Friday, November 22, 2013

What a beautiful foot you have!

I'm back, everyone! You can't get rid of me that easily, the posts are just a little further apart. So, this past weekend I went to Concordia University Chicago for a conference for my school. It was called Beautiful Feet, and it was amazing. The entire experience was so eye opening for me. The conference was all about missionary work and the theme was "washed by the word". We reflected on how we are washed by the word through our baptism. Our feet are "beautiful" in that we were washed in baptism and are saved through our faith. We use our beautiful feet to go out and proclaim the law and the gospel to others who do not know Christ. We proclaim the gospel by doing good to others. This is not to say that we are saved by good works, let me clarify. But, it is to say that we are put on this earth to tell of the good news and what Jesus has done, and show the grace and mercy that has been given to us to other people.

We also got to participate in different excursions in the Chicago area. The group I was in got to volunteer at Feed my Starving Children, which is an organization that puts together meals for starving children across the globe. We filled bags with certain amounts of vitamins, vegetables, soy, and rice and put them into boxes. Our group was sending our products to Uganda. With all of the people we had, we packaged enough food to feed 107 children for an entire year! It was so amazing to see those numbers and feel like I was a part of something so big. After we did all of the packaging they showed us a video of the kids over there thanking us all for what we did and saying they were praying for us and they hope we continue to do it. It was heart warming and made me just about cry! It was such an amazing feeling to be a part of that and to help change the lives of children from all the way over here.

All in all it was a great weekend and I made some great friends from all over that I know are going to be great friends for life. And I will be seeing them all again for the Walk for Life in Washington D.C in January!

God bless!

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:22

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Surprise!

My dad turned 60 last Wednesday. I know, crazy, he certainly does not look it. So, this past weekend I tried to surprise him, but due to some unforeseen circumstances and my father's curiosity, he figured it out by Saturday morning when I came to the house. Nonetheless, I sufficiently surprised my mom and my one sister who did not know I was coming, which made up for it. They had absolutely no clue it was even possible for me to come home, so there were plenty of tears going around.
And the surprises did not stop there!
 The 5 of us kids had contacted basically everyone that my dad has ever known and asked them to write some kind of story or memory they had with my dad. Man, did we get some great responses. That man has touched so many lives in so many ways. He has been and still is a strong christian man. So, Saturday night, the 5 of us took my parents out for dinner and then went home to present the gift in a treasure chest.


 3 hours, about 100 tissues, and 7 tear-stained faces later, he got through them all. Not only has my dad been a blessing to our lives, but he has touched basically every life he has come in contact with and been a blessing to each and every one. I am proud to call him my dad. I hope some day I can touch lives like that. I love you, dad.

"Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him." Psalm 41:1