Scammer Awareness and Other Facebook Safety Tips

I've received fake duplicate friend requests five times now from scammers pretending to be someone I know. This scamming technique is incredibly handy because it doesn't require any hacking. Scammers take your name and your profile picture to pretend they are you on Facebook. Then they go through your friends list to friend and message your friends posing as you to tell them about some too-good-to-be-true deal if you just click such-and-such link.

Here's some instruction on what to do if you receive a friend request like this and how to keep scammers from targeting you. You can see picture instructions below if you're unsure of how to do any of these things.

What to Do when you Receive a Scammer Friend Request

If you receive a friend request from someone you are already friends with (IE a duplicate profile) you have a couple options on how to react.

1. Don't accept the request and report the fake profile. (See how to report below)
2. Notify your friend and their friends by posting on their timeline and letting them know that the scammer account is out there.
3. If you're unsure if it's a scammer or not, you can accept the friend request. But if they message you almost instantly with "big news" it is more than likely a scammer. 
4. Don't ever click on a link that a profile like this sends you. As soon as you're sure, report the profile and notify your friend.

To Keep Scammers from Targeting You

The best way to make sure you're not targeted is to adjust your privacy settings. Changing your password won't actually keep scammers from using your Facebook identity because they are not hacking your profile to impersonate you. They're just taking your name, picture, and friends list which usually anyone on Facebook can see and using it to make a duplicate account. To keep this from happening, you can change your privacy settings so that only your friends can see this information.

1. Set your friends list privacy so that only you or your friends can see it so that spammers can't friend request and message your friends. 

   

   On your profile, go to your friend's list under your profile picture.
   Hover your mouse over it and select the pencil emblem and click on "Edit Privacy"

   

   Select the "Friends" option to ensure that only your friends can see your friends list.

   
   
2. Make sure all of your personal information can only be seen by your friends as well so that scammers can't use it to impersonate you.

   

   Scroll down to the about section on your profile which
   will be on the left side of the screen. Hover over a section so that the
   pencil appears. Click on it to edit the about section.

   
   

   

   In the right corner of each section there will be a symbol that indicates the privacy of the section.

   
   

   

   Click on that symbol to change the privacy of that section of "About."
   Repeat this process for the different sections of the About section to make
   sure your information is private.

3. Don't ever accept friend requests from people that you do not know personally. 

Pass along and share this message to raise awareness about this new scamming technique. The more people that are aware of this technique, the less effective it will be. 

Stay cyber safe fellow Facebook users!

See how to report account on Facebook here: 

Go to the profile and click on the three dots to the right of the page.
Select the "Report" option.

Click "Report this Account"

Select the "This timeline is pretending to be me or someone I know" option.

Select the "Someone I know" option.

This window will pop up. "Submit to Facebook for Review" option.

This option will appear and you can type the name of the friend that is being impersonated here.

The Post that's NOT about the Syrian Refugees

No, I’m not going to get into details of the Syrian refugees debate. Yes, I have my opinion on it. Feel free to ask my opinion privately. But I prefer to use my blog for encouraging or exhorting (okay yeah... ranting) rather than to discuss politics.

What I want to talk about are the Christians that I have seen using the Syrian refugee debate as an opportunity for the ultimate Jesus juke: “Jesus said to care for the least of these- the Syrian refugees are the least of these. Jesus would let the refugees into the country, how could you disagree? That’s an extremely unbiblical attitude! Jesus told us to love and care for others. Think about that before you make your opinion on foreign policy, etc. etc. etc.” The best is the people that even go so far as to make statements that assert that the Christians who don’t support bringing the Syrian refugees into the country are just cherry-picking what they like and don’t like out of the Bible.

Okay, really quick, just for the record so you can read this without judging me or labeling me as a hateful and greedy racist bigot and actually listen to what I have to say. Let me assure you that I agree that the Syrian refugees are the least of these and that we should help them in some way. That’s all the more I’m hinting at my opinion, really!

But here’s the thing, more so than Christians “cherry-picking from scripture,” I find it interesting that some Christians only choose to quote this passage of scripture about caring for the least of these when it applies to their government and not to them individually. If you are a Christian who is caring for the needy in some way, then this post isn’t for you. This post is for those that quote that passage but feel no burden to apply it in the same way to their personal lives. I’ve even seen defensive posts saying the scripture applies to the situation in the broader sense and whether they as an individual apply it to their life or not doesn’t take away from the truth of scripture.

There are two main issues with this logic: 

Practice what you preach and pay attention to the plank.

Practice what you Preach 

If you personally are not living out that passage of scripture, if you are not caring for the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the hurt, the widows, the orphans, the sick, the needy (take your pick!) in some way, shape, or form then you have no platform to say that anyone else should be doing that. You have no right to try to Jesus-juke other people with a passage of scripture that you aren’t following. How can you tell someone to do something if you aren’t leading by example? Paul wrote many instructional letters to churches in his time telling them what to do. But his witness was so pure and he was able to tell people to follow his example (Philippians 3:17). He practiced what he preached. Practicing what you preach is important because otherwise no one listens to what you are preaching. If you think caring for the least of these is important, get out there and do it! 1 John 2:5-6 even says, “By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” If you say you follow Jesus then you’d better be living like him not just talking like him. If you are claiming to be a follower of Christ and even go so far as to say that a government or group of people should live by a certain passage of scripture then you must first make sure you are living by it first. 

Your actions (or lack thereof) don’t hinder the truth of that scripture but your actions do hinder your ability to quote it for others.

Pay Attention to the Plank

Not only does lack of action hinder your ability to quote it for others, it especially hinders you from being able to suggest that other Christians are the ones cherry-picking scripture. How can you suggest that Christians are only applying parts of scripture that they like or that support their political beliefs if you aren’t applying the passage you’re using to judge them to your own life? There’s a passage of scripture that you might have conveniently ignored yourself- Matthew 7:3. It says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Why are you so quick to suggest that the Christians not supporting Syrian refugees coming to the USA don’t believe parts of the Bible if you have no problem not applying the ones above or this one? If you are not actively applying a scripture to your life but you’re going to accuse someone of throwing away parts of scripture, then you’re guilty of doing the exact same thing with this one. Don’t tell someone that you don’t think is applying scripture to their political beliefs that they are cherry-picking if you’re not applying it to your everyday life. Look at the plank in your own eye before you point out the sawdust in someone else’s.

It’s not wrong to discuss matters like these, in fact I think it would be wrong NOT to discuss matters like these. But what sort of witness are we leaving for nonbelievers that just see arguments back and forth about who’s a bad Christian? 
Imagine the witness we would have if we argued less about who’s supporting it in their political views and actually did something to care for the least of these in our personal lives. If believers spent more time doing that we might actually make an even greater impact on our government and world than we would by arguing about it.

So I leave you with a challenge, be the example. Pay attention to the plank in your own eye before your find sawdust in someone else’s and practice what you preach. If caring for the least of these is a command of Jesus, then actually go do it! 
Practice what you preach, don’t just preach about it. 
Examine yourself before you tell someone else how to improve.

Wherever you are, go and be the example Jesus in this hurting world.

The Beautiful Bare Tree

Romans 1:20 NIV “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

God created the world so creatively and magnificently as to remind us of his greatness. 

I was observing my surroundings on a gray autumn day in New York State as I waited for my fiancé in my car. There were cars rushing past on the busy street and buildings and signs to look at but what caught my eye the most, was a bare tree.

I noticed that this tree was almost completely devoid of its leaves. As it has been an unusually warm fall, some of the trees still had a lot of their leaves. But this tree had dropped most of its leaves and was holding onto just a few. 

At first this bare tree just reminded me that winter was on the way and most of the trees would soon look this same way. But second to that thought, I began to notice how intricate the shape of the tree was. The tree was shaped in intentional curves and its branches and twigs popped out in all the right places to form the tree just right so that even without leaves, it was beautiful.

Most people wouldn’t consider a bare tree to be beautiful. Trees are beautiful in the spring as they blossom. They’re beautiful in the summer when they color streets and neighborhoods in a lively green. They are even beautiful in the fall when they turn shades of orange, red, and yellow. But very few people think bare trees in the winter are beautiful. Usually those bare trees turn our hillsides gray and make us think of death and the cold more than beauty.

But as I studied the curvature of the tree and the way it was shaped just so, I was reminded that God made that tree. The same God that knows how many hairs are on my head (Matthew 10:30, Luke 12:7), knows exactly when that tree was planted and how long it had been there. The same God created that tree and intentionally gave those branches the curves and bends it needed to be beautiful. The same God placed each of those tiny twigs in their place and knew the leaves that fell off of them and the blossoms and leaves that have yet to spring out of them. 

The fact that God could know each of those innumerable twigs on just that tree alone, not to mention every other tree in the world, is mind-blowing in and of itself and gives testimony to God’s omniscience and omnipresence. The fact that God cared enough about the world and about his people, to not only create it all with a spoken word but to make it beautiful to the eye as well is a testimony to his creativity and omnipotence. 

But the fact that God put that much time and effort into creating and knowing a bare tree is a testimony to how much he loves you. If God cares that much about a bare tree that most people don’t care about or even perceive to be ugly, how much more does he love you? He put even more time and effort into creating you. He chooses to know even more about you. He has far greater plans for you. The fact that God’s greatness is seen so clearly in a bare tree means that his greatness can be seen infinitely more through you.

My prayer is that as the leaves continue falling off trees and the hillsides turn gray, you would take the time to notice some of those bare trees. When you do, remember that the same God who cares about and knows that tree, cares so much more about you. 

Luke 12:27-31 NIV “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

Dancing with God

Why "Dance with God and he will let the Perfect Man cut in" 
isn't good dating advice.

Picture Source

Let’s talk about that quote: “Dance with God and he will let the perfect man cut in.” It’s on a happy picture with a joyous couple sharing their first dance at their wedding with big grins plastered on their faces. The girl in the picture is clearly enthralled with her new husband. The picture and the quote work perfectly together to convey the wonderful spiritual message to young single girls, “Just dance with God and spend time with him until he brings your soul mate into your life!” Sweet and endearing right?

Wrong.

Let’s take a deeper look at what it actually says.

Dancing with God: There’s not a problem with the metaphor of dancing with God. In fact, it’s a beautiful metaphor. You “dance” through life just as you dance to music in many different paces, steps, and phases. The idea of dancing with God, allowing him to take the lead and guide you through those many stages of life, adds a lot of meaning to that metaphor. In and of itself, the idea of dancing with God is a great metaphor. BUT the point of dancing with God is not to wait for a spouse. The point of dancing with God is to allow him to lead you through life while growing closer to him, learning about his heart, and experiencing his love. Dancing with God is not about personal gain but a love for God. Dancing with God is an amazing experience. But don’t dance with God expecting that after a few years of dancing with him, he’ll bring the perfect man to you. Dance with God because his love is the greatest you will ever experience. Dance with God even if it means that no man ever comes along. Because when you dance with God, you learn that it’s not about what you will get but who you will become. When you dance with God you’ll find that he is all you need to be satisfied anyway.

The Perfect Man: Let’s be honest, there aren’t many women, young or old, in this society that aren’t out there dreaming of their perfect soul mate. This soul mate will have all the perfect qualities that will compliment hers just right. This perfect man will be handsome, sensitively love her, love the Lord even more than he loves her, bring her flowers on a weekly basis, and will either be a pastor, youth leader, or at least play the guitar and sing lovely worship songs. The problem is that this man doesn’t exist. There are wonderful godly men in the world that deeply love their wives and the Lord. But there is no perfect man. There isn’t even a man out there that is perfect for you. There are probably plenty of people that make great matches for you but there are no perfect couples. Even the happiest of couples will have their disagreements and arguments. This quote suggests that if you just hang in there long enough, God will send the perfect husband for you. But girls will be kept waiting a long time only to be disappointed when this perfect man never shows up. The truth is that a soul mate is not God’s perfect match for you. A soul mate is a godly mate that you make the choice to love for the rest of your life. Stop waiting for the perfect guy and keep your eyes open for normal guys that love the Lord and have a desire to serve him with their lives.

Cutting In: Whoever came up with this quote must not have understood how a relationship with God works or didn’t understand what it means to cut in. Cutting in on a dance floor presumes that you stop dancing with your current partner in order to start dancing with a different partner. The idea of stopping your dance with God in order to dance with someone else is idolatry in its purest form. A relationship with God is not a substitute for a relationship with a man. A relationship with God should be something that you commit every aspect of your life for the rest of life to. A relationship with God doesn’t end when a man comes into the picture. Even if you start dancing through life with another person, you should never stop dancing with God. When you do find a mate, as you submit to God and to each other, the two of you will find satisfaction as you each dance with God, not only individually, but as a couple.

I’m sure the author of this quote meant well but when it comes down to it, this quote is more like a warning of what not to do when searching for a spouse. When looking for a spouse, dance with God for no other reason than you desire to be close to him, keep your eyes open for good God-loving matches, and don’t ever stop dancing with God. Perhaps the quote should have been, “Dance with God, even if a good match never comes along, you will still be wholly satisfied in his presence.”

Rejoicing, Hoping, Praying

Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

This verse kind of summarizes my weekend. God has been hitting home with some big lessons for me this week. I wanted to share about them.

Rejoice- For my personal devotions, I have been reading through Revelation. I read chapter 4 most recently and was reminded of God’s holiness and the fact that he is worthy to be praised. Revelation makes it pretty clear that God is worthy to be praised just for being God. But Revelation also lists other reasons why we should praise God. We should praise God because he is powerful [Revelation 4:5]. We should praise God because he is outside of time (was, and is, and is to come) [Revelation 4:8]. And we should praise God because he created all things [Revelation 4:11]. Above all else, in spite of anything else, we must remember that God is worthy of our praise and so we have reason to rejoice in him.

Hope- God taught me a lesson on hope this weekend too. I arrived at church on Sunday morning to hear that one of the members of our church that has used a walker for as long as we’ve been there, was hospitalized with a heart attack and loss of oxygen and is on life support. It is what seems like a hopeless situation. If he recovers, he goes back to life with a walker and other health issues. But if he doesn’t recover, he dies. To the world, that is a hopeless situation. But to the believer, there is hope on both ends because of Christ. No matter what, we know that God is his provider. We know that even if Bob never finds healing on earth, there is eternal healing waiting for him in Heaven. I can never understand how people can through life without Christ, because without him there is no hope. This verse reminds us to rejoice in that hope that we have which will help us to be patient in tribulation.

Prayer- Lastly, God taught me about prayer this week. Patrick and I went to see “The War Room” on Friday night and I thought it was one of the better Christian movies that have come out recently. It was an excellent reminder of the power of God that is accessible to us through prayer. I was convicted to spend more time praying over things and less time trying to fight battles on my own. This verse instructs us to be constant in prayer- definitely easier said than done. My prayer life isn’t so hot but this verse adds to the importance of heating it up. How much effort we put into fighting battles on our own when we have a God that wants to help us! That is all the more reminder to be constant in prayer.

Rejoice in God because he is worthy of praise. Hold fast in hope in Christ. And  spend time in constant prayer to the one who is worthy of all power, glory, and honor.

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: The Harvest

July 18-August 7, 2015

I know, I know, it’s about a month later and there’s three weeks of ministry that you never got to read about. So here I am, more than a month later, writing the last installment of updates from the summer ministry. Maybe once I explain what’s been happening in my life over the course of the past month or so, you’ll understand why I’m just now getting to this update.

I spent Saturday, July 18 volunteering at the local rescue mission in Pittsburgh. This is always an eye opening and humbling experience for me. It’s also good for me to get involved in ministries that require me to do the behind the scenes work or that is just serving people. I am all too often used to ministries where I am the one leading or doing the evangelizing. But it is good to spend some time just serving.

The next week, we had two clubs. Both of these clubs were going to be at Salvation Armies. A summer missionary from Westmoreland County, Dakota, was scheduled to help me that week. Unfortunately she was only able to help the first two days because she got sick after that. I was praising God for a committed and available board that gave up their time to help me the other three days of the week. We went to the first club, which was a day camp with the Salvation Army in Homewood-Brushton. The kids were a good group of kids and we had a lot of fun with them. This was a new club and a new opportunity to reach the kids. I had conversations with some of the older boys in the club about who Jesus was, how we knew he was real, and other deep questions. Once that club was over, we drove down the street into East Liberty to do a club at the Salvation Army Family Caring Center. This is a homeless shelter that we went to last year. It was once again, one of my favorite clubs for the summer. We had five little ones that were full of energy and love. One of the little girls at that club was named Yazlin. She was talking to me one day and when I was asking her about sin, she mentioned that she sinned and so did her mommy because her mommy stole from stores and had been kicked out of CVS and Target and the list went on. She also mentioned that her father was in prison and so they were living in the shelter. I was heartbroken for this little girl. I was especially heartbroken because she spoke about this so nonchalantly. This was her life. She knew that what her parents had done was wrong but it was a normal part of everyday life for her. Even at 7 years old, Yazlin had witnessed and faced a lot more struggle in life than I ever had. The good news is that Yazlin and two other boys accepted the Lord as their Savior that week. Now, even though there’s not much hope in the world they live in, they have hope in the Lord in Heaven.

The next week was one of the busiest weeks of the summer but also another good one. We partnered with Hosanna House Ministries in Wilkinsburg and helped out with their summer day camp. We took over an hour rotation of their regular schedule. This was 10 AM to 4 PM every day and it was 6 rotations of kids and took lots of our energy. But these kids were a ton of fun and we really enjoyed our time with them even though we were exhausted at the end of every day. I had two favorite memories from that club that stand out to me. The first is that after giving an invitation with one of the groups, nearly all of the boys in the group responded. Granted, a lot of those boys were just copying others. But I believe we still had nine of those boys give their lives to Christ that day. The second was that while I was counseling a group of girls, I asked one girl there if she had ever believed in Jesus as her Savior before. She explained that she had believed and given her life to Jesus while I was just talking. I was reminded once again that this work of evangelism is not done by my own strength, but through the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to his children. There were about 160 children enrolled in the camp and at the end of the week, we saw 31 of those children give their lives to Christ. It was an awesome week of ministry.

At the end of that week we put on a Summer Scoop event that was supposed to be an end of summer celebration for all of the children that we reached. Unfortunately, only 2 children showed up. It was yet again, an excellent reminder to be flexible in ministry. We went on with the program with the kids and board members that had shown up. Even though it wasn’t what we were hoping for, it was still a good time of fellowship for all that were there.

That brought me to the last week of summer ministry, August 3-7. This week was much calmer than the prior week as we just had three house clubs. House clubs usually have a lot less children than community centers and since it was the last week, I was kind of looking forward to a break. Mary was back to help me with the clubs for the week since AJ was at horse camp. Our first club that week was at a house in the North Hills. This club was a ton of fun and another one of my favorite clubs that summer. The kids were definitely suburban, upper class, churched children and were completely different than most of the other children we had encountered that summer. But they were so much fun! They loved the club and were very enthusiastic. They were also a bunch of nerdy, Harry Potter loving, and goofy kids- I suspect that’s why I liked them so much. We didn’t see any salvations at that club but we did have a few days where we just allowed the kids to ask some really deep and important questions like, “If Jesus is the only way into Heaven, where did people go when they died before Jesus died on the cross?” Ministry isn’t just fruitful when you can count salvations. This was definitely a fruitful club even without salvations.

After that, we went to a café in the North Hills that my friend owns. This was a tough club as not many kids were in attendance. But we did gain a family of neighborhood girls that came several days. We made the most of the children that we had and still had a good club. I was encouraged a few days ago to see a Facebook post from my friend that owns the café with a picture of her daughter and one of the neighborhood girls. The girls said they were already saved but they didn’t go to a church. I am praying that my friend and her family will be able to continue ministering to this family.

And the last club of the week was at one of our board member’s homes in Wexford. This was another small club of girls that were already churched. We weren’t able to meet every day but we did have a good time with the kids that we had. One of the girls had been attending Good News Club for a while and one day, she was the only one. On that day, I handed her the pictures and let her tell me the story as best as she could. It was an excellent opportunity to disciple her and hopefully put a spark for missions and teaching in her heart. She was only 10-12 years old, but she was really mature and I know God has big things in store for her. Be praying for growth in Christ for Celeste.

If you haven’t already heard, that week ended in me getting engaged and so things have been pretty busy since then. But God is good and it was a good summer. It wasn’t always easy at times and I was definitely forced to be flexible and trust in God even it seemed like everything had gone to chaos. But God never stopped being in control. At the end of the summer we had reached about 500 children and saw 62 of those children make first time salvation decisions. It was a great summer and God did an awesome thing in Pittsburgh.

I am getting married, graduating, and moving on from Pittsburgh. It saddened my heart a bit in that last week to know how much of a harvest for ministry and evangelism there is in Pittsburgh. I can only pray that God will send someone into that harvest as I move onto another harvest. Pray with me that God would send willing laborers into the harvest so that even more can come to know the Lord as their Savior.

Our Love Story

How We Met  August 17, 2014

On August 17, 2014, my brother was joining me for school at Davis College. As the concerned older sister that I was, I was naturally intrigued by who Alex’s roommate was going to be. After some asking around, I discovered that Alex’s roommate was going to be my good friend Jackson’s cousin, who was also starting at Davis that year. I totally Facebook crept on Patrick to see what he would be like. But when he arrived and I met the very polite and personable southern boy, I was pretty much instantly interested in him. I started finding opportunities to spend time with him. It was convenient that my brother was his roommate, “Hey Alex, do you wanna hang out? Why don’t you ask Patrick to come too?” When he volunteered for CEF I casually managed to get his number. But when I tried texting him later, I never got a response and I figured he wasn’t interested enough.

On September 12, 2014, I found the perfect way to start talking to him. I happened to be in the library when I overheard Patrick and some of his friends talking about playing “Words with Friends.” Words with Friends has a chat feature and I just knew if I started a game with Patrick, that I could casually strike up conversation with him. So I downloaded the app right then and there and sent him a game request. We started talking through that app on Friday. Finally, Words with Friends led into texting and Patrick and I were conversing regularly throughout the day. When we did see each other in person we’d exchange shy glances and smiles and occasionally some playful or polite words.

Our First Date September 19, 2014

On September 19, 2014, Patrick and I had our first “date.” Since Patrick didn’t have a car on campus I had told him the night before that if he ever needed to go somewhere he could just let me know. The next day after classes were over, I “casually” mentioned to him that I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go grocery shopping or just take a nap. I was laying down getting ready to take a quick nap when he texted back and said, “Well if you decide to go grocery shopping, let me know, I’ll tag along.” I bounced out of bed and texted back saying, “Yeah meet me in 15 minutes outside.” So Patrick came with me to Aldi to go grocery shopping. Romantic first date right? After we finished and were walking back onto campus together, Patrick was saying, “Ah… Friday night… what to do?” I knew he was baiting me but I didn’t want to give in so easily. He then said, “I will probably end up just doing homework.” I quickly threw in a little bait of my own, “Homework on a Friday night? That’s lame!” But he didn’t take it. Neither of us took each other’s bait. Later on when I was hanging out with another friend, I instantly regretted not taking the bait. And so I sent him a casual text saying, “If you’re bored with homework, you could always come hang out at the café with us.” He did and then afterwards we went to Sweet Frog with some of my friends. The next night, after I’d finished watching an episode of Dr. Who and had sent him a text saying, “Well the episode is over, I don’t know what I’m doing now.” After a bit, he finally just out right asked me to hang out. We went to McDonald’s and got smoothies and then sat on the Davis benches (notorious for couples) and talked the rest of the night.

The Start September 25, 2014

From that night forward, we hung out every day. After a few days of hanging out, we expressed our feelings for each other but weren’t necessarily in a committed relationship yet. At this point, I was at a point where I truly felt that God had called me not to get into another relationship unless I was pretty sure it would end in marriage. I made that known to Patrick and he also expressed to me that he was also done with the dating game. Both of us, prior to meeting each other, held the quote, “A woman’s heart should be so lost in God that a man must seek him in order to find her” very close to us. Only Patrick shared with me that he had flipped that for himself. If he wanted to find a godly woman, he was going to have to seek God. Patrick and I earnestly prayed about starting a relationship for a few days.

On September 25, 2014, Patrick and I were sitting on the gazebo on campus chatting with each other. I asked Patrick what God had been saying as a result of his prayers and he asked me the same. That night we expressed to each other that we both felt that God was giving us the go ahead. We both felt like we were right for each other and we could both see the relationship resulting in marriage. That was the night that we “defined the relationship” as some would call it, and what we consider to be the true start of our relationship.

We laid low for a while however until Patrick was able to talk to my father about our relationship over our October break. My father, although a bit nervous at the thought of his daughter getting into a serious relationship, gave his blessing. Things haven’t always been easy for us, but God’s blessing over our relationship has always been obvious to both of us.

The “L Word” October ? 2014

I’m gonna warn you ahead of time. This is a disgustingly sappy love story. You were warned.

Patrick and I had been together for a little while at this point and the chemistry between us was obvious. I had never felt the way about anyone like I felt about him. Patrick and I had many conversations about love being a choice and not just a magical connection that some people had. We had also discussed how serious of a decision that was and how we had both said it too soon in other relationships. But at this point, I was pretty sure that I was ready to make the choice to love Patrick.

We were sitting in my car one night, chatting with each other, and looking lovingly into each other’s eyes. I wanted so badly to tell him that I loved him, but I of course didn’t want to be the first one to say it. As Patrick held me, he asked me what I was thinking. I hesitated and decided to say instead, “I feel loved.” Patrick responded by saying, “Well… you are,” he said, “And at the risk of saying it too soon… I do. I love you.” I was all smiles as I said, “I love you too.” Patrick explained, “I was hesitant to say it because I’ve said it too soon before, but this is different.” I nodded. I also knew that this was different than any other time I had ever told someone that I loved them. I returned to my dorm room all smiles and I’m pretty sure I smiled for the rest of the night.

The First Trip to Mt. Washington October 11, 2014

Patrick came home with me for fall break that semester to formally meet my parents. The view from the Duquesne Incline on Mt. Washington has always been one of my favorite tourist attractions in Pittsburgh. That’s partly because my father proposed to my mother on top of Mt. Washington at a slightly different spot. Since it was Patrick’s first trip to Pittsburgh, I decided to take him to the Duquesne Incline. We rode up the incline and then went out onto the overlook right next to it.

The night couldn’t have been more perfect. When we initially got up there, there were a few people around. We went to the edge of the outlook and looked at the beautiful lit up Pittsburgh skyline that decorated the evening sky. About the same time, a guitarist set up his guitar and began to play some soft music. It was the perfect atmosphere: the lit up skyline behind us, the guitar playing softly, and the fact that we were with each other. I remembered that I couldn’t stop smiling and even laughing. As Patrick and I lightly swayed to the music, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the one for me. No other person had ever made me so happy.

Patrick and I made several other trips to that overlook since that first night. Any time we visited Pittsburgh, we would always make at least one trip there. It became one of our favorite spots to visit whenever we happened to be in Pittsburgh.

The Proposal August 7, 2015

On August 7, 2015, Patrick had come to visit me in Pittsburgh for a few days before we went on vacation to his home town for a week. That Friday night, he planned a date for us to go out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh, El Campesino, and then we were planning on riding the Duquesne Incline up Mt. Washington.

I had slight suspicions that Patrick might be proposing that night. I knew he had taken my grandma’s wedding set to get cleaned up so I could use them. But Patrick had told me he wouldn’t have them until after we returned from vacation. I had wondered if he was just telling me that so I wouldn’t know when he was proposing, but I figured if he did have them earlier than that, he would have proposed in Wilmington.

I had also, unknowingly, tried to ruin his proposal plans on a few different occasions. I found out that the CPR certification for school was earlier than I had planned. I had considered cancelling our trip to Wilmington, and his trip to Pittsburgh, altogether so that we wouldn’t have to pay for the certification. Patrick convinced me to let his father pay for the course and so his trip to Pittsburgh was still on. Even when he was there, I was really overwhelmed because I’d had no time to pack. I asked him the night before if he just wanted to forget our date night altogether so that I could pack instead. Patrick had very adamantly insisted that we still go out. So, despite all my unknowing attempts to ruin his plans, we went out for our date that night. “Why don’t you wear that new dress, Lindsey?” My mom said as I went upstairs to get dressed. That added to my suspicion a bit as well.

So Patrick and I went out to eat and then drove into the city towards the Duquesne Incline. We rode the incline up to our favorite spot. There was a Pirates game going on that night and a blimp was circling the city. The overlook was pretty crowded because of that. When I saw how crowded it was, all of my suspicions about Patrick proposing went away. I figured that even if he was planning on proposing that night, there would be no way he’d want to do it with so many people around.

We hung out, waiting for the crowd to disperse a bit so we could get to the edge where the view was. I noticed a photographer that my family knew, Kandy, and even whispered to Patrick, “See that lady taking pictures? She goes to the church that my mom works at. She took Alex’s senior pictures.” Patrick thought for sure that meant I knew he was going to propose and she was there to take pictures of us. But I didn't put the two together and I just thought she was there taking candids on a nice night. I was also too shy to approach Kandy and say hello. There was even a family that approached Kandy and asked her to take a picture. Kandy had to whisper, “See that couple over there? He’s about to propose so I can’t.” Apparently the mom wasn’t very discrete about it when she went back to her husband and explained why she couldn’t take their picture. Thankfully, I didn’t hear her say to her husband, “See that guy over there? He’s about to propose.”

Once the edge had cleared a bit, Patrick then went over to the viewfinder and put some money into it. He started looking around before saying, "Hey look at this, can you see that banner down there?" I looked into the viewfinder and looked down where he had aimed it. But all I could see was the fountain at the point of the three rivers in Pittsburgh. “The fountain you mean?” Patrick had to redirect it so I would be able to see it. I had to look into it again. That's when I saw two people down on the point holding a sign that said, "Lindsey, will you marry me?" It was my parents! I was practically frozen at the viewfinder. Everything felt so unreal! My heart started racing and everything started to blur.

Patrick got down on one knee next to me said, "That's your parents down there. Can you read the banner?" I don’t do well in high adrenaline situations so I kinda stopped thinking about what I was doing. I was still looking through the viewfinder but I nodded and said, "I know what it says." I think he had to pull me away from the viewfinder. He was holding the ring in front of me. At some point I did actually say yes. But I also took the ring box from him and held it in my hand. Patrick said, "I love you. I can't wait to spend my life with you." He stood up and we held each other, exchanging smiles as we did. As I said, I don’t do well in high adrenaline so it took me a while to remember I was supposed to actually put on the ring. I opened the box and Patrick took out the ring and slid it onto my finger.

I took a picture of the ring on my finger and sent it to my parents who were still down below in a text that said, “I said yes.” My parents drove up to the overlook and we all exchanged hugs and smiles. It was a beautiful night and I couldn’t have been happier. I had no idea Patrick was going to do so much planning. I’d also expected him to propose in Wilmington. But he had known that involving my parents and proposing around the same spot that my parents got engaged would be important to me. Patrick and I went home after a while and celebrated some more with my parents at home after calling my brother, who was in Laos at the time. My parents, before returning home, drove down to the spot on Mt. Washington where my father proposed to my mom. Needless to say, it was a wonderful night.

Patrick and I are so excited to start the next phase of our journey together on March 19, 2016.

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: It Won't Return Empty

July 4-18, 2015

I know I’m terribly behind on a blog update so I am going to update you on the past two weeks once again. I am finding it harder to keep up with all of the paperwork and office work that has to be done this year much more than last year. I’m not totally sure why but if you think of it, please pray for me! My office to do list can get a bit overwhelming at times. Hence why I’m making it a priority to blog (it was one of the more fun things on my to-do list).

July 5-10 started another week of ministry and once again we had two clubs. AJ had left me for Mahaffey yet again. So Mary Cooper, a Westmoreland County summer missionary, came and stayed with me so she could help out in Pittsburgh. I was very grateful for her help. We had two clubs. Our first club of the day was at Rankin Christian Center. Chloe and I had gone to this club last year and had a blast with the kids. Once again, Mary and I had a blast with the kids this year. They were certainly a lively bunch that kept both of us on our toes. But they were also passionate and enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed them.  Our evening club was my home church, Fellowship Alliance Church, Soccer Camp. This started on Sunday and went until Thursday. It was a delight to have Cathy and the rest of her crew join us to help out Sunday through Tuesday. It’s always fun when we get to work together. At soccer camp, the kids spend most of their time learning soccer skills and playing the sport, but during a 30 minute rotation, they sit and listen to a story from us. The CEF team does a lightening round club (cutting out most everything except a Bible lesson, memory verse, and a few songs). We get to see a lot of kids and it’s a lot of fun. On the last night of soccer camp, it rained and we had to huddle under roof. I was pleased that since we were confined to the small dry place, all of the parents that had stayed also heard the gospel as I presented it to the children. We didn’t hear about any decisions made by parents, but the word of God does not return void. Pray for any seeds that were planted in the hearts of parents. By the end of the week, we had 9 salvations at Rankin and 2 at Soccer camp. Praise God!

Harvey enjoys helping us set up for Soccer Camp.

July 13-17 was an interesting week. AJ was back and his younger brother, Caleb, also tagged along a couple days. We had three clubs. The first two clubs were at housing developments in McKeesport.

Our first club at Crawford Village went relatively well. There were both good days and bad days. Sometimes the kids could get a little rowdy but in mind, they behaved pretty well. I got nervous when we arrived on the first day and the director of the YMCA program that we partnered with came up to me and said, “We’ll do our best to help you… we’re rooting for you. We have twice as many kids as last year.” With that expectation in place, anything short of chaos was bliss. Later in the week he told me that for some reason they only had half as many kids as usual and they were giving us their best behavior. While part of me was disappointed to hear there were a lot of kids that we were missing, I believe it was also a blessing in disguise. A team of 2 or 3 simply couldn’t have handled a crowd as big as he said they usually had. While I would have loved to reach more kids, I’m not sure any of them would have heard the gospel if the room was chaotic the whole time. In moments like these it’s best to remember that God is sovereign. While I would have opted for more kids, God knew who needed to be there and knew what we could handle. We still reached 44 children at Crawford and saw 12 of them make first time salvation decisions.

The second club of the day was at Harrison Village. Harrison was one of the more challenging clubs I have ever done. Last year it was a difficult location because there was no structure and we couldn’t get any of the kids to participate in the club. We had to do open air activities like face painting and other games instead of a club. I was pleased to hear this year that they had reopened a YMCA lunch program and this year there would be some sort of structure for us. The kids at Harrison were great. I was excited to Sinai again, a little girl I’d run into last year that accepted and noticeably changed in her behavior for the Lord. The kids were enthusiastic and I could tell they enjoyed having us. The YMCA leaders, however, could not have cared less that we were there. We soon discovered that our new challenge at Harrison was no the children, but the leaders. The leaders gathered around a desk while we did the program with the children. They played cards and didn’t bother to talk quieter than usual. Occasionally they would even burst out laughing or yell across the room to someone. Most of the leaders were really nasty to the kids and yelled at them for even small things. It was really ironic when they’d scream at the kids any time they got even mildly jittery or noisy. Since we were in their domain, I didn’t feel comfortable asking them to be quiet. So AJ and I learned how to use our stage voices even in a small classroom. I made sure to thank the leaders before leaving on Friday. One of the leaders told me “thank you” and that she had really enjoyed. I don’t know if she meant that, enjoyed it because we took care of the kids for an hour, or was just being polite. But all of those leaders sat in the room while we shared the gospel with the kids, both at Harrison and at Crawford. I may never know what effect we had on the adults in both of those rooms. But I know that God’s word is powerful and does not return empty.

Kids playing games in the gym at Rankin Christian Center.

One little girl at Harrison Village stole my heart. She came back to talk to me one day and I started going over the gospel with her. When I asked her, “Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for you?” She shook her head no. Now if you have never been involved in children’s ministry before, you may not know that it is very rare to find a child that doesn’t believe in Jesus. There is a reason that God calls us to a “child-like” faith, it’s because children readily believe! But this little girl, Leilani, didn’t. I asked her why and she told me that she wasn’t sure she could believe that Jesus died and rose again if she was there to see it. And she wasn’t sure she could believe in God if she couldn’t see him. My heart broke for her. I explained some reasons why we can believe in God like using the “air is invisible but it’s there” analogy or even explaining that I could feel God because I had a relationship with him. But none of them convinced her.  I explained to her that I didn’t want to convince her, I wanted her to believe on her own. I told her to pray and ask God to show her if he really is real. She felt kind of strange praying that, but I also prayed for her. I didn’t see her after that so I don’t know if God had shown himself to her or not yet. I believe God can work miracles for little Leilani and reveal himself to her in a way that is meaningful to her. I don’t know how he will do it yet, but I know he can. Pray with me, that God will speak to Leilani and that she will have an open mind and heart when he does. I may never find out what happens to Leilani, but I know that the word of God does not return void.

Our third club for the week was with a church in Allison Park. That club was completely different from the first two clubs of the day. We still had fun with the kids though and I was impressed with a lot of their knowledge of the Bible or quick-wittedness. At the end of the week we had reached 97 children between all three clubs and seen 15 salvation decisions. 

Pray with me for all of the leaders, parents, and children that heard the gospel in these past two weeks. Pray that the gospel would resonate in their hearts and speak loudly to them. Pray that God would reveal himself, not only to Leilani, but everyone who hears the gospel. The word of God does not return void. I don’t know how the gospel will change those that heard it these past weeks, but I know it will.

Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Confessions of a Pittsburgh Missionary: The Desert

The Desert

June 22- July 3, 2015

Two weeks of ministry have passed. I meant to write an update sooner after last week but never got around to it. These first two weeks have certainly been busy as I have been spending time preparing myself, rather than the summer missionaries, for the ministry this summer. So I have been learning the lessons for myself, preparing the games, printing and cutting out various hand-outs needed for clubs, and other such preparatory tasks.

The first week of clubs is technically considered the second week of training. The summer missionaries are expected to use the clubs that week to learn how to put all that they learned at training school into action on top of finishing evaluations. AJ was away at camp for that week so I travelled out to Westmoreland County to help Cathy and all of her summer missionaries. We did three clubs there. The first club was at a church in Saltsburg. We had trouble getting the kids in the first club to get excited about what was going on. I think they did have fun in the end though. The second was through a rescue mission in Arnold. The kids there were urban and mostly unchurched kids. It was the hardest of the three clubs because of behavior issues. We crowded around a table made out of a slab of wood on top of crates under a canopy with holes in it every day. But the kids kept coming back and as the week went on, we gained more of their respect. The last was at a daycare in Arnold which was a ton of fun. They were very enthusiastic about everything which makes our program much easier. Talk about three very different clubs! One of Cathy’s summer missionaries said to me, “I like the last club. It’s indoors and the kids are excited to see us and everything is easier.” I responded with, “Yeah… but which club isn’t hearing the gospel anywhere else?” Not all of the clubs were easy but they all needed to hear the gospel. Some of the clubs needed us more than others because we were delivering a message they wouldn’t hear otherwise.

The kids huddled in the shade at Lighthouse Ministries in Arnold, PA.

This past week, AJ was back and we started our first week of ministry in Pittsburgh. We only had four days of clubs this week because of the holiday weekend. Our first club was at a Salvation Army on the North Side and the second one was with a child care center in East Liberty. We were returning to both of these clubs from last summer. I began to get very worried on Saturday night, however, when I started feeling sick. A bad cold had been going around since training school and I caught it. That definitely added a lot of stress to my week. I was not only preparing my first week of clubs on my own, I was also battling a bad cold. I am feeling much better. I'm still slightly congested but I am getting better. It was tough to be at the clubs when I didn’t feel good. Monday and Tuesday in particular were a challenge. Since it is just AJ and myself, I had to teach the lesson, which is about 15 minutes of talking, twice in one day. My voice was hoarse and my throat hurt after both times. Finally by Wednesday, I ended the clubs still having a voice. It was certainly stretching for AJ as I kept assigning him more tasks so he could do more of the talking. He had to step up and lead more than he is used to but I think it was good for him.

We had good groups at both locations. The Salvation Army has a day camp of about 30 kids. It took some time to gain their trust and get them to feel comfortable with us but once we did, they were sad to see us go. The childcare center kids were ages 2-5 so that definitely took some adapting. They have so much energy! As soon as I figured out some activity that would entertain them, it would last about three minutes and then I had to think of another one. I got the hang of it by the end of the week however. After giving the invitation on Thursday, one little girl came back to tell me that she had believed in Jesus for the first time so we are praising God for that. Despite my sickness, the goal was accomplished and we had a successful week.

A little girl named Kayla came back for counseling at the Salvation Army on Thursday. She had already believed in Jesus as her Savior, but she often liked to come back to talk to me. On Thursday she came back and was talking to me about the Bible. “We’re supposed to discover the world through books,” Kayla said, seeming to be quoting something she probably heard in school. “Right,” I said, “And the Bible is an excellent book to discover the world through because it’s God’s word.” She thought about it and then said, “Why do grown-ups always only read the Bible a little bit but then spend the rest of their time reading other books?” OUCH! There have been several occasions that I have seen kids display wisdom beyond their years without knowing it. This was one of them. I tried to explain that since the Bible is a little harder to understand, sometimes we just read a little bit of it to understand it better or sometimes we don’t want to read it because it’s hard to understand. She replied, “But you and Mr. AJ tell us really good stories from the Bible.” I nodded, “There are good stories in the Bible, aren’t there? People should read it more.”

God used Kayla’s innocent question to convict me once again of something that I think he’s been trying to get through my head for a while now. In another conversation this past week with my boyfriend, Patrick, I was expressing some of my feelings of stress and exhaustion with the week since I had been sick, tired, and still had a lot to do. He responded to me by telling me to relax. I responded that I didn’t think there would be opportunity for relaxing until the weekend. He responded by saying, “When I say relax, I just mean that God has it under control. If you don’t take the time to refresh yourself, then you’ll lose your ability to be effective. You can’t continue to pour into the kids if you aren’t allowing time for God to pour into you.” It’s moments like these that make me love and appreciate Patrick all the more. But OUCH! Twice this past week, God used two people, first Patrick, and secondly Kayla, to speak to me.

You see, if I’m being perfectly honest, my relationship with God has not been the first priority in my life lately. I have been neglecting to spend time with him or read his word for some time now. I think I felt the separation, the dryness, that the lack of spending personal time with God brought a little bit before the summer started. But during that time, I was also regularly doing devotions with Patrick as well. When the summer started, I just wasn’t spending any time at all with God. And once the ministry started, I really began to feel it. I noticed it during the second week of training with Cathy. Something felt amiss, something was off. Why didn’t I have the energy like I did last year? Why does this ministry feel so dry? And then this week, though I tried to blame it on the sickness, I knew in my heart it was deeper than that. Where was my passion?

The thing is that there’s no passion in going through the motions. There’s no passion in doing things just to do them. There’s no passion in serving someone if you’re not also enjoying a relationship with them. There’s no passion in serving God if you’re not also spending time with him. When you don’t take any time to refresh yourself with living water, no matter what you do, you’ll find yourself trudging through a desert.

Picture Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert 

Though I’ve spent all summer thus far in ministry, serving God, teaching children about him, I’ve been in a desert.  Because even though I’m telling others how they can experience God’s love, I haven’t been taking the time to experience God for myself. Sometimes in Bible College and ministry you can fall the thought process that being surrounding by the Bible constantly is enough to feed us spiritually. But it’s not! That living water that refreshes you, is found not by talking about the Bible or about God, but by experiencing him for yourself.

I’ve been in a desert. I haven’t been taking time to refresh myself with God. I’ve been pouring out of an empty pitcher. I praise God that he can use me and use my words in spite of my own shortcomings and can still use the lessons I’ve taught and words I’ve ministered with so far this summer. But it’s time to get out of the desert. God showed me that twice this week, through Patrick and Kayla. God not only used the voice of someone I love, he used the voice of a child. I have been reminded just how important it is to spend personal time with God. And yes, I read my Bible this morning. As you pray for me, please pray that I would continue to be reminded of the important lesson I learned this week. Pray that I would be daily refreshing myself in the presence of a God who loves me. And please hold me accountable, ask me how I’m doing. Ask me if I’m staying refreshed. Ask me if I’ve let God lead me out of the desert.

What about you? Are you in the desert? Do you also need to refresh yourself with living water?

Picture Source: http://lwcc.net.au/