Shelby and the Rainbow Road, Day 1 & 2

The complete team, plus a random guy we picked up.
He's metal, so he doesn't need to eat much.

On March 17th, approximately 5:30 pm, Team Rainbow finally made it through the grueling 8 hour drive from Lawrence, Kansas, to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Team Rainbow is composed of Thunder and Lighting, our site leaders, as well as Red, Guatemala, Mystique, and me, Doodle. Our mission was simple: one week of volunteering with Rainbow Health Initiative.

Stage one of our mission: actually getting to our destination. The drive was sprinkled with pit stops and interesting encounters, including an Amish horse buggy, a lead singer to a "soon to be famous" tribute band, a very large barn of some importance, and Urbandale, where we snacked on Quizno's and the infamous Urbandale Voice was born.

Upon finally arriving in Minneapolis, we quickly located the church with whose floors we would quickly become comfortable with: All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church. We were excited to meet Reverend Kevin, or as we fondly call him, Rev Kev. After getting some things straightened out at the Y, Rev Kev took us out on the town for dinner. We had fabulous BBQ despite being far from the saucy capital of Kansas City. We met with a few other members of the congregation and shared stories and laughter. I was so inspired to hear about how these men were able to persevere through and hold such strong faith despite criticisms in their past about them being openly gay. Their stories were all encouraging and hopeful.

The following day we attended service at the church. I absolutely loved everything about it. It was refreshing to hear a message that was not hateful or condescending, and the diversity within the congregation was wonderful.

Celebrating the game with over 100 other Jayhawks!

With Sunday as our free day, we spent most of the afternoon at the Mall of America, right after enjoying the beautiful weather in the statue garden by the Walker Museum of Art. Some of us did some “hardcore shopping” while others just tried to take in all the sights. Feeling tired and somewhat defeated, yet still toting our full shopping bags, we left the mall seeking a place to catch the KU game. We lucked out when we found Tiffany’s Sports Lounge, the official headquarters of KU for the Twin Cities. A very stressful game, but somehow we pulled it off. Good times were had by all, even as one of us caught up on sleep right there in the establishment.

Two full days, and at this point we hadn’t even met with our organization. I was exhausted, yet eagerly anticipating the next day.

The ghost of Adam haunts us all.