Steubenville Youth Conferences

All the pictures of the Lord and angels filled me with joy as I waited to do confirmations for the dead. It was finally my turn. I sat in the chair where the priesthood holders would place their hands on my head and give me a blessing. The blessing that makes it possible for those who passed on to receive the Holy Ghost through me. They began the blessing and I could feel nothing but happiness. It was as if I couldn’t stop smiling even if I wanted to. Once we were done being confirmed, my family and I walked into the baptismal

At church, in addition to my participation in the worship services, I volunteered at our church’s soup kitchen, medical camps and elementary school for underprivileged children. These experiences opened my eyes to the deprivation of love and care in the world and a dire need of God’s grace for people at large so they could receive forgiveness, healing and restoration in their lives.

Tears poured down my face like I was in a rain forest, hugged my mom tightly as if she was a cuddly stuffed animal and I prayed, prayed like I’ve never prayed before. Not really knowing what was going on or what was going to happen. My sister arrived home, followed by my dad shortly after. While we waited to hear back from the hospital, we sat on the couch in the living room bawling our eyes out probably. Don’t worry, I will tell you about what is going on.

When choosing a religious service I was very limited on my choices so I was intrigued to go back to my roots and try the Catholic denomination. This denomination is the one that is most prevalent in my community and also in my social circle as well. Since I have actually been to a Catholic church as a child I thought I knew what to expect but I was shocked at how naive I was to the subject. My preconceived ideas and thoughts were that there would be a lot of getting down on your knees then back up again then saying your Hail Mary’s with not much depth to a service. Also growing up with a social group that was full of Catholics you would always hear of confession so that was something I was particularly dreading for the fact that I did not

The Chapel was very interesting to me because I am a strong believer in God and I believe that everybody no matter what the disability or problem should have a opportunity to attend Church and build a relationship with God. As well as much as Chapels and just Gods name in general has been taken out of school systems and other state and federal funded projects it really made me happy to see that one around me has not backed out from religion.

Now, at that time, I was only 12 years old, God had not endowed me with those gifts, but when I answered him no, he began to act differently towards me. It was from that interaction that I began to take notice of the different teachings in different denominations.

I can’t recall not being a part of New Hope Baptist Church because when I was growing up my parents attended everything and they “had us in tow”. I remember being brought to church in the winter and my parents lining us up on the seats next to the potbellied stove. We were required to take care of our “personal business” before entering because we were not allowed to walk while the services were in progress. I really have a hard time understanding why some young people today cannot sit through an entire service right now today. As children the church conferences often baffled us. While watching and listening, sometimes things got into a disagreeable mode. As children, we thought those deacons were at odds with each other, but when they

Everyday we walked to different churches. These walks were long and unique. Every time the children saw us they would come running towards us and grab our hands. As soon as we arrived at the church we would set up the puppet theater and tables with provisions. We first welcomed the people through songs and a puppet show and then we had them stand in line to receive donations. The puppet show filled the air with laughter and our tables with provisions filled empty stomachs. Days before it was time to leave my pastor asked to speak to me. She gave the opportunity to preach to the people of the church we were rebuilding. I could not believe it! For the next couple of days I spent the night thinking and writing about everything I wanted to share with the people. Sunday arrived and I stood in front of the church and shared how blessed I felt to be there and meet them.

Before my internship last summer, I had been a camper at Go Tell for two years. After being an intern with Go Tell I have seen God work in many ways through student's lives, intern's lives, and the lives of those living in Nicaraguan villages.

Last summer, I went to summer camp with my church. By the end of the week, I was changed completely. Every morning, and every evening we heard a message preached by various pastors. Every service, the Holy Spirit changed something inside me.

For as long as I can remember my family and I have attended church almost every Sunday. Being from small town Iowa, everyone around me had always accepted the same ideas and beliefs as me, so I never had seen a different perspective. I had stayed within my comfort zone for fifteen years at this point in time, and I had no intentions of going outside of it any time soon. Part of being in this comfort zone was attending youth group every Wednesday night. Instead of being something I

It was honestly the best decision I’ve ever made. I was being honest, brutally honest those times I talked to the Lord about my forgiveness and making that great commitment to having Him in my life. That is what is going to maintain all of my relationships that I have; having Him beside me through everything that I go through. I can always be honest with God now. Immediate Action had to be made in order to rectify the problem.

Tell us about a community or cultural experience or any group gathering you have participated in recently that meant a lot to you.

I remember the exact feeling that came over me when I first heard very clearly. My mom then came in from another room and was extremely pale. Her eyes were as watery as a flooded river during a storm. I saw her, and she saw me. We both, crying like babies, had a long and love-filled embrace in the middle of my house. I am not going to go into detail about everything else that happened, but no more than two hours after that moment my mom and I were in a car on the way to the airport to fly to England. This was one of the hardest plane rides I have ever had to experience. When we arrived to my mom's hometown, Liverpool, an array of sorrow and sadness filled the air. On the other hand, there was also a huge feeling of love. I felt a deep connection with every one of my family members. We were all together, and nowhere else would we rather have been at that time. We went on to grow so much closer as a family.

I've been attending church for as long as I can remember. The earliest time I remember going to church was when I was in pre-school, and I attended the same church until high school. Sundays were routine, we attended church, went out to eat after with other members of the church, and then went home to watch either football or baseball (sports being my second religion). Skipping church was never an option, nor did I really want to miss it. I had good friends at church, and was genuinely interested in the bible and the stories we read.