appointments and disappointments

appointments:

• Fundraising appointments are starting to fill up my calendar--great thing!
• Faith Lutheran--June 12 I am presenting at Faith for a few min. during the service and during the whole Bible Study hour.
• Color Me Mine is a local business that has graciously donated time and materials to host a craft night, with all of the money received going to support my ministry in Macau.  The date is tentatively June 12 in the evening.  Take a look at their website linked above, and visit them!  I love going to Color Me Mine and glazing beautiful ceramics!  I recommend the tall mugs ;)
• My home church of Memorial Lutheran is putting on various nights for me to talk about Macau--the first of which is May 1, and the 2nd is May 11 where I get to cook Chinese food with the youth group and talk about my ministry.
• Work.  I am now working at Zales to save up some money so I can pay off student loans starting in June or July.
• Eye doctor.  Though I love the staff, I'm seeing wayyy too much of them.  This leads into the disappointments...

disappointments:

• My eyes are not healed. I now have silicone punctal plugs in my eye ducts, and a prescription eye drop to take for at least 2 months.  That also means no contacts...bummer. I dislike glasses...

uplifting stuff:

• It's EASTER!!!  This is awesome.  What a great time of year when we can celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, who sacrificed Himself to save us from our sins!  Check out the story of Good Friday here, and the Easter story here!

Video

Here is a video about Macau made by Jon and Doris, who are missionaries there right now.  After watching, please take a moment to pray for the work that's being done there, and that the missionaries are given the words to say through the Holy Spirit, who has the power to work in people's hearts to bring them to Christ!

Eye troubles

I have a bad tear in my left cornea.  I now have 2 different medicated eye drops and one box of artificial tears, and my left eye is adorned with a bandage contact.  I didn't even know those existed!  I am still light sensitive, but if I stay away from the computer and TV (which I'm not doing right now...) then my eyes don't hurt!  It is wonderful.  I am sooo thankful that it's nothing major.  I was paranoid before, and was very nervous that it might require surgery because of how long I've been enduring this.  The eye doctor had said also over the phone that given my symptoms it might be an eye ulcer.  But it is all good!  And...my right eye is white again!  The steroids are really helping it, and hopefully tomorrow my left eye will be healed enough so I can add the steroids to that eye as well, to reduce the swelling and redness.


Thank God for the gift of healing that he has given to us--our bodies are so complex that they themselves are a testament to the sheer power of God!


Take a look at this from Romans 8:18-21:
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."


I know that the pain that I am experiencing in my eye is not the worst pain in the world.  But it is a reminder of the suffering that we humans endure!  Why is suffering in the world?  Because of sin.  Sin ruined the perfection of creation, and because of that we must endure the consequences--such as physical and emotional pain.  But guess what?!  God made us so that we heal.  And even when we scientifically/medically shouldn't heal, he still heals us!  And not only will we be healed, but one day we will receive glorified bodies (1 John 3:2, Philippians 3:21, and various other references)!


Please don't stop reading there--please either pull our your bible or click here to read the rest of Romans 8 online.  The entire passage is SO wonderful!  It talks some about how when we are so spiritually weak, the Holy Spirit intercedes in prayer for us to the Father!  God knows that without him we cannot handle life.  He knows that when we are weak, we are weak.  But HE is STRONG!!


So yes.  Sin has entered the world, and we are punished because of it.  But as we will see coming up next week in Holy Week, God came as a human and took our sins to the cross, paying our debt to sin.  All we can do is believe that God for some reason did this for us, and rose again from the dead, giving forgiveness to all repentant sinners!


Hopefully this problem with my eye can help remind you (as it has me) of the omnipresence of God.  And along with that come so many blessings that he bestows upon us constantly!  So yes.  Sin has entered the world, and we are punished because of it.  But as we will see coming up in Holy Week next week, God came as a human and took on our sins to the cross, paying our debt to sin.  All we can do is believe that God for some reason did this for us, and rose again from the dead, giving us forgiveness from all our sins!

Craving China!

I just realized that I have only 4 months before I go to Macau!  I am very excited.  I have been craving Chinese everything lately: food, culture, language, and people.  I love being immersed in the Chinese culture, and am looking forward so much to my mission/life in Macau!  The other day, I made a chinese-inspired stir-fry, and ate it with chopsticks.  One thing I don't know how to make, though, is sticky rice.  I really want to be able to do that, but I think I need a rice maker and a certain type of rice.  I'll try to figure that out some other time. :)

Subbing, Sales, and Hot Chocolate!

So.  What have I been up to?  Well, I have been subbing fairly regularly: it's been about once a week that I have found myself dressing up and heading to the Lutheran School to sub.  It's nice to have something to do during the day!  Also, it's great practice for when I am a teacher in Macau!

When not subbing, I have mentioned baking a lot in my posts.  Well, the school had their craft and vendor sale last Saturday, and my mom and I sold out of danish!  We made over 100 danish, and after giving some away to family, we ended up selling 93 danish, with a potential for more being sold this week!  We have to bake more in order to finish what we've already sold!  WOW!  We brought 85 to the school last week, and had pre-sold some as well as took an order for 12 to fill this week.

When all was said and done, we raised a little over $900 for Macau!  I am so thankful that my Mom so generously donated all the ingredients, and also was willing to give up all the proceeds!  I am blessed with so much support from my family and friends :)  I want to thank everyone who came, also!  I appreciate the support, and I hope you enjoy the Danish!

Today I wasn't feeling great, so I sat on the couch most of the day.  I woke up with plans of doing Zumba, but that quickly faded when I realized how bad I felt.  Later in the afternoon I finally started feeling better, but by then my motivation to exercise had long gone--haha.  So much for that!  But tomorrow I will do it!  I really enjoy Zumba!  I just need to get back into it!  My brother also left the Playstation 2 at home, so I have access to DDR again!  I absolutely LOVE DDR!!! If anyone in Sioux Falls likes it, come over and we'll Dance Dance REVOLUTION revolution revolution.. (imagine that fading into an echo!)

So after watching my favorite show (NCIS) tonight, I felt like enjoying a cup of hot chocolate.  I made some, and it was just the flavor I needed to end the day well :)  Whenever I need to make a day better, I know that hot chocolate will do the trick!  You should grab one too!

Do you know what else makes my day better?  Jesus!  I know it sounds cliche, but He really does!  One thing I have struggled with my entire life is reading my Bible on a daily basis.  I always said, yeah, my prayer life is good, so that must be good enough.  Plus I know most of the stories already, so it's good.  But I never knew what it was like to get into the Bible daily.  I got a 1 year bible for my birthday.  It's a bible that's arranged so that you read it cover to cover, but it's not in order...you are reading through 4 books at the same time.  The passages go in order, it's just that you are reading 4 at the same time...right now I am in Exodus, Matthew, Psalms, and Proverbs.  Each day it takes you through the next part in each of the books.  I have really been enjoying it!

I already found out things that I never knew before.  I didn't realize that God said that his name is Jealous!  That's in Exodus right as God is giving Moses the 10 commandments the 2nd time (Exodus 34:14).  I never knew that before.  I mean, I know he said that he was a jealous God, but never know that he named himself Jealous!  I've also run into some great stories in Genesis that I had forgotten.  It was really fun exploring the Bible, and will continue to intrigue me!

In January I really got into reading my Bible daily.  It worked until February, when I went on an extended vacation.  That mix-up in my daily life just threw everything off-kilter, and I didn't continue with reading my Bible.  It's unfortunate, but true.  Just a few days ago I decided that it's about time that I start reading again.  I am about 2 months behind in my daily plan right now, but it's ok.  I don't know if I will try to catch up or not..we'll see!  I might just extend it into next year for 2 months.

Speaking from experience, something that I would recommend if you are having the same struggles that I am having is to have a time every day that you read your Bible.  Also, place your Bible in a place where you will always see it at that time of the day.  At first you might get guilted into it by your conscience (at least that's what mine did!!), but then it begins to be something that you actually look forward to.  For me, it's right before I go to bed.  It takes me about an hour to fall asleep anyway, and I figure that instead of just laying there, I could read my Bible.  It's a time that works for me!  Also, my Bible is right by my bed, so I see it every time I climb into bed, and don't forget to read it.

Since I am not a morning person, reading it in the morning just wouldn't work as well for me.  If you are a morning person, by all means do it in the morning!  If it's a break between classes, do it then!  Just make sure that you treat it like a class period, in that you don't leave homework to do at that time!  It's important to just have that 15, 20, 30, or even 60 minutes a day to just read God's word!  I never valued that before, and I can tell a difference in my attitude when I am reading the Bible daily and when I am not.  My thoughts drift towards God more during the day when I just take 15 minutes a day to reflect upon his word.  I couldn't believe the change it made in just one month: imagine if it were a habit that happened every day for a year!

Well, I think this post is long enough for today :)  I hope that you are sipping your hot chocolate and smiling today!  It's a beautiful day that the Lord has made!  Let us rejoice and be glad in it! :)

New Stuff

Youth working at Feed My Starving Children!

So life has been laid back lately, but I have been thrown a few full days too!

Last weekend I chaperoned a youth trip to the cities, and it was awesome!  I really got to know the youth, and saw how awesome they have become.  We voluneered at We listened to many speakers (including Bob Lenz), saw multiple bands play (like Captive Free), and played a lot of catch phrase!  The best part was the speaking because of the heavy topics that they tackled, such as abstinence from sex, drugs, and alcohol.

This is the stage at Youth Encounter in Minneapolis

I have been sporadically substituting as well.  I subbed on Thursday for our Fantastic Fives class (after Preschool but before Kindergarten...), and tomorrow I am subbing for the Enrichment program (the place where the Preschool, Fantastic Fives, and Kindergarteners go after their half day of school is done if their parents don't pick them up right away).  It should be a fun afternoon!  I have been in about once a week, and have some days set up in advance as well.

This is just part of one of the
freezers holding Danish!

I baked yesterday too.  The date for our sale is approaching: it's this saturday...as in...3-1/2 days from now! We have over 70 (which was the number we were aiming for), but we want more!  We have already sold 5, and 3 more are leaving the house tomorrow.  That means I am going to bake another 6 on Thursday or Friday to have those extras :)  We are out of freezer space right now, so we have to wait until later to bake so that they don't get old!  The danish are selling for $9 a piece, or $26 for 3.  We are also pre-selling some if we run out--we'll bake next week too if needed.  We are excited to have all proceeds donated to my mission in Macau!  We will probably make a sign with 丹麦面包 written on it, and/or "Made for Macau!"  I will also be including my prayer card and/or a thank-you note with each Danish!  Too bad I missed out on putting those in the Danish that have already left!

All in all, I am fundraising, but feel strange doing it during Lent...thus my fundraising is slow at this poing.  There is a council meeting coming up in April at which I will present my missionary position to the council at Memorial.  We'll see where it goes from there.

The wireless internet at my house is not working very well, so I am going to save this quickly before I lose internet connection! I'll try to add photos before, though!

Updates!

I updated my blog, as you can see.  Leave comments letting me know what you think of the format, or what I could add or subtract to make it better!

So today was great.  I presented my mission placement to the district office of the LCMS in South Dakota, and I will soon find out if they decided to join me in this partnership.  Then I went with my dad to the bowling alley to see if he was able to bowl with his crushed finger, and we came home to fill out my exit counseling for my student loans.  Then, we made dinner, and (get this..) I ate fish.  I didn't eat a lot, but I ate it, and I almost enjoyed it.  I'm still not a fan, but I didn't completely dislike it like I normally do.  Maybe this is just one step closer to eating seafood!

On my to-do list, after crossing off "nothing":

• Write thank-yous to the churches I presented at.
• Write my support letter to send out.
• Contact Sioux Falls churches to ask about fundraising.
• Make more 丹麦面包!  (danish!)
• Taxes...ugh. I have to file state tax for the first time ever...
• Apply to be a substitute teacher, so I have enough cash to pay off student loans starting in July
• Sleep!!

I think I'm gonna start with the last thing on my list, though!!