Dear all,

WOW.

It's been quite an adventure so far. Far more than I could ever blog about. Since it's been two weeks since I last posted there are a few things that I need to make sure I cover.

1) HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!! Yes!
It's 2012 and God has been working in mind-blowing ways. the stories that are coming out of this. It's truly incredible. One of you out there must be sending out some crazy prayers, or maybe it's all of you? Regardless, thank you so much for all the thought, support, and prayer. I hope the new year has been off to a great start as well and that it's only getting better. I'll tell you guys some of the things that have been happening below.

2) I cannot go on with this post without first apologizing for not updating this blog in 2 weeks. It's incredibly difficult to do after cycling 60+ miles, in my sleeping bag, on my iPhone. Usually I end up falling asleep mid post and it never gets up. I finally resorted to twitter (@followseijin), youtube (jstranberg), and Facebook (Seijin Tranberg). As aforementioned, those are the easiest ways to stay updated (in real time).

3) The update

We've had some crazy things happen to us in 2012.

For starters we were sponsored to fly up to NYC to participate in the CARP winter ball. It was a blast. Hands down. We celebrated the turn of the year in NY and flew back to Dallas on the morning of the 1st.

When we got back, we were warmly welcomed into the Dallas community, got interviewed by Ester Davis for her television show, and prepped for the rally the next day.  The rally was held January 2nd in front of Dallas City hall, was represented by various religious groups which have been historically persecuted, and also got media attention.

The next day we were able to cycle out to Fort Worth, and were blessed to be able to be picked up by the Hernandez family to stay at their house for another night (We had stayed there for the previous two days as well).

On the 4th, Josh and I headed out into the Wild West. Texas is really something else. We encountered  lot of small towns that took literally a minute to cycle through. Water was sparse, but we managed. Before it got dark, we were able to get to the tiny town of Palo Pinto. It has 500 people in the town, no hotel, campground, or large grocery store. There were, however, two churches. we got a tip from another cross country cyclist that sometimes you can call churches and ask them if you could camp out on the lawn. we thought we would try it out.

After calling the First Baptist Church of Palo Pinto, we were greeted by pastor Jim and invited to stay in the church, take part in their Wednesday night devotional, talk to the congregation, and even eat dinner with the community afterwords. It was incredible. We asked for a patch of grass, and we got so much more. It was an incredible blessing and our prayers are out for the First Baptist Church of Palo Pinto.

The next day we set out once again. This time we were able to make it to Albany, Texas. Albany is considerably larger than Palo Pinto. We found a hotel that also had RV hookups and campsites where we could crash. We were so happy that they also had showers and laundry machines. Before we set up camp, we met George. He's a fantastic guy who was incredibly inspired about what we were doing. After we had set up camp, he came up to us, thanked us for what we were doing, and put keys to a hotel room in  our hands. He told us to take a nice hot shower and get a good nights rest. It was the nicest hotel room we've stayed in though out our entire trip. We wanted to give a huge shout out to George for being such a great guy and putting a roof over our heads. We slept incredibly well.

Today was also incredible. Josh and I slept in a little bit and then took off. We had headwinds that went up to 20 mph, the roads were rough, and there were plenty of hills. A few miles in we started to cycle through a wind farm (which are placed in areas that are notoriously windy). Before long Josh's bike started to have mechanical problems and we had to stop (the bike already has 4,000 miles on it). The damage was so extensive that Josh had to hitch a ride into Abilene while I cycled in. This is where it gets crazy.

Not 5 minutes after I had left, Josh got a ride. He was picked up by an incredible Christian man by the name of Chris Cummings who is also an avid cyclist. Apparently he had seen us earlier in the morning as he was heading out of town and wanted to chat. On the way back, the opportunity came up. For us, it was an incredible blessing because, as a cyclist, he was a very good customer with the local bike shop owner. Josh was able to get into town and get his bicycle fixed in a timely and cost-efficient manner. When I met up with Josh he told me that Chris had offered to let us stay at his house. I thought it was a fantastic idea and we called him after he got off from work to work something out. Soon after, we got a call back from Chris saying that he and his lovely wife, Kim, wanted to eat out with us. I thought a little dinner after a rough day would be nice so we said "yes", they said "meet us at Chili's" (which is one of my favorites).

We had an incredibly pleasant dinner, are at their house now (which is insanely beautiful) and are going to crash soon.

The blessings have been relentless and I'm so incredibly humbled, honored, and grateful. Everyday has been full of such incredible blessings and stories. All these people are become integral parts of this story and this life. I couldn't be any happier to be a part of this grand adventure that everyone is a part of. I've gotta' crash because tomorrow is going to be a long one, but I hope this post caught you a little up to date!

God bless, and gooooooood night!