Greetings Family and Friends.
First, I want to tell you how much I love you. Yes, I love each and every one of you so much that I want to spend eternity in Heaven with all of you, someday. With that being said, I pray you will have an open mind and will continue to read this edition of the blog until the end and really think about your future and where you will spend eternity. I am certainly not writing this to judge you in any way, but I am to spread the Good News to those I am in contact with. I cannot in good conscious not say anything to each of you about this issue. I care way too much about each of you to sit back and say nothing at all. Many of you do not understand why I came to Majuro, Marshall Island for a year as a missionary. I get that. And I don't expect you to understand it completely. Let me tell you what a missionary is, for those of you that may not understand or know. Simply put, a missionary is someone who proclaims Jesus as Lord and Savior. I never thought I would be a missionary on foreign soil, even for a year and especially not in some third world country half way around the world on an itty bitty island in the Pacific Ocean! Well, God had other plans for me. That is how He works, His ways are not my ways. Boy, am I glad about that! His ways are perfect, and sometimes we don't always see and understand the reasoning for things until after the fact, but the Lord does...He knew what was going to happen even before we are born! This was one of those times. I would never have been able to do this if I was not single. After finding this position last year and praying about it, the Lord led me to the decision of this is what I needed to do this year and where He wanted me to be. As a Christian, I have learned that when the Lord tells you something, you just might as well do it, or He has His ways of getting you on the path He has planned for your life. I am learning so much! This is the only place I could have learned these lessons too. Which, again, God knew and that is why I am here. I have been asked if I get homesick, and yes of course I do. Why? Because I totally love my family and miss them so very much! I guess if I didn't love them very much, I wouldn't be too homesick, but I do! I didn't know how homesick I would be until I arrived. I keep busy and that helps. But most importantly, I am hear teaching students about God's love everyday, even if I am a little homesick every once and again. I'm doing the Lord's Work and that is what matters.
Let me change gears a little bit here. I could say...Ask Jesus to come live in your heart and your life will be better. You might say, "Better than what? My life is already good." So, that is not what I am going to ask. I want to tell you a little story. If I came up to you and said someone has just paid your $500,000 ticket, isn't that great!" You would probably look at me like I'm crazy and wonder what I am talking about. However, if I said you had a $500,000 ticket for driving past a stopped school bus, and you could not pay the ticket. Now, I come up to you and say that someone has just paid your traffic ticket that you couldn't pay; you would understand and be completely grateful because you know the debt that someone has taken upon themselves for you, knowing that they will never be repaid. Well, Jesus Christ has done just that for you! He has paid yours and my debt of sin, which separates us from God for eternity. There is absolutely nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that you or I can do to make ourselves good enough to get into Heaven. The only way into Heaven and to seal our eternity to live with God forever when we die, is to accept His gift of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. But first, you have to know and understand what He did and why He did it for you. Think about these questions: Have you ever stolen anything, big or small? What do you call someone who steals? A thief. OK, have you ever lied? What do you call someone who lies? A liar. Now, have you ever used God's name in vain, meaning using it in a way that is disrespectful, have you spoken disrespectfully of God and sacred things? If so, you are a blasphemer. If you answered yes to all of these questions in your head, then by your own admittance, you are a blasphemous, lying thief. Guess what, I wish I can say that my answer to these three questions I just asked you was no, but I can't. If I did, then I would be lying. My answer is a resounding Yes! That was before I accepted Christ into my heart and He changed me. Am I perfect, no way! But, I am on my way to Heaven when I die. Is it because I am good? Nope. In Mark 10:18 it states that, "...none are good but one, that is God." Is it because I'm doing good works? Um, wrong again. Ephesians 2:8-9 says,"For by grace are we saved through faith; and not that of yourselves:It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any mand should boast." There is nothing you or I can do to "earn" Heaven. We get to Heaven by A-Admit what you are--a sinner who sins. B-Believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin and rose again 3 days later conquering death, the grave, sin, and Satan. C--Confess your sins to the Lord Who loves you and is waiting to welcome you into His family and ask Him to forgive you your sins! You must repent, which pretty much means, do a 180 turn and completely turn away from the sin and do the opposite...never to return to that sin again. Will you mess up? Talking for me, yep, I still do. But when I realize it, I ask for forgiveness and repent...turn away from it completely. See, Jesus came from Heaven as a baby. He took on human flesh, to be able to understand what we, as humans, would go through. There is nothing the Lord Christ has not experienced or dealt with that we encounter. He came, so that eventually He could conquer death, the grave, and Satan; and so He could take the punishment of our sins~big and small~and allow us to accept His free gift of salvation. Until we accept the truly free gift He is offering, we are sinners, separated from God, and deserve eternal death in the lake of fire~Hell, forever separated from our Creator. Please, I ask that you at least consider this...those that are reading that have not done this before...and before it is too late. If something here gets your mind thinking and wondering with questions, please ask away! If you don't want to ask me, please find someone from a Bible believing church to ask. If it still doesn't make complete sense, ask them to show you in God's Word what it says. If I don't know the answer, I will find out! Your life, and eternity, is too important to not find out the answers! Again, I am writing this out of love for all that are reading this~family, friends, and maybe others I don't even know! I pray that this message today has spoken to your heart about where you will spend eternity. Don't take this post lightly, and whether or not you agree, please continue to read my blog. I love you and will be praying for each of you.
Sarah
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Greetings!
I am sorry it's been a while since I last wrote. Just finding the time to sit down to write for a bit is a challenge. Over the last several months I have been enjoying reading books by Terri Blackstock. She is a Christian suspense writer. I am really enjoying these books! They are very quick reads! I can't seem to put them down once I get them. :)
I thought I would tell you about the holidays. I went Christmas Caroling a few times with the high school students and some of the staff. The first time I went with them, we went to 3 different business: Ace Hardware, EZ Price--which is kind of like a small department store, and Payless--the grocery store. This was the first time the school caroled at business. EZ Price actually has a sign outside the store, in which they put pictures up of the students singing. They even had these stores wanting them to come back and some calling for them to come! They were not the typical American Christmas songs, but they sure had presented the gospel and the Reason for the season to those who listened. I went another time when we went to the now-sitting President's home. It was a somber time, as they were having what we think of as a viewing/showing during a funeral. I think I mentioned before that they actually keep the body and decorated casket at their home for at least 7 days and have different groups come during this time. Well, that is what was going on at the President's home at this time. But we went to share the message of Christ with them. Actually, this President has several grandchildren in the school. Another time we went caroling to, I think it was 6 different homes, where parents have invited us. It was fun and entertaining for sure!
Anyway, that was before and after the Christmas play. The play was very good, and we had 3 showings of it...one that Friday in chapel for students, one Saturday evening, and one Sunday evening. Even when the time was getting close and the students don't seem to be getting it, they always pull it together at the last minute, it seems! I enjoyed helping with it! I got to know a lot of the students doing this, which was good.
I have come to decide that maybe my laptop has some kind of virus. It works fine, at least it seems to. Except when I try to plug in the camera, memory card, or flash drive. Then whatever is on it, does not appear on the computer. In fact, it says there are other files...and they are always the same...which I did not put on it nor will they open. But when I put this stuff back in the camera or whatever...pictures are all still there. So, that is all that I can figure out. Any ideas if that could be the case? I figure, I guess I won't be posting any more pictures until I come home. :( So, that just means I will have to save them to the memory card and only keep the ones that I want. At least I am able to take pictures though!
Christmas break was a very short one to say the least. It was about a week and a half. We had our Christmas program...in which each class comes in one at a time: sings a song, recites some Bible verses, or recites a poem. After your class goes, at least with the older ones, they can go. I pretty much let them go. Before our time, they were allowed to play some games, like UNO, tiddly winks, and Jenga. They really had fun doing that! Then, we were out. On that Saturday we cleaned and touched up the church. The benches were even repainted...and decorated. That evening we had our Sunday School party. Mrs. Buck came up with a couple of games. One game was like a cake walk...except there were other bags of "goodies". I was actually the first winner! I've always said 13 was my lucky number...and sure enough that night it was again! When the music stopped, I was on 13...and I thought wow, my lucky number. And that was the first number picked. Yippee! I got a bag of blueberry muffins and some cookies. Yummy. Then after that, we played a "right/left" game. I'm sure you've heard of it...I don't know what the correct name is for it...but they had gifts wrapped where we each picked one. Then, Mrs. Buck read the Christmas story so that every time she said right, we passed our gift right. And every time she said left, we passed them left. When the story was over, we got to unwrap our gifts. I loved the idea so much, that I am planning on doing it with my students at the end of the year. So, I am starting to get things to wrap and give them. I am sure they will enjoy it very much!
Christmas Day was different. I got up like normal. We were doing nothing until 3:00. We had a Christmas Day service. After the Service, we had a program with different singing, and then we had a meal. We are Baptists...if you know what I mean...always gotta have a meal! We had several young children in the service without any parents. I was told it is because the parents send these kids around just to get the food to bring it home. It may be their only meal for the day. Sad I know. In fact, New Year's Eve is like Halloween in the states. The kids come around and sing something about sharing and then say Happy New Year! We give out whatever we got that we don't really want...Mrs. Buck said one year they gave out bananas. And they had several kids eat them at the bottom of the steps because they knew if they went home with it, they wouldn't get to keep it. I think many people give out candy...that's what we did. Oh, but before New Year's Day, the other missionaries and I had an American style Christmas. I got to also meet the couple that runs the Salvation Army down the street from our school. It was a fun and relaxing day of fellowship.
Then, we started back to school Jan. 2. The first day back I had 11 students out of 27 show up to class! That was 16 students out...over half my class was out! Thursday was better with only 5 out. I had 4 out all 3 days that first week back. They are back now. We are finishing up the quarter, as we end second quarter/semester one on Jan. 17. So close to being halfway finished with the school year.
I do pray that each of you have a blessed and Happy New Year!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention something. I got a special package in the mail from a sweet friend of mine. And inside were special handmade Christmas cards from the 3rd Grade students at Athens Christian School. They were the students I had last year when I taught 2nd Grade there! They were so very sweet! I enjoyed each one very much! I could tell how much work and thought went into the cards. How sweet!
Also, thank you so much to those of you that sent Christmas cards! I enjoyed recieving them in the mail! I have them hanging up. Thank you so much for thinking of me! I'm sorry I could not send out cards this year! But each one of you were in my thoughts and prayers.
As some of my students would say at the end of their journals..."that is all I have for now. Thank you for reading."
Sarah
I am sorry it's been a while since I last wrote. Just finding the time to sit down to write for a bit is a challenge. Over the last several months I have been enjoying reading books by Terri Blackstock. She is a Christian suspense writer. I am really enjoying these books! They are very quick reads! I can't seem to put them down once I get them. :)
I thought I would tell you about the holidays. I went Christmas Caroling a few times with the high school students and some of the staff. The first time I went with them, we went to 3 different business: Ace Hardware, EZ Price--which is kind of like a small department store, and Payless--the grocery store. This was the first time the school caroled at business. EZ Price actually has a sign outside the store, in which they put pictures up of the students singing. They even had these stores wanting them to come back and some calling for them to come! They were not the typical American Christmas songs, but they sure had presented the gospel and the Reason for the season to those who listened. I went another time when we went to the now-sitting President's home. It was a somber time, as they were having what we think of as a viewing/showing during a funeral. I think I mentioned before that they actually keep the body and decorated casket at their home for at least 7 days and have different groups come during this time. Well, that is what was going on at the President's home at this time. But we went to share the message of Christ with them. Actually, this President has several grandchildren in the school. Another time we went caroling to, I think it was 6 different homes, where parents have invited us. It was fun and entertaining for sure!
Anyway, that was before and after the Christmas play. The play was very good, and we had 3 showings of it...one that Friday in chapel for students, one Saturday evening, and one Sunday evening. Even when the time was getting close and the students don't seem to be getting it, they always pull it together at the last minute, it seems! I enjoyed helping with it! I got to know a lot of the students doing this, which was good.
I have come to decide that maybe my laptop has some kind of virus. It works fine, at least it seems to. Except when I try to plug in the camera, memory card, or flash drive. Then whatever is on it, does not appear on the computer. In fact, it says there are other files...and they are always the same...which I did not put on it nor will they open. But when I put this stuff back in the camera or whatever...pictures are all still there. So, that is all that I can figure out. Any ideas if that could be the case? I figure, I guess I won't be posting any more pictures until I come home. :( So, that just means I will have to save them to the memory card and only keep the ones that I want. At least I am able to take pictures though!
Christmas break was a very short one to say the least. It was about a week and a half. We had our Christmas program...in which each class comes in one at a time: sings a song, recites some Bible verses, or recites a poem. After your class goes, at least with the older ones, they can go. I pretty much let them go. Before our time, they were allowed to play some games, like UNO, tiddly winks, and Jenga. They really had fun doing that! Then, we were out. On that Saturday we cleaned and touched up the church. The benches were even repainted...and decorated. That evening we had our Sunday School party. Mrs. Buck came up with a couple of games. One game was like a cake walk...except there were other bags of "goodies". I was actually the first winner! I've always said 13 was my lucky number...and sure enough that night it was again! When the music stopped, I was on 13...and I thought wow, my lucky number. And that was the first number picked. Yippee! I got a bag of blueberry muffins and some cookies. Yummy. Then after that, we played a "right/left" game. I'm sure you've heard of it...I don't know what the correct name is for it...but they had gifts wrapped where we each picked one. Then, Mrs. Buck read the Christmas story so that every time she said right, we passed our gift right. And every time she said left, we passed them left. When the story was over, we got to unwrap our gifts. I loved the idea so much, that I am planning on doing it with my students at the end of the year. So, I am starting to get things to wrap and give them. I am sure they will enjoy it very much!
Christmas Day was different. I got up like normal. We were doing nothing until 3:00. We had a Christmas Day service. After the Service, we had a program with different singing, and then we had a meal. We are Baptists...if you know what I mean...always gotta have a meal! We had several young children in the service without any parents. I was told it is because the parents send these kids around just to get the food to bring it home. It may be their only meal for the day. Sad I know. In fact, New Year's Eve is like Halloween in the states. The kids come around and sing something about sharing and then say Happy New Year! We give out whatever we got that we don't really want...Mrs. Buck said one year they gave out bananas. And they had several kids eat them at the bottom of the steps because they knew if they went home with it, they wouldn't get to keep it. I think many people give out candy...that's what we did. Oh, but before New Year's Day, the other missionaries and I had an American style Christmas. I got to also meet the couple that runs the Salvation Army down the street from our school. It was a fun and relaxing day of fellowship.
Then, we started back to school Jan. 2. The first day back I had 11 students out of 27 show up to class! That was 16 students out...over half my class was out! Thursday was better with only 5 out. I had 4 out all 3 days that first week back. They are back now. We are finishing up the quarter, as we end second quarter/semester one on Jan. 17. So close to being halfway finished with the school year.
I do pray that each of you have a blessed and Happy New Year!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention something. I got a special package in the mail from a sweet friend of mine. And inside were special handmade Christmas cards from the 3rd Grade students at Athens Christian School. They were the students I had last year when I taught 2nd Grade there! They were so very sweet! I enjoyed each one very much! I could tell how much work and thought went into the cards. How sweet!
Also, thank you so much to those of you that sent Christmas cards! I enjoyed recieving them in the mail! I have them hanging up. Thank you so much for thinking of me! I'm sorry I could not send out cards this year! But each one of you were in my thoughts and prayers.
As some of my students would say at the end of their journals..."that is all I have for now. Thank you for reading."
Sarah
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