Horsin' Around!
Yee-ha! (In my best cowgirl accent!) ...Imagine stepping back in time to the 1800s out on the frontier of the wild, wild West (that is, America's West - not Perth!). Perhaps the town may have looked something like this...
A couple of weeks back, the Life-Gate team - with a bunch of youth in tow - had the opportunity to do just that... well, almost!
March 2nd - 4th, we took a group of the youth we've been reaching out to over the last two years on a special restoration camp, eM3RG! ('emerge'), designed and led by our Counsellors, Pastors Angel & Julie Roldan, myself and Roxanne Li (my Canadian friend who is now serving with Life-Gate).
Our destination? Mill Valley Ranch out at Tynong North... and as you can see from the photo, it really was like stepping back in time, and the youth had a ball!
Our purpose and vision was to use the weekend as an opportunity to really minister to the youth: to lavish God's love and grace on them through an all-expenses-paid, fun weekend away; to create opportunities to teach and to begin to address their personal issues and areas for healing and restoration; and to continue sharing the Good News message of God's grace and forgiveness.
Like us, the staff of Mill Valley Ranch, also have a heart to reach out to troubled youth and so it was (especially for me) an absolute blessing to be able to relax and let them run all the fun activities and cook all the meals (a nice change from the last couple of camps we've run!) and also watch them share with and love on the youth. Our staff were responsible for all the teaching and ministry times and also joined in at the activities in order to really connect with the youth and just have some plain ol' fun with them! (Something that's really important to their rehabilitation and restoration!)
It was a great weekend and the youth had an absolute ball riding horses, shooting arrows at archery, riding around in a speed boat, playing games and having a go at the initiatives activities.
It's often hard to see or measure the outcomes and effectiveness of a program you run...but in the time since the camp, God has given us some opportunities to see some of what He's been doing in their hearts and lives through it! Yee-ha! =)
One of the young girls has begun reading the Bible we gave to each of them as a gift during the camp... another has been thinking and talking with us about the things we taught... and one of the young men sent me a message a few days ago saying that he knows he needs forgiveness for everything he's done and asking for help in this! Wow! Praise God!
Please keep praying for these young people - the spiritual battle being waged against their souls is massive! Pray for their protection, for understanding and for receptivity! Pray also for us that we will have wisdom, love and grace in all our teaching, communication and interactions with the youth!
Until my next post! =) love Lau
A couple of weeks back, the Life-Gate team - with a bunch of youth in tow - had the opportunity to do just that... well, almost!
March 2nd - 4th, we took a group of the youth we've been reaching out to over the last two years on a special restoration camp, eM3RG! ('emerge'), designed and led by our Counsellors, Pastors Angel & Julie Roldan, myself and Roxanne Li (my Canadian friend who is now serving with Life-Gate).
Our destination? Mill Valley Ranch out at Tynong North... and as you can see from the photo, it really was like stepping back in time, and the youth had a ball!
Our purpose and vision was to use the weekend as an opportunity to really minister to the youth: to lavish God's love and grace on them through an all-expenses-paid, fun weekend away; to create opportunities to teach and to begin to address their personal issues and areas for healing and restoration; and to continue sharing the Good News message of God's grace and forgiveness.Like us, the staff of Mill Valley Ranch, also have a heart to reach out to troubled youth and so it was (especially for me) an absolute blessing to be able to relax and let them run all the fun activities and cook all the meals (a nice change from the last couple of camps we've run!) and also watch them share with and love on the youth. Our staff were responsible for all the teaching and ministry times and also joined in at the activities in order to really connect with the youth and just have some plain ol' fun with them! (Something that's really important to their rehabilitation and restoration!)
It was a great weekend and the youth had an absolute ball riding horses, shooting arrows at archery, riding around in a speed boat, playing games and having a go at the initiatives activities.
It's often hard to see or measure the outcomes and effectiveness of a program you run...but in the time since the camp, God has given us some opportunities to see some of what He's been doing in their hearts and lives through it! Yee-ha! =)
One of the young girls has begun reading the Bible we gave to each of them as a gift during the camp... another has been thinking and talking with us about the things we taught... and one of the young men sent me a message a few days ago saying that he knows he needs forgiveness for everything he's done and asking for help in this! Wow! Praise God!
Please keep praying for these young people - the spiritual battle being waged against their souls is massive! Pray for their protection, for understanding and for receptivity! Pray also for us that we will have wisdom, love and grace in all our teaching, communication and interactions with the youth!Until my next post! =) love Lau
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