Monday, February 16, 2009

bridesmaid dress & Fort Gibson, OK...

So I had another busy week/weekend. I was a bridesmaid in one of my best friends wedding on Friday night. The bride was beautiful and the groom was alright, I guess. ( just kidding Jeff & Tabby) But on Friday night about an 1 1/2 before the wedding I was putting on my bridesmaid dress and had a few issues with the zipper. But finally got my dress on and went to sit down to put my shoes on and my dress/zipper broke. And my closed back dress now had a 6-8 inch hole created in the back of it. (*insert gasps here*) My actual zipper was stuck and I use the word "stuck" very strongly at the top of my dress but the rest of the zipper decided it wanted to rip open. So I almost had a break down and I wanted to cry. But I just decided I was going to have to rock out a now open back dress! But thankfully a good friend named Ginny lived right down the street and she is extremely gifted with sewing. So we called Mrs Ginny and she came to my rescue. She wound up literally sewing me in my dress. Literally with a need a thread I was sewed into the dress and all was well! After the wedding I had to be cut out of my dress but that was just a minor detail. The wedding was wonderful and the new Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Osborn have a great future in front of them.

Sunday morning - I was asked by my new friends, The Wilfong family a few weeks ago to travel to Fort Gibson, OK and speak to their youth group. Chris and Ellen Wilfong are youth pastors at the First Baptist Church in Fort Gibson and they have 3 lovely daughters! I met this family through Shaohannahs Hope. Melody (age 7 their youngest daughter) went with her family to a SCC concert over a year ago and heard SCC talking about the orphans in the world and she decided she wanted to help them. So she has started a ministry with the help of her supportive family to help raise money for orphans. Their families story is amazing and they actually have a website that you should check out! ( www.melodyshopefororphans.com)

But anyways, I spent the morning speaking to their youth group/college group. I talked a little about my testimony and then talked about my experiences China this past summer. This was the first time that I have ever spoken to a big group of people that I wasn't nervous or anxious at all. So I know some of you out there were praying for me! And I cannot thank you enough! God was gracious and I really felt like God spoke through me. Which is a really goofy thing for me to say but it was one of the first times in my life where I wasn't scrambling for words or what I was going to say next but God kept giving me the words and the stories. The students were great and very welcoming to me. They even prayed for me as a group after I got done speaking! Which was very nice and thoughtful of them! But after I almost made us all late to worship service because I talked so much we finally made it to the service and I was given a 5 minute time at the end of the service to share a quick testimony with the entire church. So I did, I would guess there were probably 300+ people in there and I kept it short and sweet that time because I didn't want to keep anyone from being late to their usual lunch spots. (church people can get scary if services go to long) But they surprised me with taking a love offering for me and my trip. They just had offering buckets in the back of the church as the people were leaving the building and they collected $1,100 for me! $1,100 people! God was so gracious and these people were so eager to help me. This church body was a very welcoming and sweet group of Christians. They are a very giving group of people! But needless to say I was completely shocked with the offering amount and I was in awe of God's provision and this churches eagerness to be obedient to His voice through giving.

So if you are from the First Baptist Church in Fort Gibson, Thank you so much for your love and your support! You were more than a blessing to my and my mother and I am forever grateful to your willingness to help me in my journey to China. And I am so thankful for your prayers and encouraging words! And thank you so much Chris, Ellen, Madison, Malia and Melody for inviting me to speak and be a part of your Sunday morning worship. Your family is doing amazing things for the orphans in this world and I will be praying that doors continue to open for your family. I've gained great friends in Fort Gibson through this past weekend and I look forward to seeing what God will do with your family and church body!
Again thank you so much!


Melody, I'm wearing your shirt you gave me! Thank you so much!
If my readers would like to learn more about what this amazing family is doing for orphans please visit their website.
www.melodyshopefororphan.com

And thank you so much readers for your prayers! I am only 16 days away from getting on that plane to China and I couldn't be more encouraged or excited!

Love, Chrissy

3 comments:

  1. Wow, that's awesome! I can't really say much beyond that, cause that pretty much sums it up. :)

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  2. Hey Chrissy! Sounds like things are coming together nicely. I was thinking about you this morning as I sat on top of my suitcase, trying to get it to close. Packing suitcases with a year's worth of necessities is quite the task! I leave Thursday morning :)

    PS. you are welcome to visit me anytime. It would be fun to see you in China!

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  3. Chrissy - It was a inspiring for you to be at FBC Fort Gibson! Our Awana Kindergarten class is going to adopt you as our missionary to follow. We only meet for 7 more weeks, but we will be looking at your blog each week to follow your progress on your journey with God. We'll be praying for ya! FBC-Sparks-Kindergarten!

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