"In seven days, the YU staff and 44 students will embark on a trip to Las Angeles, California. The trip promises to be stretching, challenging and FUN! We wont lie to you, we plan on spending time just playing with these kids, but that’s not all we will do. We will also be given the chance to partner with some of California’s existing outreach programs. We will be given the chance to serve others, and these students, some of them for the first time, will have their eyes opened to some of the painful realities of the brokenness of our world. I am so excited!!! I am so excited because I believe that on this trip God will move, He will call students to Him, He will call those who know Him but have wandered, and I believe he will also call some into a brand new relationship with Him . . . and it will change their lives forever. How could I not be excited? I can’t wait to see what He does. I am reminded of our trip just one short year ago when we headed not to California but to Vancouver. The day before leaving I was speaking with my pastor who asked me this question “who in specific can I pray for on the trip”. My response was “all of them, please pray for all of them!” but on second thought, I threw a name out of a young man who had joined our team late in the game. This was a young man who was in great need of Jesus in his life. My pastor assured me that he would pray every day for him. Skip ahead one week . . .we’re on the bus ride home from an trip of serving, fun and life-changing experiences. And after some conversation with that same young man, we watched in awe as God called him into his family, as he gave his life to Christ. It was crazy!
I got home and naturally my pastor quickly approached me with the question. “So what about the young man you had me pray for, how was the trip for him? I prayed every day!” I was speechless.
As we approach this new trip, please pray everyday. Start now and pray with the belief that God will move in the lives of these students and with the belief that your prayers matter. We look forward to sharing with you the ways that God worked when we return, and we thank you for you part in this ministry with us!"
