September and October are wonderful, crazy, busy months for us in Youth Alive! There’s a lot to report, a lot of amazing blessings and opportunities as well as a lot of hardships and prayer needs. Here’s a recap of all we’ve been doing…
- We’ve also had our Start-of-the-Year Retreat. This year’s event came with plenty of challenges but was exactly what we needed in the end. Oregon, showing it’s true colors, rained us out of our original plans and annual boating on the lake, but we made the best of it and actually had a lot of fun! We even got to have the students participate in an escape room and team building activities and it was really interesting to see all the different styles & personalities working together. Thanks to Legendary Entertainment!
- The first week of September, we started our weekly Wednesday meetings back up with our 5 new, first year students joining us. They have bonded so well, becoming good friends, adventuring together and been honest and vulnerable in our times together. Praise God they've all found jobs and settled into the Youth Alive homes! Now they've begun serving at a local church helping in all areas of Kids, Youth and online ministry! We are really excited for our next two years with them!
- We recently had our annual OYAMA Ministry Fair. Nearly 25 pastors from all over our state came to interview our 2 graduating students; one Kids Pastor and one Youth. It’s always bittersweet for us! We love partnering our students with churches and them jumping into ministry yet knowing that so many will walk away without a helpmate is a constant reminder that the work isn’t done. The need is incredibly great in our state and it keeps us focused to keep doing what God has called to, reaching the children and teens of Oregon through the local church. We are blessed to be a part of God’s work multiplying throughout Oregon! These young ladies now visit 3-4 churches as they continue the interviewing process and pray about where God would have them go. Keep Sarah and Alexis in your prayers!
Please
continue to pray for us as we step into event season (we have 4 coming up
between September-November). Finances always get lean for our students while
they miss work, but we truly believe in these events and what they can learn during
them. It can always be tiring for them, but in the best way. Pray for us to
lead our students well and to serve our Oregon Ministry Network to the best of
our abilities.
Pray for us as leaders as well; we so desire wisdom, patience,
knowledge, energy, and learning to love our students well. We continue to be
humbled by your partnership with us, whether financial or prayer, so thank you.
Pray as we enter into this busy season and prepare for more speaking opportunities
to share all about Youth Alive and OYAMA.
Thank you
again for your generosity. Brittany and I can’t believe that you would believe
so strongly in what God is doing through us and through OYAMA that you would invest
your prayers and finances! If you haven’t yet, we’d love to partner with you! Go
to https://giving.ag.org/ and type in
282345 where you can give one time gifts or set up recurring donations. Again,
thank you and we love you!
