In a couple of hours, our youth group will be heading out to Indiana for a retreat/mission trip called 'Sub Zero.' For me personally, it's been about two years since my last "short term mission trip" and a lot has changed since then. Now don't get me wrong I'm okay with change, but sometimes it can be really tough. Since our last trip, we've gotten a new youth pastor, our youth staff has lots of new faces, and our group of students has changed. It's been a little bitter-sweet, as I miss the past like crazy. Our old youth pastor had been with us since my first day in youth group as a young 6th grade student. He was always making us feel welcome, making us laugh, sometimes making us fear for our lives, but most of all he was real with us and relateable. Our youth staff was small and simple, and our students were pretty close for a Grace Brethren Church. If anything, we always had a wierd seperation between guys and girls---we most likely still believed that cooties do exist, or in reality we didn't want to risk anyone being hurt by the opposite sex. All in all, we had and still have a pretty great group! This trip may not be like ones from the past, but I'm accepting that...it will be awesome no matter what.
These past few days I've been praying like crazy! Praying for safe travels there and back, as well as good health for both the students and the leaders. Praying for our focus this weekend, that it would be on Christ and not on pursuing other relationships. Praying for smooth planning, that our housing, food, and schedule would go as planned without any major mishaps. But most importantly, that God would stretch us and use us in ways that we can't even imagine! My hope is that we would come back changed, that this weekend would rekindle our passion and fire for the Lord, and that we would have a desire to share our faith with anyone and everyone we meet!
I have faith and I know that God has the power to do more than we could ever ask or even imagine...that's what I wanna see happen :)
Please pray for our group this weekend!
I Will Praise You O LORD My God, With All My Heart I Will Glorify Your Name Forever
My first comment got eaten by the internets!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I was actually able to make it out there for the last event. I was sooo tired, but it was really worth it.
Sorry to hear about your roommates illness (and the sleepless night that it caused) I would have been doing probably the exact same thing you did lol