Bitter Sweet.

Yesterday our Rainier Hills Younglife crew headed out at 2am for their 14 hour trip to Malibu!

So exciting that camp season is finally here, but so bitter sweet to be done with Younglife in Enumclaw.

When I first started getting involved with Younglife, I was going into my Junior year of high school.

Malibu was where my Younglife journey started.

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At that point I was just a baby Christian. I had known the Lord for less than a year, and Malibu was important to me for my walk with God. It was one of the best weeks of my life!

Once the school year started, I applied to be a "Student Representative" for the Enumclaw team. When I started, I applied for a few reasons..

1. My boyfriend of the time was doing it.
2. My best friend was doing it.
3. I was asked to do it, and I was flattered.
4. To strengthen my walk with God.
5. To be used by God to strengthen other kid's walks with the Lord.

by the end of that school year, my boyfriend and I had split and he had ended his reign with Younglife. And with his resignation, left one of my few reasons to be a Younglife leader.

That summer, I went to Malibu for the second time. This trip was used by for pain, fellowship, peace, and healing.

Malibu is a sacred piece of land. It is prayed over daily by people all over the world. Nothing that happens at Malibu is ever accidental. That is what I learned that summer.. Along with other things.

My senior year of high school I started as a leader with my best friend like the year before. But when she decided her walk with YL was over, I was forced to reevaluate my decision of leading. After weeks of questioning, I decided with lots of prayer that I was apart of RHYL for a reason and that I would stick it out until the end of the year.

That summer I got the opportunity to go to Malibu as a leader. Not a student rep, but like a leader leader. It was amazing. On that trip I realized that my reason for being a part of Younglife was more important than me. Or a boyfriend. Or a friend. Or pride. It was about being used by the Lord to bring lives to Christ.

This year was the best of my YL experience yet. I finally had the mindset God wanted for me, and helping others is so much better than focusing on "me, me, me" all the time.

This year I began and grew friendships that I now cant imagine my life without. Friendships that I know will last a life time.

My experience with Younglife has been vastly different at any given date. I have grown in my walk with God. I have grown in my ability to love. I have learned about myself, others, life, and God. I have seen change in every single life that YL has touched. I have seen lives flip 180 degrees. I have seen hearts changed, grown, and healed.

Being a Younglife leader is about making relationships, being real, and living life together. Not about a camp, a service, or a dodgeball game.

Younglife changes lives. I know, because it changed mine.

xo/Austin