On Saturday, we took care of laundry and cleaning up our
little camper and got ready for another week. We had originally planned to come
up to Forest Lake
to meet Pastor Mike at the Maranatha Church.
To say this was an amazing church is an understatement. Their dedication to the
local police and fire departments is outstanding and their outreach to the
community was like nothing we’ve ever seen. The music and message were like a
much larger version of Impact Ministries in Wheatland,
Wyoming. It was good to be in the house of
the Lord. Bill had the opportunity to tell them what we are doing and we were
greatly encouraged. We were prayed for and supported and treated with kindness.
Pastor Mike treated us to lunch in the 11,000 square foot lobby where we tasted
the best oriental food we’ve had in a very long time. The church even had their
own challenge coins
and Pastor Mike was generous with them to us. Thank-you
Pastor Mike for welcoming us and praying for us. We will continue to pray for
you and your ministry there. Jill from the church-owned radio station spoke to us after the service and wanted to arrange an
interview. We later received an email letting us know that we were scheduled
for 1:30 on Monday. We were up and
out at 9:00 this morning heading to Minneapolis
to visit the Police Department. It was a little tricky getting there but the
building the department was in was just amazing.
It was built in 1891 and we
just happened to arrive the day they were holding the 125th
anniversary of the building. It reminded me of a castle and I felt like a
tourist gazing up at it. We went in and saw they were getting ready for the
celebration.
We thanked the young police officer at the front desk and talked
with him a bit. Another gentleman offered us a few of the pins they were going
to be handing out at the celebration.
We found the office of Deputy Chief
Travis Glampe and were buzzed in. We offered him New Testaments for some of the
officers and told him what we were doing. He was very excited and we traded patches
and coins.
We chatted for a bit and I got a shot of him with Bill.
By then it
was getting close to noon so we had a
quick lunch and headed over to the radio interview. Jill was there to greet us
and escorted us to the studio.
It was being taped so I didn’t have to worry about
imagining thousands of people hearing me talk. Bill did really well and I
enjoyed myself.
We thanked them and they prayed for us and we were on our way
to see the police in St. Paul. Now,
we didn’t know that there was going to be so much trouble in St.
Paul when we decided to come up here. We found the
police department and talked to a very nice young man, Justin McCray, in the parking lot who
was a photographer for Fox 9 KMSP.
The Police Department
building was on lockdown so they buzzed us in, bicycle and all and we met a
Sargeant that we told our story to. We talked at length and he introduced us to
the men and young woman who were the department’s bicycle officers.
We shared
New Testaments with a few of them and told them about the ministry of Maranatha
Church to police officers. They
were the first responders to protests and were hoping for a quiet evening. One of the officers shared a SWAT patch with us and another a personal item that meant much to him.
Please be in prayer for these folks as they stand in the gap for us. We traded
patches with the Sargeant
and Justin and the gentleman working with him got
permission to interview Bill for a story! So Bill got another chance to share
the Thank-You Tour with more people than we can reach face to face.
We thanked
all the officers once more and headed back to the little beach house on wheels,
after picking up a few groceries at Walmart. So here I am writing to you now
and thanking you for reading.
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