For now, have a great day! :)
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Christmas Commercials
I thought I would share some Christmas Commercials with every one. Enjoy!
What are some of your favorite Christmas commercials?
For now, have a great day! :)
What are some of your favorite Christmas commercials?
For now, have a great day! :)
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Still Alive and Joyful Ramblings Giveaway
I'm still alive. :)
Just extremely busy with school, work, and life. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated. I'll update everyone on the happenings of my life later.
However...
I would like to share with you about a giveaway. Joyful K, aka my cousin, is hosting a giveaway.
You might remember her guest posting while I was away on my mission trip in Belgium about Cake Pops.
She just recently hit 100 followers. Congrats! :)
In honor, she is giving away Vera Bradley Apron and Recipe set. So if you love to cook this might be the giveaway for you. She even posted pictures.
Plus, if you're in need of a new blog to check out, please stop by.
For now, have a great day day! :)
Just extremely busy with school, work, and life. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated. I'll update everyone on the happenings of my life later.
However...
I would like to share with you about a giveaway. Joyful K, aka my cousin, is hosting a giveaway.
You might remember her guest posting while I was away on my mission trip in Belgium about Cake Pops.
She just recently hit 100 followers. Congrats! :)
In honor, she is giving away Vera Bradley Apron and Recipe set. So if you love to cook this might be the giveaway for you. She even posted pictures.
Plus, if you're in need of a new blog to check out, please stop by.
For now, have a great day day! :)
Friday, October 28, 2011
Belgium Thank You Letter
Dear Family and Friends,
I’m sure many are wondering how my mission trip to Belgium went. However, first of all, I’d like to apologize for how late I am in sending a thank you letter. My semester has been off to a busy start. I’ve been busy with working, school, and my extra curricular activities. Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and financial support. I can’t express how grateful I am to have each and everyone one of you behind me as I severed the Lord overseas. I’ll do my best to share what I experienced and learned while I was gone for two weeks.
We assisted a local church in renovating the original sanctuary. We started by taking down the ceiling in order to expose the rafters. However, in the process, discovered that there was furniture that needed to be taken down before continuing. We had two teams. One team participated in the demolition while the other team was the cleaning crew. We rotated back and forth for a few days before the ceiling was completely exposed. The walls had several cracks. We chipped away around the cracks and put rebar up each crack every 50 centimeters or so in hopes of preventing the walls from cracking even more. Some of our team tore down one of the existing walls in order to combine the atrium space with the original sanctuary in hopes of providing a bigger space to worship. However, before the wall could be taken down, a lot of preparation work was required which included building an arch to provide support to create an actual arch with brick. (I don’t really know how to explain this process.) While the wall tearing down took place, part of the team was in the backyard of the church making repairs on one of the existing walls that serves as a fence. These are just some of the various tasks our team helped with in the church time I was in Belgium.
Saying God is truly amazing is an underestimate. While we worked at the church, various church members also assisted along side of us. When communication shouldn’t have been possible, God worked in ways I can’t even explain. I would look back and think, “Wow! That shouldn’t have even been possible.” A language barrier between English speaking people and French speaking people, communication shouldn’t be possible, but God made it possible.
The first couple of days I struggled with my assigned task. Cleaning. I didn’t feel like I was really contributing and so I struggled. Sometime on the second day the verse that came to mind was "...The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don’t need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don’t need you!'...” which is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. With these verses coming to mind, I finally began to accept whatever task I was told to do. I knew that without one person doing whatever their task was we would not be able to be as successful in accomplishing the overall goal. I knew that included myself needing to do the best at what was laid out before me. Even if I didn't do a great job, I knew that I needed to do my best no matter how great I was at the task. I know that some days I did better and others were hard especially if I didn’t understand the purpose of the task I was assisting with for the moment.
My cousin and I were fortunate enough to stay with a family where the mom spoke English. In fact, she had been in the States for a few years and even lived in Texas for a short time frame. One of the nights we talked about what church was like in the States. When asked how many people attended the church we are involved in, we said that our church does not have several hundred people but several thousand. Both of our churches don’t have a single location but several, and we even have the opportunity to watch church live online. We quickly learned that big churches in Belgium were about 50 people, and the biggest church was probably about 450 people some where near Belgium’s capital, Brussels. When I heard this, it made me realize the importance as to why we were there, the importance of sharing Christ with others even if it was through how we served. Please pray for the people of Belgium that they might get to see what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ. Pray that the body of believers who are in Belgium will have opportunities to share Christ whether it is through words or actions.
In the time that we were in Belgium, the pastor of the church’s neighbors found out that there were Americans helping the church. They wanted their son to help also in hopes that he would learn some English. The family does not attend the church. After one day, the boy wanted to help again. He did his best. From what I heard, he was surprised that we would even tell him good job. I don’t know if him and his family ended up attending a church service after we left, put please keep this family in your prayers. I honestly don’t know the exact impact we had on him and his family, but pray that the doors of opportunity are continuously opened for them to experience the love of Christ.
One of the things I took away from the trip is the hospitality each of our host families had. They went above and beyond what was expected. They went the extra mile to make sure we felt at home. They did things not because they had to but because they wanted to.
Another thing I took away from the trip is the sense of community. As I mentioned earlier, we served along side the members of the church. With our busy lives, we often just go to church on Sunday and that is about it in our church involvement. This church not only goes to church but serve along side each other on a regular bases. They know each other’s stories and have known each other for years. They know each other’s struggles. They’ve built lasting relationships. Even though we traveled overseas, I felt like the Lord taught us the importance of community. This is something I struggle with myself as a college student. I think part of it is wanting to continue being a part of my home church and meeting my Christian Leadership Scholarship requirements. I haven’t exactly put the two together and haven’t figured out how to do so yet. However, I’m trying. I know that there will be times where I’ll succeed and other times where I’ll stumble, but it is a lesson that I am still trying to learn, building community.
Here are some prayer requests that stood out:
- The Belgian Government (Google it.):
- Pray that they’ll be able to reestablish something.
- Pray that Belgium doesn’t dissolve.
- The Belgium People:
- Pray that they might know Christ as well.
- Pray that they’ll be able to spread the gospel and have opportunities to minister.
- The church that we helped serve:
- Pray that they’ll continue to grow as a group of believers.
- Pray that they’ll be able to complete their renovating needs.
- Pray that the church will continue to grow.
- Pray for each family that is a part of the church.
- Pray for all the unspoken prayer requests.
I hope that this letter gives a glimpse into our time over in Belgium. For those who I’m Facebook friends with, I will not be posting pictures of my trip on Facebook. However, I have posted some on my blog http://soisaylivinglifetothefullest.blogspot.com/search/label/Belgium if anyone is interested in looking at some of my pictures.
In Him and For Him,
Kathleen
I’m sure many are wondering how my mission trip to Belgium went. However, first of all, I’d like to apologize for how late I am in sending a thank you letter. My semester has been off to a busy start. I’ve been busy with working, school, and my extra curricular activities. Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and financial support. I can’t express how grateful I am to have each and everyone one of you behind me as I severed the Lord overseas. I’ll do my best to share what I experienced and learned while I was gone for two weeks.
We assisted a local church in renovating the original sanctuary. We started by taking down the ceiling in order to expose the rafters. However, in the process, discovered that there was furniture that needed to be taken down before continuing. We had two teams. One team participated in the demolition while the other team was the cleaning crew. We rotated back and forth for a few days before the ceiling was completely exposed. The walls had several cracks. We chipped away around the cracks and put rebar up each crack every 50 centimeters or so in hopes of preventing the walls from cracking even more. Some of our team tore down one of the existing walls in order to combine the atrium space with the original sanctuary in hopes of providing a bigger space to worship. However, before the wall could be taken down, a lot of preparation work was required which included building an arch to provide support to create an actual arch with brick. (I don’t really know how to explain this process.) While the wall tearing down took place, part of the team was in the backyard of the church making repairs on one of the existing walls that serves as a fence. These are just some of the various tasks our team helped with in the church time I was in Belgium.
Saying God is truly amazing is an underestimate. While we worked at the church, various church members also assisted along side of us. When communication shouldn’t have been possible, God worked in ways I can’t even explain. I would look back and think, “Wow! That shouldn’t have even been possible.” A language barrier between English speaking people and French speaking people, communication shouldn’t be possible, but God made it possible.
The first couple of days I struggled with my assigned task. Cleaning. I didn’t feel like I was really contributing and so I struggled. Sometime on the second day the verse that came to mind was "...The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don’t need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don’t need you!'...” which is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. With these verses coming to mind, I finally began to accept whatever task I was told to do. I knew that without one person doing whatever their task was we would not be able to be as successful in accomplishing the overall goal. I knew that included myself needing to do the best at what was laid out before me. Even if I didn't do a great job, I knew that I needed to do my best no matter how great I was at the task. I know that some days I did better and others were hard especially if I didn’t understand the purpose of the task I was assisting with for the moment.
My cousin and I were fortunate enough to stay with a family where the mom spoke English. In fact, she had been in the States for a few years and even lived in Texas for a short time frame. One of the nights we talked about what church was like in the States. When asked how many people attended the church we are involved in, we said that our church does not have several hundred people but several thousand. Both of our churches don’t have a single location but several, and we even have the opportunity to watch church live online. We quickly learned that big churches in Belgium were about 50 people, and the biggest church was probably about 450 people some where near Belgium’s capital, Brussels. When I heard this, it made me realize the importance as to why we were there, the importance of sharing Christ with others even if it was through how we served. Please pray for the people of Belgium that they might get to see what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ. Pray that the body of believers who are in Belgium will have opportunities to share Christ whether it is through words or actions.
In the time that we were in Belgium, the pastor of the church’s neighbors found out that there were Americans helping the church. They wanted their son to help also in hopes that he would learn some English. The family does not attend the church. After one day, the boy wanted to help again. He did his best. From what I heard, he was surprised that we would even tell him good job. I don’t know if him and his family ended up attending a church service after we left, put please keep this family in your prayers. I honestly don’t know the exact impact we had on him and his family, but pray that the doors of opportunity are continuously opened for them to experience the love of Christ.
One of the things I took away from the trip is the hospitality each of our host families had. They went above and beyond what was expected. They went the extra mile to make sure we felt at home. They did things not because they had to but because they wanted to.
Another thing I took away from the trip is the sense of community. As I mentioned earlier, we served along side the members of the church. With our busy lives, we often just go to church on Sunday and that is about it in our church involvement. This church not only goes to church but serve along side each other on a regular bases. They know each other’s stories and have known each other for years. They know each other’s struggles. They’ve built lasting relationships. Even though we traveled overseas, I felt like the Lord taught us the importance of community. This is something I struggle with myself as a college student. I think part of it is wanting to continue being a part of my home church and meeting my Christian Leadership Scholarship requirements. I haven’t exactly put the two together and haven’t figured out how to do so yet. However, I’m trying. I know that there will be times where I’ll succeed and other times where I’ll stumble, but it is a lesson that I am still trying to learn, building community.
Here are some prayer requests that stood out:
- The Belgian Government (Google it.):
- Pray that they’ll be able to reestablish something.
- Pray that Belgium doesn’t dissolve.
- The Belgium People:
- Pray that they might know Christ as well.
- Pray that they’ll be able to spread the gospel and have opportunities to minister.
- The church that we helped serve:
- Pray that they’ll continue to grow as a group of believers.
- Pray that they’ll be able to complete their renovating needs.
- Pray that the church will continue to grow.
- Pray for each family that is a part of the church.
- Pray for all the unspoken prayer requests.
I hope that this letter gives a glimpse into our time over in Belgium. For those who I’m Facebook friends with, I will not be posting pictures of my trip on Facebook. However, I have posted some on my blog http://soisaylivinglifetothefullest.blogspot.com/search/label/Belgium if anyone is interested in looking at some of my pictures.
In Him and For Him,
Kathleen
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