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!

Encouragement!

Hi All!
So, I'm a part of this NTM mission trip group on Facebook and I stumbled across this guy's blog that is also a member. He went to Interface in 2007 and had the best pictures and movies of PNG. Needless to say, I am really getting excited about my trip! Here is the link to it:http://heretodayandgonetomorrow.blogspot.com/search/label/Interface. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I appreciate you all so much!

3 Praises!

Ok,
so I have 3 really cool praises: First of all, it's snowing in NY right now! I know that is a different sort of praise, but I love this time of year. At work, the Christmas candy is starting to come in and looks so beautiful!
THe second praise is that one of my very dear friends is pregnant! She got married in July and is due in late April! I am so excited for her as you can probably tell:)
The third praise is that my official liscense came in the mail today! Now, I'm really in business! God is so good!
In my last post I was confused and sort of depressed. Now, I'm encouraged in Him! I have been exploring college options and came across a program at a Bible college near my home, Elim Bible Institute. They offer an International missions program with an emphasis on medical missions. During the 2 year program, you get your EMT certification, learn basic skills such as suturing,starting ivs,taking blood, helping with childbirth, disease prevention, and giving physical exams. You also take missions courses, study the Bible, and, one class I'm excited about, teaching English as a second language. An 8 week internship at a hospital in a developing country tops off the program. It sounds like an amazing program but I'm still praying about it and will most likely change my mind a couple times before I reach a decision!
I appreciate you all so much. God bless you all tru!

3 Praises!