Shaina Dressler

i always went to church and grew up an a christian family all my life. when i was about 9 i got baptized in this really really cold river in central oregon (thats were i was living at the time). then when i turned 10 my parents split up and i didn't really know what it meant to be a christain. last summer i turned 14 and i got so close to the lord at camp and i realized what it meant to be a christain. so i decided 100% on my own that i wanted to get baptized when i got back from church camp and know what it meant. this year i started high school and didnt really like the school i went to. in my 7th grade year my sister changed schools to go to a community school that supports teen parents and helps you cope with drug addictions and encourages you to continue your education and not to give up. i really didnt like that school. i didnt like the people and i didnt like the reputation that i gave out either. in the second term this last year as a freshman, i felt God was getting ahold of my heart and asking me to go to merlo with my sister. the people there need a knowladge of the love of God and need someone to bring it to them. i didnt want to do that, and i wasnt sure that that was what i wanted or even what God wanted. so then i decided to fill out an application and if i got interviewed to enter that school, i was one step closer to doing what God wanted me to do. so i got through the interview and i was accpepted in that school, so then i knew that it was God talking to me and not me trying to get "the easy way out." i have included one of my friends in church activities and another has changed from when i met her. when i met her she hated God and anything to do with religion. she would hate it when someone talked about God or going to church, but now she doesn't mind being around it and sometimes even talks about stories in the Bible. and right after school got out i was talking to someone else over myspace that i went to school, with but wasnt the best of friends with, and she is interested in doing things with the church this summer. i believe God has done so much since i've been at that school and has done things not only to let people know about God, but to help me get closer each and every day. i have been accepted back into that school for next year and i am confident to be a whitness to others and let them see the Love of God through me.