Happy New Year!

Well....it's almost time to celebrate back in the states. We've already passed our midnight mark and have begun a new year. We talked about how amazing it is to have the opportunity to begin 2009 serving God and His beautiful nation of Africa.

Yesterday we helped facilitate a youth conference at the CCRC in Joska. The conference was broken into sessions. When we arrived, we started the conference with praise and worship led by a youth choir of kids from the CCRC. We then did brief introductions and moved into the first session. The first session was a devotional led by a US team member, focusing on the topic of Love--we are created to be loved; a love that is inescapable and inseparable. After the devotional and prayer over the day, we all had the amazing opportunity to hear first hand Jack's testimony. Many of us have only seen his testimony on video...or even not at all...so to hear his story, right in the same room, was awesome. I know that I personally will never forget the words, ''Though your mother and father reject you, God will never leave you alone. God will NEVER leave you alone." The emotion in his voice and sincerity in his expressions...the raw honesty of his story has had, and will continue to impact so many around the world. God isn't through with our friend Jack yet---we're going to continue to see Him use Jack in a mighty way.

After Jack's testimony, Jarm led a motivational talk on living a life with purpose--God's purpose. Then, a female leader spoke on the "Bridge to Adulthood" and what that entails and looks like as many of the youth are in that process. We took a quick lunch break and then quickly rejoined the conference, hearing a gentleman speak on drug and substance abuse, followed by Cat and Liz leading a session educating the room on HIV/AIDS.

While some of us stayed in the conference all day, others used their gifts outside with the younger children when they were dismissed after the devotional. They were able to share a familiar Bible story with the children and play with them while the older youth received important information so crucial to each of their lives.

We very much enjoyed being a part of the conference, and always, getting the opportunity to develop deeper relationships with both the children and the leaders at CCRC and in the surrounding areas of Joska.

Right about the time the peach will be dropping and ya'll will be screaming "Happy New Year's!", we'll be loading up a bus to head back into Joska for some manual labor! We are so excited to see that fresh water will be coming, and we get to start digging the ditches for the pipes to be laid. This afternoon we will also get the chance to visit a new children's home. Hopefully later tonight we will be able to update you on the activities of our day--the first day in 2009.

Happy New Year to our friends and family...across a continent and an ocean!!

In Him,
The 410Bridge Team