Denver is now home. We've made it.

Hey everyone. We apologize for our almost COMPLETE lack of communication since leaving Knoxville, this past Sunday. I (Kayla), of course, left my phone in Knoxville that morning and had to have it shipped to us in Denver. We also haven't had internet until today (except for in the lobby at the hotel- which we didn't see much of). Here is an update on our time so far (the short version; longer version to come):

Sunday we left Knoxville and drove the 13 hours to Fort Worth, TX to stay at Austin's moms and to visit with his dad. Austin drove the Budget rental truck (16 feet...) the WHOLE WAY there. My mom and I shared the task of driving the Subaru, which proved much easier than the truck.

We spent the day on Monday in Fort Worth, showing the city off to my mom. She is such a trooper. We ran her ragged this entire week. She still acts like she's 35, and has the energy to match. She amazes me.

Tuesday morning, we woke up early and set out on the final trek to Colorado. We drove through West Texas (more to come on that), New Mexico, and eventually through the great state that we now call home. We followed the Rockies north through Colorado Springs and then on to Denver. The sun was setting as we were in the middle of the state. It was gorgeous, and I had no idea how to feel. Austin was elated. I was all over the place emotionally. We tried to talk about it...but it really was almost impossible to explain it, even to each other.

For the past 2 days (wednesday and thursday), we ran all over the city looking for a place to live. Although we were totally overwhelmed, the Lord went before us in everything. We learned some parts of the city very quickly, which was exciting and helped in not feeling as shell-shocked. After exhausting ourselves (all three of us, again- my mom is amazing), the Lord graciously provided a duplex house for us to rent. It is in a historically Latino neighborhood but is in sort of a transition to becoming a very eclectic area, very close to the arts distric (yahoo!). It's gorgeous and old. We love it. More to come on that.

We took mom to the airport this morning. We all appeared to do pretty well, all things considered. Of course, we all lost it once we departed. The Lord goes before us into that as well. He is faithful.

All of our things are in the condo that our friends have sold. We'll bum here until we can move into our place at the end of the month. Please pray for our transition here. It will be hard and good, as most God-designed things are. We look forward to sharing this life with you in the best ways we can. We love you all. Thanks for loving and supporting us as we've followed God to this city.

Please pray that students hearts will be open to the gospel here. We just want to be faithful to whom God calls us to serve. Pray for those moments on campus, in our home, on the bus, or wherever, where only God could ordain, anoint, and redeem hearts. Pray for our eyes to be open to them, and our feet to walk by faith into them.

Love you all.

A&K

ps. some gas stations here are called "loafnjugs". weird.  ;)

a new home...getting closer

      We are about to head to our church this morning. They have asked us to share briefly about Destino and what will entail once we move out to Denver in about a week. It's starting to settle in that we could be traveling across the country in 7 days, the Lord permitting. We LOVE our church family at FBCK...although we have only really been going there for a few months, we know it's our church family here in Knoxville. The Lord so graciously provided it after having to both leave our church homes as singles.  **WOW! It's POURING rain outside, and I haven't heard the sound of thunder it a very long time! Sorry...easily distracted** We guess this will be our last time at church here for a while, but the Body of Christ will always be there wherever we go.
     The McLaughlin's are technically done with our support raising here in Knoxville! We are doing some follow up and tying up of loose ends before we leave, and will hopefully be approved to leave next Wednesday! Please be praying that God will allow for that to happen so we can get on the road.
    As we have looked back on the past few months, God has really gone before us into everything- preparing for us all that we have needed. The oddest situations, relationships, and what we would originally would have seen as "roadblocks", have truly been the greatest blessings that He could have given us.
      We stumbled upon yet another yesterday. As most of you know, we have been planning to live at our Director's condo in Denver while they attempt to sell it. It has been a long road for them in that process, and have had little luck trying to sell it. Our hopes was to have a place to stay while also helping them out with rent, since they recently bought a house not too far away. Our director called us yesterday and told us they had sold the condo early that morning! How amazing! What a burden lifted off their shoulders in the midst of a crazy year. We were so excited for them, but also were fighting to drift into panic mode as we needed to quickly find a place to live. We KNOW the Lord is preparing something great for us in Denver, something that only He knows about and will bring Him the most glory. We will be looking for apartments all this week online in hopes of looking at them once we get there in a week or so. Please be praying for us as we continue that process! And praise God for taking care of the Stewarts in this way. ( For those of you moms who are stressing out about us finding a place to live: they have truly gone to great lengths to take care of us, and the Stewarts are going to let us keep our things with them until we find a place. we are so thankful!)
    That's all for now. We are now off to our sweet church to be with family. A busy week ahead of  preparing to leave. He is faithful to accomplish what He has promised.

A & K

Austin's First Post...A little more bio than blog...

Well, this is the first time that I, Austin, will be posting on the McLaughlin family blog. As you may have read on Kayla's last post, we are going through a large transition at this time. I would be lying if I said it was not really impacting me. In a lot of ways I have numbed myself to the simple idea that we are actually leaving Knoxville in a week or two, because let's be real, this place means a lot to me.

For those of you that do not know me, within two weeks of moving to Knoxville, I trusted Christ as my Savior, and began my walk with Him. It has been quite a journey, one that has led me all over the world from places like Sweden, Senegal and even North Carolina, and now to Denver. These last 4 years and 4ish months have been quite an adventure. One that is full of tales, and one that will not end until I go to my final Home in Heaven to be with Jesus, my Savior, for eternity.


So, as you can imagine, Knoxville has a very special place in my heart. Saying goodbye, though it is only a temporary one, is extremely difficult. If there is one thing that I want to say about Knoxville it is that this city is a testament to the Lord's faithfulness in my life.

During my time at the University of Tennessee (UT), I began to rock climb. UT has a gym that I climbed at very regularly throughout my school years, and after. As the Lord grew me, and opened my eyes to human's need for Christ as in Matthew 9:36,  speaking of Jesus "Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." Our pastor said something that made this passage very clear, he said, "sheep without a shepherd are as good as dead." Jesus saw these people, He felt compassion for them! Jesus showed me his compassion for the people in the climbing community at UT. Many of them are like sheep without a shepherd.

So, the Lord led me to pray. For a year and a half I prayed about how to reach students in the climbing community. Then the spring semester of my Junior year, doors opened and I began a bible study specifically for Climbing men! Then as my college career ended, I began to pray for someone to lead the bible study after me, and asked my small group at church to join me. Now two of the men from my bible study are leading the study! And, the Lord is doing amazing things through their ministry!

Well, that is a little more about me than I was intending to talk about. I hope though that through this post you have been able to connect with the Lord as the One who answers prayers!

Love you all, and if you have anything you would like for Kayla or I to pray for send us a comment, email, text, phone call, whatever!

-Austin