We’re Back!
August 2, 2008
We’re back from the Western States Youth Gathering that took place this past week in Anaheim, CA. About 1,000 ELCA youth from all over the Western states including churches from Hawaii and Alaska joined together to learn about what it means to be connected and Wired to God! Our group of 16 (4 adults and 12 youth) truly learned and experienced what it means to be connected! Through mass gatherings we were connected to God through empowering and inspirational speakers, music, and performers.
The first mass gathering proposed a question How are you wired? Chad Eastham taught everyone on the first night, how different Guys and Girls truly are! Chad taught us how God wired each female and each male differently using practical situations and humor. Chad was the speaker that all the youth in our group thought was the most empowering and most memorable! We had many times in our trip that were moments that I like to call “WOW-moments.” We were experiencing the WOW of God! God was alive and present with us and in us on this trip and I would be totally open in saying that each one of our youth would tell you the same thing!
Another session that changed our thoughts about life and living each day to the fullest and loving yourself. knowing that you’re beautiful minus the flaws and your imperfections. John Nelson aka: “Nellie” touched our lives with his testimony of his life and his struggle of arthrogryposis. That means all of his joints from his neck down are locked and he has no control over any of his limbs. He taught each of us how to be selfless, and how to overcome pain and sadness, and realize that God is real and he blesses us so much more then we sometimes realize!
Many of the other speakers, musicians, and performers touched our hearts in many different ways as well. We also had time to kick back and relax at a day at the beach! We were riding the waves, playing volleyball, and enjoyed the all-famous west coast favorite In-and-Out. The beach, In-and-out,1,000 Lutheran youth what more could you ask for! This gathering was amazing, connections were made, friendships were built, and the ultimate connection between GOD and our Youth were made!
This is only a kilobyte of the entire connection we had to God this week! We encouraged our youth to stay connected on the journey back to reality and the everyday obstacles and pressures of the life of a teen in today’s society. We encouraged them all to keep a wireless connection with the Lord our God!
PS. For those of you who went on this trip feel free to post a comment on your Favorite memory or tell us how you felt connected to God! Thanks and you are all THE BEST!
Alison Quinn
Posted in The Life
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August 2nd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Alison wrote this post - great job. You’re amazing. I love you soooo much, and I love all the rest of you with the agape love we learned about. I miss u already
August 5th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I enjoyed getting to know each of the fifteen people a little bit closer. I loved getting to know Jesus closer too. I had fun at the concerts and all the classes except the Malt Beverages one. I feel more connected to everyone who was there now. I especially liked Nellie and how he said that if he could change one thing about his life, he wouldn’t because God made him just the way he wanted him. I also liked Chad and how he showed us how different we really are. I will always remember that week. It will never leave my mind.
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 pm
This is my testimony~
Good morning! My name is Emma Wheeler and I was one of 12 other youth from our church to attend the Western States Youth Gathering in Anaheim, CA this past July. I signed up to go to the gathering kind of thinking it would be just another fun time with our youth group and I would come back home and forget everything two weeks later. It turned out to be totally different and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that week.
The first day we were there we went to Disneyland and I’m pretty sure everyone except for two people carried me on their backs that day because my knee gave out and I couldn’t put any weight on it. We had so much fun in line playing Big Booty and singing Happy Birthday to people we didn’t know we didn’t really mind too much if the line was almost an hour wait. Except for the hotel room situation which you can ask any of us about after the service, we were all looking forward to falling asleep and the first mass gathering.
The most meaningful speakers in my opinion were Chad Eastman and John “Nellie” Nelson who gave a very powerful message in a way that all 1,500 of us could understand and put to work in our lives. Chad taught us a few of the many differences between guys and girls such as the fact that girls can walk into a bathroom talking and keep talking whereas guys walk to the door of a bathroom talking and are silent until they come out. I guess I’ll have to take his word on that one, but he compiled all of those differences so that we could comprehend it and tie it to our faith. Nellie is a severely disabled young man who has a little stick in his mouth that he uses to give high-fives and turn on lights because any muscle from his neck down is basically locked into position and unmovable. Being abandoned by his parents when he was a baby, he was put into the care of others who, as he grew, were unable to take care of him properly. Under their care, he was able to go to the bathroom every three days and bathe and brush his teeth only once a month. He told us that if someone gave him a chance to change one thing about himself he wouldn’t because he believes God made him that way for a reason and he wouldn’t want to go against God’s plan for his life. Most of us criticize something about ourselves almost automatically daily and hearing that has now made me think differently of myself. Many of the other performers and speakers touched our hearts and taught us a lot. Kendall Payne, for example, has had her fair share of troubles and shared them so that we could relate to her and know that she’s not just another one of those “diva” singers if you know what I mean.
If the earth shaking (literally) is any indication of how much fun we had with the speakers, performers, and a day at the beach, then all of us would tell you “a lot.” We got a lot closer to each other and taught Dawnette that sleep is completely over-rated. Even though all of us were tired when we woke up to go down to the ballroom to get our front-row seats, we still laughed with each other and played Big Booty while waiting for a speaker to come into the room. This is only a small part of what we did that week and all of us now have a “wireless” connection to God. Thank you.
Yes, it’s word-for-word what I will say in church on Sunday so bear with me about the Good morning and thank you part and stuff. Let me know what you think!
August 26th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
EMMA I LOVED YOUR TESTIMONY IT WAS AWSOME I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
~ Alison~
September 1st, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Thanks Ali! I changed a lot during the beginning of the service though to make it sound better. I liked it too and it was a lot easier at second service!