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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Sixteen... Wow

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As you may have guessed by my updated heading, I am a year older now! My sixteenth birthday was yesterday, June 22nd. I can hardly believe it! This year has gone so quickly by, retrospectively it feels like a matter of months. So much has happened, but the year has still flown by, I must be getting old ;) . Every year I realize just how blessed I am. God has given me so many blessings in my life I would never be able to count them all. I am so thankful that God has been so good, and that he has given me another year of life!

It's funny how age works in my mind. I usually do not think about how old I am at all, so as soon as my birthday rolls around I end up thinking "Wow" and it snaps me into perspective. I have always felt that one should not be judged by their age, and I do my best to be the same way. "Say not I am to young" is one of my favorite scripture verses in the Bible. You are never to young to let God move in miraculous ways for you. It is not about what you do, but what you let God do for you. Nothing that anyone accomplishes in spirituality is on their own terms, it is all God. One of the easiest lies the devil tells the youth of today is to put themselves in a box. The box saying "You are to young." "No one cares about what you think." "You can do it on your own, totally by yourself." This is one of the most dangerous things that teens believe, because that is not at all what God thinks. God's plan for children, youth, and adults are all equally as magnificent. Some of the most remarkable Saints in history were young people. Saints who didn't fall into that box the devil set out for them. The Saints that pushed the boundaries and lived to their absolute fullest potential. I am not going to begin to pretend I have accomplished this, but at least I know the truth.

Teenagers today need to step up, to live what God has planned for us. I am going to high school this fall, and I am praying that I find a community of young people living wonderful lives. I am afraid this may not happen, but I have hope. I have hope because I know just how much God loves us, how much God loves everyone. To see the way that so many young people live today makes me so sad. I know that so many young people fall into the lies of this world but we are not of this world. We are children of the most high God who died for us. Everyone needs to step up, to love those who struggle, to help them, to turn to God for his help that he wants so desperately to give us! Today a lot of the struggles lie in teens, who are trying to figure out who they are, who are trying to live the lives they want to live, who are searching for love. God is the only one who can save, not only teens, but everyone. He loves us so desperately. I am not saying that I do not struggle the same way, because I do, every day. God is bigger than struggling though, nothing can separate us from his love. This is the truth that will set us free. The truth that no matter how much we screw up, or how awful we feel, God loves us just the same.

This blog is such a great blessing in my life. I watch as my stats, followers, and page views grow and I realize that God is really using this as a tool for his glory. Because, what I have to say is not so interesting, but what God has to say is truth, love, and glorious freedom! I want to thank you for reading, you, the one who is reading this right now. Thank you for blessing me and for, I hope, listening to what God has to say today. You are not to young, to old, to small, to sinful to live to the fullest of your potential! God loves you soooooo much! I keep you always in my prayers. Have a blessed day, week, year and life!

Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse

Monday, June 20, 2011

Happy Father's Day

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am sorry that this post is coming a day late. Yesterday was a very busy day, full of huge, yummy meals, a long walk in the sun, and a visit with Jesus at mass. We celebrated with my step-father Kevin, by making a huge meal of ribs and other yummy things, and by giving him gifts. My mom and Kevin have been married for two and a half years now, and Kevin has been such a blessing to our family. My dad lives in Rome, so we weren't able to to see him yesterday, but he was in my prayers and mind all day.

It is such a blessing to have so many great and holy men of God in my life. My grandfathers, uncles, dad, and even friends have shown me wonderful examples of fatherhood my whole life. The ultimate example though is God the father. God is the perfect father, who never fails, who never falters, who is always there loving you. God has also given us fathers to share his love with us. The celebration of father's day is a wonderful reminder of what a great blessing it is to have fathers in our life. I hope your father's day was blessed by celebrating with your fathers, or by being celebrated yourself. God bless!

Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Faith Camp Staff Retreat

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I have had such a busy and blessed week! I left to Abbeville on the 9th and arrived late that night. On the 10th I had a blessed day, where I was able to relax, read, and then go to my friend's house. The 11th was the beginning of our two day, one night staff retreat for Faith Camp. For those of you who don't know what Faith Camp is, I will fill you in.

It is a summer camp for kids in Junior High, you can be a camper for three years, and after that a disciple. After you are a disciple for one year you become staff. All of the staff is high school students, with the exception of a few college students and only a few adults. The camp lasts a week and is filled with so much fun, prayer and community. I feel that it is one of God's greatest works for his youth here on Earth. My uncle John Paul is the head coordinator, but there are a handful of on fire servants of the lord that also coordinate this camp. This is my fifth year to participate in faith camp. I am now a staff member!

Faith Camp is one of the most precious things in my life. I am so blessed to have been able to participate for the past four years. This year I am a cabin leader, and a team leader. Usually the two jobs are split, but since we are short staffed I get to be both. Under normal circumstances, I would probably be a team leader since it is my first year staffing. I had really wanted to be a cabin leader, but had decided to be patient and rejoice in anything God had for me. I am so excited that I get to be the leader of a cabin full of campers! I, along with one other girl, will be leading a cabin of twelve to sixteen girl campers throughout the week. I always looked up to my cabin leaders, and will be super blessed to be in the opposite situation now. The camp is from July 11th to the 15th. If you are reading this and are interested in attending or staffing Faith Camp, you can find the information at www.bestweekofyourlife.com

The staff retreat was super blessed! I feel that since we are so small, I will really get the opportunity to know all of the staff. To be in such a holy environment is so good for me, I can feel my soul being refreshed. We covered all of the details of the week, signed up for skits and jobs, and had time as a community. We played games, the girls dominated :) , and had praise and worship. It was all so blessed, and I could see the joy and love on everyone's faces. I have so may friends amongst the staff that I feel like we get to be having a super awesome, blessed party!

Please pray that Faith Camp goes super blessed. I am on the red team, and my job is to pray for weather, I ask that you all pray with me. Good weather is essential to Faith Camp, and God has always provided against the odds these past fifteen years! Pray that it be the best year yet, and that God pours special blessings on all of the staff. God bless!

Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse

Sunday, June 5, 2011

A Beautiful Missionary Wedding

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Yesterday I had the super blessed opportunity to go to a wedding! Not only was it a wedding, it was a wedding between two beautiful missionaries, who I love! I absolutely love weddings, I always feel so blessed to see the way that God brings two people together in such a beautiful sacrament. My mom was Kristen's bridesmaid and that was great :) The wedding was in Texas, so we took a five and a half hour drive to get there, but that is nothing compared to seventeen hours, so it didn't feel to long. I was so happy to see a bunch of fantastic people there! All of the stateside FMC missionaries, plus the girls from General Cepeda were there. Also, my good friend Hollis was a photographer, and I was happy to spend the day before the wedding swimming with her.

The ceremony was beautiful and super blessed! The music was fantastic, and I am planning to recruit them to sing for my wedding ;) . You could feel God so strongly amongst the people there. Kristen looked so absolutely stunning, like a princess! Jonathan was glowing and it was smiles all around. Kristen's dad is a deacon and so he was able to give the homily, which was amazing! He talked about their missionary vocation, and their vocation as a married couple, and you know that he meant it from his heart. God truly talked through him and everyone felt it. The ceremony is always the best part of the wedding, because it is the most important part, and their ceremony was definitely partaking in the glory of God. You could almost hear the angels singing along with us as they sat at the feet of God in heaven!

The reception was great too, and it was awesome to see all of the fun they were having. There was dancing, toasting, eating and laughing, it was great! It was also super fun and holy, which is always awesome! They were glowing the whole time, and they really enjoyed themselves. We stayed till the very end and then had a blessed drive home.

Also, he surprised her for their honey moon, which I think is really sweet. I don't know if I would want that, but Kristen loves surprises! They are in Mazatlan Mexico, a wonderful choice on his part! Jonathan has a blog that is in my list of missionary blogs, he hasn't updated it for a while, I wonder why ;) But if you want to check it out you can!

Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse