Sorry it's been so long! I've been around the world and back the past week. Hope you all are doing well!
I feel like I just need to share my favorite verse to all you special ladies out there. Proverbs 31:25 "She is clothed in strength and diginity, and she laughs without fear of the future."
That verse to me is so moving! It always reminds me who I am and Who's I am.
My awesome new bible I just got tonight has a whole page over the Proverbs 31 woman and it points out a lot of different things a Proverbs 31 woman should be.
-Her gift to those around her is undying love for God, which takes her out of herself and gives her the confidence to create oppertunities to prosper.
-She is able, by the help of God, to do more than the average person could do because she doesn't rely on her own strength but on his.
-She speaks wisdom that comes from her faith in God and his Holy Spirit.
-The words of the God Girl encourage and admonish and never belittle or despise. (AMEN!)
-Peace, hope, and love are hers, and because of that others call her, like the women who have come before her, blessed.
While I was in El Salvador, the first day we went to CIPI, also a governent owned orphanage. It had special needs kids, teen girls, teen moms and their babies, and abandoned babies. My group went to the teen moms area. There was about 6 moms, they all had a twin bed, and one tiny dresser of their own. It was terribly sad but I guess better then what some had lived in before. Our translater, Sarah, told us to share our favorite bible verse to the girls. I told them my favorite verse was Proverbs 31:25. They asked why? I told them to me, it defines a godly woman. I then got to hand out two spanish bibles to the girls to share. Hoping that I made a difference in those 6 girls lives and they know that our heavenly father can save them from their sorrow and pain.
Thanks for reading! Have a great night.
-Brooke
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
make the most in every opportunity
Good morning everyone!
Don't forget to thank God this morning for waking you up. This morning around 6AM I could not sleep, so I decided to click on my bible app, I love to read verse of the day. Colossians 4:5-6 "Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Wow...this verse kind of hits me in the face. Have you ever just sat and thought how great our God really is? He sent his son on this earth to be perfect, although Jesus had many temptations he still remained perfect! Including being so nice to everyone he met. I wish I could be full of grace all the time 24/7, because you never know what someone is going through. This story from El Salvador kind of fits in with what I'm getting at here. Roberto, who is part of the all boys orphanage, CISNA, came to the mission house one night to have dinner with us. It was his 18th birthday. When I first saw him, he looked just like a regular boy to me who was turning 18. Well, as Emily and I sat down outside to eat, she said "hey, lets go sit by Roberto." I was like alright that sounds good! So we headed our way to Roberto's table, he spoke Spanish of course, and we did not. Right before all of that I had downloaded a translator app on my phone. I had fun using it :) I tried to carry on a conversation with him but he told one of the translators I talked funny. After we all ate, Kurt, the missionary from there, brought out a huge birthday cake with a huge candle in it. Roberto's face was priceless. That was his first birthday cake, let alone birthday party he had ever had. 18 years old and never witnessed one birthday cake. What would we do if we didn't get all the celebrations for our birthday? He sat in front of the cake for about 10 minutes trying to think of a wish, but we told him he didn't have to say it out loud. Kurt gave him a gift and the rest of the cake to take back to CISNA with him. He was so excited! So let me explain what CISNA actually is-it is a all boys orphanage from ages 8-18. When you turn 18, you are kicked out on the streets with nothing again. They have about 3 houses with beds and showers, no air might I add. There were probably about 30 boys when we went. These boys get picked up off the street, come in from being in gangs, abandoned from their parents, or abused by family members. Roberto's case was him being abused at a young age from his cousins. Raped and hit for sure I know. Makes me sick. He doesn't have an education. He can count up to 200 and only say up to J in the alphabet. Kurt told us he likes to sweep, mop, and rake. So they are going to try to find a cleaning job for him. Our group had been working on a transition home that week for the boys who turn 18 to live in. It was a really nice home, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room and one bathroom. So only 4 or 5 boys could even stay there but that is a big improvement! They are currently trying to find a "mentor" type person to stay with the boys and be a strong godly influence and just lead them to get their feet on them again. With God all things are possible! Please pray that they can find someone for that house. :) That kind of roles in with the verse of the day, you never know what someone is going through so be kind always!
"Nothing should keep you from reaching out to the world around you." You never know what your kind words can do to someone.
Have a blessed day!
-Brooke
Don't forget to thank God this morning for waking you up. This morning around 6AM I could not sleep, so I decided to click on my bible app, I love to read verse of the day. Colossians 4:5-6 "Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Wow...this verse kind of hits me in the face. Have you ever just sat and thought how great our God really is? He sent his son on this earth to be perfect, although Jesus had many temptations he still remained perfect! Including being so nice to everyone he met. I wish I could be full of grace all the time 24/7, because you never know what someone is going through. This story from El Salvador kind of fits in with what I'm getting at here. Roberto, who is part of the all boys orphanage, CISNA, came to the mission house one night to have dinner with us. It was his 18th birthday. When I first saw him, he looked just like a regular boy to me who was turning 18. Well, as Emily and I sat down outside to eat, she said "hey, lets go sit by Roberto." I was like alright that sounds good! So we headed our way to Roberto's table, he spoke Spanish of course, and we did not. Right before all of that I had downloaded a translator app on my phone. I had fun using it :) I tried to carry on a conversation with him but he told one of the translators I talked funny. After we all ate, Kurt, the missionary from there, brought out a huge birthday cake with a huge candle in it. Roberto's face was priceless. That was his first birthday cake, let alone birthday party he had ever had. 18 years old and never witnessed one birthday cake. What would we do if we didn't get all the celebrations for our birthday? He sat in front of the cake for about 10 minutes trying to think of a wish, but we told him he didn't have to say it out loud. Kurt gave him a gift and the rest of the cake to take back to CISNA with him. He was so excited! So let me explain what CISNA actually is-it is a all boys orphanage from ages 8-18. When you turn 18, you are kicked out on the streets with nothing again. They have about 3 houses with beds and showers, no air might I add. There were probably about 30 boys when we went. These boys get picked up off the street, come in from being in gangs, abandoned from their parents, or abused by family members. Roberto's case was him being abused at a young age from his cousins. Raped and hit for sure I know. Makes me sick. He doesn't have an education. He can count up to 200 and only say up to J in the alphabet. Kurt told us he likes to sweep, mop, and rake. So they are going to try to find a cleaning job for him. Our group had been working on a transition home that week for the boys who turn 18 to live in. It was a really nice home, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room and one bathroom. So only 4 or 5 boys could even stay there but that is a big improvement! They are currently trying to find a "mentor" type person to stay with the boys and be a strong godly influence and just lead them to get their feet on them again. With God all things are possible! Please pray that they can find someone for that house. :) That kind of roles in with the verse of the day, you never know what someone is going through so be kind always!
"Nothing should keep you from reaching out to the world around you." You never know what your kind words can do to someone.
Have a blessed day!
-Brooke
Sunday, June 17, 2012
I'm new at this!
Hey everyone.
As you can see, I'm going to start blogging. I've decided to share my walk with Christ and my experience about 2 weeks ago in El Salvador. I will probably share a few stories from my mission trip and then my bible study input. I really wanted to start this hoping to reach out to people. I have realized I love to do that :) and if that doesn't work, it is still helping me gather my thoughts.
The first week of June, I went with a church to San Salvador, El Salvador. We stayed for a week at the mission house there. When I got back, most people asked me if it was totally gross, and it was not. They had AC, showers and beds. But after exploring and seeing the different places we went, all that stuff didn't matter to us anymore that week. One thing that really stood out to me was when we went to the very poor community up in the mountains. It took about 2 hours to get there, with a rock road for about 10 miles straight. Car sick had a hold of me. We finally arrived, and it was tons of shacks, mud, animal poop, rocks, etc. all in one area. That was definitely a eye opening moment. Back at home, we complain if our AC isn't cool enough, or if the power goes out. These people literally had nothing. We had treat bags with us to hand out to the kids. Those were the most beautiful dirty faces I have ever seen. I could have taken them all, I think we all could have. After we handed out treat bags, we carried bags of rice and beans to hand out to the different families, oh and life straws! Life straws cleans the water in the river, they can use it for a year and hopefully get healthy! Now, I know I am weak but carrying those bags of rice and beans were a lot heavier than expected. I was complaining in my head that I can't do this anymore and sweat was just dripping down my face. I was nearly about to give up. But, I saw how thankful these people were to us giving them food, they wanted to give us something back. Even when they couldn't. This girl from Mississippi, Lydia, told a great story when we got back together. She said she was tired and Orsy, one of the translators, wanted his group to walk up a huge hill. Lydia questioned him. He said, "many men have walked much farther, for much less." now if that doesn't give you cold chills, I don't know what will. That community broke our hearts, it made me challenge myself when I got back to the states, not to ask for anything. I love to shop...but do I really need anything? I thank God everyday for giving me that experience.
Today my sermon was awesome. I don't know if it's because I want to listen and study God's word more or what. It was on the gospel of Matthew chapter 10, I love the book of Matthew anyway, but I never really sit and break apart each and every verse. One things that stood out to me is Matthew 10:39 "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." This verse to me means you will absolutely lose everything you think is best for you to find God. Because God doesn't want to be just an addition to your life, he wants to take over your life. As you put God first and learn he is the ultimate planner, the ultimate everything you will find your life again. God will start to put the things you need to help you grow into the person you are meant to be in your life.
Thank you for reading :) -Brooke
As you can see, I'm going to start blogging. I've decided to share my walk with Christ and my experience about 2 weeks ago in El Salvador. I will probably share a few stories from my mission trip and then my bible study input. I really wanted to start this hoping to reach out to people. I have realized I love to do that :) and if that doesn't work, it is still helping me gather my thoughts.
The first week of June, I went with a church to San Salvador, El Salvador. We stayed for a week at the mission house there. When I got back, most people asked me if it was totally gross, and it was not. They had AC, showers and beds. But after exploring and seeing the different places we went, all that stuff didn't matter to us anymore that week. One thing that really stood out to me was when we went to the very poor community up in the mountains. It took about 2 hours to get there, with a rock road for about 10 miles straight. Car sick had a hold of me. We finally arrived, and it was tons of shacks, mud, animal poop, rocks, etc. all in one area. That was definitely a eye opening moment. Back at home, we complain if our AC isn't cool enough, or if the power goes out. These people literally had nothing. We had treat bags with us to hand out to the kids. Those were the most beautiful dirty faces I have ever seen. I could have taken them all, I think we all could have. After we handed out treat bags, we carried bags of rice and beans to hand out to the different families, oh and life straws! Life straws cleans the water in the river, they can use it for a year and hopefully get healthy! Now, I know I am weak but carrying those bags of rice and beans were a lot heavier than expected. I was complaining in my head that I can't do this anymore and sweat was just dripping down my face. I was nearly about to give up. But, I saw how thankful these people were to us giving them food, they wanted to give us something back. Even when they couldn't. This girl from Mississippi, Lydia, told a great story when we got back together. She said she was tired and Orsy, one of the translators, wanted his group to walk up a huge hill. Lydia questioned him. He said, "many men have walked much farther, for much less." now if that doesn't give you cold chills, I don't know what will. That community broke our hearts, it made me challenge myself when I got back to the states, not to ask for anything. I love to shop...but do I really need anything? I thank God everyday for giving me that experience.
Today my sermon was awesome. I don't know if it's because I want to listen and study God's word more or what. It was on the gospel of Matthew chapter 10, I love the book of Matthew anyway, but I never really sit and break apart each and every verse. One things that stood out to me is Matthew 10:39 "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." This verse to me means you will absolutely lose everything you think is best for you to find God. Because God doesn't want to be just an addition to your life, he wants to take over your life. As you put God first and learn he is the ultimate planner, the ultimate everything you will find your life again. God will start to put the things you need to help you grow into the person you are meant to be in your life.
Thank you for reading :) -Brooke
