A Great Opportunity

I had a great opportunity last night to share my heart about my desire to go to PNG with our youth group. It was so neat to be able to tell my friends about my trip and how I got saved and everything that goes along with that. It blows my mind that I am saved! Why me? I wonder alot about that... I try not to dwell on it though. God is so awesome!!!! He has been growing our Mexican Bible study. I can't remember if I've written about that yet. We've been having an "amigo", Cesar, over for dinner for 2 years now. He sometimes brought his nephew, Adrian... Anyway, we've been trying to teach them English using the Bible. This past year, God brought a few people into our lives. Kristy has a degree in Spanish and has been translating for Dad into Spanish. Bethany is a lady who goes to our youth group and works with migrants. She's been bringing 3-4 amigos to our Bible study that we've been having every Friday night at Cafe Shiloh. So it's been amazing how God has grown our ministry to the Mexican population in our county. Please pray that more people will come to our Bible study... On average, about 6 men come every Friday night. Thanks for taking an interest in my life! Here's a picture of me and some friends in front of Cafe Shiloh.

Cap Ball

I went to a Civil Air Patrol Ball this weekend. It was so much fun! I wouldn't call it enchanting, but it was definitely a blast! I went with my friends Jacquelyn and Laura. We had a really good dinner then danced the night away. It also gave us a chance to be beautiful and feel like princesses! Here are some pictures... The first picture is me and Katy. She did all our hair and makeup. The second one is Laura, me and Jacquelyn getting ready some more. The third is me talking to mom while Laura gets goofy. The fourth is me getting makeup put on which was torture :D then the last one is me dreaming about getting beautiful. The pictures are kind of switched around so you can see the finished product first! It was alot of fun and I'm thankful that Jacquelyn invited me.

Reflections

Hey All!
Wow! It's been awhile since I last wrote (big suprise)! It's weird to think where I'd be if I'd taken a different path. Or in this case, a different missions trip. To Every Tribe Ministries is leaving for PNG tomorrow. As you all know, I first applied to TETM for this missions trip. But, through some events and God's leading, I am going with NTM instead. I'm sure the team would appreciate all your prayers for their safety and effectiveness. God is amazing and I'm sure He will work through this team. Now, I'm getting excited about MY trip, wondering who will be on the team, what I will learn, and what sights I will see. It'll be wonderful! Well, that's what was on my heart. I love to hear from people so please contact me!!! My email is: pngbound9@aol.com. God bless!

Happy New Year Late :D

Hey Everyone!
Wow-- it has been so long since I updated this blog. For that I apologize. So much has been happening in my life. First of all, Happy New Year almost a month late! Our family had a wonderful holiday and are so blessed. New York has just been dumped with snow lately! Spring, please come quickly :)
I just found out tonight that my friend's dad hit a lady with his car yesterday while driving home in a snowstorm... She died this morning. Life is so short! In the blink of an eye, anyone's life can just be snuffed out! Jesus is Lord, and He hates suffering but because of our sin, there is death. "The wages of sin is death BUT, the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord". Because of our sin, death entered the world. But Jesus came to take our place... so that we do not have to die and go to Hell. He died so that we can have eternal life with Him and His Father. How exciting is that!?!? It blows my mind that I was born into my family in this country where I have such access to God's Word. Why was I not born in Papua New Guinea, or Congo, or Brazil where people die every single day- every hour or less- without ever hearing about Jesus Christ? Peter Van Der Decker, a missionary to PNG, told a story about how when he and his team first went to PNG, this old man came up to them weeping, and asked them why they had not come sooner? He then pointed to some graves where his father and brothers were buried. He said that they had died without ever hearing "God's Talk". And here I sit in America, in my own comfort zone. I feel so helpless sometimes! It's like, I want to just GO tell tribal people about the LORD!! And I know that I should get Bible training and whatever before I go so that I can better tell the people about Jesus. But I just wish that I could just go RIGHT NOW to PNG and impact these tribal people!
So please pray for these matters:

* That I will be patient... Wait on Jesus to renew my strength

* That I will not be so focused on GOING that I forget about the people around me

Thanks so much for praying for me and my journey to PNG. I appreciate it so much! God bless you all tru!

Today is my physical Birthday!

Today I am 17 years old! Where does time go? Before I know it, I'll be 18, then 25, then 40.... I guess the Lord is teaching me to live like I'm dying...
I got this book for my birthday called "I would die for You". It's about this 15 year old boy, BJ Higgins who went to Peru on a short term missions trip, got a rare disease, and died 6 weeks after he got home. I couldn't help but wonder why God chose to take him home? Then I got to thinking if I'm willing to die for my Savior. If I got a strange disease, or was captured by terrorrists, or any number of things, would I fight it? Do I consider my life so precious that I'd consider it more important to live, if God wants me Home? It's just gotten me to think about my calling to be a missionary and what people would remember about me if I did die? Would they remember my passion about Jesus? This book is very thought provoking and I recommend it to people who want to be missionaries!

Today is my Birthday!

Today is my 6th birthday! You all might be going "huh"? so let me explain: 6 years ago today, I was born again. I still remember the night it happened. Let me start from the beginning: I was born into a strong christian family and have gone to church since I was a week old! So I don't have a dramatic testimony like, a reformed drug addict like my dad or a thief or anything like that. I've always been a "good" person. Well, in June 2002, my mom did something that rocked my world: she got saved! She was a pastor's wife, had gone to Bible school, and was good on the outside, but she had never gotten saved. So that really got me thinking about salvation and if I was saved. On November 7, 2002, I was getting ready for bed and scraped my foot really hard on a sharp corner of the bed. I started crying and even after the pain went away I kept sobbing and sobbing. I cried out to God to take away my sins and make me a new person on the inside. I praise the Lord that He so unselfishly died a terrible death on the cross for ME! It blows my mind! If anyone reading this is not saved or is not sure they are, examine yourself! Don't just think you are! Cry out to God for mercy and repent of your sins and believe in Jesus' Christ and His power to save you. You'll never regret it! Have a wonderful day!

It's about time to update this thing!

Hey all!
I guess I should update this thing right? I can't believe it's November already! Where does the time go? So, November started off pretty interestingly: My sister Katy broke her foot riding Traveler! She was riding bareback up a hill and just slipped off onto her foot. She fractured the bone in the top of her foot! She's in alot of pain still so please pray for her. I have been really busy with school and work so there's not alot more to say that's interesting! I hope you all are doing great! Blessings!