Some more about me...

Hello again, so, in my first post, I didnt say much about who I am, so I suppose I should elaborate a bit more. I'm 17, I live up in here in CT, which is freezing at this time of the year, except when you want to snowboard, when it get all warm and mushy. lol. Oh well, we always want what we can't have. I attend First Baptist Church, but I'm not hung up on the "Baptist" label. I am a Christian first and foremost, and I believe that if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are a Christian, and my brother or sister. =) I was saved at the age of 3. Young, I know, and although I didnt know everything about God, I had learned that Jesus died to forgive me for everything I did wrong, and I knew it was serious business, because I saw my mother read the Bible and a devotional book(that I now read!) every morning, and she was very serious about it. Every day since then has been a growing experience, and an awesome one! I've been homeschooled by my mother for my whole life. Yes that means i've never gone to school(but it doesnt mean i have no friends, i have lots of friends). I love homeschooling and can't wait to homeschool my own kids someday. I am a shepherd, I lease three sheep and take care of the rest of the herd some too. That's is the reason for my bloggername "1Sheprd4God," in case you were wondering lol. The most significant thing to happen to my faith was my first mission trip, which was last July. 20ish youth and adults from FBC went to New Orleans with World Changers to work on rebuilding houses that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. We got to work our butts off, sleep way too little on hard classroom floors in a cockroach-infested high school, eat so-so food in a smelly caf, and basically get be-like-Jesus-bootcamp(worship, talks, prayer meets, group devos, crew devos, etc) when we weren't at our worksites. It was absolutely the best week of my life so far. My life had been in a serious spiritual slump before then. In New England, it was unfortunately easy to find friends who didnt care. God could not have found a better way to get my attention than this trip. He threw me in a building for a week with a bunch of amazing teens who were strong in their faith and not afraid of what anyone else thought of it. Most of them live and go to church down in the Bible belt, and they were used to, and happy to, share their testimony with whoever would listen. Their forwardness confronted me with my lack of faith without them even knowing it. It was downright incredible, and it totally changed the way I look at the world, my own faith, other people, and my ability to make a difference. I plan to go on my church's mission trip again this summer and every summer in the future if possible. I will be going to UConn in the fall, and I'm looking forward to going to such a large campus. I'm sure I will be able to find some good Christian friends there. I'm really excited about the opportunities I will have there. Well, that's some more about me for now, I gotta get some sleep. Goodnight and God Bless!

-Johni