By a YFC middle school student, Hawarden City Life Center
They say your perspective can change a lot of things. So what is the perspective of YFC ministry through the eyes of a Hawarden student we reach? Read on…
I continued to hear about YFC even though we were doing distance learning when COVID got bad. I was so thankful I got to bring my computer home from school, it helped me stay connected. I kept getting weekly emails from YFC about how they were doing Zoom calls for students to hang out online. I couldn’t connect with YFC before, because I lived out of town and my parents couldn’t get a ride home.
While everything was shut down it was awesome to have something to do, friends to connect with. It was difficult for me during this time. What was really awesome, they delivered snacks to my house each week. Yum! Now that school had started back up and several months had passed, I was still being contacted by YFC people. I kept getting weekly emails saying the Teen Center was open again.
I am really excited today because I am finally going to go hang out at the YFC Teen Center with my friends. But it’s not all a happy thought for me. The reason I get to go is because I moved into town and now live pretty close to the Teen Center. My parents just got divorced. Both of them now live in Hawarden. But I can only sometimes go because one lives closer to the Center than the other. The Teen Center was fun with so much to do, but they talked about this guy named Jesus. I am not really sure about him.
But I came back again. This evening we sat down for family meal time. As I looked around I kept seeing this symbol with three circles, so I asked a leader about it. She explained that the big circle was God’s story, the middle circle was my story and the smaller one was her story. She went on to add how all of our stories are connected and how she was here to help connect my story to God’s. I didn’t think my circle mattered or should be so big. No, it should be smaller. Maybe because… I don’t deserve the love of Jesus.
The leader offered to give me a Bible to better understand Jesus. I took it and now I am reading it. It has raised lots of questions for me. So I keep coming back. I come back because of the people there. They feel safe and make me feel important. They say I matter. They say somehow Jesus sees me. Maybe I’ll understand that someday.
Thank you for making the Teen Center available for us. There is nothing else like this for me.