I am a Christian who is very passionate about writing and after being called to this project and some inspiration from peers I've started my blog, Stories of Hope. I am very excited to see where this is going to take me. When I get older my dream occupation is to become an author and to write books.
Hello everyone, welcome to another one of these blogging updates. Today I will talk about a new blog series (yes series!) that I am currently working on, and on my family trip. So let’s get into it.
So first is the series. What this series is about is scripture, however, it is stories inspired by the scripture. What I mean is that I will take a certain scripture and will write a short story around it to teach others about what the scripture means through it. Hopefully, it will teach others about the scripture and how it applies to life today and what the lesson can be learned from it. I was inspired by Le Petit Muse (Diana Tyler), who did something like this with her own characters, so please check out her blog, which I will put the link below. I will hopefully post the first story today so expect this real soon. It will be called Scripture Tales. And hopefully, it will come out either once or twice a week.
Next, I will talk about my family trip. Soon my family and I will go on a trip, so expect some more pictures and a slow down in posts. I just wanted to give you all a heads up for this.
It’s that time again! It’s Venezuela update time! This time the article that we are using today is by BBC News which is called Venezuela crisis: Migrants dash to cross Peru border. So let’s get into this.
As the title of the article suggests, along with the article, ” Thousands of Venezuelans have rushed to cross into Peru in a bid to beat the introduction of tougher migration laws” (BBC Para, 1). Since we talked about the Peru border opening up, it is logical that the people would leave, and this does sound good because of ” The country’s imploding economy has resulted in high unemployment and shortages of food and medicine, and hundreds of thousands of people are said to be in need of humanitarian aid” (BBC Para,5). However, according to my mom, a Venezuelan woman who knows her people, most might not want to leave or may be unable to find stable jobs. Let me explain.
Yes, most people would want to leave, “Marianni Luzardo was travelling to Peru’s northern border with her two daughters on Friday. “In Venezuela it is almost impossible to get a passport,” she told the Associated Press. “We need to get to Peru soon” (BBC Para 7), however, I have seen a trend of people not wanting to leave either because they are loyal to the president, or because they were living in Venezuela their whole lives and leaving would be leaving a piece of themselves behind. My mother has put it like this, ” If they leave, most likely the hardworking engineers would start cleaning the roads.”
Here is the chart of the migration out of Venezuela:
Due to the migration, “Latin American countries host the vast majority of Venezuelan migrants and refugees. Colombia has the most at 1.3 million, followed by Peru with 768,000, according to UN figures” (BBC Para,11). Additionally “Nearly 6,000 Venezuelans entered through the border town of Tumbes on Thursday, officials said, which is almost three times the daily average” ( BBC Para, 11 ). Additionaly, “Nearly 6,000 Venezuelans entered through the border town of Tumbes on Thursday, officials said, which is almost three times the daily average” (BBC Para, ). This means that there might be more regulations on migrations out of the country, which is actually happening now in Peru, as said by Peru’s President, Martin Vizcarra “”Our country has opened its arms to more than 800,000 Venezuelans,” he told reporters at an event in the northern city of Piura. “I think it’s completely logical and justified to ask them to bring visas to ensure better control of who enters.”” (BBC Para, 10). But luckily, as said by the president of Peru and the article, “Prior to Saturday’s deadline, Venezuelan citizens wanting to enter Peru only require a national ID card” (BBC Para, 6).
It may seem hard to believe this, but it is absolutely true. There is a new drug, called 3K3A-APC, which may prevent Alzheimer’s disease. According to the website Medical News Today called Experimental drug may prevent Alzheimer’s disease written by Tim Newman and fact-checked by Isabel Godfrey, it was written that there is “A drug that scientists are currently developing to treat stroke survivors might also help stave off Alzheimer’s disease” (Newman para 1). This suggests scientists are developing a new kind of drug which, according to the article, is called “3K3A-APC” (Newman para 10).
So what is it? Well according to the article, ” 3K3A-APC is a modified version of activated C protein, which is a blood-based protein that protects brain cells and blood vessels from damage due to inflammation” (Newman, para 10). As stated above, the activated C protein is an influential portion of the new drug. What it really is, is ” a powerful anticoagulant. However, the alterations that scientists have made to the newly modified version has reduced its anticoagulant properties by around 90 percent while maintaining its protective benefits” (Newman para 11). The article also lays out how the new drug actually works, however you have to understand what it is fighting against, which is BACE1. This is an enzyme which is involved in the creation of the plaques that is in beta-amyloid, the enzymes that create Alzheimer’s disease. This is what they are trying to get rid of.
So, now onto what the drug actually does. This medication does not act like a regular Alzheimer’s drug. According to the article, ” In the past, scientists have tried using various compounds to block BACE1. So far, this has not led to new drugs. However, they have shown that interfering with BACE1 reduces Alzheimer’s plaques in the brain. This current medication uses a slightly different approach as it blocks the production of the enzyme rather than blocking the enzyme itself” (Newman para,22).
However, it has to be apparent that this is just in the beginning stages of development and that it has some side effects involved. As stated, “The drug is currently under development to treat brain bleeds in people who have experienced a stroke. So far, the drug seems to reduce bleeding in the brain with few side effects or safety concerns” (Newman para 13). Additionally, they have said that the testing had “… encouraging results” (Newman para 12).
Please read the article that I have used for this piece:
You might think that this is ridiculous. That this is not possible and that this is clickbait. But you’d be wrong. According to the article, Scientists believe they will have ‘a complete cure for cancer’ within the year by Harry Brent, a reporter for The Irish Post, they said that, as the title already suggests, “ISRAELI SCIENTISTS believe they might have just found the cure for cancer and say they will be able to offer it to patients within the year” (Brent, para 1). This is game-changing in the field of medicine. This might potentially save lives without any side effects, as the article suggests, and a man they interviewed named Dan Arido who worked for the treatment (which is called MuTaTo which means Multi-target toxin) said “Our cancer cure will be effective from day one, will last a duration of a few weeks and will have no or minimal side-effects at a much lower cost than most other treatments on the market,” he added” ( Brent, para 5). This would mean that there would be no side effects like hair loss which usually comes with cancer treatment. Now the type of cancer this can be used for is not very specifically pointed to in the article, however, it might be all the cancers because it always refers to it as ‘the cancer’. Hopefully, there will be joy and hope from now and into the future for people who has cancer or people who had been impacted by cancer.
Please check out the link to the article below please!:
Today is once again Venezuela update number three and today we will be talking about the article Venezuela partially opens border with Colombia that was shut in February written by a reporter for Reuters named Brian Ellsworth and Deisy Buitrago. Also edited by Leslie Adler.
The article states that "Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday announced a partial opening of the country’s border with Colombia, which his government closed in February as opposition leaders prepared an ultimately failed effort to bring aid into the country" (Para 1, Ellsworth). I believe, (and this is just an opinion), it is great news that the border is opening up. The reason I think this is because of what the article says. In the article, it shows " The closures caused economic problems for border towns that have increasingly come to rely on Colombian cities for basic goods and services" (Para 4, Ellsworth). This event means that money was not coming into Venezuela's border towns which depended on the Colombian cities over time for the aforementioned goods and services and for the money that they need to survive. And with the opening of the Colombian borders, there hopefully, will be more money going into the border towns, and hopefully, more people will leave Venezuela due to the country "...suffering a hyperinflationary economic collapse resulting from the unraveling of its socialist system" (Para 6, Ellsworth). The people who reside at the border has been so desperate for their basic needs and medical needs, that, once again, the article stated that "Many citizens have resorted to illegal crossings over backroads, at times paying tolls to criminals who controlled passage, in order to get groceries or basic medical treatment" (Para 5 Ellsworth). Even the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó has had a hard time. "Guaido, who has been recognized by dozens of countries as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state, attempted to bring food and hygiene supplies into the country in February. Troops and police pushed back the aid trucks, two of which went up in flames" (Ellsworth Para 7).
However, due to the small opening, there might be a little glimmer of hope to either get supplies and resources or to get out of there as soon as possible and to safety.
Below is the article I used and the citation if you would like to read it:
I know that you hear me pray. From the black of night to the light of day. You freed me from all my fears, and now know you are here. I know that you hear my weak voice that was screaming from all the world’s noise. Those who look to you for help will radiate with joy on their face. Because we know that our Father’s in this place. And you will save and have saved me from all my troubles. In corners and the dark and places where it might spark and bubble
It’s that time of the month again! It’s Bible time! Today’s verse is 1 Peter 5:7, which says:
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
What this verse is trying to explain to us that in times of worry and trouble we put our anxieties on The Lord because He cares about our well being and life in general. The reason why this verse is the end of the month Bible time is because this month for most is the last month of school and most sometimes forget about giving their anxieties to Him and focus too much on grades, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but most forget to give Him their worries during the study sessions and allow Him to help them to succeed. And sometimes I forget and focus too much on my stress and then I get tunnel vision and I focus too much on the stress which built up. I apologized and I knew that God forgave me for it. All in all, just put your anxieties on Him and you will succeed with Him by your side, helping you out and loving you.
Thank you for reading!
Please Comment about a time you let God take your worries.
By V.J Wakefield On February 11th, 2018, I stepped into the water and was baptized. Which then would mark this year as my one year anniversary of being baptized. However, most of you don’t know the story behind my baptism and how I came to get baptized in the first place.
Our story starts about a year ago in January when I was sitting in church when they announced that they are holding a baptism after service on February 11th. At first, I wasn’t sure about getting baptized. Yes, I believed that Jesus is my one and only Lord and Savior, but I was scared that I wasn’t ready enough. However, this was beckoning me. I felt like God was telling me to get baptized. So I decided to do it. The following Sunday, I signed up for the baptism.
Leading up to the baptism, I was kind of nervous, but yet I was really excited. The day before my baptism, I had a dream, however, it was more of a nightmare. The first nightmare that I had was kind of strange it was like a boardwalk but it was during a hurricane filled with water and there was pretty much a lot of chaos. I woke up a bit then fell back into sleep and I had another nightmare again. This time it was detailing worries that I had that I would mess up the baptism. And then I woke up. I knew that something very sinister was trying to stop me from getting baptized. So I got up and got ready to be baptized.
On this day it was snowing pretty hard and it was pretty difficult to drive to the church I attend which is Willow Creek. On the way there, my mom jokingly asked me “Are you sure you want to get baptized today?” “Yes!” I shouted. I was kind of worried about what the snow and getting there on time since I was a bit shaken by the nightmare that I had the night before and was a bit scared that it might actually happen. So we went into the building and saw a white table with blue shirts. During baptisms, they handed out shirts to the people to signify that they are getting baptized, and there was a spot that was where we were supposed to write a word that describes what this means to us and what the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The word that I wrote on the shirt was life.
So then we went to the section in the pews cut off for the people who are getting baptized. It was like a small blob of blue from a bird’s eye view. Not a lot, but I can tell that something was going to happen. After we prayed and finished the message, it was finally time. We all went onto the stage in a line, and it started. My mom was recording of course. As the line shortened and shortened, my heart began pounding against my chest. I was nervous before, but it had actually turned into excitement. I was so happy and nervous and excited. And as my turn was coming around the bend, my adrenaline was through the roof. As my feet were caressed by the water, I felt like it was where I have belonged, that I was supposed to be there.
I don’t remember the questions that the pastor said but when he asked if I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior I said yes. Yes, yes, yes. Then his arm supported my back and I plugged my nose. He then said “I hereby baptize you in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then I went under. When I came out, I did not feel the same. When I came out, I felt like I was cleaned out, and that I was seeing the entire world for the first time in years. And when I came up, I was calmed and I was no longer afraid. I was in fact so happy. When I went out of the tub, they gave me a towel and told me to stand next to the other baptized people.
However, to most of the audience’s surprise and my dad’s (more on him later), is that we weren’t the only ones surrendering to Christ. A few people in the audience decided that it was finally be baptized themselves. One person went up. Then two. Then more and more. There was even a person in a walker go up that ramp and boldly got baptized. It was a glorious day for the Lord. The reason why this is shocking to my dad is because he does not believe. My brother, mother, and I believe but he doesn’t. And hopefully, through this example of the love, we have for God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit, my dad would return to Him. So back to the story. During while all of this was happening, my knees started knocking together. Really hard. Inside of me, I felt something become awakened, and I think it was me being born again and my new life breathing its first breath.
After that day, every day was a new day and it is one of the best days of my entire life. A few months later I was telling the husband of my mom’s friend about the dream I had and he said that he had a dream similar to that and that it was the devil who was sending these doubts to my head. At the time, I had no idea about this until then. I am happy that I took a leap and got baptized, besides the threats that the devil was trying to out into my head. I am happy with my decision to be baptized and listened to God and ignored the evil threats. Hopefully, from now on, everyone might listen to God and gather up their courage and do what He wants them to do and be who He wants them to be.
Please comment on your stories and what you think about mine.
This might seem like a weird post, but the reason why I am posting about this is because unless $197 are raised for this blog, then all of his work would be gone and all of his work along with his domain name will disappear. So what can we do? Well according to his blog, you could go to his patron or buy some of his products. His Blogging channel is about how to improve your blog and advice from a long time blogger, however his content is a bit more adult with the language but please help out another follower and fellow blogger. It does cost some money I assume for patron however try it out if you would like to help out.
Here is the link to his blog( you might want to copy and paste into the search bar). :
Hello. It’s been a while. So many of you might be wondering where I have been. Well, due to news and burnout because of the end of the year hustle, I have forgotten to post and have focused more on other stuff than on the blog. I apologize for my lack of uploads and of news from Venezuela. I promise that after my finals are over, I will be able to upload more often because of the extra free time. So that’s all I have for now.
Stories of Hope 