Before and After
Remember yesterday I said I wished it was cold?! Well a cold front came in this morning as well as rain!! I GOT TO RUN IN THE RAIN!!! :D
This last week was hands down one of the best weeks of my life. My youth group went to a church camp (I won't mention the name but its a pretty big one that has an attendance of about 6000 a week)
I got to see all my friends and meet a lot of new people! Our worship was led by the Matt Roberson Band (I highly recommend them by the way) and our speaker was Matt Kearns. He was incredible. I'd estimate about 300 people, give or take, came to Christ over the course of the week.
The schedule is: Morning Tabernacle, Quiet Time, Small Groups, Free Time, Evening Tabernacle, In-Cabin Devotionals. The morning tabernacles were very good, and my quiet time really helped me get back on track with God. I loved my small group and all the stories we shared. During free time there are so many things to do. You can be on a volleyball or softball team, visit the gift shop or coffee shop, visit the Missions center or Mission Village, get an Icee or other snack, go to a ropes course, swimming, etc. Me and the people I hung out with spent a lot of time in the Missions Center and Village. It really shows you new opportunities and we got to pray for a lot of countries.
One day during free time several of us treated some of the younger girls to Icees and talked to them. We all shared our testimonies and let them share as well. It was really neat listening to them and giving advice where we could.
I ran a 5K on Wednesday. I must say, that is the hilliest route I have ever been on. It was a constant up and down and some of those hills were pretty steep! Even when I ran my own route the other days it was strenuous. I am thrilled to be home to run on flat land again. I'd say I came about the middle of the pack in the race. Also while I'm on the topic of running, I'd like to thank Sierra for running with me for at least part of every run. That saying a lot since she's having surgery on her hip this Friday. Please be in prayer for her!!
The last two days I went with some others to some breakout sessions. One of them was a personal evangelism breakout and I thought I'd share what I learned. The speaker said a lot of times we try to use all these illustrations and tools and, while those are good,sometimes we just need to start a conversation saying "what's the coolest thing anyone's ever done for you?" and then just listen to them. Then just see where the conversation takes you. If you get the opportunity to talk about Christ, like if they ask you the question in return, use it! But if it doesn't, just listen to them. It means a lot to people.
On Thursday night, some of us went to a Missions Late Night thing. Every year there's usually some sort of secret church or event that you have to find out about. This year you had to follow the blue lights until you made it to this hill. We ended up watching a video about the end times and were encouraged to pray for people to be open to the Gospel, and to have the courage to spread it. It lead to some deep prayer and I'd say it was beneficial for all of us.
I think one of the coolest things for me was seeing God work through prayer and thus re-energizing my prayer life. Praying had just gotten so monotonous for me but during the week and the days leading up, me and several friends had been specifically praying for those either not saved or that had strayed that we knew of. I'd say most, if not all, either accepted Christ or recommitted. It was so exciting.
That was pretty much my week! God did amazing things and I'm so excited to see how He's going to use us!
From left to right: Baylee, Caleigh, Tiffany, Hettie Ann, Sierra, me, Ashlee, Rose, Hallie.
(Haley-a different one-is the one photobombing!)
Evening Tabernacle
(This was not my photo...Sierra got it from someone she knew and sent it to me)
Later this week I might post about what we learned and maybe some of my favorite songs we did! I also have a clean water awareness post!
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~Haley
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