Youth Meeting WYD Preparations

Danielle reports:

The meeting took place on the same weekend as the Day of Communities, so we decided to hold it in Deir Rafat so we could also help with the preparations.

On Friday, we opened the meeting with helping fr. Benny to arrange the church for the feast, while some of the young people were interviewed by the television of Portugal that came to record the group preparing for the flight.

Besides the interviews, they also filmed us getting ready and singing the national anthem.

After a short rest, we gathered for a lesson with Fr. Apolinary who spoke about the Easter period that begins with Easter and ends with the holiday of Pentecost and about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The questions:

1. How do I strengthen my relationship with God? (personal prayer, reading the Lord's word, explicit request to the Holy Spirit, sacramental life).

2. What changes in my life when I recognize that I am God's child? Do I believe that he loves me and always cares for me, even in the midst of difficulty and suffering?

3. Am I aware that the Holy Spirit dwells in me? Do I ask her to help me with both the small and the big things in my life?

4. How do I allow God to reach others through me?

After the discussion there was a short meeting regarding technical details of the flight and additional information. When we finished, we started the exciting part of the meeting and the one that everyone was waiting for - barbecue!!

We decided to have a special dinner and barbecue in honor of the birthday of two of our young people who celebrated their 20th birthday - Mai and Justin. Mazal Tov! Of course there was also a cake!

We ended the evening with the festive and delicious food.

The next day we woke up for a light breakfast of coffee and cakes and started to prepare the place for the day of the communities and to receive the people, then of course we participated in the Feast of the Communities.

Many thanks to the group for the organization and the great help in the preparation of the community day and of course for the participation!

We only have two more meetings left before the flight - in May and June.

And as at the end of every meeting - we look forward to the next one!