Sometimes I wish I was 14 or 15 again. Then I could attend the conference track at Canada Youth.
Canada Youth 2012 was truly a remarkable experience. Days before leaving British Columbia, I remember I was feeling a little bit iffy about attending; but it sounded fun and I had never been to St. Catharines before. When I and 10 other B.C. members gathered at Vancouver International Airport on July 2, none of us knew what we would be in for.
At first we had a long trip ahead of us to get to Brock University: we went on almost every form of transportation—plane, car, train, bus and subway (not a boat). When we finally reached Brock and were assigned our rooms at DeCew residence, at first we were disappointed that there were no elevators, having already lugged our items all over the Greater Toronto Area!
But by the end of the week we all felt attached to our rooms and to waking up and seeing each other in the early morning. We didn’t want to leave. We all felt cozy at our home away from home.
Meeting new people wasn’t that hard. We even met another person from B.C. from a different presbytery on Vancouver Island.
From day one I was super exited about being here and about all the new people we were going to meet. I was making friends left, right, centre! When we got assigned to our “chimineas” or small groups, our group leader’s name was Mark Chiang. He was super nice. Our very first chiminea meeting was a bit awkward but by the second we were all so comfortable with each other, we were like a family! And half of my chiminea group were either from B.C. or “honorary B.C. people.” We even called our chiminea Team Awesome 2012 because our group was just that awesome. We were open with one another, able to speak our mind without being put down and, like I mentioned, we grew a bond to the point where we were family—very inviting! One thing that stuck with me throughout our chimineas was the fact that we are not alone.
What I enjoyed most about CY was the atmosphere. Everyone was very active and outgoing, especially during worship; back at my church we are not as active or into praise songs compared to CY! Rev. Hugh Donnelly did a fantastic job engaging everyone in every song and listening to all the voices in the room was amazing—some people have amazing voices! My favourite praise songs are Light the Fire, Wings of an Eagle and Come All You People. When I got back to my home church, after the benediction we were singing “Amen” but I was singing the Asithi Amen instead (plus I was doing the footwork in my pew).
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Canada Youth has helped me understand the Christian faith more. This week I got to spend time talking to a now very good friend of mine, Megan, who asked challenging questions about faith and about Christianity. Looking back now, it was fantastic realizing the power of the human mind active through Christ and I am so glad that I met her and grew a very strong connection with her.
CY2012 was an amazing experience and I thank God that I was able to attend this event. Hopefully in three years I can come back maybe as a youth ministry leader in training or as an adult advisor. The great thing about this experience is that while I am in B.C. I know that I am not alone and I have family spread across Canada!
More reflections from Canada Youth 2012
