Team: Davis & Friends

Like I said before, that was just the beginning.

Shortly after I moved in, I ended up traveling with Fred, Deb, and M-L all over.

Gospel Crusades (the organization Fred & Deb are affiliated with) had a conference in FL, apparently as they do every year, the first week in January 2007. Then Fred & Deb were invited to teach a Bible School on a resort in MN for a week in the summer. On the way we stopped at friends in OH. Over all, I met a lot of new and great people on the way to and from both places and at both places. (We always drive, when it comes to traversing the US). During some of the spring/summer Fred was off in Africa. And during some of that trip, Deb and I joined him for three weeks, in which I first got my passport stamped and visa's for all three countries of Ghana, Togo, and Benin (And formed a really awesome friendship with Florence Gake during our week in Togo).

And we just kept traveling! (I know I'm probably missing some places, but for a couple months there at least, it seemed we never stopped--I was having culture shock just in constantly meeting new people and seeing new places in the US alone! I'm the hermit, or at least I'm someone who likes her privacy and organization--or so I used to be!)

Through it all, I was forming a relationship with Bill and Cathy too. Every weekend we were around, that is, and the times they traveled with us. (Bill to Africa; Cathy to some of the conferences in the fall when it was just us ladies). And of course, when he was in the same area, Cathy's son Tim Wright (if you don't know him yet, you will!) also on the weekends and twice in Ghana!

But meanwhile, I was praying for a friend. I'm not saying I didn't have any friends already. I had formed a friendship with Deb's niece who had lived here the first couple months I was here; and there were some friends from my old church family who I saw a couple times that year; and then of course, there were several friends I kept in contact with over the phone. But there is nothing like someone I could see often, who adds another dimension to my friendships. (There are the kind of friends who pat you on the back, or are ointment on the wounds, or relate with you because they've been there before, and then there are the ones who give you the friendly slap on the face, or wake you up, or the iron sharpens iron kind; a person always need friends of different kinds to relate with on different levels, after all, its just as important to heal from old wounds as to grow up! And nothing does it like relationships). Angie had tried to start a Christians young-person group to meet more people in our area, and it flopped...Tim was great for talking into the late nights about God and the Bible and struggles we were having--and for a few months, we were going through very similar things. And there was Deb and Cathy for talking things out to, also...but there was still someone who was missing in my life too, someone my age.

So, of course, I prayed. Told God what I was looking for--someone nearby, or who didn't mind traveling so we could hook up often (I don't have a car, and can't drive most vehicles anyways!); but mostly, a Christian who would add a dimension to the relationships I was missing and needed stretched on (I'll leave the exact details of that between God and I).

And so God wove a plan; and was orchestrating a team....he, he