This past week, my team has had the pleasure of serving in both Christolandia and Agua Viva. Through both the main lesson, I think God has been trying to show me the joy that comes from being transformed by Christ.
While at Christolandia, all the students of the program had the same slogan written on the shirts, “Jesus Transforma” or Jesus Transforms. At first, I took this as a cheesy slogan that you stamp on o
ne of those church camp shirts every kid gets. But I then began to see the beauty in the message. The message that these men had turned their lives around and given it to Christ. They had done something that many others had tried to do but sadly failed. Not as a form of boasting in their transformation or holding on to the sorrow of their old ways. Instead, they dedicated much of their life to studying God’s word to renew their spirit and turn their sorrow into joy. No longer bound to their sinful ways but made new.
Then, while at Agua Viva, I was astonished by the response from the kids at the camp. The camp’s theme was centered around an investigative story period and focused on a m
ysterious dead body that they had to figure out, only for them to discover that the dead body was the kids themselves—showing the example of how we are all dead without Christ and the importance of our faith. I thought this was a clever idea to get the kids to understand the need for our salvation. What I did not expect was for a majority of the kids to make a pledge to give their lives to Christ that night. Joyful and excited to go home and tell their family and friends about the things that they had learned in the way that Christ had transformed them.
I ask for prayer for the men at Christolandia and the children at Agua Viva that they would not be burdened by their sins but remember the man who died on the cross for them.
God bless,
Logan Thetford
Class XIX Fellow