Thought I should update you all on how TeenStreet went a couple weeks ago! Thank you all for praying for this camp. It was incredible! (there’s so much that happened during this week so it’s hard to write it all out but I will just give you a few highlights for now!).
What. A. Week. Thousands of kids, endless activities/events (hip hop classes, art zone, music zone, sports, classes, games, etc), main sessions about learning to walk in God’s Wisdom (“PATHS” Wisdom’s Call theme), worship nights every night (called “Throne Room”), outreach opportunities, prayer night, small groups, etc! Throughout the week, we learned about what wisdom is, where it begins, and ways to grow in that wisdom. We learned about listening and responding to God; how our words have the power to build or break; guarding our hearts; how surrounding ourselves with godly community can make an impact on the path that we take.
It was so encouraging to see so many youth from across Europe gather to worship and learn from God’s Word. There were people from Italy, Portugal, Norway, France, Faroe Islands, Ireland, and more. Never have I ever been around so many people from so many different places! During one of the worship times, we all sang “How Great is Our God” in all the different languages that were represented there! The sound of Heaven! God is moving and doing a work in Europe, please continue to pray that fruit will grow within the youth’s lives within their homes, schools, friend groups, etc.
Thank you for praying over the small group times. Honestly, the start of the week was a little hard. I was putting pressure on myself to be a good leader and facilitate discussion well. But from praying and receiving encouragement, God gave me a lot of peace and helped me trust that He would move and speak through the small group times with the girls. As the week went on, conversation and comfortability grew more within my group. I felt so blessed to have such an amazing group of girls to get to know and pour into. I became good friends with the other small group leader as well from United Community Church. We are the same age and we were able to debrief with each other and encourage one another. That was a gift from God and made this week even better!
Throughout the week, there were opportunities to do outreach in the town of Offenburg, Germany where we were located or drive over to Strausberg, France. Me and a few of my girls went to Strausberg. I was very encouraged by one of the youth girls in my small group. She was excited to share the gospel and was so bold to do so to multiple people while we were there. I honestly had a hard time but she stepped up which was so cool to see!
It was really sweet being able to pray for the girls throughout the week. One of the worship nights turned into a prayer night. At one point, all the small groups at the camp gathered together in their individual groups and prayed for each other. Some of my girls were more comfortable praying in Finnish so hearing them pray in Finnish out loud for each other was so sweet! During our small groups, I would always give the opportunity for someone to pray to open up the group or pray to close us. I could tell the girls were shy (which I understand because I’ve been there!). At one point I tried encouraging them that it doesn’t have to be scary and there’s no right or wrong way. At the prayer night and then afterwards, it was awesome to see the girls grow in their boldness to pray out loud in small group and for each other.
Not everyone at this camp was a believer. Many seeds were planted, as well as growth for already believers! I love how God led me here and to this camp. It was a blessing to be used by God in numerous ways. To God be the glory! Wouldn’t be here and couldn’t do this without Him!
Thank you all again for your prayers! I am coming back home so soon! This summer has been so good, it is a bittersweet thing in returning as I miss people at home, yet I am going to miss new friends here and leaving this church community. It’s cool that I can say I have another church home here in Finland! God has been so good and so sweet. 🙂
