NIPTO, Day 196

Wow. Thursday is NIPTO, Day 200!
I feel like I should bake a cake and write that on it or something =P

Today: Got up for music at church, first service music, talked with Mark&Diane, did the last song of the first service, did the second service stuff. And then hung around and talked to Rosie and Kay and Sally. We came home and ate lunch... and then hung around the house for a while... Then Mom and I went to Giant Eagle to do some grocery shopping (and driving for me!). Then we came home... and... I really don't know what I did. Lame.
We ate dinner and went for a walk. And now we're watching Psych. Shawn &Gus are HILAAARIOUS!
Love love love.

I'm babysitting for a long time tomorrow. I'm not super excited about it... but it's a job.

NIPTO now...
Acts 17:1-15
 ¹When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. ²As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ³explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. ⁴Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.


They kept traveling... as is a patter in this book! Then they went to the synagogue and Paul reasoned with them for three days. This seems different to me than in past chapters/sections. It seems like they would just TALK, but here he reasoned with them. It was more of a 2 way thing rather than a one way thing.
He explained and proved that Christ died and rose from the dead. 
Some people joined Paul and Silas and some were a bunch of Greek people... and not a few prominent women? That's confusing to me. I don't know if it's late and I'm just not comprehending something simple grammar-wise, but I'm confused.


 ⁵But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. ⁶But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, ⁷and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus."⁸When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. ⁹Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
So the Jewish people got jealous. They wanted people in their church.... They didn't want their thunder stolen by a couple of guys who just came in out of the blue! So they "rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace" and formed a mob. They're smart! Mob psychology is contagious! (Obviously... since there's such a thing as mob psychology!) They went to Jason's house (??? where they were staying apparently!) to find Paul & Silas and didn't find anyone, so they dragged Jason and some other people around the city to stir up some more trouble. The crowd heard what they were saying (partially true! haha) and got the officials into a tizzy. So they made Jason and the other guys that they were dragging around post bond and then they let them go.

In Berea (NOT Ohio... hah)

 ¹⁰As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. ¹²Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.


So since it was kind of crazy where they were, Paul and Silas were sent away to a different city. When they got there they did what they always did. Youuu guessed it! (Or just read it!) They went to the Jewish synagogue. The people of Berea were... more... civil than the people from Thessalonica. And they heard what Paul&Silas were saying and accepted it with open hearts and were studying for themselves to see if what Paul was telling them was true. A lot of people believed in Berea. 


 ¹³When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. ¹⁴The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. ¹⁵The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.


Then the Jews in Thessalonica got wind that Paul and Silas were teaching in Berea so they sent some people down (over, up?) there to get the people to rise up against them. They stirred up the crowds and they were turning against Paul&Silas so Paul went to the coast, but Silas&Timothy stayed in Berea. Some guys took Paul to the coast (Athens) and went back and told Silas&Tim to join him ASAP! 




And that's all for today. Except not! I'm listening to my playlist from LT and thought this song was fantastic. Sooooo I'm going to leave you with that. I've gotta be up early tomorrow to babysit... YAY! 
I'm really trying to be enthusiastic, but I'm having a hard time. I've never babysat for the family before (but we know them pretty well, they live on our street. Except for the fact that I don't really know the boy I'm babysitting for because I always talk to his mom! haha). But I think he'll be good. He's like, 9 or 10. We'll see how it goes! Monday and Tuesday... so. Yeah. Prayer would be kinda good. (I think I need an attitude adjustment. Or something.)
Enjoy the video!


G'night readers. Y'all are awesome.

NIPTO, Day 195

Hey-o Blog readers!

Today: I woke up SUPER late (11:20? Yeah. Super late!), ate breakfast (lunch?), vacuumed, helped Katie make cookies, drove to Giant Eagle to get gas and grapes, stood in line for a longggg time, came home, hung around (aka I don't really remember what I did), then I got ready and then we went across the street to the neighborhood Back to School Bash and then came home and got reorganized and then went to Amish Country for a going away party for... my cousin (to put it simply! You can skip this if you just want to leave it at cousin, but he's my great-uncles step-son... so he's my great-step-cousin? I think.). He's going to China for 9ish months (A school year) Soooo that's pretty crazy. But I'm pretty sure he's going to have an awesome time :)
It was a good partay! GREAT food and a good time catching up with family about NYC&stuff. So that was good.
And Dad and I listened to Stuff Christians Like on the way home... so that was fun too. :) Jon Acuff is hilarious.

And then I talked to a friend of a friend on facebook for a while.
And now I'm listening to Wicked. Because Wicked is fantastic!
And now I'm going to do NIPTO!

Acts 16:25-40

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. ²⁷The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
Soooo Paul&Silas were in jail... and they were just singing and praying and the other people in the jail were listening to them. And then there's this big earthquake that opens up all of the doors in the prison and everyone's chains come off. The jailer wakes up and sees that all the doors are open... so he goes and gets his sword and is about to kill himself when Paul tells him not to kill himself because they're all there! What a surprise for the jailer!

²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

 ³¹They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." ³²Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

The jailer then asked that someone gets lights. And he fell down in front of Paul&Silas. He asked them what he had to do to be saved. So obviously their singing&praying had an impression on him. Sometimes singing&praying in a public place will have an impression on someone... you never know!
They told him that he had to believe in Jesus! They told this to him and his entire household and everyone was saved&baptized. The jailer then took them into his home and gave them food. He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God. Believing in God should be our JOY!


³⁵When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: "Release those men."³⁶The jailer told Paul, "The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace."
The magistrates/people in charge told the jailer that he could let Paul&Silas go. To go in peace. Don't worry about it! Happy, right?


 ³⁷But Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out."
Not really. Paul wasn't that happy that they would beat them in public, not give them a trial, and basically disregard their Roman citizenship. And then throw them in jail and then the next day just let them go quietly. Paul wanted them to come to them and take them out of jail. (He'd give them a piece of his mind!)


 ³⁸The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. ³⁹They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. ⁴⁰After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.
So the officers go back to the magistrates and tell them this and apparently they didn't realize that Paul&Silas were Roman citizens... so they were kinda freaked out about that, so they went to the prison and escorted them out to make them happy. But then they asked them to leave the city. So they went back to Lydia's house and talked to the brothers(&sisters, I'm guessing) there and encouraged them. Then they went on their merry way. For real this time. =P



A'ight. That's it for me, folks! I've gotta be up in about 7 hours for music at church... Soooooo g'night!

NIPTO, Day 194

Today... we drove. Home. From New York City. That's a long time in the car. I slept for a lot of it. We stopped  (kind of) for lunch. And kept driving. We were in a Harry Potter coma so it was all good. =P
Came home... drove a little to pick up a package at the FedEx store (we've been there a LOT this week! I didn't even know where it was before and now I know several different ways to get there! (Okay, 2, but whatever. =P))
Came home.... went on a walk... then I sat and talked to Kaytee for a long time. And it was great. I love her to death. I hope we can get coffee soon because I miss coffee! =)

NIPTO me thinks!
^{Acts 16:11-24
11}From Troas we put out to sea  and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. ¹²From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.


Luke is writing this. And was apparently there. Because "we put out to sea." Not "they." So, yeah. The traveled... stayed somewhere for a few days. Ya know. 


 ¹³On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.

On Saturday (their sabbath) they went outside of the city to the river where people would be coming and going (and where there was a place of prayer, apparently. Or maybe not... because they "expected to find a place of prayer" there... so maybe they didn't. I don't know!)
So they went out of the city and sat down and started to talk. They told about Jesus. I'm assuming. 
One of the people listening was Lydia. She made/sold purple cloth (expensive! Think... royalty.) in Thyatira. She believed in God and God worked in her heart and she responded&believed what Paul said.


¹⁵When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.
She, and everyone in her household, was baptized and then she invited them to stay in her house. 
(I wonder if they were worried about a place to stay before she invited them... probably not, but something that could've been a possibility.)


¹⁶Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." ¹⁸She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.


This is such an interesting section! They were traveling some more and came to a place of prayer. They were talking and a slave girl who was considered a fortune teller came up to them and started following them proclaiming that they were God's servants. She followed them for days. Paul got so fed up that he went up to her and told this "future predicting spirit" to come out of her. And it left her. And they went on their merry way. I'm assuming :) (I'm assuming a lot, aren't I?)

 ¹⁹When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."

Wow. Way to read ahead, Abby. Not. 

They didn't go on their merry way. The people who owned that slave girl were angry because she wouldn't make them money any more. So they grabbed Paul&Silas and took them into the center of town. They made them go to the authorities and basically got them into trouble for 'disturbing the peace.'

 ²²The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. ²³After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The crowd joined (mob mentality much? (Nice alliteration too =P))

So the people in charge had them beaten. And then they threw them into prison and the guards were instructed to watch them very carefully. So they were put into the inner cell and their feet were in stocks. 

Sounds pretty grim... But I'm going to be done for tonight. Hah. Sorry. You can keep reading if you want. And I'll try to blog tomorrow morning. We have a lot of stuff going on tomorrow!

Goodnight people of the interwebz!

Exhaustified.

I am Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired. I'm sitting on this little couch in our apartment and am basically about to fall asleep with my contacts in and makeup on... So I'm going to give you a quick rundown of what we did today, and then I'm going to go to sleep. I'll be able to sleep tomorrow too in the car because we're leaving :( But here's what we did today:

Got up. Ate. Headed towards the subway station. Hannah&Mom stopped in @ H&M so H could get a couple of things that she had seen that she wanted. Katie, Dad, and I went into Barnes&Nobles. It was HUGE. and I luffed it. Then we went to Times Square! And we walked around a little bit... and then we went to the Hershey's store AND M&M World! I ♥ M&M World. It's so cool. I got a lanyard for when I have keys? If ever. =P

Then we went to Famous Ray's Original Pizza. The pieces were huge and it was extremely good. Pictures to follow on Facebook.

After Ray's we started walking towards Central Park... stopped in at St. Patrick's Cathedral and FAO Schwartz. I LOVE FAO! It's huge and wonderful and full of toys! :)
Then we went into Central Park and walked for a bit... sat in the Mall and people watched and watched this amazing kid do juggling&stuff. It was sooooo cool! He was fantastic! Then we kept walking and ended up at Bethesda Fountain and stayed there for forever. It was Gggrrrrrate! Then... we went to the Imagine circle (John Lennon memorial) and took a few pictures. Then we went to Columbus Circle to find a piano for Hannah (They're supposed to have these pianos all over NYC but we think they took them away because they were getting vandalized a lot). There wasn't one there :(. Then we decided to head to this place that we had eaten when we were here 2 years ago. We got a little lost and ended up walking back a subway stop, but it was all okay because the food was delicious! We then walked over to Madison Square Park and sat for a bit and then headed to a subway station and came back to our stop. We went back to Barnes&Nobel because Kate wanted to get a book. So I wandered around for a while then found my family again. Then we came home!
The end.
There will be pictures on facebook tomorrow night or Sunday!

NIPTO, Day 193

Hola readers! I am sooo so so tired. But I'll post about my day when I'm done with this. SO. 


NIPTO
Acts 16:1-10
¹He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. ²The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. ³Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. ⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.


Wow. I feel really lazy doing this whole chunk together... but I'm exhausted and can pretty much only think in big pictures right now!
He is Paul. I think. I am feeling so lazy right now because I'm not going to go check. Hah. You can check and comment&tell me I'm wrong. :)
Timothy joined up with Paul and they traveled around and told the churches in the different cities what the apostles in the church at Jerusalem had said. And the churches were strengthened and grew as a result of the message that Paul&Timothy brought with them.

⁶Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. ⁷When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. ⁸So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.

Paul&everyone who was with them kept traveling (the Holy Spirit was with them!) and kept telling the story of Jesus. They came to the border of a... province? city? and were not allowed in because of the "Spirit of Jesus" or the Holy Spirit. So they moved on to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." ¹⁰After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul had a dream/vision one night of a man from Macedonia pleading for him to come and help the people there. So in the morning they go up and headed out for Macedonia. They decided that God wanted them to go to Macedonia to tell them about Jesus! So they went.

Now, I guess I'm going to blog about today... but I'm so so so tired. So it might be really short!

G'Night!