun fish market that was right on the Bayou behind the shrimp boats.
Alligator warming on a log
Alligator eating a marshmallow
Bayou Segnette
Home where old lady lived alone in the middle of nowhere
Brownsville AOG
Then we went to Alabama and saw Pigeon Creek where the movie Sweet Home Alabama was set.
Man this road tripping is tiring work: sleeping in hotels in new places each day and driving and seeing cool things. It is hard work but we are so blessed at the same time. So it was lucky for us that today we got a sleep in as we were going to the 10am morning session at the Montgomery House of Prayer. When we got there only one car was in the car park and there were only three people inside. But the Bible says where two or more gather in His name He will turn up, and turn up He did - we spent the next two hours in prayer and worship, what an awesome way to start the day.
Montgomery has been a city with lots of goings on: the first Confederate Government was set up here at the First Confederate White House. Jefferson Davis was the first and only President of the Confederacy. The capital later moved to Richmond Virginia.
First White House of the Confederacy
Montgomery was also home to Martin Luther King Jr who had a church here, and he led the boycott bus movement here as well. This is also the town where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person on the bus and was arrested. Many other Civil Rights campaigns took place in this city as well. So to have a House of Prayer in this city asking God to help in the reconciliation of this nation and the world is fitting I feel. Especially when we think that this has all happened in our parent’s lifetime. It has made us think how lucky we are with the race relations in our own county of New Zealand.
Martin Luther King's Church
Martin Luther King's Home
So we have
been to 14 of the 50 states now – California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona,
Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana,
Florida, Alabama.
