Need a Car Wash?!

Saturday, June 9 our youth group held a fundraiser for our mission's trip to New York. We had a car wash. It was so much fun!!

The fun began just a couple days before that, though. Thursday, June 7 I decided I wanted to go to the school and paint signs for the car wash. Unfortunately, the only person I told was Alicia Smith, because I did not think anyone else would be up at 9. You see, I decided to go at 9 so then I could go straight to my doctor's appointment after that. Well Alica and I had a lot of fun, even though we did not even finish 1 sign in that hour. We kept on fighting over who was going to paint the letters on the sign. Neither one of us thought we could paint well, but we both did some of it. Then at the very end before we left, we each added a bubble and I drew the outline of what was going to be a sponge. When I got home from my doctor's appointment I asked my sister if she wanted to come to the school with me and paint some more signs. She thought it would be a good idea if we waited a little bit and invited some people. Well out of a bunch of people that we invited only 4 showed up. So Jenessa, Cher, Jared DeNeui, Clay Carns, Ceagan Carns, David Levy, and I were the only ones making the posters. Well let's just say, that was a lot of fun! My sponge ended up looking like a peanut and everyone made fun of it. Jared and Clay both drew pictures on their posters. The pictures were hilarious!! Then Ceagan finally decided to help paint David's arrow, even though he said he wasn't really helping. Then I had to leave and pick up some things for my sister before my soccer game. So I went home, picked up some freezees, brought them to the people making posters, and went to get what my sister needed. It was a great day!

Then on Friday I went to go put some of the posters ,that Jenessa had made, around town. I started asking the Boldts and Mrs. Thompson where I should put them up around town, then I decided I needed to make more small posters. I went back to painting for an hour and a half. Then I was finally done, and went to put them around town. First, I put one up in the library. Little did I know that it was like the start of the summer reading program so I got free ice cream. That was pretty awesome. Then I went to HyVee and saw Bryce and Mrs. McGuire working there. At first, the lady said that I was not able to put up the poster, but then she saw that it was for a church so I was able to. When I got up to the board, there was no pins. I didn't want to take away anyone's pins, so I overlapped one poster's corner with mine. Then I needed one more pin. I finally had the guts to ask one of the ladies working. She went to her own bulletin board and took 2 pins off just for me. How sweet of her! Then I went to Cash Wise and had them put one up, too. I think it was a pretty good day.

Then came Saturday, the day of the car wash. I was so excited I woke up at 7 just so then I could hang up some more posters and still be at the church at 8:30. Well, my plans were demolished because I forgot my dad took the suburbun, the car I normally drive. So I waited and finally we got to the church, but we were 1 minute late. I looked around and the only other person there was Mr. McGuire. Then, my sisters locked me out of the car because I was the only one that knew we had to be here at 8:30 and they did not think I was right, but I was. Finally, some other helpers showed up just a couple minutes after. We started hanging up posters on the side of the road. Then, our first 2 cars came. Anne Levy and I got the special privilege of drying the windows of the cars. Then, Pastor said we should get some signs and someone should hold them up on the side of the road. As soon as he said that I saw Alexis Duruji. In my head I said "light bulb". I brought Lexi inside and told her she had to do it. Unfortunately, Ceagan did not finish David's sign, so I had to glue on all of the letters on the back. It took me so long, but finally it was done. Then Alexis, Anne, and I all held up signs on the side walk. We were saying, "Come to our car wash and help support our mission's trip to New York." Anne thought the people were staring at us weirdly, but they were just looking at the sign. It was a lot of fun! After 2 hours though, we kind of wanted to switch with someone, but no one wanted our job. Then this one dude came by and talked to Lexi and I. Then he walked to where Anne was and talked with her. Then, he picked up Lexi's flip flops and started taking them away. When he got to us Lexi was like, "Thank you for finding my flip flops." He was going to carry them to the clothes and shoes drop off box. It was so hilarious! Then finally after another hour Sarah switched places with me. So then I started washing the windows. It was a lot of fun! Then after like an hour of that, I switched places with Anne so she could do that. Then I held up the sign with Marta. The whole day was a lot of fun! We washed many cars including Mr. Sorheim's huge truck. When it was all said and done, we earned $1000! That is so awesome!!


 I am so excited to see how God works in our lives during the mission's trip. It will be a blast! There is not a better group to go with then these people. I love them all!

I Have Truly Been Blessed!

My sister Cher and I have grown a lot closer in these last couple of years. I love spending time with her. On Christmas day, Cher and I went outside on top of our suburban and just sat there singing songs while star gazing. Don't worry we had blankets on, yet it really wasn't that cold. I saw my first shooting star that night, in fact I actually saw 3. We enjoy doing many numerous things together. She is a really great person. Her love for others and her passion to serve is amazing, but her relationship with the Lord is even more amazing. God is definitely number one in her life. I have truly been blessed to have her in my life.I love you!! 






Even though I only knew the Burggraffs for 3 short years, they sure made a huge impact on my life. Pastor Burggraff came, about 4 years ago, to become our new Pastor. I have learned so much from him. He was an amazing preacher and an amazing Bible teacher. I don't think I could ever get tired of hearing him preach. Mrs. Burggraff was my volleyball coach for 2 amazing years. The first year I was really scared of her because she was a tough volleyball coach, but then I grew to love her.  But she wasn't just worried about teaching us the different skills in volleyball, but more importantly she was worried about our relationship with the Lord. She wanted our relationship with the Lord to be the most important thing in our life. She wanted us to focus on glorifying him. Whether we won or whether we lost we would praise Him. I will never forget those 2 years of volleyball. She also helped me with my first solo. I was so nervous, but I knew I could do it, besides the reason we sing should be to bring glory to God. I have learned so much from her. I look up to her greatly. Her passion to serve God is just amazing. She has helped me grow so much in my relationship with the Lord. I can talk to her about anything. She is just one phone call away. Even though this family has moved over 1,000 miles away, they are still very near and dear to my heart. I look forward to and love getting texts from Anna, she is such a sweetheart. And I absolutely love getting phone calls from them. I love that family so much!!!






I am so very thankful for the Dows. There are so many wonderful memories that I have with the Dows. Like Wheel of Fortune during Health Class! That was so much fun! When I first met Mr. Dow I thought he was the coolest person just because he hit Kari in the face with a dodge ball.  The next year he became our teacher. The Dows had it very rough the first year of teaching and I am so thankful that they stayed. The next year was a year that changed my life. That year our whole high school and junior high went on a camping trip. This camping trip was a time for us to get away from school and grow both in our relationship with each other and in our relationship with God. That was a life changing year for our whole secondary. After that, you could see a difference in our attitudes. It was amazing. Mrs. Dow was also my Sunday School teacher. We did a couple Bible studies and everything. I learned so much from her. It is really amazing how God can bring so many amazing people into your life to help you and then in God's timing He will take them away because there work is done in that place. The Dows are definitely another family that I will never forget.

 Kari is also one of those great friends of mine. I have known Kari since I was 4 years old when my mom first started doing Day Care for her. At first her and I were friends yet enemies at the same time. She would always break my things or be mean to me. For instance imagine me, Kari, and a toilet, not the best thing ever. Then again, even though she was mean to me, I was also mean to her. I always tattle tailed on her. As I got older I started feeling worse about that because I would see her get her mouth washed out with soap by her mom. In fact, once she knew she was going to get in trouble so she just washed her own mouth out with soap. I felt terrible, but at least her mom felt bad because she did it on her own. Well even though we were not the nicest to each other when we were young, Kari is definitely one of my closest friends now. I love her so much!!

 I love my family so much! They are the ones who have been there for me all of my life. My Dad is someone I look up to very much. I absolutely loved going on bike rides with my dad when I was a little girl. And I still love going fishing with him out on his boat. Once we were fishing at the Griffins cabin and I dropped his favorite fishing pole into the water. I don't know how, but I caught part of the line. Well my dad got his fishing pole back after like 10 minutes of pulling the line out of the water. That is something I will never forget.

Then there is mom. When I was little my mom would try to give us spankings, but I don't even know if you could consider it a love pat because it was so light. She was always afraid she was going to hurt us. My mom had it ruff because she got stuck with Jenessa and I. Supposedly when I was like 2 Jenessa and I ran out onto the road. One of us went one way the other went the other way. I don't know how she survived, but I am glad she did. The other day one of my teammates in soccer said, "I wish my parents came to my soccer games." Well my mom has always been at like every sport event whether it was soccer, volleyball, or basketball so I felt really terrible for them. Well they actually said this when my mom was in the hospital so she was not able to be there. My mom was so sad that she had to skip my first soccer game and my second one. In fact, she cried every time. It shows how much she cares.

Then there is Jenessa. Oh my! Jenessa is my twin and will always be one of my closest friends. When i was 4 years old I fell off the side of the bridge and cracked my head open in the dam. When I got up I still had my bag of cookies in my hand, but I had lost one of Jenessa's shoes. She did not care that I almost died (well actually she did), but she was really upset for me loosing her shoe. She claims that she has never forgiven me for that, but I think she really has. I will never forget that. When we were little we were always partners in crime. It was either that or we would be fighting each other. Even though we used to fight all the time, we really do love each other. She is such a great sister and I love her so much.

I would write about how i have been blessed to have Jessica and James in my life, but I already have in my posts about them.






What is the reason for you to go to church? We go to church so we can fellowship with other believers and grow together as one in Christ. Christ should be our main focus while we are at church. Church is a place where we can learn more about God and share how God has worked in our lives. We pray for each other and we have a relationship with each other. We build each other up when we are sad. We help out each other. For instance, when my mom was in the hospital people brought us meals. That was such a wonderful blessing.  The Bible says in Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." We have a chance to witness to people and to disciple others through our Awana program and through our opportunities to work at camp and go on missions trip. I love my church. Ever time I go to church I am encouraged by the wonderful people there. I don't know where I would be at if I would not have trusted Christ as my personal Savior and if I wouldn't have such a wonderful Church to help me grow in my relationship with Christ. I have truly been blessed to have such a wonderful Church.