Habitat for Humanity trip in Macedonia

Hello to you all,

From 4th of August till the 17th august, I was in Macedonia with Habitat for Humanity. A team from the American church in Paris decided to go and help build a house for some poor family in Macedonia. It was an interesting trip, full of lovely moments.

We went to Veles, a city in the center of Macedonia and we meet this nice family that lived in a big house and they wanted to build an additional one for their old and sick grandmother. There where 10 people living in 4 rooms! They had also the grandmother and it was hard to live with her.

In Macedonia, people live in the same house for a long time. Sometimes you can find 3 generations living in the same house. So it was the same with this family we worked for.

I enjoyed working with Habitat, it was a good trip were we could help other people and show them the love of God through our work. Habitat for Humanity does a great job in Macedonia, so many people have a good life because of a new house.

I think my pictures will speak louder than my words, so please take a look of what we did in the city of Veles, Macedonia.

He who overcomes

Have you ever thought about Christian life and it’s rewards? I guess many people have thought. In the end will I get something or not? It is worth to live it? Is there anything after death?

In order to respond to those questions, I will use The Bible which is a best seller in the world, in case you don’t know China in the last 20 years it has printed some 50 million books. So this is pretty amazing , in case you thought that Harry Potter is the best seller. Maybe it is but not as sold as the Bible.

Let me go back to what I was saying, so the Bible is my trustworthy book which tells me everything about the end , the Christian life and if it worth to live it or not.

First of all I would like to tell you some promises that God makes to those who overcome. If you have been Christian for a long time and now you feel discouraged, thinking that there is no more to take from Christian life , then this message is for you. If you are not a Christian, you wonder what will happen to you or maybe you don’t think about this at all, you would like to know what happens in the end then this post is for you.

Look up the passage in Revelations chapters 2 and 3.

“These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands” Revelations 2:1b

“These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.” Revelations 3:1b

Here is what I found in the second part of the first verse.

Those words that I’m going to write to you now are the words and the promises of those that holds the seven spirits of God. Have you ever wonder who that person is?? In my opinion this is Jesus. So He is saying to us today: These are my words to you!

First promise for those who overcome is:

1. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Wow this is so amazing. We will have the right to eat from the tree of life, we will live forever in the paradise of God.

Second promise:

2. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.

This is interesting. We will not be hurt by the second death. Which means we die but the second death which is hell, we will not be hurt by it…so we’re going to Heaven!!

Third promise

3. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

Have you watched the new Chronicles of Narnia where prince Caspian he saves everyone with the help of his friends and has a cool name that every girl falls for him?

For the one who overcomes in this world God will also give hidden manna. Yeah cool, but what is manna??

Manna was the food that God gave to the Israelites in the desert , here is what i found on Wikipedia:

In the description in the Book of exodus, manna is described as appearing each morning after the dew had gone, while in the description in the Book of Numbers, manna arrived with the dew during the night; the Book of Exodus adds that manna was comparable to hoarfrost in size, and similarly had to be collected before it was melted by the heat of the sun. According to the Biblical description, manna resembled coriander seed; in the Book of Exodus, manna is described as being white in colour, while the Book of Numbers describes it as being the same colour as bdellium.In the Biblical account, the name manna is said to derive from the question man hu, seemingly meaning what is this?

So not only you get manna, you will also get a new name. Something unknown written on a white stone. Isn’t this awesome?? Maybe you don’t like your name so much , in Heaven you will have the chance to change it!! And God will be the one to do it for you!!

The fourth promise is:

4.He who overcomes will, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

So I’m going to Heaven, I got a new name , now God is giving me some white clothes a symbol of purity and check this out HE will never blot out my name from the book of life BUT he will acknowledge his name before Him and his angels. This is so cool! Think about you and your life, do we really deserve this?? Nope! But to he who overcomes all these and much more will be given.

The fifth promise is:

5. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

I am speechless, I cannot help to tell you the last promise:

The last Promise:

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Wow, this is a awesome promise, we will sit on the throne of God. Do you remember the scene at the end of Chronicles of Narnia 2 ? When they were sitting on the throne and the lion was in the middle. I think that in Heaven we might get that image. You sitting close to God , near his throne, what can be more amazing than that?

And you’re saying that you want to be rich and famous?? And have a 100 girls? Best car, family , house and all of that?? You don’t believe in Heaven? You think that all of this is crap??

WELL, I don’t think so. The promises of God compared to this ordinary life are the best you can get from the Christian life. This is your reward!! Right here! He who overcomes… You need to over come, to get the crown!! Don’t miss the big even of your life!! This is it! Right here, right now. You can live like the one who overcomes or you can be the one who is overcome by this world.

What do you choose??

Are you discouraged, look at the promises of God , your Christian life is not in vain. One day you will overcome all this with the power of God!

THINK about it and then send me your comments and decisions!!

Passion world tour Paris

Last night I was at Teatre de Mutualite at the Passion World tour. For the first time they came to Europe so they choose Paris as one of their locations. I was with the people from the American Church and with my family. We had so much fun.

The people in Kampala wrote on papers Paris and they brought their sign at our conference, this is so nice of them to do that for us!! Cool sign don’t you think??

When I was little I had this dream that one day I will have all the cd’s and the good christian contemporary music that my friends had. I was jealous everytime when someone get some new CD or they had the new video of Chris Tomlin , Matt Redman etc. So I prayed to God that one day I will have all that music. I need to say that God not only gave me a bunch of CD’s with Christian music but on top of that he offered me christian concerts. To see my music coming alive on stage was amazing!!!

To hear Chris Tomlin , Matt Redman , David Crowder band two days ago it was like a dream come true. Jesus was there and he offered me a unique experience. Some people are used with christian conferences and good music and they say ” Well , another one. Again, Chris Tomlin…!

I say it is better not to get used with it because is not going to last for long. What we have here we will not have in Heaven, there we will not have to save people from death, pray for those in trouble…there we will rejoice with the angels and receive the promise!!

This year I discovered Louie Giglio at the Wycliffe bible translators conference, he is a very good preacher…may God bless him. It was so nice to come here at the Passion World Tour and listen to another sermon live…! It happened so fast!! I love what God does when we trust in Him.

He said a very interesting thing two days ago, something which I never thought about. “You never know when the train is going to London, what are the grades of your exams BUT you know what song the angels are singing before the throne of God!!!!!” Wow that is so true!! Where can we find that??

In Revelation chapter 5:11,12 says :

Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels, the living creatures, and the elders surrounding the throne. They numbered 10,000’s times 10,000 and thousands times thousands.

They sang with a loud voice, “Worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise!”

Awesome!!!

After that David Crowder band came and they sang my favourite song.

You are My joy!!!

I heard, that my friend Justin had a picture with him and they tried to teach him french…so funny!!! Oh Justin you are so lucky and you had no ideea who this band was LOL.

Cool night in Paris at Maison de Mutualité, where thousands of students from every nation, language and tribe worshiped Jesus!!

Good news

This weekend my brother is going to be baptized!!! I’m so happy about it and I really wanted to share it with you!!! Tomorrow at 11 o’clock my dear sweet 14 years old brother is going to testify his faith in Jesus !!! Is amaizing , is the best thing that can happen in someones life!!!

So, you are invited if you are in Paris by any chance and you’re looking for a Sunday service please join us at the American Church in Paris on 65 Quai d’Orsay at 11 o’clock!!! See you there!

Have you ever thought…

That you don’t like the city you live in??

You don’t like your job, you would like a better one??

Your friends are not the way you want them to be??

What university shall I choose??

I am scared about my future…

Why is God responding so slow??

Tired…

What about the next generation???

Is this familliar to you?? Because all these questions are part of my life.

My story begins one and a half year ago when I first came to Paris. I was tired after a long trip and I felt like sleeping all day. My mother tried to show me around but I knew I was going to stay here for a while so why do I need to bother…anyway after that, I saw everything a thousand times!

I didn’t like Paris, this stupid french language wasn’t for me, I had no friends. Just my nice and lovely family, some people in a huge city!!!

I went to the church and God spoke to me from the first time: ” You are not here by chance, God has placed you here, so you have to love the city you are in.”

When I first heard that I realised that God had a plan, that before I was even born, He knew I will be in Paris. That is why He welcomed me with these words.
After that I heard this phrase 4 or 5 times…until today when God told me again: ” You are not here by chance, I planned for you to be here, so make the most out of it and preach the Gospel” Wow, this message again?? But… I thought I loved Paris and I started to like it , why is God saying this to me??

Because a couple of hours earlier I was talking to my brother and he told me :

“First lesson: You need to have faith!”

“Yeah, who doesn’t have?? I do!!!”

It is not enough to get me by, it is not the faith that can move the mountains, I believe but not with all my heart, my fears and doubts have made me unfaithfull. I believe I’m here for a reason , that there is a plan, but I don’t understand it and I refuse to continue.

I was asking myself why I have to go again to university, why do I have to be in this process of having no papers, medical assurance, waiting for months , for all of these. Why I’m still living with mum and dad, why I’m not married, will I ever get married??

“Lesson two: “Don’t worry!!!”

We are all in the relay race, waiting for the relay to come and to pick it up so we can pass it forward and it seems like is never coming!! When is going to be my moment , when God is going to use me and I can change the things in my life?? God says do not worry, your moment will come, you will change and your life is going to be better but you are in a process, not ready yet!!

Everyone runs, some of them are closer to the end others just begin. We all are in the same relay race and one day our moment will come and our generation will be changed.

It is true, those two lessons I had to learn them once more, even if I have the verses writen on my bed, it seems that lately I slept backwards because I didn’t see them.

All of us need to understand that God does have a plan, that we are not alone and He knows what He is doing. Even when we think God is slow to answer , is not true in fact … it is ME that makes the task much harder…because I am not ready yet and It will take me a while do understand. I hope not too much…I’m 24 already ))

Romania

I was for 2 weeks in Romania to see my friends and family. It was a long holiday and I really enjoyed it. I went to Brasov in the mountains were I had a nice experience with my relatives, visiting the town. It is so cool.

By the way for those that don’t know, the anual festival “The golden Deer” is held at Brasov. Well after this I went to Botosani, the town of my grandparents. It is a small town, I did not travelled much, but they have a nice pastrycook’s shop where I used to go all the time. After this I went to my home town , Braila were I saw all my friends. I arrived at Easter time and everyone was preparing for this so I had some red eggs, easter cake, lamb and a lot of juice!! Romanians eat a lot!

My last stop was in Bucharest the capital of Romania. There I spend 4 years of my life where I graduated the university. I have classmates and friends that I missed them so much. Coming back after a year everything was changed. The streets were in construction, metro stations were changed and even the people were not the same. Most of my friends got married, some of them have children. For me was such a change.

My best friend though stayed the same, she is not changed much, thanks God she is not married yet, it would’ve been sad to in this alone ))

I was tired in the end of all that walking and talking, now I’m back…to beautiful Paris which honestly is very lovely, is warm outside, everyone is going out to picnic and I love it!!!

I never thought I’m going to love Paris, but I do. I like the diversity, it changes all the time and I think that for the time being is the best place to be.

Therefore I’m going to take advantage of the nice weather and I will take my friends for a long walk on the Seine!!!

I hate…

It is 1 o’clock in the morning. I can hear the rain dripping down my window, it’s kind of cold and I’m afraid ..or at least I think I am, for God is with me so will be no reason…well my aunt snores so as my uncle so it is pretty scary!!!

 The title sounds interesting and I’m wondering why did I choose it, anyway??? Because I hate!!! 

 You might wonder how does a christian hates things. You see, in life not everything is worthy of our appreciation and sometimes you need to hate some things in order to move forward, because if you love all things you’ll end up in hell!

For example one thing I really hate is sin. From this we can go on with hipocrisy, cheating,stealing etc. I hate when people find sin, fun, attractive like nothing is wrong life goes on so let’s enjoy it. Sin is so easy like a snake that crawls under your skin , you don’t feel it and when it bites, you die slowly. So true, sad,  with so many dead people and broken lives.

  I  watched a movie tonight called “Because I sad so”…a mother trying to find her daughter a husband and finally she find one for herself. This movie it supposed to be fun , interesting and for the “spicy” lovers it is perfect. It wasn’t for me. I like it in a way but I hate it too. Too cheesy, sinful people pretending that this is what you have to do and in the end love is all that matters.

   What I’m trying to say here is that if we had to take that movie as our lesson for life, we will understand that you have to search for the guy like crazy, when you find him have sex with him and in the end if it happens to have another guy along…well it is  sad,  but you find out who is really the right boy for you, it’s your mother’s fault that you are into it. So, support the consequences and finally he will come for you , using some of his “glamorous” words …and you are back together…wow interesting life…I hate that!!!!

I hate when guys pretend to be Prince charming just to get you in bed.

 When girls run away for boys as crazy, when they fell for it and it hurts.

When sin is consider a normal thing.

When sex is like a toy.

When purity is considered in the wrong way.

When God is not involved.

This is it! I hate it!

 

” You who are young, make the most of your youth.
   Relish your youthful vigor.
   Follow the impulses of your heart.
   If something looks good to you, pursue it.
   But know also that not just anything goes;
   You have to answer to God for every last bit of it.       

     Live footloose and fancy-free
        You won’t be young forever.
   Youth lasts about as long as smoke.

 Honor and enjoy your Creator while you’re still young!

    Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over.
   Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends.
   The body is put back in the same ground it came from.
   The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 The last and final word is this:
   Fear God.
   Do what he tells you.

Ecclesiastes 11, 12

 

 

Please read this!!!!

 

Single mother, has cancer, if anyone can help her send this message forward. If you don’t send it to your friends list, you have no heart!!

Yahoo messenger will close down in June 2010, please send this message to your contacts and your account will not be erased.

It sounds familiar??? We receive “mass” and all kind of stuff everyday. Sometimes we are annoyed and we decide if anybody will send me one of this messages again, we will definitely erase him from our list.

It is a boring subject I know, but I don’t feel like writing tonight, all I want is a higher rating…so please if you are bored or not, read this!!!

 

 

God’s offer…

 

I was hiding under the table, when I heard a noise…He was coming in. I wished that he wasn’t here at this hour, I was planning on something but he came. I was about to be discovered…all my life I lived like a christian, now because of a little pleasure of mine, I’m hiding myself under the table.

   What I don’t know is that He knows about it , I thought that He is far away and he will never find out. I’m alone , I can do whatever I want. That’s way he is here , he knows I’m about to do it, and he wants to stop me.  Oh, I’m so stupid, I lived all my life a lie and now when I’m about to find out the truth, I’m afraid and I don’t want to let go!!

  I think this is true for most of us. I’m always drowned in fears, I like my little sin and I think that God doesn’t sees me. Sometimes I’m lying myself saying that everything is going to be OK, but in fact is not like that. Because God loves me , he comes to rescue me. So many times I think that what God has to offer is less than what the world gives. I am such a fool to think that!! 

Opss he saw me..I feel so ashamed..What he is going to say about me?? I’m disappointed son!! 

I come out from my hiding, He looks at me and says ” Where have you been I’ve been looking all over for you” , I have a party and I want you to be part of it. Here are your new clothes, don’t be afraid I know what you have done , but don’t worry is payed already!

It’s payed already?? What is he talking about?? I’m invited to a party, new clothes??   he knows about my little pleasure  and he invites me to his party. That must be crazy!!!

As children of God we know that Jesus payed already the penalty for our sins and that God invites us to his “party” in Heaven were we will rejoice. But most of the times we live as though we don’t know this, in guilt, shame , anxiety and when Jesus invites to go with him, we’re still surprised. You don’t have to be, you are forgiven, rise up and walk in the freedom of God!!!

Even if God’s offer sounds crazy or weird remember that there is no better offer than this on Earth. What you get with God you cannot have with anyone else. The pleasures of this world are nothing compared with the glories and riches of Heaven.

 

You want to know which is God’s ofer?? Think about it!!! You need it more than anything else and that is ….FREEDOM

 

Again…

I made a mistake…Again! I try so hard to be cool, to do things right but it seems that nothing works out. I come again!! before you Lord to say I’m sorry…and I’m sick and tired because this is my third time this week!!

Is this prayer familiar to you?? A thounsand times I prayed like this, sometimes I feel like nothing is changing. You know the feeling, it happened to you before. The same mistake this week and you think that God is tired of you. The truth is, God is not tired of us, he is listening, he forgives and restores. It doesn’t matter how things are going in your life you can be sure that He is there for you.

I love God for this, so many times he kept his promises…I was on the edge of falling but he was there to catch me. I slept in the Lord’s arms and it feels so good. Until one day when I was alone going my own way and then “he” came and took away my desire for God. I realised that Satan is more powerful than me and I knew he was a roaring lion, so I ran as fast as I could!!! I cried : Jesus, save me!! and he did. I found myself again in God’s arms and it feels like home.

Think about all the times when you felt God closer, forget about your failures and your unanswered prayers, look up and ask for hope, for the Lord’s presence on you, for His loving arms to surround you and then everything will change!! You will never have to say the word “Again” this way…it will be completly changed.

Again I tell you brothers that Jesus is the truth, He is joy, love and peace!!!