First Fruits!

Hello everyone!!! The first fruits of the harvest are starting to come in! I just got finished with my second retreat and it was an overnight confirmation retreat. It was awesome. There was a definite sign of the Holy Spirit working within the retreatants. One of the teens in my small group said that he went from a 5 to a 7 as far as relationship with the Lord is concerned (thank Mary Buckley for your awesome rating system!!!). I feel like there is a significant possibility for future growth in many of the retreatants. It is such a rewarding ministry.
The first retreat was a one day affair for 6th graders. I forgot how small the average 6th grade boy is. It was an interesting lesson in humility because after a long day of hard work the first we opened the floor up to the teens to say what they experienced on the retreat and the first 15 got up and talked about all the neat games they learned... sigh! But that's not a proper estimate of the effect because they are, afterall, 6th graders and aren't about to talk about their faith life in front of the whole class. Pictures should be forth coming... at a time to later be determined.

Training

Greetings from the Apple store in the Mall of America!!! This place is HUGE but it hardly compares to my experience at training at Camp Wapo where NET hosts the first couple weeks of training.

So much wonderful things have happened since the last post. First of all my relationship with the Lord is deepening dramatically and I have had many moments in prayer where I've experienced His love in a very real way!!! Second of all I've been assigned to a TEAM!!! Team 4 is gonna rock the socks off of teens from all over. I haven't been assigned a route yet but I know I will be on a traveling team giving retreats. So I could wind up right in your backyard!!! I am praying for all of my sponsors and those who are showing my such love through their thoughts and prayers.

What we do at training??? Well the first week of sessions were all about deepening our relationship with God because it is only through that relationship that we can properly minister. We are now in the nuts and bolts portion of training. Learning how to lead small groups, deal with those that have special needs and issues in their lives that require extra love and support (especially those teens that are wounded by the world and have fallen into self-destructive actions), learning the talks which will form the center of the retreats and learning to do dramas and skits that show God's love in a visual way. By the end of the year I will be a regular razor of Gods love honed over the next months. I am excited to start serving the Lord. Picture may be posted some time in the distant future. Thank you for reading (all one of you!!!).