Preletor do Congresso de Jovens 2011

Mais um mes....eu gostaria de ir tambem!!!!!!! AH! :))

One more month 'till Youth Congress 2011 "Um Tempo de Renovacao"

I Can't Hold It-Come Home- Indiana Bible College

IBC Music Fest

I am headed to the IBC Music Fest April 16,17,18. I am excited to get some new material, new inspiration, and some new piano/organ/choir tips. My favorite teacher of all times, Sis. Cooley, will be doing a few sessions and I plan to be at each of them! I must say that the IBC choir is my favorite choir. They make it so EASY to sing their songs by providing the lyrics, chord charts, and vocals! I appreciate this conference because it is so well organized and so, so helpful. There are a variety of clinicians and each one is experienced, talented, and so willing to share with others. So, yes I plan to attend the music sessions in the day and skip the concerts at night. Anyway, if you are going to be there, I would love to see you! If there is anybody who would like some of the materials from this conference, I would be so glad to share upon my return!

~

Gente, eu e minha mae estamos indo para Indiana para participar no congresso da musica na Indiana Bible College. No congresso, durante o dia tem aulas de musica--piano/orgao/coral/vocal/louvor/e muito mais--e durante a noite tem concerto desse coral incriiiiiiiiiivel!!!! Eu estou anciosa para pegar novas ideias, inspiracoes, musicas, e muito mais! Explosao pra vir no Brasil na volta de Elisabeth e Irma Michelle. Prepare-se. HAHA:))

End of Youth Dedication Week

Hello Everyone! I am so excited to be back on the air! :)) Youth dedication week was great and all the youth from FPC did really well with fasting and staying away from social networking all week! Youth dedication ended tonight with each person in the youth group quoting a scripture. I quoted Psalm 119:10-16...

With my whole heart have I sought thee; O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee
Blessed art thou, O Lord; teach me thy statutes
With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth
I have rejoice in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches
I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways
I will rejoice in thy statutes; I will not forget thy Word

I have a desire to grow in a love for the Word of God. With all my school/work responsibilites, I do not have much time for computer recreation and I do not even have a facebook account; still by taking out blogging/reading blogs this week I had some extra time which I used to pray a little more, read my Bible, and memorize His Word. The result of youth dedication week for me was a desire for more of His Word!

There were 2 girls in our youth group who testified about youth dedication week for them. Both of them used the extra time they had this week to work a little extra on their jobs instead of getting on facebook. Both of them were given a raise THIS WEEK. God honors the sacrifices we make to Him!

Judges

One of the classes I am taking right now is called Old Testament Survey. It is a mandatory class with Liberty University and I absolutely love it! If I had to choose a single book in the Old Testament that I have come to appreciate as a result of this class, I would say it is the book of Judges. I love the book of Judges because it demonstrates how God can use ordinary individuals who are faithful to Him to change the course of history.

Throughout the book of Judges we see the nation of Israel struggling to possess the land they had just conquered. No doubt there were challenges and difficulties for this new nation but Israel did indeed make some poor decisions. Israel repeatedly failed to annihilate all her enemies from her land. As a result, intermarriage became a problem as did the acceptance of strange gods. I can only imagine that perhaps when a long period of time elapsed without rain they thought, “well maybe just a little prayer to Baal won’t hurt anything… we could really use a storm right about now and so maybe a little prayer to the god of the Amalekites (or whoever) would be okay…” Perhaps some of the women who could not have children said, “well my neighbor Mrs. Jebusite prayed to Asteroth and well maybe a little prayer to the fertility goddess will be okay…” Unbelievable!!! These are the same people who may have very well witnessed the walls of Jericho fall or the waters of the Jordan River part! Or at least they may have heard first-hand accounts. Good grief. And because they became so tolerant (anyone ever see that bumper sticker that says “coexist” all spelled out with crazy symbols?) to the things of the world, God removed His hand of protection and blessing from Israel. And the nation would be enslaved by another foreign power. And then Israel would be like, “uh, where’s the blessing of Abraham?” No kidding!

We see 6 cycles of judges. God in His mercy, would raise up a judge each time Israel called unto Him for deliverance. I would love to do a character sketch on each of the 6 major judges. My favorite is Gideon—he was scared of everything. Go look up how many times “fear” and “if” show up in his story. Seriously, he was the guy who was threshing wheat in a wine press because he was afraid the enemy would find him if he did his wheat work out in the open! So yeah, wheat being tossed into the air from a wine press opening. Hmmmm. Likely candidate to fight off the Canaanites, don’t you think? Ha!

Anyway, the message of Judges screams out to Christians today. God wants to bless us and protect us but we must be faithful to Him. Once we begin accepting ungodly things into our lives we drift away from the hand of God and move away from his protection and blessing. We become vulnerable to the dangers in the world and soon will find ourselves enslaved to the things of this world. BUT! If we are faithful, God will use us to change our world! I want to live for Jesus and be counted faithful!

I am inspired by the book of Judges.

Youth Dedication Week

Tonight our youth leader, Bro. Dustin, announced that this week will be Youth Dedication Week. Starting tomorrow we will spend extra time praying and reading our Bibles. No social networks. No blogging. Regular food fast on Friday. Ugh. I know we will see some great results as we strive to get closer to Jesus. So! Since this is an extra spiritual week, I am leaving a discourse on the book of Judges for you all to read! :)) Really, I have gained a new appreciation for this book thanks to LU. Its fantastic!

Tonight at church Bro. Bow and Bro. Ballestero ordained Bro. Brank, Bro. Clanton, and Bro. Billings. This was the best picture I got over all the heads...

Ordination Service

~ After church I was talking too much to remember my camera again! HA! So here are some after-church pictures. HAHAHA :)) ~

Me and my walking companion, Cinder :))

Alana and Grandpa Weber

~Portuguese Version~

Nosso lider de jovens, Ir. Dustin, anunciou que essa semana vai ser uma semana de consagracao. Todos os jovens vao orar de manha e da noite e ler a Biblia de manha e de noite por toda a semana. Tambem nos vamos orar em espesicifa de alguem da nossa familia que nao tem salvacao. Todos nos fomos dados um papel com o nome de um joven do grupo e temos que orar em favor dessa pessoa por toda a semana. Tambem essa semana nos nao podemos usar internet para network sociais. No final da semana nos temos que jejuar e memorizar um versiculo. Bastante coisa! :)) Mas eu sei que isso vai nos levar mais perto de Jesus. Estou anciosa pra ver os resultados...

Birthday Blizzard

We got caught in the blizzard that swept through the midwest. Our flight was cancelled for yesterday but thankfully we were able to reschdule for today! I had a wonderful 24th birthday with my family--it was a nice last celebration before going back home. Below are some birthday pictures. Now for some random pictures....

Hoje eu e Alana estamos voltando para Washington. Nos iamos voltar ontem mas nosso voo foi cancellado por causa da tempestade de neve que teve ontem. Foi muito bom comemorar meu 24 anniversario com meus pais este ano--foi uma otima ultima celebracao antes de voltar pra casa! Em baixo tem alguns foto do meu dia especial mas antes tenho algumas fotos misc...

Playing the organ for a home missions church

~Eu tocando orgao numa igreja~

Our snow storm

~Tempestade de Neve~

Meus bolinhos do anniversario...muito gostosoooo :))

We were in St. Louis on my birthday. We ventured out in the VERY cold weather to take a picture by the arch. The park ranger thought we were crazy! ha!:))

~O Arco de St. Louis. Nos visitamos este predio no dia do meu anniversario. O tempo foi tao frio que os guardas do parque nos achamos crazy! :)) Ha! ~

The Arch Sideways. HA!

~O Predio~

I love my birthday!

~Eu amo meu anniversario!~

Ha~ :))