When Eddie asked me to blog about today I thought "Ah! How can I write about everything that happened?!" Plus at Ciy my memory fades- I forget what happened 2 hours ago, what the date is, etc... so bear with me! :)
Our morning session focused on boldness. A lot of times when we're faced with an opportunity to spread the truth of Jesus, we chicken out. Many of those times we're ashamed of Jesus' name. Being bold about Jesus is soo hard, but God wants us to spread His word.
After the session, we went to our encounter time. We read a story about a girl, Katie, who had the opportunity to tell her depressed friend, Anne, about becoming a Christian. Katie prayed for Anne every night that she would find God. But when Katie was at Anne's funeral a short time later, she realized she should have shown Anne where to look for God; she should have MOVED.
During D-Group time, we focused on the differences between "worldly boldness" (when you're not afraid to speak your mind) & "true boldness" (not afraid to speak for Christ). A lot of times we have a lot more worldly boldness than true boldness. We also talked about reasons why we don't share the truth of Jesus- and a lot of it is fear. The fear that people won't understand you or that they'll judge you. In the junior girls group we talked about how a lot of us don't even know what religion or faith our school friends have.
We had our last "Move Experience" next. In it we were challenged to sacrifice. Our group packed a hygiene bag for some people in need. We had to run around the hotel getting soap, toothbrushes, shampoo, etc. We also had to put some money in the bag, so for me it was more personal because I had to give something of mine up. Being cheap (and poor!) I got lunch from the hotel. Since we had an hour or so, I got to hang out with some of the underclassmen girls I hadn't really known before!
It was finally time for the long awaited Broadway at the Beach! There were a lot of cute little stores plus all of the other good stuff like Hard Rock Cafe, Johnny Rockets, and tons of fake tattoo places! For about 3 hours 64 crazy kids ran around and bought stuff! :) I personally had a Pina Colada at Margaritaville, got 2 tattoos (I hope my parents aren't reading this!), made a music video, got a free boat ride, and ate a lot of free sample food!
For dinner we ate at this pizza buffet place and returned back to the hotel in time for the evening session. They opened the session with a heart-wrenching documentary called "Baht." It was about Cambodia and human trafficking. The main girl shown, Sophea, told her story about how she was sold into a brothel & raped countless times, and how she escaped. It was a very intense documentary and many people were emotionally affected. We were challenged to help a certain organization, the Rapha House, not only by praying, but by also raising money and whatnot. A lot of students from our group have started coming up with fundraising ideas. When we prayed individually and then with the people next to us, there were 3 major things I prayed for: 1) the healing of the girls that live in brothels, 2) that they come to know Jesus and His Love, 3) that God will raise up people to over there and work with the Rapha House.
After a 10 minute intermission, we dove into a great time of worship with Aaron Pelsue's song. After waiting all week for this, Aaron played Eddie's "favorite" song: Shabach! Haha. Almost everyone was either dancing or praising with all their hearts individually or in groups. It was amazing to watch everyone praise together!
To follow along with the theme of boldness, the guy talking told the story of Stephen: the "1st" Martyr. I gotta say- the speaker was one of the funniest, most visual speaker I've ever heard. I don't think there was a moment I was bored! He had this great analogy of how when we become a Christian, we have to give God the controller to the PlayStation (aka total control of our life). For us to be totally surrendered to God, the controller has to be plugged into the Playstation for it to work! After the speaker, Aaron and his band came on stage again. The past week during worship has been great because everyone had a shoulder to cry or a comforting arm around them!
After the session it was a little sad during our youth group time because it was our last night. A lot of people shared some moving things that have happened to them this week, like things that have happened to bring us closer together. We also said goodbye to two of our seniors, Austin Graff and Chelsea Williams. A lot of people shared memories, and a lot of tears were shed. Afterwards, Beth Graff prayed over Austin and Taylor Williams prayed for his sister. After youth group time ended at midnight, we all were sent to our rooms to pack our bags! Overall, it was a bittersweet day.
This week has been great, and I am so thankful for the leaders and parents that made this work for us! So...thanks!!
-Chelsea L-
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