Camp Not Just For Students

I typically begin my prayers by thanking Gor all the blessings I see in my life. I like to start thanking God for all the mercy, grace, peace, and love I have experienced in my life. I then move to my family and the fact that I grew up in a Christian home. I then thank God for my three churches. I thank God for the people and ministry of the Church of the Nazarene in Prescott, Midcity Church in San Diego, and then I move to my church in Hilo. I thank God for the people who have inspired me and encouraged me in my walk towards Christ and ministry.

Since I have been in Hilo I have found doing youth ministry to be very difficult and I was honestly starting to be depressed. It made me question why I am here and it made me question my call. These questions have really shaken me up.

Then camp came around. I just got back last night from camp on Oahu. I was privilaged to be able to take fours students with me. We had an amazing time of worship. We had a break in to one of our cabins and many of the girls lost money, ipods, and cell phones. That happened on the first night during the service. Not the best way to kick off camp. SO the first night was crazy but God brought focus back to the camp and we were able to worship and see transformation.

From my group of four, two girls walked up and gave thier lives to Christ. I saw a transformation from being quiet and not paying attention during worship to excitement and furious note taking during the sermons. We got together the last night as a youth group and just talked about what God was doing in the lives of the students that week. One of my girls who never answers besides with a joke oned up about her home life and everything that has been going on. I could just see that she had a load fall from her and she is now light.

This was so encouraging for me. I felt that God was using these students to show me that God was working in them and that I need to be patient and that I am exactly where God wants me to be.I am truly blessed to have experienced this time in the lives of these girls. pray Godwill continue to help them grow nd learn and tha they will be open to that movement within their lives. It is amazing what God can do with those around you. I now have something to add to my blessings when I pray.

Working with Youth

So I am over a month here in Hilo and I still have had very little time with youth. Not my favoritie thing to report. However I feel that things are starting to work. Last night I went to a bar called Shooters to watch one of the youth play in his band.

It reminded me that I did not miss high school. Seeing all the girls walk around in their slutiest clothes with the slutiest walk they could muster was interesting/scary. I was also the only one that I could see that was there for the show that was older. I was sporting my over 21 wrist band while all the others ran around being high school students. It was intersting. Again I do not miss high school. But it did give me the opportunity to hang out with Kenson, who by the way can shred on his guitar. It was awesome. They also played a lot of punk/screamo songs from when I was in early high school so that made me laugh. I knew all the words and I could tell that all the kids around really didn't know the songs. It was a unique opportunity for me to hang out with the youth at my church. It was good.

I am in Hilo trying to start a youth program because they haven't had anything really organized in a very long time and the kids don't really make an effort to go to things I plan. The nice sandy beaches everyone thinks about in Hawaii are not in Hilo, we have to go to the other side of the island to get that, so I planned a beach day for Saturday. I invited the new youth pastor at the other Nazarene church in the area. He brought only one student and I had two. We were both hoping for more, but we had a great time.

I have realized these things start slow, so I must be patient. As hard as that is for me I am looking forward to it. I know that God can do amazing things and if I can be used for that purpose then I am more than happy to wait. Keep me in your prayers along with Hilo church of the Nazarene.