Did You Know?

God told the world that Jesus would be Priest forever! Because of this Jesus has become the guarantee of a better life. There have been many rulers in this world...many high priests and people who have been in control but death prevented them from continuing in office. How awesome is it that death didn't and couldn't prevent Jesus from reigning in the world!? Jesus lives FOREVER! And here is my favorite part...because He lives forever and because there is no power that holds Him down...He is able to save us completely and renew us completely if we come to Him and say "I give up, I don't have all the answers, I just need you". Such a God that loving meets ALL of our needs because He is everything we need! He offered himself as a sacrifice for you...once and for all...now he just wants your love and praise!
~all of this is stuff that blew me away today while reading Hebrews 7:20-28....CHECK IT OUT!

Anyway college is sweeeet! I have made tons of friends..which by the way doesn't mean that I don't miss all of my TLP friends! God is totally rockin my world and is def teaching me the skill of shut up and trust me! I dont know what I would do without talking to my mom and sis and dad on the phone! I have the best family ever who gives the best most loving advice! My roomate rocks (how could she not..she is my best friend). She is a bit messy but I am a good cleaner...lol we are both becoming good cleaners! Classes are def different from high school...this whole studying concept is killing me! Grades are good though so no need to fret for me. I am coming home on Oct. 9th and staying till tuesday after noon so please I wanna see you!

I love you all and pray for all of you!

How is TNT going? I wanna know! Someone call me or message me and update me!

LOVEEEEEEE
Alex :)

Prayers...yeah our God answers them!

So wow! I am amazed by God sometimes and as I type this I get chills just thinking of how faithful he is! So Monday morning I wake up scared out of my mind...first day of college classes...who wouldn't be scared? Anyway I open my Bible and just start to read, but sometimes you just sense God saying put down your Bible and talk to me and listen to me! So I got down on my knees and started praying...with tears coming down I asked God "please Lord give me one new friend who is madly in love with you as well...please just give me one Lord I need it!" The thing that amazed me was I asked for ONE...1...uno amigo (friend). So monday morning I walk out of my dorm room a confident girl walking hand in hand with my savior Jesus knowing that He would give me ONE friend. How many friends do I make in the first day? Well tons but God gave me Haley Dillman and Hannah Bostardi who loveee Him soo much and I can tell we are going to be best friends! How many do they introduce me to...a couple...and then they tell me about house church...how many people do we meet at house church....soooooooo many! You see we ask God for things that are simple...like give me 1 friend...help me to touch one person...and we generally trust that prayer. BUT what if we ask for big things and trust those completely...will He not do big things? It says in scripture that if we ask according to His will he will do it! Or with faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. So I just wanna challenge you today pray big prayers fully believing that Jesus is so capable of answering! He is our Provider as Haley reminded me. He wants to Provide for you.

And mom and update for you school is swell I am doing my homework and yes I have a lot! Buying books is stinky but everyone has gotta do it! College classes are actually interesting cause the teachers love what they are teaching...imagine that! Anyway off to do some hw! Love you all!

loveeeee

The Three Amigos!

So today was soooo fun! Me jacqueline and emily hung out all day! did i mention that i am sooo happy i have them here to get me through everyday! So anyway we went to emily's g-ma's today which is on the lake...it was for her birthday..gotta love bubbie and george! So basically we got up went to the lake house  (only a 45 min drive from college) and hung at the lake all day...soaking up the sun! The one thing i realized though was that pontoon boats are pretty slow but you have to respect them cause they gave us some good laughs! After dinner we headed back to homeee...which is GCSU (weird to call it that but yay!)

We got home and there was a college fair going on so we walked in our door and then turned around to go find out about the different clubs and stuff here! we walked in the gym and there were about 1,000,000 tables set up to tell us all about all the dif ministries and clubs and stuff. So we walked around and i found a bunch that I liked. I joined so many christian things...which is such an exciting thing because i can make some friends who LOVEEEE JESUS!!! :) I have stuff all next week with the christian ministries...so church hopping I go!

After that Joey Gilkey (jacqueline's bf) arrived and we all hung in jac's room for a little. When we all got hungry we decided to hit up Quizno's. Milledgeville is a small little town but you manage to make your ouwn fun...which can sometime be hard if you don't drink or do drugs...but i wouldn't wanna do that anyway..not for me! So we all just drove around and laughed our head off! Finally we got back and hung in me and em's room where some very funny thing happened! Lets just say college is full of new experiances lol!

We decided to go to a black baptist church tomorrow and get our soul on! can i get an AMEN! I am really excited! Well I miss you all! To let you all know I am having so much more fun and am not home or friend sick as much! however I still think about you all a ton! loveeeeee

and an extra shout out to Jesus for answering all my prayers and  helping me find some Christian Ministries..our God is gooooood!
:)

Are we really in college?

So i would first of all like to say that i feel like i should still be in highschool....i honestly cannot believe that I am a bitty grown up (which means kinda independent...i still need ya mom and daddy). Anyway today was move in day and it took foreverrrr, but we had tons of help from the strickland's and griffith's..good turn out! Emily Strickland and I are roomies and we are loving it..a little lonely at first but you cant expect to meet the whole campus on the first day!

Our room is soo cute who knew my mom was a designer! I will hopefully post a pic soon! Anyway Emily and I went to dinner with the people from our hall and we had fun lol with just a bit of awkwardness! The one thing we all had in common though was all of our clothes were covered in sweat from walking in the 110 degree weather...gotta love it!

Emily and I are most excited for the wesley foundation stuff...we have Bible study Monday and an ice cream social on Wed...yay fellowship! I cannot wait to meet some people that love JESUS soooo much and also share His good news with sooo many people. So if you are reading this then please pray for the people around our room that we can be a huge light for Christ and serve those around us all for His glory!

DEAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS,
I miss you soooo much already. Being here let's me see how much of an impact you have/had on my life! I thought of all of you multiple times today and I am soo thankful that the memories that I have made with so many people came with me! I will be back Labor Day weekend and cannot wait to tell you all I have done and hear your stories!

loveeeeeee

prayers needed please! thanks.

Time for College

So I am still processing everything that happened this summer...imagine that! I just wanted to let you guys know that I am still going to be using this blog and soon I am going to be uploading some photos and videos of Honduras! I have been really busy with college junk and haven't had time to write about my last week in Honduras which was my fave so I am going to being doing that! Also once college starts I will write about my college adventures...which should be very interesting because I always run in to stupid situations! I leave Thursday so next blog will come prob a couple days after that!

loveeeee :)

My God's not dead He's surely ALIVE

Best weeek ever! So this is the second time I am trying to type this thing up because I hate my computer and everytime it comes unplugged it turns off and I lose all my work! So anyway I don’t have a lot of time to do this because we leave for a new village in an hour and fourty five and I still gotta eat and shower before we head out! Sooo I am going to try to explain to you the best I can what God did in and through me this past week! Soooo here goes:

We headed back to Guinope Friday afternoon after we went through our usual routine…going to the airport..picking up the new group…and then hitting up Popeyes which you know I love…duh fastfood! Then we loaded up and headed back to Guinope! To my surprise the ride wasn’t that bad prob because I was on a bus in my own seat and not in a cramped up van! We arrived in Guinope that evening and I felt like I was back home! It was nice to be there again and not be sick! The people were so welcoming and I loved it!

We settled into our rooms and the same motel thing and I insisted that I not have the same cursed room from last time…room #2 (that’s the room where I first got sick fyi) so Hannah and I moved ourselves into room #4 where we would come to find out that it was infested by every kind of bug imaginable… no joke there were bugs in there that I had never seen before! Hannah and I felt like Adam and Eve naming all the new critters in our room! It was okay though cause every night we would have a killing spree and then get in out sleeping bags and zip it all the way in hopes that one wouldn’t make its home in our ears or something (we even wore ear plugs one night because someone told us that the bugs we had were bugs who crawl in your ears and lay eggs!) It was pretty safe to say that I slept horribly the whole week…but what would a misson trip be without some bugs sharing a sleeping bag with you?

The first day there I was put on a work team and we went to a lady’s house and our group helped her to make a concrete floor in her bathroom which I wouldn’t even call a bathroom. It’s sad sometimes how these people live…and I know it’s a common statement to say but we do take so much for granted…when you sit on a dirt floor everyday to use the restroom in a hole you have dug yourself then I am sure we would start to appreciate things that we take for granted everyday! Anyway the boys mixed the concrete and Me, Janell, and Tony (the translator) went to the nearest Pulperia (a snack shop basically) and shared the Gospel with the people after translating a box of potatoes from English to Spanish! It was cool to be able to see that opportunity!

The rest of the week was amazing and I am running out of time so it won’t be as descriptive! I’m sorrrry! We led VBS again and it was awesome but the interns led every lesson this time because most of the adults were in the dental clinic that we also had going (that was a huge blessing to the people in itself they cleaned over 100 peoples teeth and pulled over like 60 teeth from baby to rotten teeth…also three people came to accept Christ through getting there teeth cleaned at the clinic…God will work whenever you let him!)

The rest of the days I was put on the teams that went to the schools and I loved it! I saw every grade from Kindergarten to tenth grade and it was cool to bring the love of Jesus to them in many different ways! The first day our group went to the kindergarten and we didn’t know that we had to have the lesson plan until we walked through the gate…lol our whole group walked into the classroom and were a little nervous at first because we didn’t have anything planned, but what do you know God pulled us through and we were able to think to do a skit of some of the basic bible stories and sing songs with them! I am so thankful for knowing how to share the Gospel with little kids because of what I have learned from working in Children’s Ministry at Hillside for a  year…thanks all of you who taught me all I know about running a class full of little booger eaters and still being able to get the point of Jesus’ love across to them!

The next day I went to the escuela (which here means like 1-6 grade). That was so much fun we just sang really fun songs like “El Pollo” which has nothing to do with Jesus, but you would be surprised how well people listen to you when you let them know that you are there to have fun and that sharing Christ’s love can be really really fun…I may have had more fun than the kids lol just kids! Anyway we did some of the same skits and I really think the kids liked it! Keep in mind we would do all this stuff in the morning and after at 2 we would lead VBS so it was six full days of singing and dancing…and I wasn’t even tired at the end of the day…God supplied every bit of energy and more that I needed for the week!

My favorite part was the last day though…I was able to go to the middle/highschool and share the Gospel and unlike the other kids these kids were older and we didn’t have to do funny skits and baby songs (not that those are bad at all) but we really just talked to them and shared testimonies and the Gospel. I was able to share the Gospel with the class I went in and I was so surprised that the Spirit just took over and told the kids what they needed to know! I was able to lead the class in a prayer of salvation and I encouraged the ones who already knew Jesus to really live for him and be bold to share it with someone everyday! I know lives were changed that day! I also learned that I shouldn’t be surprised that the Spirit took over because when we are in the middle of God’s will for our lives he will be faithful to come through for you in every situation! I have learned that so much this week!

I know this is shorter than usual and believe me this in no way tells you about my week but I journaled tons everyday to remember it all! I will have to tell you when I get back!

I just want to encourage you guys this week to step out of your comfort zone in some area this week and let someone know about Jesus…I promise you that He will come through for you because he wants people to share His word! Read Hebrews 10:35-39 and realize that the Spirit of Christ is in you in you if you have accepted Him into your heart and He doesn’t want us to lose confidence in that! Share the love of Christ everywhere you go because that is what he wants us to do! Remember that if you are going through a hard time that he will pull you through and remember that He is coming back for us to take us to heaven one day to a place he has prepared specifically for you! So don’t Shrink back because he doesn’t call us to that! I love and miss you guys so much 12 days and I will be home! I am off to a village with no electricity or running water lol pray for us please! Loveeeeee J

Hugs from family and VBS...this is the life!

Hello everyone I hope you all had a wonderful week and for the people at SWO I pray your lives were changed forever! This week was a down low type of week for us here in Honduras, and that was gooood for all of us! Here is the scoop:

Friday we got back to the mission house after a long and wonderful week at Bet-el camp grounds with the orphans from Orphanage Emmanuel. Friday night we all just hung at the mission house and just got to sit on our butts...it was nice cause I think we were all a little tired. However all would agree that we could have stayed at camp so much longer!

Saturday was the big day though...the day I had been wanting to come for over a year. I would be getting to see the Orphans from Fe, Esperanza, y Amor Orphanage. If you didn't know that is the orphanage that I worked with last year when we came with Hillside UMC (btw I miss you all sooo much and wish you could be here to see the kids...they all miss you BELIEVE me). Saturday day was another chill day, but I was so anxious for the night! That night we were taking the orphans to Pizza Hut...which I am not sure who found it a better present me or the orphans haha...just kidding they love American food so it was fun for them.

So it was the time to leave to go see the kids and Cristina and I were so excited that we couldn't even talk. We pull up to the orphanage that evening and the kids already have the gate open waiting for us at the front door! Cristina and I jump out of the car and rush in to the best hugs we have ever gotten. It was what I had been waiting for...and hear me when I say it was AMAZING! I am sure you all know who I was most anxious to see though so I will tell you that story as well...and for those of you who dont know her name is Marjuri but last year we gave her the nickname Fiesty and she was my best friend all week! Anyway I saw her and gave her a huge hug, but for some reason it was a little awk between us...I wasn't too sure why. I think it was because we hadn't seen each other in a year and she didn't know how to show her emotions...it doesnt matter becuase we all hung out for a while and it was too good for words! Then we all loaded up in a bus to head to pizza hut...we had sooo much fun and talked and joked with the girls all of dinner. THEN on the way home Fiesty asked me to sit next to her and it made me so happy! We looked at pics on my cam from last year and just talked about school and different stuff it was really good..gosh I missed them all so much! P.S. Ryan Gladiz still likes you and I told her you said hi! 

The rest of the week can be summed up in a good paragraph. We started VBS at Renacer Church (which means rebirth) the first day we didn't have a ton of kids but it grew every day! We sang songs, did skits, played games, did crafts, prayed, laughed, and had a TON of fun! Who wouldn't want to spend  their week worshipping God like that? Anyway it was so much fun and again God was faithful and showed up big time...a lot of little kids dedicated their lives to Christ and I know there was a party in Heaven for that...Glory to God totally cause without Him VBS would have been nothing cause we were tired teens but through Him we were all awake and having sooo much fun with those kids! 

We took two trips to the Honduran mall this week and I am not gunna lie its pretty nice! I was able to call home and i really liked that...get this it only cost $1.50 to talk for 30 min! geeeze nice for me! Yes we are on a mission trip but we had a lot of free time so why not have a little fun :) and my fun included getting a pedicure...it was sooooooo nice! 

Here is the scoop for this coming week: there has been a slight change of plans. Cristina and I were supposed to be going to the Fe, Esperanza, y Amor Orphanage this week to help out there, but Olga and Issac never really responded positively about it so Mark made the executive decision that we would just stay with the group this week and head back to Guinope with them. Yes, Cristina and I were very sad, but that was clearly what God wanted so I am really okay with it! Soooo that being said I am leaving this morning and heading back up the mountain to Guinope to do another week of work and ministry alongside the most wonderful people...i am excited to see what God is going to do again! 

Funny story: so this is why I don't take many showers...people tell me that hot water exists in Honduras, but it is all how you turn on the shower head...obviously I had never gotten it right because in all the 9 showers I have taken here in Honduras ( yeah i know thats a small number considering I have been here 22 days but its almost half so I will survive lol) have been the coldest thing I have ever stepped into. I have gotten used to it by now, but in the middle of the week the tables turned and I found myself in a hot shower...imagine that! However wouldn't you know that the shower head would break as soon as I finish and hot water that was about 200 degrees comes shooting out burning the junk out of me and on top of that the shower wouldn't turn off so the demon water kept melting my skin off and on top of that the shower head started smoking..hmmm not so good I thought to myself...soo I started to scream...really loud...in comes one of the interns Abby and shoves me out of the shower and fixes it like it is no problem. I am not meant to take showers I tell you! ha on the plus side Abby and I grew a lot closer that day if you know what I mean lol. 

So that was my week! I have been reading a lot out of Forgotten God and wow that book is so amazing. I have been challenged to live off the power of the Holy Spirit and it has been hard, but really rewarding when I let him take control. I am also reading a book called Priceless and it is soooo good I am almost done with that too! This week has been a really good chill week to prepare us for a good/hard week of ministry starting today! 

Bible Verse:  2 Corinthians 3:3 write Gods loves not on things but on human hearts that is a mark that will last that can be done through living through the Spirit!  And 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 its just really good! 

I love you all and miss you so very much! Thanks for all the encouraging comments I look forward to reading them at the end of every week! loveee you!