Photo's from our trip to California

Here are some photo's from our recent trip to California.
We went to visit my Grandma. It was really wonderful to see her again.
We also went to the beach and Knots Berry Farm. It was a blast! :)

Me and my grandma

Us at the Berry Farm

Me and (ahem) my Mountain Dew. haha.

Dad and Boaz

It could appear that the girls in our family are happier than the boys. :D

My Aunt Joise and me (As you might be able to tell by our noses, we got into a cake fight - she started it. haha)

My little doll

I think this is a ground hog. Isn't it cute?! :)


Dad and Mom

One of my senior pictures. :)

(thanks Rae for all the help with editing! <3)

Happy 19th Bithday...

... To the best sister in the whole world! (No, you can't even beg to disagree!)

Since we were little (I should say "littler", cuz we're both still short!) we've played, worked, argued, (she is MY sister, you know) read, and basically everything we did we did together.

She's was my hero. I always wanted to be just like her, ('till she decided to marry a Chinese man! :D) even though I never did become like her, she still is and always will be my hero!

I truly have never know a girl as wonderful as her. To put it simply, she's amazing!

If she's your friend you have an amazing precious friend. She'll believe in you, and always think the best. If you do something wrong "there must be some mistake", and if you do something right, she "knew you could do it"!

Some of my favorite memories with her are telling her about books I just read or am reading. I remember telling her stories from Robin Hood while we both almost died laughing - to Pride and Prejudice, as I wondered if somehow Jane Austen knew her - she just HAS to be Jane! Or explaining the Ivanhoe plot once more just for the fun of it. Having her roll her eyes at me as I quoted a section from Macbeth.

The witnessing we did together Halloween night, and at fairs. Like the time she dared me to go up and witness to a group of about 20 teenage boys - wow, that was scary! :D

And then the day came when her life dream looked like it was coming true. She was getting on a plane and heading to China as a missionary - because she loved Jesus, and as she would have said it "so that the Lamb would receive the reward of His suffering."

I knew I would miss her, what I didn't know was how much. I told her when she left she wouldn't come how single. She didn't believe me. But I was right. She left May 20th, and in September she became engaged to a Chinese man. (that I had never met :'/) I couldn't be more happy for her. But neither can I help but feel said at the same time. I will miss my sister.

She's Rachel!

I Love you so extremly much! I know you have no choice but to be my sister, thanks for bearing it as best you can! ;)

Deeper Conference Part 2

Alright. I guess an apology is in order. It's been forever since the promised post about the conference, and the rest of our trip to GA. It's really isn't an excuse to say I've been busy. It's the truth. :P So there. Get over it. I'm not even going to apologize. :D lol.

We got to the conference around 11:oo pm. It didn't start till 1:00 pm - but we got nearly a front row seat. That was so worth it. :D
Before it started I got to meet Ray Comfort, and I got a picture with him. Yes, he is just the same person as you see him on his DVD's. I was actually very impressed by him. For some reason I always thought he'd be someone with a really big head, but he wasn't at all. He really seemed to care about people, taking time with each one ect.

Ray was so funny though, because when Chris went to take the picture of us Chris said "Whoa, this thing is way zoomed in!" So Ray (with his arm around me) started RUNNING backwards, and was just laughing so hard. :D

(Ray and Me)
Anyhow, then Chris and I spotted Paul Washer, so we went over then and talked to him for a bit, (and told him about a dear friend of mine from WI that says Hello! :D) and then it was time to start.

Paul Washer

(Paul Washer and me)

(Paul Washer and Chris)

I got to meet Trish too, she was so sweet! :)

The actual conference was really wonderful. It was inspiring and challenging. God really blessed me there.

I learned so much!

I think the two messages that blessed me most were Paul Washer's message on re
al Christianity, and Todd Friel's called "Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt - you can trust the Bible".

I really appreciated the things that Paul said about false conversions, and how in so many church's they spend their time trying to convert a goat into being a sheep. Also, the CLEAR gospel message that he gave was just beautiful. What Jesus went through for me. Not His physical suffering, but the separation from the Father, and the sin of the whole world upon His shoulders!

(Paul preaching for Todd's "Wretched" show)

Then what Todd shared about really just the amazing-ness of the Bible. 66 books over thousands of years, and yet all are in agreement. The propheys that were fullfilled. Wow.

Oh, and I should mention that we brought him his Honey Crisp apples, and he seemed very happy and excited about them. He said he and his family had been talking about them for months! :D ;)

(Me, Todd and Boaz - Yes, he did "shrink down" quite a bit for this picture because I told him I liked getting pictures with Ray better 'cuz he's more my height. Todd responded "We can fiz that!" :D)
I would write more about the conference and all, but since I have taken so long to write this post, I have already told most of you all about it, so I don't think it's worth it to just totally repeat myself. :P

The Fontenots

The next thing we did after leaving the conference was go to some dear friends of ours to visit them. I am dead convinced they have to be one of the sweetest families on earth! :)

We got to there place around 7 pm, we ate supper with them, us girls did some singing, we all played tag out side, (I hadn't played tag since I was like 12 :D) and just had a ton of fun! It was an amazing night.

I think the best part was being able to see my adopted sister, and amazing, wonderful friend Caiti again. She is one of the best friends I've ever had!

(Caiti and Me)
The one thing, though that I didn't think was very nice was that they MADE me drink coffee. Ok, I had promised that I would - but that's another story that I won't get into! :P

And then, I got to meet my dear, dear friend Laura! That was wonderful!

I could name each one off, Bekka, and the whole Fontenot family! (Soliee is amazing at the piano - after we finally got him to play. Much begging on out hands and knees. :D lol)

Then 10:30 pm came all too soon, and Dad said we had to go. :'( But I knew we were going to there Church Sunday morning, so that was a concilation! :D lol.

(Me and Bekka)


A Bunch of us :D

The boys! :)

We went to there Church. It was wonderful. Full of tons more sweet people. I really enjoyed it a lot.

The unfortunate truth though was that after Church we had to head back to WI. Us gals talked, (I better not say chatted or ya'll think we were on line.) took pictures and gave goodbye hugs - tlll next time. Which could possibly be at Rae's wedding. :D

Quinn and Me Quinn, Me, and Caiti

Me and Abby! ^ I <3 this girl!

Bekka, Sarah, Me, Quinn, and Caiti!

I can't wait to see all ya'll (isn't that the way you say it?) again! I miss you gals so much! <3

Happy Birthday, Ben!

You're the cutest boy in the whole world!  

I love you so much! 

Happy 1st birthday!

Brittney & Andrew's Wedding

Here are the requested pictures of Britt and Andy's wedding!  I must say it was a beautiful wedding and I was SO happy to have been there!

Congratulations Andrew and Brittney!  I'm very happy for you both!!!

... and I got to see my dear friend Hannah!!! I love and miss you girl! <3

I'm Encouraged ... please continue to pray!

"To Rebecca's Parents"

"Greetings in Christ,

It has been a very long time since I've written to Rebecca.  I feel that God is telling me to write to you.  When I met your daughter at Monroe County Fair, I think it was two years ago, I was impressed with her.  She had a light that shone and was unmistakably from Christ.  You are doing a wonderful job raising your children to love and serve the Lord.  Your family has been in my prayers and I hope all is well with you.

There is more I'd like to say, but I'm unsure how to say it and whether now is the time.

Please accept my best wishes and prayers for you and your children.  May God's love sustain you."

Molly Shields.

Please pray for this lady, as she said, I met her two years ago at the Monroe County Fair.  When I talked to her I remember that she was a former Roman Catholic, but she had left the church.  But I did not sense that she was born-again.  We emailed back and forth for a while, somehow though, we lost contact.  I had prayed for her a lot... I'm not exactly sure what she meant by this email, but maybe God is working in her heart.  She seemed very open when I talked to her, but I don't think she ever had the "from darkness to light" experience.

I'm just posting this to ask you all to pray.  God has really proven to me the power of prayer lately, and like George Muller said, prayer is like  a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets.

Oh, and today I got a call from the Catholic nursing home for the nuns.  They are going to have me work for them.  Next week they're going to call me with a schedule! :D

I'm very excited!  Thank you everyone for your prayers!  Please continue to do so if you think of me!

Answered Prayer!

Okay, there's this Catholic nunnery about 10 minuets or so away from our house, and this past winter I drove past it every week.  I had a burden for these dear older ladies for a long time.  

So, I started praying that God would give me an opportunity to witness to these ladies.  Then I thought, well you know, I should just go over there and volunteer for any work they might have, and maybe then I'd be able to share with them.  I talked to my family about it some, and they all basically told me that I had a great idea but as soon as I went they'd say; Are you Catholic?  and of course I would tell them no.  That would be the end.

I just kept praying about it... 

Today I needed to run some errands, and I thought; It's on the way, so what's the hurt in trying?

I was praying almost the whole way there.  When I went in the first thought that came to my mind was Wow, they really are Catholic! :D (The huge cross necklaces and everything) I went up to the front desk and told the lady I would like to volunteer for any work they might have helping with the "sisters".  She seemed very happy and surprised.  She called the administrator who took me to her desk, had me sit down and tell her a little bit about myself, what I'd be willing to do ect.    After all that she said "Well, Rebecca we'll see what we can do, let me check with my schedule and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  I think I'll have you work a couple times a week for two hours each time.  Thank you very much for being willing to do this.  I'll have you doing things like; reading to them, writing their letters, even feeding the blind ones their food."

I couldn't believe what I just heard!  It was exactly what I'd been praying for.  I don't know why I was surprised, God can to anything.  I was just think WOW the whole way home. :)

Anyhow, I just thought I'd share this with you all... if you think of me you're welcome to pray that God would give me lots of opportunity's to witness for His name.

God is SO amazing!

I've been gone this past weekend at the La Crosse County Fair, and I thought I'd share a bit of what went on and ask you all to pray.

I'd like to start out by saying; please never doubt God, He is so amazing! I know that might sound weird, but a lot of times I pray for something and then I'm shocked when God answers. I really shouldn't be because God has never failed me, but I often fail Him, I just need to loose all trust in myself and totally rely on Him for everything.

God was so faithful this past weekend, I was able to present the gospel tens of times, and funny how I can share and share and share and I never get tired of telling the beautiful gospel over. I never said "man, I have to tell that again", it was more like "wow, God, you are so good to let a forgiven wretch like me share such an awesome story of God's love for all mankind!" I can't even begin to explain how blessed I was, I mean, nothing match's being able to share of the cross of Christ!

At one point I was talking to a group of young people and I had went through the law with them, and then I presented the gospel, and this young man probably about 17 started jumping up and down yelling "I just got it, I just got it" and his friends were like "you just got what?", and he said "The whole reason why Jesus had to die on the cross, it never made sense to me before, but now I see because of my sin He had to die." It really made me think that the modern day gospel that Jesus died to give people a better life or that He just "has a wonderful plan for their life" doesn't even make sense to people. It gives no reason for the death of Jesus, and then if they "try Jesus" and it doesn't work then they're bitter. We need to remember to share with people that they must come to Jesus for righteousness, because many times people don't have a better life when they are born-again but rather the promise is fulfilled "all they that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution."

As a funny note, though, I was told that I have a New Hampshire accent, and they wanted to know where I was from. When I told them I'd lived in Wisconsin all my life they said "well, maybe it's just a knock-around country accent." :D LOL. I thought that was so funny. I've never been told something like that before!

Caren witnessing 

Chris witnessing

Me with a pretty wild group! :D

Aubrey and I

Chris and Christy witnessing :)

Dad talking to some friends of ours

See if you can pick Chris and Mr. Mattews out of the crowd. ;)

Mr. Mattews and Chris again

Me and my good friend Kenndal  (thanks for liking me even after all our heated talks ;) :D)

Laren, me, and Aubrey

I love you, Christy!  Thanks for all your help this past weekend!  Your love and passion for God was such a blessing, and I don't think I could've done made it without your great sense of humor!  (I really think that's why we hit it off ;) j/k)

A very Happy belated birthday to you!   (((hugs)))