see ya later

last night was our last HS ignite. daniel gall had a great lesson and it was just what i needed to hear. he spoke about the immensity of God. we saw videos of how small our planet is compared to our universe and we talked about how big God is. it seems so simple but when you see something like the videos that daniel showed us....its....inspiring.

it was a bittersweet evening. exciting to start our new adventure but ... surely sad as well. we are going to miss all of our high schoolers so much. what an awesome group of kids. at the end of youth group, they gathered around us and prayed for us...and i was blown away by their faith. the things they prayed were so beautiful and in that moment...i was SO proud to have had an influence on these incredible teens.

thank you to one of our teens that prayed for satan's rebuke. i have no words. anything i say wouldn't do justice do what i feel. so...rock on.

sometimes its easy to question if you are doing the 'right thing' even when you are sure that God is sending you on a mission. when satan is unhappy he does everything possible to destroy the path God has sent you on...and sometimes that leaves one feeling broken and wondering what the right thing is. so its a fleshly feeling to wonder if you ever helped at all...especially for youth ministry. it is one of those things that you don't see the result until years after you have invested (most of the time). last night one of our youth guys prayed a prayer that made me thing "that is why we were here". he thanked God for bringing us here and letting us "leave our mark on" him. he said (in more or less words) that all the people they would come in contact with for years and years to come would see a piece of our passion in them. wow. big words for someone so young in age.

after the 'prayer pow-wow', aaron said a few things to our youth peeps. he just thanked them for being a part of our lives. as much as we have touched them...they have touched us. that is SO true. each kid has taught us something or blessed us in some way. so awesome to have been a part of this.

i hate goodbye. i LOVE see ya later. i better see all of you at some point up to see us and know we will be back for a visit sometime soon. we will be thinking of you all and praying daily for your journeys. just because we have moved locations doesn't change the fact that we are all on the same mission together.

may the Lord bless and keep you. may His face shine upon you,

aaron & sonia