A Great Journey is About to Begin!

In less than eighteen hours I will have begun the trip of a lifetime to the place I have been dreaming about for the past nine months - China!!! I will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday and then take off once again to head to Xin Zheng where the Bring Me Hope staff will be holding a summit. We will begin the next six weeks with a weekend of prayer, worship, and fellowship as we prepare to minister to "orphans... in their distress." After the summit, I will be heading to Xi'an with my team. This is where I will be serving for five weeks.
As the Translator Coordinator for my location I am looking forward to reaching out to the translators, ministering to them, and hopefully finding lots of opportunities to share the Gospel! I know I will make mistakes, but I pray that God will keep me humble and that all my actions may bring glory to Him. Though the tasks ahead can seem daunting, I know that if I lean on my Savior, He will not abandon me. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers! I know I will be needing them, as will the orphans and BMH team.

Please pray for the Bring Me Hope team:

- Safe travel to China and that no one would be quarantined when arriving to the country (Some officials are withholding permission to enter the country if potential Swine Flu carriers are also traveling on the same plane)
- Logistics of getting everything to China (Guitars, Games, Crafts, etc.)
- For health of those involved in helping with the Summer Camps
- Love between all the staff members
- Peace in the midst of fear and unknowns
-God’s strength for those helping to lead camp
- For good documentary footage that will later challenge people to reach out to needy children
- For the staff to keep their eyes on Jesus
- That God would keep the doors open for lots of orphans to come to camp this summer
- Strength, Peace and Joy from the Lord so people may see and know that He is God

Please pray for me personally that:

- I will keep my eyes on Jesus and not forget my purpose
- I will be humble and have a teachable spirit as I learn new things and work with new people
- I will get lots of opportunities to share the Gospel with the translators
- I might show unconditional love to the orphans

Thanks again for your love and prayers!

P.S. For those of you who are interested in finding out more about Bring Me Hope, check out their website at www.bringmehope.org :)

Mother/Daughter Cruise '09

My mom took my sister Candice and I on a cruise to Catalina Island to celebrate my graduation! We left Thursday afternoon (the 11th) and returned Sunday morning. We had a lot of fun touring and shopping at the stops, and Candice ensured that we had a blast partying on the boat! It was pretty funny to see how my vision of the cruise (filled with reading and naps) clashed with Candice's idea of fun (make a lot of friends, dance, and stay out till 2 am), but it all panned out so Candice had sufficient fun and I had some time for reading! We did end up making some good friends including Lexi, a girl who has cerebral palsy (the same disease as my brother, Isaac) and two nice sophmore boys, Cody and Mitchel. As none of them are saved, I felt like God put them right in our path so that we could lift them up in prayer! Though I doubt I will ever see them again on this earth, I do hope and pray that God will draw them to himself, and that they might come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ so that I can sing praises with them in Heaven!
Probably one of the best parts of the cruise was the mother/daughter time Candice and I got to spend with our mom. This past semester has been so crazy for all of us, and it was nice to be able to hang out and relax together. We began each morning with Girl Talk by Carolyn Mahaney over breakfast and Mom continued to encourage us to pursue Christ with all our hearts in heart-to-heart talks throughout the voyage. It was such a blessing to have that time with her after the past few months. She is such a great mom, and it is wonderful to have the clear, open line of communication she continues to pursue with us. We all hope to make our mother/daughter weekend an annual tradition and plan to do it every year for the rest of our lives! Below are some pictures of our trip...

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I came prepared to catch up on all the reading I had missed over the semester...

Candice had different ideas!

Sisters = Best Friends Forever

Fine Dining... that first night I felt way under-dressed!

Heading to Catalina Island!

It was so refreshing to walk along the coast and just breathe in the fresh air!

I kept wanting to call it Count Olaf's Ice Cream... but either way it tasted mm mm good!

Elegant Night

La Bufadora

Me: "We shouldn't go down there... see the wet side walk?"

Mom: "Nobody looks wet... we will be fine!"

2 minutes later... SPLASH! and we got very wet!

Thank You Jesus for Awesome Cruise Trips!

Graduation :D

Well, it's official... I am a home school high school graduate! My parents graduated me on Friday with a beautiful speech (that made me cry) and a touching slide show (that made me cry even more). We then celebrated yesterday afternoon with a big luau! It was so amazing to see how many people were there who love and support me. God has truly blessed me with such a wonderful group of friends and family! I am so grateful to everybody who has played a role in my life, whether you made it to the graduation or not, and thank you for loving me!

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After I officially graduated, Kristen, Alicia, and Bethany spent the night and helped prepare for the party on Saturday... they are such amazing friends!

My first reaction as I realized that my mom will be taking me on a three day cruise with my sister... this coming Thurday! A fabulous graduation gift, in my opinion :-)

My Grandma flew out from Hawaii to be there for my graduation... it meant a lot :D This is me with all my sisters, Mom, and Grandma.

Dad... he choked up when he was graduating me and it made me cry the happiest tears I've ever cried... He is the best dad!

Happy Graduation to Me!!!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Yesterday evening my Dad took Candice, Luke, Noah, Gabe, Veronica, Elisa, Josh, and I to a Storm baseball game. We had so much fun rooting for our team and just hanging out. Here are some pics of the fun time we had :-)