Motley & Company

My friend, Alyssa, is opening an Etsy.com store! While this sort of thing isn't something I would normally blog about, my friend is special. And her reason for having this online store is special as well.

Alyssa has worked very hard for the past 3+ years to help supply money for UPCI global missionaries to have automobiles. All of the money which she has raised goes to a project called "Sheaves For Christ." You can read about it here. I don't even know all of the tactics that she's used, but I know she's made so many scarves and done everything that she could to make her goal. She has done so well, and raised so much money, that she has won the "Real McCoy" contest held by the UPCI General Youth Division multiple times. You can read about it here. This gal is special, and she has done so much to help us missionaries while we're out here on the field.

Why am I writing about this? I am so glad that you asked! Alyssa's Etsy.com store, Motley & Company, is going to be her venue for raising these funds for missionaries. She's going to have bags, purses, scarves... so many amazing and stylish handmade items for a great price. The profits will go towards "Sheaves for Christ" to help us missionaries. God has blessed her efforts, and I know that if you'll help out, He'll bless yours, too. Her shop opens on February 1st, 2013. So, please, stop by the store on opening day! And, if you could help Alyssa out by telling your friends and family about it, it would be such an amazing thing!
Motley & Company's Facebook

Thank you so much, and have a lovely day!

Happy new year! - Purposeful planning for 2013

Happy new year, everyone! Looking back over the last year, it was a good year. It was a very hard year, and I learned a lot of lessons. But in retrospect, it was still a good year, and I'm better for having lived through it.

I regret, however, that I didn't blog near as much as I would have liked. But, I normally only do it when I have a very strong inspiration. I will still be writing as such, but I also am going to develop a plan for some topics that I will be writing about. Many of them stem from my recent lessons in life.

Believe me when I say I don't have all the answers. I'm recently 18, single, and ready to push on and climb the mountain of adulthood. My new years resolutions include becoming fit, getting my ministerial license with the Nordic region of the UPCI, learning to drive, becoming an AIM, getting into University, and finding a job. Some of these I can complete pretty easily, but others, not so much. Getting a driving license here requires a bit of money, getting into university is difficult, and I need to read quite a few books, teach some Bible studies, and sit in a room full of people and be interrogated to get my ministerial license. Well, not really, but I'm told that they ask very difficult questions. So, these are my challenges, and I am completely confident that I will complete them.

Since I am currently in the mode of purposeful planning for the next year, I decided that it would be a good idea to make some plans about blogging. I had a recent conversation with a friend and we talked of some topics of which I should write. Keep your eyes open for when they show up, and we'll have a lovely ride. And if you'd like me to write about a topic, feel free to ask. I can't guarantee I'll write about it, but I just might. So, without further or do, the topics chosen so far are:

• Perspective
• What Christ is to you
• Positivity vs. Negativity
• Growth/moving forward
• Soulwinning

This is my year of purpose. I am preparing myself for the responsibilites that face me as an adult, as a grown woman, as a worker, as a one-day future wife, as a Christian, and as a minister. When my parents leave for the States to raise money for the work here, I will stay behind and work with our group, not only to maintain, but also to expand. Here I will create my home, and if God tells me to leave Finland, or I get married to someone from another country, only then I will leave. If not, here I will stay. Finland presents many challenges to me, and I look forward to facing them with God's help.

What are your resolutions? Will this be a year of purposeful planning for you, too?

Have a lovely day!