12 days ago my teammates and I walked down to the beach for “beach ministry.” Yeah, sounds like a rough life, I know! As I was walking down the beach in the college town, two girls ran up to me: one with camera in hand and the other linking her arm with mine. They very excitedly asked if they could take a picture with me and my friend Meghan. Of course, why not! Perfect opportunity! I asked the girls their names, we will call them Alex and Kate, and started a conversation with them. Before we knew it we had a date to meet them the next day so they could show us around their university!

 
11 days ago Meghan and I met the girls at a local café. They brought two friends along with them and we sat there talking for over an hour. Before we knew it they had paid for our smoothies for us and we headed for campus. They gave us a tour of their school and then bought dinner for us. Then one of them proceeded to tell us that it was her birthday and invited us to join them and their friends to karaoke! So we went to karaoke with the girls and about 8 of their friends. They had a table full of food and cake. They were very quick to share with us as they persisted that we sing all of the English songs they had! Before we knew it we had another date with them the next day!
 
10 days ago we went to meet the girls for dinner. They took us out to get a very traditional Vietnamese dinner, Pho. This has been one of my foods on the race! We got to sit with the girls and talk for an hour during their study break. We also got to meet another one of their friends. Before we knew it we had another date with them!
 
6 days ago Meghan and I walked down to the beach to meet Alex and Kate. The beach was filled with college students as it normally is around 5:00 and as we walked around we couldn’t find them. So we sat down and decided to wait. Two of our brothers on our team knew we were meeting two girls. Down the beach they saw what looked like two girls looking around for their friends as they sat waiting. So they approached them and said “Are you waiting on Alison” hoping they might respond to my name. And they did! They said yes, and jumped up. So the guys brought them over to us. As they approached us we greeted them and the guys walked off. As they got closer and sat on either side of us, Meghan and I looked at each other in confusion. These were not our girls Alex and Kate. BUT they were two new university friends, we will call them Amber and Rachel! So we sat there and talked to them for forty five minutes waiting on our other girls. Then they showed up and we all sat there talking for another forty five minutes, and they didn’t even know each other prior to this. Before we knew it, we had a date with all four of them the next day!

TO BE CONTINUED…