Saturday, July 19, 2008

Chocolate Ice Cream

Last night at the meeting I was talking with Ty, a lady who is also going on the mission trip. We were talking how it's so hard witnessing to family members. I myself know that I never feel that I say the right thing, I always come away feeling like I failed. She understood and said that it's so hard. We were talking about how we know in our hearts that Jesus is real just by knowing what He has done in our own lives, our own hearts. How when we go and spend our quiet time with Him we know that we're not just talking to ourselves, but truly Jesus meets us right in that place. Ty said she guesses that people can't really understand that until they have experienced it for themselves. The pastor leading the trip, who was standing nearby, then said "It's like chocolate ice cream." He said that you can tell someone how yummy, how delicious, how wonderful it is, but until they have tasted it for themselves, they can't really understand why we're so excited about it. That's exactly like Jesus. We can be all excited and siked about how awesome and wonderful our time with Him is, how amazing His love in our hearts is, but until they too experince it, until they get a taste for themselves, they won't really understand.

It's my hope and prayer that we can be those who are so excited about our "Chocolate Ice Cream" and be so enthusiastic about Him that we will make others hungry for a taste.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

God is Good!

So I thought it was about time I do another update...

EXCITING NEWS is that I have now raised my money for my trip! Praise the Lord!! I was sooooooooooooooo happy, I cannot even tell you!! How it happened was also cool...it was totally God.
We had just gotten home from a few days at the beach (we had a blast!) and I received an envelope in the mail that came for me while we were away. It was from my grandparents and it was a check to help my finances for the trip. I was SOOO excited about that - I was literally jumping up and down and telling my friend who was with me how excited I was. Then, I get another envelope from my aunt and uncle and I was just so happy even before I opened it. As I was tearing apart the envelope I tell my friend the amount that I have left to raise for the trip. GOD IS GOOD - the check was made out for EXACTLY that amount. That was too much...I was just giddy with excitement and was so happy. I of course had to add everything up just to be sure I had it all and good news, not only did I raise what I needed to turn into the pastor, I also raised enough to pay back my parents for the deposit they had given him. They had said that I didn't need to worry about paying them back (thank you Dad and Mom!) but I still wanted to since it was for my trip. And sure enough I was able to, and also pay for my passport. So it's all paid for in full!!

I'm still continuing to work at Infinity Stone, ya know, I wanna be able to take some spendin money :) But also I really enjoy going there and the receptionist has even been giving me some sit down jobs to do, such as filing and labeling...which I find nice. I love cleaning but it is good to have some work at a desk :)

One month from Saturday I will be leaving for Germany. It seems it is coming so fast but that is good! Tomorrow evening we will have a team meeting and I am very anxious for that. I think it will be a good time to get a little more prepared and also grow together as a team as we come to know each other more. Please pray for those who have not yet raised all their money as of now, and also please pray for all of us that the Lord would prepare our hearts for whatever He has in store for us in Berlin.

With that, I will say goodnight, or goodmorning, either one works :) I hope that you all are having an amazing summer and that the Lord is blessing you lots.