3 Days

On Sunday begins the start of my 2 week travels out of O'Fallon. I will be going to Osage, OK and Orlando, FL. It is going to be an amazing time because I believe God has amazing things in store for this youth group. I know He will reveal Himself to us in our small discussion groups after each day. The only thing I'm going to miss that we won't have this year is a small group. Last year we had 5 people come...now it's 20 people. I'm going to miss that small intimate group time. But I am glad that almost the entire youth group is able to come. Praise God for the miracles He is going to do in hearts and lives of others.

<3 Schmanda

Technology

Sometimes, technology can be so frustrating. I try to upload pictures on my facebook and it takes forever to do so. If there is any way to make technology work faster and more productive, I would love to meet the inventor behind it. Anyway, that would be my frustration for today.

HOME

Well, I'm home and boy do I feel sick. I have a cold and it stinks because I didn't get to bed last night until like 2:30 in the morning. The final day of Branson was fine. We didn't get to go to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum but we did go to Meremac Caverns. It was quite interesting. It's amazing that such beautiful artwork can come from just plain old boring rock-and God is the artist of it all. HOW AWESOME IS HE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<3 Schmanda

Branson, MO-Day 2

Today we went to the Hollywood Wax Museum and the Titanic Museum. At the Titanic Museum, we got to look at real stuff from the ship and get to learn about the history of each piece. I got to expierence the actual tempature outside on the deck and the actual water temperature. The water temp was 28 degrees and you would get hypothermia within 20 minutes-talk about freezing. Then after we ate lunch, we went to the Hollywood Wax Museum and saw replicas of movie characters and stuff. I will post the pictures on my facebook page when I get back from the trip. I think one of the pictures I took will be my facebook picture. They look freakin' sweet!!! Now we have just one more day to go and we plan on going to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. I hoping they have a floor that is straight but once you walk on it or up it, you lean back!! That would be amazing!!!!!!!

<3 Schmanda

P.S. Good luck to Jake, Kourtni, Hillari, and Jordan at nationals for TBQ. I'll be praying and rooting for you guys!!!! You all work so hard to learn more about God and grow deeper in Him!!!

Branson, MO

Well, I made it to Branson and I survived the car ride there. It was a grueling 5-6 hour drive and we hit the rode at 7 in the morning-Talk about early!!! We went to the World's Largest Toy Museum and took tons of pictures for Pastor Marc to see. I promised him that I would take pictures for him. We are at the Country Inn Hotel and they have an autographed guitar from 1991 w/ performers from Branson. Took a picture because I like it. Doing more stuff tomorrow...I'm trying to enjoy the trip but I miss my church family at home. Soooo badly wish I was going to church tomorrow. The percussion team is performing-which I'll miss 'cause I'm 5-6 hours away...I could play over a webcam.

<3 Schmanda

Family Trips

Well, this weekend I'm going to Branson, MO w/ the family. It should be fun to spend time together but I'm not really looking forward to it. We are supposed to be going to a bunch of museums and we aren't even going to the amusement park there. That was the one thing I was kind of hoping to do. But since we aren't doing that, I'm going to try to have a good time even if it is w/ the family. One of the museums is a toy museum and yes Pastor Marc, I will take pictures for you. I still have to pack. Uggh...packing is soooo boring in my opinion, but to me, it's what your packing for.

<3 Schmanda

Presence

Last night at the youth service, I felt the presence of God there. While I was praying in a corner alone, Pastor Marc came over and told me a small sentence that I believe God was telling me personally. He said, "Give God your all in the next 5 weeks...you won't regret it!!!!" To me, that was a powerful message. I felt like God was telling me to let go of some of things going on in my life that I need to let go of. God puts amazing people in my life to communicate w/ His followers on earth.

<3 Schmanda

P.S. I'm trying to fix my commenting because people have been telling me that they can't comment. So, I'm trying.

Anticipation

Do you ever get the feeling that you just can't wait for something to come? Tha moment of suspense. That's how I've been feeling for the past couple of days. As the anticipation of this year's mission's trip to Oklahoma and the National Fine Arts to ORLANDO gets closer and closer, I start to feel the pressure and God's presense filling me w/ important tasks and the right words to say to the right people. God puts us on this earth not only to have free will but to freely worship Him and to minister to people who don't know the truth. ANTICIPATION is the wat to PATIENCE!!!

<3 Schmanda

Church Chairs

Putting the church chairs in order is a puzzle to me. You have to find the marks on the ground to line them up properly. In addition to all of that, we had to spot the unholy chairs and put stickers on them. Zach said they were lepers...lol...funny Zach. We put them in the back because we don't need lepers in the front. Although they need healing. But doing a puzzle at church seemed to make my day.

<3 Schmanda

Youth

Well, last night we had youth and there was hardly anyone there. Even though we had such a small group, I felt like the presence of God was in the place. Sometimes God shows up in the smallest of prediciments. Sometimes we feel separated from Him but we just have to seek Him even more. God said that He will never leave us nor forsake us...we just have to pursue after Him. God is always there for us even in the smallest of groups~just like our small mission's trip group last year. We only had 5 teenagers w/ 2 adults. Even in that I felt God's presence. There's just something about an intimate group that pursues after God.

<3 Schmanda