[Note: See related post!]
And here’s my very first challenge from Mr. Ganns Deen. :)

I challenge you to blog about the first time you shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with someone and s/he accepted Him into her/his life.

I guess I’d talk about my first youth camp ever, since it was the first time I served in YFC and the first time I actually started to evangelize. That was about 6 years ago! Wow! Anyway that camp was actually quite memorable; besides being my first time to serve in a YFC camp, there were also a lot of, say, some sort of supernatural happenings there as well.

Anyway, in YFC Camps, the participants are divided into discussion groups where they would be able to discuss amongst themselves the contents of the talk. These groups are facilitated by one to two discussion group leaders, who initiates the discussions and who makes sure the participants are all well throughout the camp. The discussion group would be able to clear some issues for the participants, if they have any, and would act as a “barkada” for them inside the camp. These discussion groups are the most important part of the camp because it is the direct line of the participants to God during the camp.

The camp was held last May 19, 20 and 21, 2000, at Bretsch and Barrie, Antipolo. It was my first time to be a discussion group leader and to tell you honestly, I was really nervous then. I wasn’t the most sociable person around, mind you, and I was still pretty shy around new people then. But I have to try, because it was something I promised God I’d do. I was partnered with Con-con and we had six members in our group, all girls.

The discussion group sessions were fun, though as I said, we were kind of nervous. However, there was one member in my group who caught my eyes and ears. In Anne Shirley‘s (from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery) words, a kindred spirit. Her name is Pinky, and she faced everything in the camp with “wide-eyed” wonder and an accepting spirit. And so when the one-to-one talks came (FYI: one-to-ones are the discussion group leader to participant dialogue that happens on the second day of the camp before the second, or as I call it, the BIG night), I immediately chose Pinky because I wanted to get to know her.

Talkative met talkative during our one-to-ones. That was my first one-to-one session as a discussion group leader and the longest one I’ve ever had at that! Pinky and I enjoyed talking about ourselves and laughing and sharing each other’s problems and making God known to each other altogether. I have to admit, she was a lot older than I am, but we both connected. I never called her “ate” because of that.

During the commitment ceremony that night, she committed herself to Christ, we prayed over her and she committed herself to YFC the next day. I actually did not get to see her much the next few weeks except for some meetings, but I knew she also started attending YFC in her campus. When I left YFC Community Based for YFC High School, she was the one who took my place in the unit.

Right now, we’ve reversed places. When I joined Singles for Christ, she was one of the heads during the Christian Life Program. It’s funny how that turned out, because I never would have expected to be with Pinky all over again. :)) I guess it is true that everyone’s connected to each other somehow. I just love how God works out things. :)