Do Something — Day 7

// June 26th, 2011 // Youth News

We awoke earlier this morning in order to have time to get the things done we needed to. The group got dressed and then proceeded to run the obstacle course inside. They wrapped up the course and then grabbed breakfast and headed to the vans as we left for the day. We drove off to Interstate State Park for out Spiritual Emphasis day and spent the morning doing devotions beside the St Croix River. What a beautiful day!! We have been so blessed by God with the weather this week. Although it started off rainy, it was never rainy during our work times and every time we had a full day of outdoor activities planned, it was beautiful out.

After we finished up with the devos we had a short session asking the kids to think about three things. What are the characteristics of someone who you see as a role model? What needs to you see in the community around you and in your families? What has God been convicting you of this week? We then sent them off to spend 4 hours in solitude seeking direction from God and meditating on how the answers to those three questions might tie together. I ended up being a phenomenal day of growth and many of the youth saw this as their highlight for the week.  After sharing about how God was speaking to us during solitude time, we headed into town for some free time. While on their free time all of the students were challenged to have at least one five minute conversation with a stranger and then end it in prayer. This proved to be an amazing experience for all of the kids as they met some amazing people and watched how their faces lit up as they dove into their life and cared about them. Most of the students were bold enough to end their conversations in prayer!! We are very proud of them!!

We headed back to church eating out supper, which was pizza, on the way. Once we got back, we filled the group in on how we would be wrapping up our week. The YMT decided that it would be most beneficial/fun for the kids to wrap the week up doing mock debates on some of the topics we discussed throughout the week. We paired students up with each other and they had one hour to prepare for the debate. Some of our students were forced to argue either for or against topics that they disagreed with but they all did a wonderful job. It even got a little heated at the end as Geoff and I debated Willy and Erick on the resurrection of Jesus.  We wanted to challenge our seniors before they headed out to college by challenging their beliefs on the core part of our belief system. They did an awesome job!!

Then we wrapped up the week the same way we wrap up every trip, with highlights and impacts around the fire. It was funny to listen the kids before we started because they  were talking about how they didn’t have to cry after this trip. They reasoned it was because they would not be leaving everyone but by the time the fire was done there was a huge hug-fest and lots of tears shed. God was definitely moving in and among our group and touching lives throughout the week.

All in all it was an awesome week and everyone of the kids expressed that they we very glad that we stayed around home and that this week was way better that SERVE. This was another confirmation that were doing what God wanted us to do. We really pushed our kids in all aspects of their lives this week and we watched them grow in HUGE ways. All praise to God, the author and perfecter of our faith!!