Costa Rica Mission Trip

Hello All, 


It's been way to many days since I've posted on here. ;) Right now I am sitting on my sofa so tired but yet so excited. 




I just finished packing and praying for our mission trip to Costa Rica. I just know in my heart this is going to be an amazing trip. 




I met so many wonderful people in the past few days (Wednesdays meeting) and this afternoon at our packing meeting. Below is a message from my dear sister in Christ Darleen  ;)




Read your testimony Mallery. soooo glad you heard the lord and was obedient to his call on your life! One of my favorite sciptures is Jer. 29:11 for I know the plans you have for me. plans to prosper me and not to harm me. plans for a hope and a future -- but then it goes on to say-- Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, you have called on him and he has heard you. So many lives will be touched through you by the grace of God. Soooo pumped to be going on this trip with you : )


We are praying her and I room together, we already have our workout planned. Getting up at 5:30 am to get it in. No gym but that's ok we will make do and get a fat burner in everyday. You can exercise anywhere with any amount of space. I was so thrilled how excited she was to start working out and eating healthier. It made me smile so bright! :) I found a match, knew I would. I don't think a young 18 year old girl would be to happy hearing me breathing all heavy bright and early in the a.m. 


After we met this afternoon at church I was on my way home with my hands held so high praising you. Lord you filled my heart with this overwhelming feeling, I looked up in the sky and said THANK YOU JESUS, THANK YOU JESUS! 


I pray this you use us all and I know that you have great plans for us while we are on this trip. I pray that you help us to reach the unreachable and speak through us. 


Here are just a few things GOD & the group are doing in Costa Rica: 


Sharing our testimony and preaching at Zoe church 
Visiting Children's hospital (we made photo albums to show them our families) use as a tool ;) 
Morning Devotions 
Hospital visits 
Christian school 
Spiritual Scavenger Hunt (excited :) 
Youth Church and outreach 
Juvenile Delinquent Center 
Ministry outreach 
Construction on church (painting and much more) 


FRIDAY WE ARE ZIP-LINING!   Yahoo.  Fun, Fun, Fun! 


Lord,  the team is on a mission to Costa Rica to save lives! God's power is mighty and I know that many will be lead to Christ.   Guide us, protect us, lead us! Amen. 


Friends & family please be our prayer warriors! Thank you. We love you. 


See you all in 1 week. :) 

Pray for Reece & Rubino Family

Saturday 7/7/12 2012 Reece's Round Up 5K 

I woke up early this morning and said to myself, Lord I know that today is going to be an amazing day. I am running for you Lord but, today I would also like to run for a special little boy named Reece. 

I got online and pulled up the Reece's Round up 5K website http://www.reecesroundup.com/  The song on the site really touched my heart and these words really stuck in my head "even if you fall sometimes you will have the strength to rise." 

Reece was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the doctor said he will not live past the age of 2 and will never sit up, walk, run or hold a baseball.  

He's living proof at the age of 5 that all things are possible with God.  

Jeff and Lesa Rubino (Reece's mother& father) said what family wouldn't do the same. They all as a family pull together to help Reece. 

Lesa's exact words "it's faith and with God all things are possible." They also said "we are going to do everything we can to give him a great life." Amen. 

Reece has 4 machines that keep him alive and a daily gentle beating on his chest to clear his airways 

After reading about Reece I was so ready to go out and give this my all. I was thrilled to meet Reece and tell him "I am running for you my man" The trophy I receive goes to you! 

The picture below is Reece and I before the run 

I gave him a kiss on his forehead and said a little prayer to myself Lord keep me strong. 

Lesa (Reece mother) informed me the picture above is actually the first time he has ever written. 

It's a picture of him on the left telling the two people to workout harder to win on the biggest loser. 

His dream is to be a personal trainer on the TV show the biggest loser.  

He goes to school online and someone teaches him in person as well. 

Doctors and school teachers told them he would never write in his life. How amazing! 

I told him I was a personal trainer and he smiled ;) What joy! 

They called my name Mallery Schaffer 1st place in age group. I didn't even have the desire to jump up and down like I normally do. To be honest I wanted to start crying my eyes out but I kept them back and went up to him and said I ran this race for you. Our strength is in the Lord and know that I am praying for you every single day! I said to him "I love you so much" He looked into my eyes and I could feel his little heart beating out of his chest. I said "don't ever give up"  

My trophy went to Reece! 

No reward could replace these special memories.  The true gift today was meeting the Rubino family. It made my entire day and I will thank God for this always! 

Reece prays every night to Jesus. I ask that you join him and ask the Lord to heal his body and that he will have the strength to stand up and walk! 

Pictures of Reece and his family 

What a great committed family. I look forward to this race next year.

New friends that I met at the race. I spot out the ones with pups. ;) 

Lord, as I close this blog. I want to thank you again for this wonderful family, my BFF and all the people that were at this race supporting the Rubino's. We believe in you Jesus!

 Keep the prayers going everyone. 

Love you all!!!! 

Laundromat

When you think of the laundromat what picture do you see in your mind?

Well, I think of the germs... so for me I would always think of everyone's dirty clothes being washed before mine. It would just gross me out and I would say "never will I use the matt to wash my clothes"  Actually, when I was looking for my first apartment, my request was washer and dryer please.

AND.. When I was younger obviously I did my laundry at my moms house. Well, to be honest mom did my laundry till I was about 20 (embarrassed to even admit that) :) so with that said I am still learning to this day how to do my laundry correctly (whites/darks/hang dry)  

Let's talk now,  I am 26...   I have a washer and dryer in my building but it takes about 2 hours to dry 1 small loud and I end up doing laundry for seriously 5 hours. Especially because I let my laundry pile up for weeks and weeks! (be honest you do it too) I've joked with my clients and said I have 16 loads of laundry and they just laugh because I put it off entirely to long. 

Today, I had the morning off and my plan was to wake up nice and ealry to do all my laundry (more than 16 loads) + my comforter and sheets! I got up ate breakfast and sat right on the sofa, felt comfortable and I was thinking hmm... Maybe I will do it tomorrow. I could wake up extra early? No, No, No I said to myself get it done, you have really put it off far to long!! 

Just picture this in your mind, Mallery pulling up to the Laundromat jamming to k-love. I was lifting my hands praising, so happy, had a big smile on my face. :) I get out of the car walk into the matt and put all the laundry on the counter, head back out to lock my car. I was ready for action to get it done! 

I came back in and as I did I noticed this older man smiling right at me, I said to him "How you doing" He said "I am great how about you?"  I said very well, thank you for asking.  I took a look at the 2 big washers and seen they were taken, no biggie I thought I will use 4 of the smaller washers. I turned and started talking to the nice gentleman he said to me"I seen God in you as soon as you pulled in the parking lot."  He went on to say I really enjoy listening to K-love every morning. That sparked the conversation and we had a 20 min conversation about our amazing Lord and savior! 

He opened up his heart and told me he was in the past crack addict and was strung out. I was really into what he had to tell me, his testimony was outstanding. He went on to say that the Lord has really changed his life and that he will never go back to his old ways. I was so inspired and asked him to tell me the story when he decided to give his life to Christ. He said he was 43 and very lost, his girlfriend at the time was really involved in the church. He would go with her but, it wasn't heart felt,  he explained it like just going through the emotions. He said it was one day he woke up and the Lord really spoke to him and said this is what I want you to do. Go to this program and I will heal you from this addiction forever. He said from that day forward he has been clean from everything. I then asked him "how long have you been free from your addictions?" 

His response was "I am no longer a recovering addicted, my past has been washed away"  It has been 10 years all thanks to Jesus!!!! I could have screamed I was so happy to hear this. I said since that day you have been clean from all drugs, he said yep even alcohol! I was so proud and really inspired by his story. God had us cross paths for a reason. I lost my uncle, my aunt and my father from drugs. It was so uplifting to hear someone say I am healed by the love of Jesus. He told me what church he went to and the pastors name, I will be attending the Wednesday night classes as soon as I get back from my mission trip! 

When I think of this inspiring, uplifting story a scripture keeps coming to mind 2 Corinthians 5:17 "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" Amen! 

Please keep Lamar in your prayers. Pray he will be used mightily to glorify the Lord with his strong testimony of faith. 

I have to tell you the honest truth. I enjoy the Laundromat! :)  Everything is in his plan. 

Ask the Lord to make you new, ask him to take away your addictions and free you forever. God can heal you just like he did Lamar. 

I love you all so much!!!  Thanks for your prayers and support! 

1 of the top best races I've ever run in my life! ;)

I could not wait to write this post and share my wonderful experience with you all. 

Saturday June 30th, 2012 

Washington Alliance 5K 

My alarm went off about 5:20 a.m and I pressed the snoozed about 10 times before actually getting out of bed. I had 20 min to get ready before we were off to the race. I was so pumped because this was the second church race I had ever done. I hurried up got ready put my Jesus shirt on and could not stop smiling. I just knew it was going to be such a great day. 

We arrived about 1 hour before the race started and I thought to myself, let's head down sign up and talk to everyone after you run the 5K. I also wanted to do a short warm up because my legs were still sore from the hill work I did Tuesday..  The weather was perfect for a run,  no sun and race started at 8:30 a.m,  a bit humid but bearable. 

We start to walk down to the sign up table and these two guys get out of the car Cedric and Tyler. I looked at my best friend and said you see that guy "Cedric" didn't know his name at the time. I said I will put money on it that he wins the race. We both smiled and agreed. 

I then walked up to my beautiful sister in Christ Rachel, told her my name and she gave me a big smile and handed me my goodie bag. This was the best gift bag I had ever received in my entire life. I truly read it over, over and over. I even posted it on Facebook right after. Read it very slowly and think about the scripture message. 

I am the VINE, you are the BRANCHES. He who abides in me, and I in him, he is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 

This is very powerful, I am nothing without Christ. Amen. 

RUN FOR JESUS! 

This was a very special memory that I will never forget. After the race I started talking to a wonderful couple (husband & wife) about their two precious adopted children from China. You know me had to know the entire story. I started asking questions (me=Ms. neb nose) and by the end of the story I had chills down my spine, goose bumps all over my body and the tears (you'd be proud) I held them back. It is truly amazing what they did for these two children. You can just see in mom and dad's eyes the love they have for their two little ones! It always brings a smile to my face to hear inspiring stories like this. Just want to thank this family, my heart will be touched forever! 

 This is the little boy Nate on my back. He and his sister decided to race each other. They asked me to join them and Nate was treading many feet behind her. I turned around and went back to get him 

(I couldn't let him finished behind me) so I said jump on my back. He was like no and kinda looked scared I said it's ok really we will try and catch up to your sister. He hurried up and jumped right on and then started yelling run, run to his sister as we caught up... I started cracking up and said "who's side are you on?" It was a blast! I could not stop laughing as you can see in the picture. ;) My heart was racing too, thought it would be easy running with extra weight, was harder than I thought.. especially with my limp legs. What joy kids bring into your life. I cherish all parents in this world!!  Thanks Nate for trusting me and just jumping on some strangers back. When he was finished he said I am ready to go again. His sister said nope I am finished. Lord, thank you for this awesome morning. 

This was the very best part of my entire day. I ran the 5K and yes I did finish 1st in my age group but, didn't even compare to this joy!!!!!!! 

I got to meet many aweseome Christians today and also discussed my ministries vision. Lord, I pray that you will open many many doors and make way for Mallery Schaffer Ministries to grow. 

Cedric did win the race and I am proud of his hard work and dedication. I pray that he will glorify you Lord with his gifts and the natural talent you have given him. 

Philippians 3:14

"I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

At the end of this day I was exhausted but I remember I went to bed with a big HUGE smile on my face! ;) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) GOD YOU ARE AMAZING! I LOVE YOU.