INTERNS BEGIN THEIR JOURNEY HOME TODAY

The interns began their journey home today.

Here is a picture of the crew on their annual trip to Mt. Rushmore.

And in the National Prayer Center.

They are in the fantastic Ebenezer's Coffee House/Theater Church (that's the name of the church) in this pic. It looks like Mark Batterson, the author of "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" is in the pic. So cool!

Below is part of a letter I received from Kristian while in DC.

Hey guys,

Hope all is well on the home front. P.Jeff congrats on your race, I bet it was a dream come true. Sounds like service went great, wish we could've of been there. The trip so far has been fantastic. Today was a powerful day. We started off by opening up in prayer with the other group and Ken Wilde at the National Prayer Center. Then a reverend lobbyist came in and talked about an amendment to the 1964 civil rights bill that would classify homosexuals, transgenderism and a whole other list of disgusting ways of life as minorities. This would in effect make a crime against this minority a hate crime. So if a transient is inside a women's restroom and spooks a women and she attacks him, it would be considered a hate crime. It's called Amendment 1592 and it has been fast tracked towards the approval process in only a couple of weeks, which usually takes four to six months. So being praying against that and remember it on NDP.

After the lobbyist we went and met Senator Maria Cantwell and prayed for her and what she is involved in right now. The group thought that was really an honor. After that we had a brake and I contacted Mark Batterson and eventually found our way to Ebenezer's. We met with him for about 20 minutes and he gave us a tour and told us the history of Ebenezer's and NDP. Since Michael and I were the only ones that have read the book, and me following the blog...you could say we were pretty jazzed. The coffee house is really cool. Upstairs are offices, on the ground level is the coffee house, and downstairs is were they hold there Saturday night service, which they record in HD and playback at there theater locations on Sunday. We met most of their staff and they are young or even younger then us. It was really special to be able to meet Mark as he shared some insights into there philosophy and why they do what they do. He gave each of us a signed copy of In A Pit With A Lion On a Snowy Day, we took a couple pictures and were off. Thanks for making that connection Pastor Jeff, it was cool and by the end even those who didn't know them were jazzed.

After that we met back at the NPC and began our bus/walking tour of the Capital. We saw all the usual monuments and were able to get out and check them out. I can't think of any words to describe the emotions and patriotism felt while here. The atmosphere is indescribable. Which I'm sure you've experienced on your trips here. You'll have to excuse my English, I'm pretty beat.