In September of this past year, Young Foundations hosted a youth camp in Italy and took with them 20 American kids. Included in this group, was a young lady from New Mexico who had been struggling in her walk with the Lord. The last place she thought she would be was around a bunch of Christians, let alone go on a trip to another part of the world with them. But God had different plans. Little did she know that she would never be the same after the life changing experience that awaited her.
Before this trip to Italy even came about, I knew that I needed to change my life. Everything from worldly friends to how I treated my family, I was really backsliding. I would lie to my parents and say that I had to work, but I would really go out with my friends. For a while I was going out almost 3 times a week.
One day I was at work, and my cell phone kept going off. Between my mom and dad, I think I had a dozen missed calls and about 10 text messages. I thought that something bad had happened. When I called them back, my dad told me about the youth camp in Italy. My parents said that I should go, but in the back of my mind I was thinking "here they go again… trying to push the Message on me.” I said that I did not have time for this right now, we would talk about it later, but as I hung up the phone something told me to call my mom back and get more info. I just told my mom to send an email saying I MIGHT be interested in going. That day my mom sent the email to Young Foundations, she was so happy. She would check her email all the time for a reply. I just pushed it to the back of my mind, because I was too busy concentrating on going to a party that Friday night with my friends.
It took a while for Young Foundations to get back to us, because we emailed them the day they went on vacation. My mom would ask me if I still wanted to go, and she nagged me to get my passport before we had even heard if I had been accepted for the trip. One day she told me that I WAS going to Italy! I was excited at first, but then I realized that I would be going with “Message kids.” I thought to myself “What am I doing? I don’t belong with these kids.” I knew in my heart that I was not living my life for the Lord, and I was scared. As the day to leave got closer and closer, the devil kept working harder and harder telling me that I was not good enough to go, and I was believing it. I was always out with my worldly friends and I couldn’t talk to my mom or dad without losing my temper. I was using every last dime that I had saved and even borrowed some money from my parents, but little did I know at that time how much I really needed to go!
September 9th came…I woke up late that morning and my mom and dad took me to the airport. Although we thought that we were running late, we were exactly on time. Before I got on the plane I was crying so hard, not because I would miss my mom, dad and brother, but because I was such a bad Christian and I was going to Jeffersonville with all the "Jeff kids," as I called them. You could not look at me and know that I was a Christian girl, because I had the wrong spirit on me. I think I cried that whole plane flight.
When I got to Louisville, I was still so scared. As I walked to meet the sisters that were there to pick me up, all I could think was “Why am I here? I don’t deserve to be here. What are they going to think of me when they see me?” When I saw the three sisters waiting for me holding a Young Foundations sign, all my negative feelings stopped! It felt right to be there! We all went to eat and did a little shopping while we got to know one another. I felt great and I was happy to be in Jeffersonville again! When we got to the house where we would stay that night, I really felt myself starting to change.
That night I could not sleep; I was so excited to go! The next morning, we went to VGR and I got to meet all the other people who would be going on the trip…little did I know then that they would be such an important part of my life changing experience. I was a little apprehensive, because these kids looked like true Christians!
When we arrived in Italy, Brother Buttenkamp, his sons, and some other Italian brothers and sisters met us. They were all so wonderful and welcoming, but I was getting scared again. The devil was really messing with me that day because I had let him get into my head. I felt sick and exhausted that whole day. I should have listened to Brother Branham when he said that we need to keep our thoughts positive and not to let the negative thoughts roost… it is no coincidence that this is the quote of the day today as I am writing!
Before we went to Verona, we met up with all the European kids who were attending the camp. They were very sweet and friendly, and they sang beautifully! Everywhere we went, we sang. One time in particular in Verona, we were all on a staircase where long ago a judge would walk up to reach the platform and impose judgments. We sang there, and everyone could feel the Spirit of the Lord so strongly; including the locals. During our time together at the camp, we had wonderful fellowship, lots of beautiful singing, and a fun time on sports day. Rain on sports day even turned into a blessing. We got to spend more time fellowshipping with each other and played games indoors.
Sunday’s service was when I, along with many other kids, broke down crying at the altar. I felt that something was lifted off of me, and there was nowhere else I needed to be at that moment. Nothing else was more important to me. In all the years that I had attended services and Easters in Jeffersonville, I never had an experience like that before. After the wonderful service, it was time for us to say goodbye to our new European friends. We had gotten close to each other during the time we spent together, and saying goodbye was hard. We left... four times! It was hard to leave as they waved white tissues and sang “Until We Meet Again.”
The last stop of our trip was Zermatt, Switzerland. On the long bus ride there, we really got to know one another, and UNO became our favorite game! Once again we sang a lot! When the bus dropped us off at the train station that would take us up the mountain, we were so excited that all we did was jump around and sing. At that point, I decided I am going to move to Indiana. During those last two days in Switzerland, I got closer to my new brothers and sisters, and I finally felt that I had found where I belonged.
On our flight back to the States, Brother John and Brother Nathan asked me on a scale of one to nine what I would rate this trip? I said nine hundred! I want to retract that statement now. How can you put a number on the best blessing of your life?
