Source: Standard-Examiner, Ogden, UtahAug.迷你倉 10--A handful of church youths and their leaders last week were the benefactors of $7,000 raised in April, when members of another church stepped up to help them with a yard sale.They used part of the money to serve Native Americans in Wind River, Wyo.The youths and leaders, mostly from Clearfield Community Church, which had experienced a fire last spring just before its annual yard sale, said they were grateful for the experience the resulting event funded.Members of several stakes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at that time not only donated untold numbers of items for the sale, but they also held the event on their property and helped man the event."We didn't use the entire $7,000 on this one trip," said Clearfield Community Church missions leader Laura Phillips.The Sunset resident said the money also will send youths from the church to youth camp and will allow the young people to do other service projects down the road.Last week's trip was the first time the group had visited a 2.2 million-acre Wyoming reservation with two tribes, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho, that are served annually by YouthWorks, which brings in Christian youth groups each week from around the country to help the residents there."They organize different construction projects," Phillips said. "Normally, the people would have to pay someone to do it."Phillips said the trip also resulted in positive changes for the youths who attended."There is a bond that is created when people are able to come together in acceptance and love," Phillips said. "It not only affects you, but it affects everyone with whom you come into contact."Five youths and three adults from the Clearfield church attended.Alongside them were two youths and one adult leader from First Baptist Church/New Beginnings Christian Church in Ogden.The group also held devotionals and worship services every night with all the youths wh文件倉 were there at that time, including two groups from Minnesota and one from Colorado.They also had time to meet together in their small group, much as a family.Phillips said this small-group time was important in the growth of those who attended."It was amazing how open the kids were to new experiences," she said. "They were able to trust and share with one another."She said people in general want to know that they are not alone in what they are going through."For the kids to be able to open up to one another and relate to one another, it allowed the group see that everyone fights their own battles and everyone has things in life that they struggle with."She said once the members of the group were open to relating to other people, they were able to make connections with others.Nineteen-year-old Paul Rosales, of Clearfield, said he will be forever changed by the experience and listed participants from other areas with whom he quickly became close friends and with whom he is still communicating."It was a spiritual experience I wish everybody could have," he said. "You get closer to God when you serve others."He said the service benefited the participants as much as it did those they served."I thought I was there just to do community service," he said. "I ended up realizing I was broken and I needed to devote my life to God."And he said he saw others grow, too."There was this girl there that thought she was unworthy of God's forgiveness," Rosales said. "By the end of the week, her whole thought process was turned around.""A big goal of the week was to show each person that they are important," Phillips said."They are special not only to leaders and friends but to God."Everyone, no matter their background, is able to be perceived by God. That message itself is very empowering."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) Visit the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) at .standard.net Distributed by MCT Information Services存倉
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