So... Last night was the SMO Dinner thing and let me tell you about it. Most of my friends didn't come, so that was a bummer. But at least I still had a good time. The main event of the whole dinner thing was (no not the horseshoe games) but Cory's teambuilding activity! First we had to throw the tennis balls to each other in a large circle and call out each other's name. After we finished that he threw in another ball and another. Every time we messed up (when someone dropped the ball) we had to start the chain over again. I know I don't do a very good job of describing the game but it was fun... and challenging. On the third ball we spent almost all of our time. Sarah kept dropping the ball :) but that was fine. (I was terrified myself that I was going to drop it) But then Cory gave one of his famous inspirational speeches and we completed the whole thing with three balls. We were all congratulating ourselves and stuff until Cory broke in. The game wasn't over. He threw in a fourth ball. After major concentration and another failed trywe finally nailed the four tennis balls. Cory talked about teamwork first, but on that last attempt (and success) we made it happen. Before we left he gave us the assignment of writing about three reasons why we want to go to Milwaukee. Stay tuned because those three reasons will be my next blog entry. Until then - Ciao!
Even though these guys aren't exactly going to Milwaukee (going places much further rather) and I don't exactly know them personally and they have nothing to do with whats on this blog except both them and me love God wholeheartedly and go on missions trips, I'm going to blog a little bit about Jars of Clay.
Besides their amazing music Jars of Clay is doing a lot of things to further the Kingdom. In their new music video "Two Hands" they show what they are doing through blood:water mission, an organization that they started to build wells in African HIV/AIDS struck communities. The song tells the struggle of wanting to serve God with part of our hearts while the other one isn't. Its a super cool music video and you should definitely watch it right below!
So back to Milwaukee: well I can't believe it but the trip is only two weeks away!
so I'm definitely excited about that! We had one of our first meetings yesterday (let by Pastor Corry) and here's some of the stuff we found out:
It won't just be ACAC - a few other churches will be meeting us there and serving with us
We will be working in senior citizen homes, homeless shelters and food banks. Things like that.
Apparently our church vans will get taxed in Milwaukee just for having the church's name on them, so we'll be using different vans and cars.
We won't be able to bring either ipods or cell phones (Pray for me, please!)
Having said all of that without further ado I'll let you watch the "Two Hands" music video:
I have met my goal for fundraising this year for the Milwaukee trip! I can't believe it! But a total of $280 has been raised by yours truly this year. Wow, this is so weird! But from now on none of my blog posts will be about fundraising (yippee!) but only focusing on what God's doing in other ways. But what am I going to do now that my trip is all paid for? Well over the past couple of weeks I have been reading the Voice of the Martyrs newsletter and Richard Wurmbrand's book Tortured for Christ (thanks so much Lil!). Also I have been praying for a certain underground missionary in West Africa who came to my church to speak about a year ago. Through this whole experience and just like when I see people praying in public or even a facebook flair about Jesus, I really feel like God has been calling me to the Underground Church. I really feel like He has been calling me to the countries (especially Islamic countries) where Christ's name isn't allowed to be spoken. So I think my next move after this Milwaukee trip is toward that calling. Thanks so much for your prayer and support as I have raised money for this trip. And now we can rejoice that it is finally finished!
If you have the time please listen to the Bluetree song God of This City
Its an still a newborn shop but all of the money I make from it will go directly into my Milwaukee Account. People have been telling me to get an Etsy shop for awhile but finally I got around to doing it when a gas station clerk in Canada noticed my earrings and told me to get one! Ha ha! So please tell all of your friends and family about it:
http://drawingablankdesigns.etsy.com/
Also the talent show for Student Ministries is coming up on the 28th. I think that I will be putting a sculpture into the art gallery part of it. Make sure to come because it is going to be a blast! A few of my friends are preforming and (I'm aloud to brag about my friends right?) let me just tell you they are AMAZINGLY talented! So don't forget to mark your calendars! Thanks so much for your support once again.
I am going on the Milwaukee trip this year because I love Christ Jesus with my whole entire heart and I can't imagine how life would be with out Him. I want to be His hands and His feet wherever I go. I want to show the world His love.
Lately I've been caught up in the fundraising parts of my trip (setting up an Etsy shop, going to the car wash, babysitting, crafting, selling candy) and I haven't been thinking about why I'm going on the trip in the first place. Once in awhile I'll get aggravated with a sibling and demand them to leave me alone because... I need to raise money to serve God's people??? It doesn't fit and for a very good reason. You can not serve God with your whole heart if you don't have your heart in the right place. What makes me think that I can serve the people in Milwaukee with God's heart if I can't even serve my own brothers and sisters with that kind of heart?
So officially my missions trip doesn't start until August 1st, but in reality my service begins right here at home. Helping out a sibling with homework requires just as much of a servant's heart (or even more) than preparing a meal at a homeless shelter. God calls us all to be his missionaries, both in the mission field and at home. What I have now realized is how much I've been neglecting the latter. So pray for me please, as I work on this new challenge of serving the people around me here in Pittsburgh.
Okay I just got back from the car wash a few hours ago... soaking wet! It was buckets full of fun and I did remember to wear sunscreen. We washed about 150 cars (somebody tell me if I'm wrong) and got a bunch of donations. Some funny moments from the car wash:
While doing our shifts holding up signs and hollering at innocent bystanders about the car wash, I accidental screamed "Free Parking Lot at the Church Car Wash!" and somebody actually believed me and asked more about it.
Sofia and Shawnee were holding up signs outside of Ritas and the store owner came out and gave them free Ritas. So everybody sort of migrated over to their spot until Corry had to come over and get more people to actually wash the cars.
One of the Steelers came to get their car washed.
So you get the idea. We worked our sponges and squeegees to shreds to make those cars squeaky clean, we had some fun splashing each other along the way, we raised money for the missions trips. Thanks so much if you came by to get your car washed or donated money!
Again so sorry that I haven't been able to get a real post up in awhile but I think I have finally fixed that problem! I signed up for google mobile blogging so hopefully I can post more when I'm actually on location. During the actually trip I don't think we can actually use our phones (we couldn't last year sadly) but I will definitely do an in depth post after the trip. Speaking of, the trip is coming closer every day! It's so exiting, I can't wait!
Anyway, this coming Saturday is yet another one of those Student Ministries fundraiser, but this out of all of them is my favorite. The Car Wash! You don't have to donate anything if you want to but you can definitely come and get your car washed. Just by coming to the church (ACAC) you will be helping us out allot. You see every student gets a few friends and family members to pledge a certain number of cents per car that we will wash on Saturday so just by coming you can help fund the trips.
One of the reasons that the Car Wash is my favorite of all of the fundraisers that we did last year is because it is so fun! We build fellowships with our fellow short term missionaries, get wet, get our first taste of what the trip will be like, get wet, wash cars, raise funds, and did I mention get wet? Yes by the end of the day we are soaked from head to toe! That's fun for some people but it is heaven for others! Ha ha, if you we wondering yes we actually do get allot of cars washed in the midst of all that getting wet and having fun we are doing. :) Actually we washed about 350 cars last year, that's a little bit of information to keep in mind if your planning on pledging.
So to close this post, I am starting to really feel Milwaukee coming closer. God's really been preparing my heart for service. Pastor Rock's sermon on service and freedom a few weeks ago (Yay for ACAC Pod casts!) and then it just seems like service and missions have been reoccurring themes in my bible readings. I've been reading up on some old issues of Youth Walk (an amazing monthly devotional that Ms. Kim gave me) about missions too. I am really getting exited for this and more than ever I feel God with me on my way to this missions trip.
After Note: OOPS I almost forgot to include the times of the carwash! The email from Jane says that its on Saturday June 6th and its from 9:30am - 2:00pm. Wow thats going to be a long day :)
