The Davila Diaries: Disciple Now 2011

Well, since I am so not in the mood to do any kind of homework, I think I should blog. And what do I want to talk about?? D-Now!!! As my brother-in-Christ would say, Heck to the yeah!!!!! Man, first of all, let me tell you, it was amazing! I have always loved this weekend, ever since we started working with the youth. It is an amazing weekend of worship and fun, and lives are changed. Well, this year was a little different and a little harder. This year, our youth was without a Youth Pastor. Everyone has kind of stepped up and taken some kind of role to make sure that there was little change to our youth department. And since I love D-Now so much, I stepped up to make sure that D-Now happened, regardless of any circumstance. Well, it was a hard several months, but everything came together beautiful. Despite the weather, which threw a kink in it, we were able to still have D-Now, with no problems! Kacy Benson, our speaker, was able to make it up Thursday night before the 7 inches of snow hit us. Cory Smith and one of his band members still came up from Dallas in all of the ice. It did take them 5 hours to get here, but they were able to make it, although the other 4 members of their band were not. His other band member was able to make it from Tyler, so that was a blessing as well! So, Friday came and we decided that a "little" snow is not going to stop this thing, so we just locked all the kids up in the church for the night and continued on with what God was going to do that weekend! And man, did God move!! 6 kids were saved that first night!! The second day was a little different. We were unable to do our water balloon fight, for obvious reasons, but we improvised! This is the first year we invited parents, and although not too many showed up, we did have some that were there. And the best thing about that, one of the dad's and his son got saved that night!!! Praise the Lord!! Was the stress and the long nights, loss of sleep, crying episodes all worth it?? ABSOLUTELY!!! I was so happy to be a part of that weekend, and I am so glad that I had AMAZING people by my side helping me!! We have some amazing youth workers, parents, and church members! I was truly blessed to have a great team behind me!! Kacy came to speak about purity, but luckily he let the Holy Spirit lead him, and the weekend turned into something more about purity of the heart, and unforgiveness, and brokenness. And boy, did we have brokenness!! When I first began working with the youth, I was not happy. I did it because Daniel wanted us to. I never would have thought that these kids would change my life. I never thought that the questions I had about things in my past would be answered. I never knew how I could find a place with them. And now, I cannot see my life without them. I have tried to walk away from them, but God pulls me back! And even when the stress seems to be too much, and the kids don't seem to be growing, and you wonder why you are still where you are, there is that one thing, that one person, that one life that hugs you and tells you that they love you and are glad that you're here. And that one time makes it all okay again. Here are just a few pictures of the weekend!! Hope you all enjoy!!