Building a Palace

It's so easy to get comfortable with who we are.

I'm not struggling with that sin anymore, so I'm okay.

I'm not as sinful as that person. 

God loves me just as I am. 

We use so many excuses to escape the reality that God still wants to work on us. It's hard to let God work on our hearts.  It is uncomfortable and sometimes it requires us to do work to fix it. 

But this quote is a great explanation as to why he continues to work on us. 

As Christians, we have God living in us. We are a representation to the world of God and his love. 

God continues to work on, in and through us to make us more like him. Although he loves us just the way we are, he loves us too much to leave us there. 

So even when it's hard and it hurts, keep listening to God. Obey him when he tells you that you need to change something, or forgive someone, or tell someone about him. He might ask you to go on an adventure to another country, or instead to work on your heart at home. But whatever it is that he asks you to do, know that there is a plan and a purpose for it!

He loves you so much and wants you to be the best you can be!

~Moriah

Grace: Part 3

One of the first things that we were taught when we got here was how to love the children.  Giuli said that some of the most important ways to show the kids that love them is to hug them and make eye contact, and just listen to them (even if we don't understand what they're saying!).

But she also told us that the Bible tells us to love others like we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39).  And that doesn't mean just the selfish, think of myself first kind of love.  The kind of love that God means is love like his, when you are able to forgive and love yourself.

When we refuse to accept God's grace it's so much harder to give grace to others because we don't understand grace very well.

Because of God's love we want to do better, but we don't have to do better in order for him to love us.  We could never possibly be 'good enough' to earn his love.

What she said really hit me because sometimes I really struggle with allowing myself grace when I make a mistake or when things are just hard.  It can be much easier to beat myself up over a mistake than to let it go. 

But just like Giuli told us, God doesn't blame us or get mad at us for making mistakes or struggling.  Instead, he helps us up and tells us to keep going, that he's strong enough in our mistakes. 

God wants us to know just how much he loves us so that we can learn and grow, and so that we can love others fully.

Love,
~Moriah

Returning

As I sit in the Ft. Lauderdale airport waiting for my flight to Lima, I'm thinking about how I got here.  And when I say that, I don't mean driving to Latrobe, and getting on a plane and flying here.  It's the things that God has orchestrated in my life to get me here.

And all of the pieces of it as well! God is constantly working events in your life together for his plans.  Where he wants you to be, he will open the doors and make a way for you to walk through them at just the right time. 

Most of the time, it won't make sense in the moment.  It hurts, or it is something that you have to go out of your way to do, or it leads to what you think is going to be an awkward moment.  But looking back, you an start to see how God is weaving the events of your life into an intricate tapestry of his plan.

He does know what's best, and what is the way to get your attention and get to your heart.

He loves you more than you can imagine, and will never do anything that is to your detriment. I can't promise that you'll never have hurt because God doesn't promise that.  But he does promise that the hurt is for good, and that he will carry you through it.  And someday, you'll be able to look back and see his great plan being worked in that. 

~Moriah
Isaiah 49:6

Why I Like Peru So Much

Those of you who didn't know me four years ago when I went to Peru are probably like, 'that's great that you're going, but what's the big deal with Peru specifically?'

In order to fully explain this, I'm going to have to take you back a little further and tell you some of my testimony. 

At the age of five, I decided to trust Jesus to forgive my sins and provide the way for me to have a personal relationship with God, our loving father. Missions fascinated me. I loved hearing missionaries talking about the countries they worked in and stories about what God was doing there. 

As I grew older though, I lost focus of how I needed to trust God to forgive me and let him carry the burden of the mistakes I make rather than trying to carry it myself. Because I was still trying to be good enough for God (which is a lie, by the way, God loves us the way he finds us and then he works in us to change the parts that don't line up with him), I wasn't able to see how much he loved me, and I wasn't able to love people with his love. I forgot about my heart for missions for a time while all of that was going on. 

I did come back to the relationship that was meant for me with God (another part of my testimony, I'd love to tell you about it if you want to hear!) and in the summer of 2009 I nominated my dad for a contest on the radio station KLOVE. 

KLOVE was partnering with Shoes for Orphans Souls that month and they were doing a contest that you could nominate someone that you knew who went the extra mile.  I wrote about my dad and submitted the story, later that week it was chosen as one of the stories to be read on air, and put in the drawing for the grand prize. The grand prize was a missions trip for two with Shoes for Orphans Souls to Honduras, Guatemala or Peru. Well, my dad won (:D) and we went to Peru together for 9 days. 

During the trip we got to go to many different orphanages and see lots of children who were growing up without parents, and many without Jesus. 

  

It broke my heart. 

I loved those children! It upset me that they had so little and I had sooooo much! It was so awesome having the opportunity to just play with the children, and love on them and teach them about Jesus and his love for us.

Being in Peru for that time was so powerful for me because God showed me the love that he wanted me to have for missions once again. Since then, I've had the opportunity to go on many missions trips and even learn that missions isn't always going somewhere else, it's a lifestyle! (Thanks CE National and Operation Barnabas:) ) 

Even before I left Peru, I knew that I'd be back. I didn't know when, or for how long but I knew that I wasn't leaving for good. 

Since the summer of 2010, I've been waiting till I was old enough to go back as an intern with Buckner International (they run shoes for orphans souls as one of their ministries). I started taking Spanish because I wanted to lessen the language barrier (someday I want to be fluent in Spanish!). I am pretty certain that later in life I'd like to adopt children (or at least be open to what God says about that!:) ).

I am super excited to see what God has in store for this summer and I hope you'll continue to follow my journey!:)

Love,  

Moriah

Isaiah 41:13

Project Go Peru!

Guess what?! I'm going to Peru for a month this summer!

 I will be going with Buckner International as a part of Project Go July 7th - August 7th. As an intern there we (me and a team of 3 other interns) will be working with the in country staff doing construction, teaching lessons, running Vacation Bible Schools and assisting with a short term missions trip. 

I went to Peru in 2010 with Buckner and God used that trip to change my life! If you'd life to read more about that trip, scroll down and click on the Peru tag on the right side of my blog:) 

I've been waiting for four years to be able to be an intern and I'm super excited to see how God will use this summer! 

I would love it if you would support me! I definitely cannot do it alone!  

Here are some ways to do so:

1. Pray for me! I can always use prayer! Some specific requests are that I would allow God to prepare my heart for this summer, that our team would connect well and that God would work in and through us. 

2. Support me financially. I know it's not an option for everyone, but it helps a lot! If you would like to receive a support letter, please email me your address to owls2fly@yahoo.com :)

3. Encouragement! Follow my journey on my blog, leave comments, tell me your stories of what God is doing:)

4. Buy a tshirt! These are currently in the works so I don't have any details yet, but I'm working with www.fundthenations.com to make them, so I'll have info out as soon as I get it:)

5. Support my local fundraisers. I don't have details on these yet, but I'm working on a SweetFrog fundraiser and a yard sale. 

Thank you!:)

~Moriah

Isaiah 41:13

Q & A

My friend Nicole asked me some questions but up until now, I haven't had time to answer them (sorry Nicole!).
There is a picture of the scenery above, this is what most of the area that surrounds Lima looks like.
It is actually fun speaking through a translator for the story.
It was fun to see how much spanish that I could remember and follow along with where she was.
We were very busy!
We got up at 7am and often times didn't get to dinner until 8pm and then it was 10 or 11pm before we made it into bed.
I loved telling the story to the children!
I loved seeing their smiles as they heard the story of Hermie.
Our hotel room in Lima was what my dad jokingly named the servants quarters.
It was beds and a toilet (and a shower that didn't really work) but that's all we needed, right?
We were in a separate little part of the hotel, not in the main tower.
Where we were there were 3 rooms.
Thankfully we were healthy when we were there!
We were watching 'How to Train your Dragon'.
It is ok that it didn't work on the way there because that gave me time to type the minutes for GenJ.
Luckily the movies worked on the way back and we got to finish the movie.
The ending is really sweet!
The weather was okay.
In Lima it was in the 60s and mostly overcast with a lot of drizzling/misting.
In Cusco it was in the 30s in the evening and the morning and 70s and sunny during the day.
I loved putting the the shoes on the kids!
Some times it was a little frustrating because it was hard to fit their foot or because they didn't like the shoe that fit them but their smiles made everything worth it!
We had a great time, thanks!
If anyone has any questions for us please feel free to post them in a comment!
I will try to answer everyone of them!
Have a great day!
Moriah

Day 9 (Sunday in NJ)

We got into Newark, NJ at 7:30am on Sunday.
Our flight to Pittsburgh was supposed to leave at 10:30am.
Our plane did not leave the ground until 4:15pm.
We did finally make it home safely, with enough time for me to gather some more things and leave the next morning.
I know that you guys probably think that I forgot about my computer but at the point when I stopped writing I no longer had a computer to use.
I will try to make an online albulm of our pictures or just continue to upload more as I have time.
Thank you so much for praying!
Moriah

Peru Day 8 (Saturday)

Our last night in Peruvian traffic.

Some of the girls danced for us

The welcome sign that the girls had for us.

"My" girls with their new shoes

Daddy playing volleyball with the girls

Daddy's group that he worked with.

Hi everyone!
On Saturday, we went to a girls home in the morning.
These girls were so sweet!
They welcomed us with 2 dances, a song and a poem.
After we did our vbs program with them, we got to buy some of their hndicrafts.
They had a pottery workshop and a workshop for crocheting/knitting.
They make such beautiful things!
I bought a scarve and Daddy bought a hat.
After that we went to the Cusco airport and flew to Lima.
We went back to the hotel and I repacked my suitcases so that everything fit in them.
We spent our last 2 hours hanging out with the rest of our team wishing that we didn't have to leave.
It is amazing how close you can get to other Christians in a week.
At 7pm we headed to the airport.
Our flight left at 10:30pm and that flight left on time.
Thanks for praying!
Moriah

Peru Day 7 (Friday)

Peru Day 6

Hola Everyone!

Today we flew into Cusco, Peru.

We all got up at about 3am that way we could make our 6am flight.

After we got to Cusco, we went to our beautiful hotel. The hotel staff served us coca tea and then everyone laid down for a nap.

Some people are definitely feeling the affects of the altitude, some aren't.

Luckily Daddy and I are fine and the altitude isn't really bothering us.

We did end up leaving 4 of our team members at the hotel while the rest of us went to the boys orphanage.

These boys were extremely sweet!

They welcomed us with 2 traditional dances.

We did our VBS program and handed out shoes to the boys.

After that they handed out these felt balloons that the boys had sewn and stuck onto sticks.

Then the kind director took us around the home and showed us their bedrooms and how responsible the boys are with their things.

After that we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and check on the ones that had stayed behind.

We went to dinner and got to listen to some traditional peruvian music.



Please pray for all of our team that the altitude will not affect us tomorrow at Maccu Piccu and especially for one of our team members who is ill right now.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!

Moriah

Peru Day 4 (Wednesday)

Hola!
Today we went to a government run orphange in the morning.
There were a lot of children that had downs syndrome and disibilities at this home (probably 15-20).
We broke up into 4 groups and did all of the program and then gave out the shoes to the children.
The little children with downs syndrome were sooooo sweet!
After our boxed lunch, we went to another government run home but this one was for boys that came off of the streets and were sent to the home by the court.
These boys were amazing!
They were just so sweet and their memory just amazes me!
We read the Hermie book and there are like 4 places in the book where God reassures Hermie and Wormie that He loves them just the way they are but he isn´t finished with them yet.
These boys (7 boys) memorized what God said to them after they heard that part ONCE!
They were saying it along with my translator.
They were just so sweet!
Tonight we said goodbye to 5 members of our team who are not going to Cusco with us. 
Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 3:30 in the morning to fly to Cusco.
Please pray for us that our trip will be uneventful and that everyone will adjust to the altitude.
Gracias!
Moriah

Peru Day 4 (Tuesday)

We had such a fun day!
We got to go shopping!
First we got to go to their grocery store.
My daddy bought some junk food and a bunch of other people from our team bought peruvian groceries (coffee, candy, hot chocolate) to take home.
Then we got to go to the market.
Their market is soooooo neat!!!!!!!
The alpaca fur is so soft!
They had little teddy bears and little alpacas made out of the fur.
I didn´t buy any yesterday but I am going to see in they have any in Cusco because they were saying that we could shop there too.
In the afternoon we visited a catholic girls home.
These were the sweetest children yet!  After we did our program with them, they sang us 2 songs.
The first one they said they only sing to people they love.
The second one was about how friends never say goodbye.
After they started singing the 2nd one, our whole group jumped up and joined their group swaying with them as they sang.
After the song was over, I was hugging the girls and my dad (who had gotten to work with the oldest teenage girls yesterday) came over and showed me one that had been the ´ringleader ´  and had been bombarding him with questions about his family the whole time.
He told them that I was his daughter and literally translated, they told him that he was old.
I thought that was funny.
After we got back to the hotel our dinner was delivered.
Pizza Hut!!!!!!
That was the fastest I think I´ve ever eaten any pizza.
Thank you for praying for our interns and our translators.
The interns and the translator that was ill are much better.
That translator and 2 of our interns went out to the home with us yesterday.
They are so thankful that they will be able to go to Cusco still.

Thank you for praying!
Moriah

Peru day 3!

This was our lunch. CL below, CH above.

These are 2 of the sweet babies that we met at the single moms home.

This peruvian child had a shirt that had my dad´s favorite football team on it (Washington Redskins) so he had to get a picture.

Hola everybody!
Yesterday was day 3 of our trip.
In the morning we visited a home for single mothers.  We did our story lesson with them and gave them shoes and then we went and saw their beautiful babies!!!!
They were sooooooo adorable!!!!!!!!!!
Those girls really do love their babies.  They were all so sweet.
Then we had a chance to buy some of their handiwork.
Our group bought a lot of shawls, scarves and jewelry.
Oh and the cooks their made us some peruvian hot chocolate.
That was yummy!
Guess what we had for lunch??????
Yes those are the pictures above.

We had chicken liver and cow heart!!! (luckily they also served delicious french fries and rotessorie chicken)
Then we got to go to an orphanage that has only sibling groups.
They were very excited to see us.
And think about how much American children love candy.  Multiply that buy 10 because they never get it.
That equals to whoever was holding the candy bag (me for the teen girls) was getting trampled.

Please pray for our interns and our translators.  All 4 of our interns are ill and so is one ofour interpretors.
Thank you for keeping us your prayers!
Moriah

Hola!

We drove across this river to get to the boys home.  Notice the men pushing the car ahead of us out (and yes that is my dad following the car, by the time he took his shoes off he couldn't catch up to the car.)

These are the boys when they were singing.

Hi everyone!
Today we visited 2 homes.
The first one (this morning)  was a christian home that is supported by a church in Oklahoma.
There were boys and girls in this home.
I am in charge of the bible lesson for the teen girls.  We are using the book Hermie a common carterpillar as the main part of it.  The theme is how God can make us a new creation.
I read the story in english and then I have an interpretor who translates it into spanish.  The translator that I had today is wonderful!  She is awesome with the kids and wonderful with the story.
She makes everything so interesting (even though I can´t speak spanish:).
The second home was all boys.
It was a home that has boys that were usually picked up off the street and sent to the home by the court, so they have usually been abused, sometimes by the police.  It is always worse when the boys have been abused by the áuthorities´.
Oh, these boys were sooooooo sweet!!!!!
After we had done our program, the boys took us all up to their (chapel?) room.  Some of them went up front and thanked us.  I think the sweetest moment was when a 17 year old boy came up to the front and said that his favorite part was when we spoke about God.
That had to have been my favorite part of the day!
Then they sang us some of their worship songs.
Oh, it was a wonderful day!
Thank you for praying!!!!
Moriah

Hola!

Okay, now I wish that I had decided to take spanish in school(I should have followed my sister´s lead).
This afternoon we went up to a community building in a very poor village to do our vbs thing.
They said to plan for about 200 kids, we ended up with about 300 kids!
As they were walking up the very steep hill to the building you could see their joy. They had all met up at the local church to get together ages groups for us. They walked up in lines with their hands on the next child´s shoulders.
I think the most joyful group was the age group that was probably about 6-8 or 9. When the interpretors told them that we had come to play with them they were thrilled!
Then, she told them to go say hola to us and give us a kiss (Peruvians kiss cheeks for greeting).
They bounded up to us, so joyful and thankful to see us.
I spent probably about 2 hours on my knees putting socks andshoes on the children.
Some kids were harder to find shoes for then others.
Well, Iguess I should let someone else use the computer.
Moriah