A message from Saralyn, who attended RYS 2018 as an Adult Sponsor, along with our intern, Andrew Pinson —
The 9 youth and 2 adult sponsors who attended RYS would like to say thank you to the entire congregation for your support, both financially and prayerfully. Here are some highlights.
Relationships
We had a wonderful time meeting like-minded Reformed Christian teenagers from across the United States and Canada. Spending a week together helped us grow our relationships, too.
Learning
The workshops dealt with real issues that we are encountering in our culture and biblical applications for how to face these situations. They also gave us opportunities for questions and discussion from our pastors.
On the last night, each teen was asked to share a key phrase or concept that stuck with them from the week. Something that made them think and they were continuing to contemplate. Here are some of their responses:
- Everything you do trains you for something.
- Don’t read the bible as a tour guide. It’s a challenge to see problems within ourselves, rather than as someone else’s problem.
- Spiritual Warfare is real. In some countries, satanic forces are visible. But here in the US, we think of Satan as a cute little red-horned guy. Satan doesn’t want to make himself known to some because if there is no Satan, there is no need for God.
- Live your life as a chance to die. For instance, every day in India, Amy Carmichael died to self and sacrificially cared for the country’s cast-offs, abused, neglected and poor. She endured with God’s strength and provision and she left a legacy that inspired a new banner for his name. And for half a century in India, that banner was named Amy Carmichael. However, she endured the earthly worst. In a letter from a prospective missionary, one young woman asked Amy what it was like to be a missionary. Amy wrote back, “missionary life is a chance to die.”)
Pastor Grotenhuis’ own word of wisdom on our last evening was to be thankful for the ‘sabbatical’ we received by this week away and how it had impacted our life. :)
You can listen to convention audio here.
