NYC

On July 8th me and eight other teens from my youth group piled into a church van and began our three day journey to a Nazarene Youth Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time I was completely unaware that the next nine days would become some of the very best days of my life. God used every moment to help me grow closer to him and free me from many strongholds that had enslaved me most of my life.

The first night we slept at a church in Medford, Oregon where we met up with the rest of the churches from our district. When we arrived at the church I felt as if I had suddenly been thrown into ice-cold water! I Became overwhelmed with the shock of being in a van with only 13 people one moment and in a crowd of about fifty the next. I wasn’t expecting there to be so many people and the eight other teen from my church, who were the only people I knew, rushed off into the crowd to find their friends from other churches. I soon found myself standing awkwardly in a large chaotic crowd of people that I have never met before in my life and I started to panic. After calming down and then freaking out again a few times I decided to get my Bible out of my bag and read the story of the burning bush from the book of Exodus and some Bible verses I knew about fear. While I was reading the Holy Spirit spoke to me and told me that the anxiety attack I had was just Satan trying to discourage me and to not worry about it. I had two more anxiety attacks over the next few days, but each time God helped me calm down and eventually face whatever I was afraid of.

The next day we loaded onto three buses with the rest of our district and drove down to California. At first I was annoyed with the long, endless hours spent on the crowded bus, but then God began to show me that I could use the long drive to spend time with him. So I got out my Bible again and started praying and meditating on verses. I then put my earplugs in and spent the next few hours listening to worship music and God spoke to me and began to prepare me emotionally for all he was going to do in my life over the next few days.

We spent one night at a hotel in California and then headed off to Arizona. When we finally arrived in Phoenix it was about 7 o’clock. We went to a water park for a few hours and then went to our hotel to turn in for the night.

The next three days were some of the best day of my entire life. We spent most of our time in a large area with 8,000 other teenagers from all over the United States and Canada where we worshiped, listened to sermons, and hand concerts. My favorite part was probably the worship services. I have always been afraid to raise my hands and project my voice when worshiping in public, but in that area you could literally feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and I was free to be myself. Throughout the time in Phoenix God continued to speak to me and my fear and self hatred just fell off of me. I experienced God in a powerful way. I am usually a very shy person, but I was able to completely be myself and I talked to so many different people. God also gave me many different opportunities to reach out to other people.

On the last day we had communion. Before we took the elements one of the speakers read the story of the last super to us and told us about how all the apostles were very different and came from different backgrounds, but they were all welcome at the table of Christ. At this moment God reminded me for my lunch table at school and told me that it is also the table of Christ because me and my friends welcome everyone to sit there no matter who we are and where they come from. He also told me to have a ministry mindset when I go back to school in the fall by reaching out to my classmates and praying for them instead of letting myself get all caught up in the high school drama.

NYC was an amazing experience that changed my life. It drew me closer to Christ, helped me get out of my comfort zone, and learn to love people like

Christ first loved me. Thank you so much to everyone that contributed time, money, prayer, and energy to make this incredible trip possible. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about The C.A.N Sisters’ Ministry, leave a comment below, check out our website, or email us at cansistersministry@gmail.com.