PARKCREST YOUTH GROUP

Hey everyone!!
Hope you had a great summer. This year we're changing things up a bit, having youth on Wednesday nights instead of fridays, so hope you can all make it out, and bring your friends this wednesday at 7 pm, we'll go until 9. we're going to have some games, and then steve is going to talk to us about his time in Panama.
hope to see you all there

Count it all joy

Dear Blog

James 1:2-4
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

It's definitely been a trial for me the past week. Friday, as I was helping register for the Crossfire retreat my bag was stolen. In it was all my documents (Passport, visa) Wallet (credit card, cash) Camera (+3 lenses) among other things (Bible, hat, sunglasses, keys...). It was amazing how the 'peace of God that passes all understanding' came over me. In the moment I remembered how God had brought James 1:2 to my mind earlier in the day, and decided to count it all joy. From there we got on the bus and headed out to the retreat.

One of the new songs we sang at the retreat was 'Love Enough' by Hillsong United..here is the pre-chorus:

We’re living in the Saviour today
And this day is what we have now
In this moment we have chosen to praise
And it’s changing how we live now

I was struck by the 3rd line as I sung it Friday night. "In this moment we have chosen to praise" It is so true. I often think of Job in this moment. When all his world crumbled around him his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9)

I love Job's response in v.10

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Everyday we are faced with with adversities, large or small, and we have a choice. We can curse God or we can accept the lot God has given us and choose to praise. Friday night I made the choice to praise God despite the loss, and God rewarded me, really showing me His love that He has for me.

The rest of the crossfire retreat was amazing. Focused on the will of God, I know my boys were challenged a lot to take their faith to a new level. One of them, James, took the decision to accept Christ as his Savior! In all it was a great weekend.

Coming back to the city, God built patience into me as I spend the first two days going to the police station and embassy. In all honesty, I was really blessed to have a fairly straightforward experience in getting the reports and applying for a new passport. Wednesday I was back on campus. Thursday, after another day on campus I came home sick and am once again needing to make the choice to praise God even though I don't feel like it....

Until next time...

Steve

PS No pictures as I don't have a camera anymore...sorry.

Koinonia 09

Last weekend, was Koinonia 2009! We had a great time of fellowship cuz that's what koinonia means! There were around 70 youth from around the province for the weekend conference.

Showing off the t-shirts that we made for the weekend, and the bandanas they gave us

Helen and Paul having an great time

Music was pretty good, if I may say so

And a visit from steve

Parkcrest Olympics Pics

This friday we had our own Parkcrest Olympics in anticipation of next year's games. We had teams flown in from Uganda and Madagascar for the events.

I can't wait for bowling to become a real olympic event.

Everybody do the twist!

The boys from Madagascar with their gold medals

X-Box and Team Building

Hey Gang,
Two weeks ago we had some team-building activities that challenged our throwing, math, and hugging skills (see the pics below). This week we had a night of playing Halo, singing songs, and looking into the Word (no pics to see below, cause the leaders were somewhat preoccupied--Halo can do that to a person).