France!!

      It has been almost two weeks after me and my sister came back from our trip to France.  It went from May 22nd to May 31st, 2012.  We went with the Honors Program at Molloy College.  There were 37 students and 3 professors.  I thank God for keeping everyone safe and letting us have really nice weather and no trouble while we were in France.  We had three main stops to stay in France.  First we went to Caen; in the Normandy region (4 nights), then we went to Chartres (1 night), and finally ended up in Paris (5 nights).  
       First we were in the Normandy region in Caen, France.  We saw some castle ruins in Caen, which are the center of Caen.  These ruins were made of limestone and were amazing.  There was a moat that used to surround the castle, but now it is all grass and open to the public. While we were in Caen we also saw the University of Caen, which was huge.  It was kind of funny when we were in Caen because our whole group of 40 people went to a restaurant that was closing, but then they saw us and kept it open although none of them spoke English (luckily three of our people spoke a little french).  When we were staying in Caen we also went to Omaha Beach where the USA marines and armies invaded on D-Day (June 6, 1947).  We were actually on US territory for a little while.  One of the girls on the trip found her grandfathers grave in the American cemetery.  I was a little disappointed because we only spent about 45 minutes having a tour and we had no time to just walk around on our own.  We also went to Rouen while we were in the Normandy region.  We saw the first cathedral of our trip.  It was beautiful, and like all the cathedrals there was beautiful stained glass windows and a very nice designed facade.  There were many shops, so the group split up into smaller groups and we went shopping for a while.  We saw where Joan of Arc was put to death, on a stake.  She was accused of cross-dressing as a man.  The people in charge of her trial told her to stop, but while in prison still, she was tempted by the guards and put the manly clothes on again.  This is what sentenced her to death.  There was also a church built in her honor, after she was dead and found not guilty.  

      My favorite part of the trip is when we went to Mont. Saint Michel which is an island off the coast of Normandy.  There is a causeway going to this island, so it is not completely surrounded by water, but in three years there is going to just be a bridge to connect it to land, so it will be an island again. This island is unique because it has an abbey on the top and it was also a fortress.  This was the only part of France that the English could not conquer.  Today there are 26 people who live on this island, including; 5 monks, 6 nuns, a few storekeepers, a baby, and a young girl. This abbey also had beautiful stained glass, although it was more romaesque than most of the cathedrals which were gothic.
        The last five days were spent in the fashion capital of the world, Paris.  This was such a fun city.  Although some parts of this city are historical, it is still pretty modern.  As a group we went to see the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Conciergge, Saint Chapelle, and the Arc de Triumph.  Me and my sister went with 5 other girls up the Eifel Tower the last night and it was beautiful.  This is when the group was allowed to go to different locations all around Paris and shop.  We also walked down champ d'alesse and walked into some shops, and we saw that they were overpriced. 
         Overall France was an amazing country and it was fun to think that I had went to a different country when I was still 18.    

Are You Thirsty?

       My sister and I are in a christian group at Molloy College called BASIC.  My sister and I had the pleasure to help host a BASIC (Brothers And Sisters In Christ) and YFL event at Molloy College where I go to school.  It was called Praise Night and the theme was Are You Thirsty?.  Me and my sister helped set up and were so excited to join in.  The Basic group at Molloy put on a skit and it turned out very good and alot of the other people liked it alot.  Then the YFL Band went up on stage and played some songs for everyone to sing; including one of my favorites "The Stand" by Hillsong United.  All the songs turned out to be from Hillsong groups.  
     Then a speaker from Boston spoke to us.  He had just came back from a missions trip in Africa and spoke to us a little about that.  Then he spoke to us about the story in the Bible.  He first asked us how many books in the Bible and everyone said 66.  Then he asked us how many stories are in the Bible.  Our answer was alot.  Then he told us that there is only one epic story in the Bible about a man who worked from heaven,came down to earth, died for our sins unjustly at the hands of his own chosen people, rose again and now is creating a place for us in heaven.  It's an epic story about Jesus Christ!  All the other stories in the Bible are just about other characters in his story to make his points.  He told us that the story starts from the tree of life mentioned in Genesis 2:9 and ends with the tree of life mentioned in Revelations 22:2.  Since humans sinned after the tree of life mentioned in Genesis, humans could not right away go to the tree of life mentioned in Revelations because they had sinned.  There had to be another tree in between these  two trees.  It was the tree of Calvary, where Jesus died for us.  That is when Jesus made the way for us to go to the tree mentioned in Revelations.  He also went through what criminals felt on the cross, and let us know what Jesus went through on the cross.  At one point he brought in a story about him and his coworker at his old job.  His coworker was an atheist and told him once that he did not know why he was living and what would fill him up.  He responded by comparing God  and us to Shakespeare and Hamlet.  Shakespeare wrote Hamlet and could tell Hamlet what to do, but Hamlet could never have any say because he did not know Shakespeare.  This is different than God and us because even though God created us and has a plan for us; we also know him and can see what he is doing in our lives.  His main message was, that God has a plan for us and by following God we can fill up our cup with him and have joy in heaven when we die. 
     It was such an encouraging time with fellow christians.                 

Kony 2012

Who is Kony, you ask?  
Joseph Kony (born c. 1961) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government throughout Uganda. The LRA say that spirits have been sent to communicate this mission directly to Kony.  Directed by Kony, the LRA has earned a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan.  It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986. In 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture. 
Also, We need to pray for those under Kony's power so, please spread the word and feel free to watch this video I am going to post!

Growing Spiritually

"I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have overcome the evil one. I am writing to you, children, because you know the father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one." 1 John 2:12-14

My siblings and I went to a winter youth retreat with some of the churches affiliated with ours and we met God in such a special way. We learned about spiritual growth in God. There are three stages which are;

1. Believe (Children)
2. Belong (Young People)
3. Become (Fathers)

The first stage, believe, refers to new birth in Christ.  First though we have to make a decision or choice to follow God or sin.  The story of Adam and Eve shows when this decision is made the first time.  God gave Adam and Eve a choice to either listen to the serpent (Satan) or stand up and say no, and follow God's rule.  We all know that in this choice Adam and Eve make the decision to follow Satan, not God.  Even though this was back when life first started we can still apply it to this day and age, also.  God gives us choices everyday and also the will and power to decide if we want to follow God's direction or Satan's .  By choosing this way, Adam and Eve sinned and therefore "as by one man sin entered into the world" (Romans 5:12-13), and led to the fall of men.  This is when the war between Satan and God begins.  In Revelation 12:7-12 tells of a great dragon and God fighting over the world.  The devil will strike furiously because the devil knows his time will be short (vs.12).  Also out of this choice of Adam and Eve, there were two offspring; those of Cain and those of Seth (Gen. 4:13-14, 25-26).  Seth's are followers of God and Cain's are not, although they profess to be.  After this decision to follow God is made, we have to understand the great work of Christ and what he did for us on the cross.  In order to find this out, we have to ask, why the cross?.  There are four P's that answer this question.

• Promise -- Genesis 3:15  
• Principle -- Genesis 22:8 and Hebrews 9:22
• Prophesies -- Isaiah 53: 6-7
• Propitiation --  1 John 1:36, 2:2
• He became us! (Heb. 2:14-15)
• He fulfilled the law for us! (Rom. 8:34)
• He paid the price of sin for us!
• He reconciled us to the Father!
• He transformed us!         

The second stage, refers  to belonging to the family of God and recognizing the family resemblance because now we have believed God and what he did for us.  In 2 Corinthians 3 vs.18 it says that we who are "contemplating the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory".  We also have to recognize the family anointing which is found in 2 Corinthians 1:20-22.  King David is a good example of belonging to the family of God.  He is anointed in 1 Samuel 16:10-13 by Samuel, then is appointed in 1 Samuel 16:18-19 as a King, and lastly is Jointed, or joined together into the family of God (Jesus is part of David's lineage). 
The third stage is becoming fathers, and being bold to spread God's love to others.  There are four steps to spiritual maturity and they are; a desire to grow, nourishment, exercise and practice, and then time and patience.  these will lead you to know God and spread his word to others who are lost. Moses shows a good example of a father in Hebrews 15:24-27. 
One song i heard at the retreat was "Something's Gotta Change", and i would like to share it with everyone who reads this post:

Challenge to listen to christian music for 30 days!

I fell upon this challenge when I went onto Klove.com. Has anyone not grown up with christian music, or just loves listewnong to christian music? Well, Klove.com is doing a challenge to listen to chrisitan music for 30 days and I would like to encourage everyone who looks at my blog to sign up and take this challenge!
http://www.klove.com/30day#.TxR7plgDYwg.blogger