A facebook note!

I wrote this on Facebook a while back, but I just recently found it again. I thought it had a good message and so I decided to post it on here! Hope you enjoy!! :)

Hey guys! Well, I just got through making (well.... at least trying!) some rice krispie treats! See, I'm not the best baker in the world, but I do enjoy trying. The worst part of all is that I REFUSE to read the directions! Anyway, tomorrow night a Bible study I'm involved in is having a Christmas party and I thought that I would bring some cute Christmas rice Krispie treats! They were (hopefully still are lol!) going to have one layer of rice krispies, then a layer of icing w/ red and green mnms, and then finally another layer of rice krispies *yum yum**! Although, some where along the way I messes up. I think half of the krispies part is still stuck to the bottom of the pan!!!
Anyway, I started thinking..... This is just like our lives w/ Christ. We can have great intentions and everything, but if we do not read God's word then everything is useless. By not reading the directions I made a terrible (Yes, I do mean terrible lol!) mess. So many times we (at least I do) think I can handle this on my own, but in the end I have truly just made a huge mess!
So, my challenge to you is spend some time w/ your Lord and Savior today!!!! Life can get sticky some times, but if we just read and FOLLOW the directions everything will work out!
As far as the ricekrispies.... We will see how they turn out lol! Maybe some will turn out so that I can take it to the Bible study tomorrow night! Doesn't this make you feel sorry for my future husband lol?
W/ all jokes aside... Have you done your quiet time today?? If not, go do it!!! Read the instructions!!!! Luv ya!!!

The time of my life!!

Well.... It's been a while! Life has been hectic, but you know when is it not? I've been having a wonderful time just enjoying life and growing closer to God! This pic was taken last week at the Homecoming game when i was hanging out with some of my awesome friends!!

2 post in one night!!!

I'm not sure when i will have another chance to blog so I decided to post some pictures of some fun I have been having with friends!! I'm SOOOOOOOO blesses by the friends i have!! Love you guys!! <3>

Jennifer ~ Phil 1:3-4~

Wow!! Its been a long time...

Whew... Life has been crazy lately. Anyway, God has been laying something on my heart and so I finally found some time to share it with my blogging buddies!!

So, here it goes.... As Christians we on average disagree with foul language/ cussing or whatever you want to call it. I my self can not stand it. Although, as I was reading in a book the other day it hit me. We (Christians) often have our own watered down version of cuss words. I'm not going to list the words, but you know what I'm talking about. We have changed "bad" words just a little although we know what they mean and we say it in that same sense. So... whats the difference?? Others (Nonbelievers) also know what we mean. Do you get my point??!! I'm sure you have heard someone say how people are watching you, but it is the truth! When we say we are Christians it is as if we are wearing a name tag that says, "Representative of Christ". What kind of representative are you being? You may not directly say a cuss word, but is your language on the line? Can it be interpreted as wrong? You know... we can not control someone else's opinion of us or Christ b/c of us for that matter, but we can control the information we provide them that helps them make that conclusion!

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give give grace to those who hear.

Christ's Representative,
Jennifer

God opens and shuts doors!!

So... within the last week I have been accepted to work at Ballantrae Golf Course. I wasn't wanting a job nor looking for one. Although, God just opened the door and more less pushed me in! Most of you know that my dad has been without a job for close to 10 months now and nothing as far as a full time job has even come close to opening up. We don't know what God's plan is, but we are trusting that He has a plan! In HIS time HE will open the door...

~ Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge His and He will direct your paths.~

Jennifer

Blessings!!

So... I've been thinking about different little blessings that I believe sometimes or often we over look. For instance, friends! They are such a blessing, but we (at least i know i do!) take them for granite! Until you loose one you do not notice how precious they truly are! Also, I never realized until dad lost his job how much of a treat eating out was! You know.... I mean think about it, Until you do not have something it seems immaterial! Although, its also the same thing with God. Why do we all the sudden need Him when things are going wrong, but do not cherish Him when things are going good? We should be earnestly seeking Him just as much during the great times as the bad/hard times!

Anyway.... It's just a thought!

Jennifer

Pictures!!

Let the Children come unto me... -Jesus Friends Forever!!

Caleb is amazing with kids!!
They were PRECIOUS!!!!

All she wanted was love.....

Today was the last day of 2008 CEF summer ministry...

Well.... we made it! It has been a long and hard summer although extremely fruitful! God has been SO amazing! We ended the summer with 2 Hispanic children accepting Christ as their personal Savior! How amazing? I'm uploading some pictures to my computer right now, so I will post them a little later!

I just wanted to share a precious moment I had today! A young Hispanic girl was sharing with me how she already knew her verse that we had taught today. She had memorized it during club! Anyway, she asked me what she would get if she went ahead and told it to me seeing that they had already received their prizes for the week! I didn't know what to tell her, but then she suddenly looked at me and asked, "What about a hug??!!"! How precious!! She wasn't interested in candy or any type of prize. All she wanted was love.... Let me tell you, I hugged that girl and did NOT want to let go!!!! Tears filled my eyes as I saw how little love she was shown in everyday life! So... give someone a hug!! Show them the love of your Lord! You may be the only one that shares that love with them...

Jennifer

What a week this is going to be!!

I can tell already that this is going to be a tiring, but wonderful week! I'm on a team of 2 (Caleb and I) this week. We will have five clubs a day and then he will have either 1 or 2 clubs with some other teachers after I leave! Our first club are 5-6 year old and then the rest are older children. Although, the last club are all Hispanic children! Most of them can understand English, but some cannot. God has provided us with some wonderful opportunities to end the summer strong! Below are some specific ways you can be praying for us! Thanks for the prayers!

In God's Love,

Jennifer

* Each one of the summer missionaries strength!

* Caleb as he continues to battle pink eye and is teaching a possible 7 clubs a day!

*That God's love would shine thru us as some of the kids in the last club can not understand us!

*That we would have patience with each other and also the children! :-)

*Finally that God's word would penetrate these children's hearts!

Can you tell that i love taking pictures of the kids? They are such a joy! Anyway... This week is going great! One child received Christ today! It was wonderful!

One of the things that I'm most encouraged by is the power of the Gospel! You know we (Regular church attenders) often get use to the Gospel. It's great and everything, but it isn't OUT OF THIS WORLD AMAZING!! Although, to these kids that have absolutely no hope and have been shown no love the Gospel can and will change everything about them! You can tell it in their precious eyes! After accepting Christ into their life their eyes began to sparkle!! If you have never had the chance to experience seeing a life changed it is one of the most rewarding and spectacular things you will ever witness!! At least in my opinion...

Jennifer

My God can do ANYTHING!!

Well... Last week was defiantly a blessing! It was once again hard (When is it not?lol), but we saw God working in amazing ways! Numerous children had come to know Christ in our clubs through out the week, but Friday was outstanding! Our first two and sometimes three clubs each day was preschoolers. Let me clarify... Club 1 was about 15 preschool boys, club 2 was once again around 15 preschool boys, and then finally the 3rd club was about 30 preschool girls! Needless to say it was always a hectic morning! We were not expecting to any response as far as salvations, but God had another plan! On Friday we simply told the kids that if they would like to ask Jesus in their hearts and let Him take away all the bad things that they had done to stick around after club and that we would love to talk to them. Well... Kids kept coming!!! Some did not fully understand, but by the time we got through talking to the children that wanted to ask Jesus into their precious hearts 9 Children had Christ in their hearts!! How amazing is that? The Bible says that when just one person comes to Christ there is celebration, but can you imagine what it was like in Heaven as 9 precious kids asked Christ into their hearts?!

Thanks for your prayers! Because of your prayers God truly blessed!

Jennifer Rochester

It is worth it all...

I just love this picture! I actually took it last year, but it is still one of my favorite! Seeing God work is one of the most awesome things ever! Hope it blesses you as much as it did me! :-)

In Him,

Jennifer

A thousand thanks!

Last week was a total success! Numerous (Over 15) children were saved and many more seeds were planted! Thank you for praying! :-)

This week we only have three clubs a day! Yesterday (It most likely will change today) we had two preschool groups and one that was a combination of ages. Please be praying that we will be able to get on the preschoolers level so that they can understand Christ's love clearly!

Thanks again for all the prayers and encouragement!!!

Jennifer

Some serious prayer....

Hello! Ok, i have a total of five minutes to write this, but I really wanted to ask everyone to be praying for the summer missionary teens this week! This is the hardest week as far as clubs go that i have ever had. There are numerous obstacles, although Gos has not failed yet and He wont! PLEASE keep us in your prayers this week!

Also, if you would be willing to please leave a comment! It is always a great encouragement, but I would love to be able to share with my team members that i know multiple people are are praying for us! Its kinda like a boost! :)

Thanks for your prayers!

In Christ's amazing love,

Jennifer

Specific Prayer Request:

*Health of each teacher!

*That the kids hearts would be open to the gospel!

*Give the teachers strength!

*That some of the kids would sit still (This would be wonderful!! :))!

*Finally for God to use us in His way!

Friday - Day 6 (The Final Day)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONATHAN

Yell, today is the final day. Everyone is finishing up their projects. It was been a good week and everyone has enjoyed it, but they are tired and ready to get home. Get back to their own bed and to rest and relax for a while.

Today is Jonathan's Birthday, he is 14 now.

They have posted new pictures on Flickr.com. We had been kidding Jonathan that we did not believe he was there because we never saw any pictures of him. Today there were several posted.

The only time that Jennifer ever got on the roof.

Plumb Bob - Team Picture

Sore Thumbs Team Picture

Thursday - Day 5

Again today was a good day. Jennifer was able to lead another youth to the Lord. He was 11 years old. Jonathan was able to wittness to two children today also. Jennifer's team assisted another crew on roofing a house. This house was two or three times as big as their house and had two layers of shingles. They were still hauling shingles to the dumpster today. Jonathan's team finished painting their house today and will be going to assist another team tomorrow. Tomorrow is Jonathan's Birthday.

Jonathan was telling us that in the past two years there as been a total of 17 decision made in Little Rock. This year as of Thursday night there has been at least 15 decision made. PTL

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette had an article in today's paper about World Changers.
"By the end of the week, World Changers aims to have repaired 25 homes, which would bring its total in Little Rock during the three years to 75 homes. Brown said all told, World Changes has saved the city $750,000 in labor costs. The city’s Housing and Neighborhood Programs Department identifies the houses through an application process and spends $50,000 for the supplies and materials using federal Community Development Block Grants."

“To see the joy and excitement in the homeowners’ faces just blows them away,” she said. “It changes their world at the same time that they’re changing the people in Little Rock’s world.”

Wednesday - Day 4

Well everyone is getting tired but everyone had a good day. Jennifer's crew finished up on their project yesterday so then went to help out another crew this morning. Jonathan's crew is still painting on their house. All of the World Changer's crew got the afternoon off. The group from Calera went to a Water Park and then out to eat at Cracker Barrel.

This is the house that Jonathan's team - Sore Thumbs - have been working on

Picture of Wild River Country Water Park that they went to.

Tuesday - Day 3

We heard from both Jonathan and Jennifer. They are having a great time. Jonathan wittness to a 74 year old man today. This was the first time that he has ever wittnessed to someone. They will be working just a half of day on Wednesday and will be going to a water park for the afternoon. Jennifer went out and was able to wittness to a about 10 people and 1 accepted Christ as thier Savior.

Monday - Day 2

Jennifer was able to stay off the roof for the most part. She got on the roof for them to take a team picture then she came back down. She spent the day carrying the old shingles that was thrown down to the dumpster and keeping the ground clean. They were able to remove all the shingles yesterday, put all the tar paper on, and put shingles on half the roof. Today will be an easy day and they should get some free time this afternoon. Jonathan's team also made good progress and should finish their house today.

Fox 16 News in Little Rock did a story on the world changers click here to see it. http://www.fox16.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=363C843B-9038-477A-959A-5F2E9C3A0875&gsa=true

On the World Changers blog in was reported that 5 people were saved at work sites Monday. Praise the Lord.

A story that she told us on Jonathan was that Sunday some guys from Texas had their lariat and was roping. Jonathan walked over to one of the guys and asked if he could try it. The whole time he was saying to himself, I hope I can still do this. He was able to rope it and everyone started kidding the Texans because this city slicker in his plaid shorts just beat them at roping.

Jennifer's team name is Plumb Bob and Jonathan's team is Sore Thumbs.

The house that Plumb Bob is replacing the roof.

Sunday Night - Team Assignments

Today everyone was assigned to their team. They spent the day with their team getting to know each other and what their assignments would be. Jennifer's comment was "OH MY LORD JESUS WHAT IS GOING ON" when she was assigned to the Roofing Team. They went to their worksite to meet the people where they would be working and to look over the job that they were assigned. When the Crew Leader told her to climb the ladder, she told him NO WAY am I going up that ladder. I will do what ever you need ON THE GROUND. So they worked out a deal and for now she thinks that she will get to stay down. I believe that she said that Megan Finley and William Davis are on her team. Jonathan is on a team with Michael Green and Margaret Hague is there team leader. They are assigned to the scraping and painting team. Everyone seems to be having a good time. They will be eating breakfast at 6:15 am and then hitting the road to the construction site. Here is a link to another blog that I have found for the Little Rock, World Changers group. http://www.world-changers.net/site/c.jjJVJ6MNIwE/b.4277751/

Here is a very short video from Jonathan on the house they are painting.

Calera Baptist Youth leave for World Changers

The youth group from Calera Baptist left at 7:00 this morning headed to Little Rock AR. They arrived around 4:00pm. Jennifer will be sending things back for me to post to her blog through out the week to keep everyone updated. Also you can see pictures posted on flickr.com http://flickr.com/photos/worldchangers/sets/
and World Changers also have a blog
http://wclittlerock.blogspot.com/

I serve an AWESOME God!!

This has been a wonderful week in numerous ways! I had a average of three clubs each day. The first two clubs was at Alabaster YMCA and the third was at Kids First. We are not allowed to counsel (One on one lead a child to Christ after they respond to an invitation.), which is often hard. Also, each club had extremely hard disciplinary problems and there was no respect. At kids first many of the children were from terrible home situations. Anyway, as a group we gave it to God and just asked HIM to work. We had done all we knew and could do. Although, on the last day God worked! Every child was attentive and extremely obedient! Our leader presented the gospel and it was amazing to sit back and watch as God used her to share God's everlasting love!

Just a few illustrations.... Mrs. Debbie, who taught the Bible lesson had plainly said that because we have all sinned her are not allowed into Heaven, but that God had a wonderful plan so that we could get to Heaven and after explaining how Christ took our punishment a young girl (most likely around 8 years old) piratically jumped up and said, "How can I have forgiveness of my sins??!!"! It was such an exciting moment as it was evident that the children were understanding! Also, a young boy had been acting up all week. He was one of the worst distractions that I had ever seen, although just moments before our last club we prayed as a group and he was on many of our hearts. During that club he listened and as he heard the gospel it was as if you could see a change right there in his disposition! He had joy! Afterwards he would have normally come up and told us that he was glad to see us go, but not that day! He came up and began thanking us for sharing with him about Jesus and hugging us. As we left that day the children were talking about Jesus and there was such a sweet change of attitude!

We have no idea a number of decisions that were made, but God does!

I just want to remind you that you serve an AWESOME God! NOTHING is too big for Him! Philippians 4:13 says," I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."! This past week has been one more example of how we can not do it all on our own.... Without God we are absolutely NOTHING!

Please continue praying for those precious children who heard the Gospel this week! I pray that God waters each and every one of those seeds!

In Christ's amazing love,

Jennifer Rochester

God has a plan....

Just to let you all know... Hannah did go to be with the Lord this afternoon around 4. She had made it through the night, but was not responsive at all. I listed some specific prayer request below! Your prayers are cherished! Thanks!

*For the family of the young lady that died.
*For the driver of the car as she is taking it extremely hard.
*The other driver involved (A young man who is only 17 years old.)
*For the teens that were her co-workers.
*Just that God would receive the glory for it all!

Again, thanks for your prayers!

In Christ,
Jennifer ~Jeremiah 29:11~

Please be praying.....

I want to ask you all to be praying for two young ladies (Elizabeth and Hannah). They are involved with CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) just like I am, except they live in Gadsden therefore their clubs are in Gadsden. Anyway, they were in a serious wreck yesterday. Below is the message that I received. I'm not sure if she did make it through the night or not. I will let you know as soon as I know an update. Thanks for the prayers!

“Two of her summer missionaries (Elizabeth and Hannah) were coming back from a class this afternoon when they were involved in a serious accident with a teenager (age 17) who was driving a truck. Doris (Their leader) was driving down the same road they were on when she passed the accident. She turned around and went back to them. They allowed her to talk to Elizabeth after they got her in the ambulance. Then she watched them get Hannah out of the car. Elizabeth was taken to the hospital in Gadsden and was released tonight. Hannah was airlifted to the Children's Hospital in Birmingham and is in critical condition. Doris said they called and said that they did not expect her to live through the night. The driver of the truck was okay. At this point, Elizabeth does not know of Hannah's condition. They decided not to tell her yet. Doris and Robert are on their way to Birmingham right now. Please pray for Hannah and Elizabeth and their families, and Doris.” - Debbie BlackHannah is in the ICU of Children’s Hospital. Doris said that the next 24 hours are extremely critical and the Doctors are not sure if she will make it or not. Thank you for praying!

In Christ's Love,
Jennifer Rochester

Looking foward to what God has planned!

Hello! Well.... I just got home from a ten day training Friday! I was more than ready to get back home although, it was sad to leave the numerous new friends that I had made! Training was defiantly a success. I'm not sure the exact number of children accepting Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, although I do know that it was around 100! Praise the Lord! We also we out as a large group Thursday afternoon to share the Wordless book with young children, which also allowed many more children to come to Christ! Again, what a blessing!

We will begin our first week of clubs tomorrow in the Shelby County area! I know that I will be on a team of two (A young man named Wilson and I). This can often be difficult, but I'm looking forward to seeing how God is going to work!

There is an awesome group of teens from the Birmingham area involves this year! There are seven teens and 4 leaders.

Anyway, just a few specific prayer request...

~That our group will continue to bond into the Body of Christ!
~ For safety as we are traveling!
~For each one of our Physical Health!
~Also, each teen as they share the gospel throughout the week (Ruth, Mary Grace, Hope, Matt, Wilson, Caleb, Benjamin, and I)!

Thanks for your prayers! They are extremely appreciated! :)

In Christ's Love,
Jennifer Rochester

New to the whole blogging world!!!

Hey guys!

There are a couple of reasons that I started this blog! The major reason is because this summer I'm going to be involved with a ministry called, "Child Evangelism Fellowship"! We will be working and sharing the Gospel with children all summer! This is my second summer to be involved with it and I'm really looking forward to it!! Anyway, I thought that this would be a wonderful way for my supporters and prayer warriors to keep up with what all is going on and hopefully I will be able to add some pics!!! I figured I would just go ahead and get a head start trying to figure this thing out!!

Also, I would love to maybe share some of the things God is teaching me!

So... I hope you enjoy!

Jennifer