This is Missy’s 6th summer volunteering at SteubySTL. Most of these summers involved helping the Social Media crew led by Paul Masek, who is her brother-in-law! He gives her a new responsibility every summer. She said, “Either he doesn’t like what I did the summer before, or he just likes to mix things up. I have no clue!” (spoiler alert: she’s just really good at a lot of things).

She has written for the blog, run the SnapChat stories, and this year she has been updating the Instagram Feed and helping her sister Lisa Masek take pictures on week two. So, if you see her lugging around a big camera, strike a pose – you could be on Instagram!

Oscar began his talk during our men’s session this morning by talking about how we men like to win. That’s true. He then led us in a baptized and very fun version of “All I Do is Win”.

Oscar mentioned how we can, sometimes, leave men’s session talks feeling like men are evil, bad people. However, he spent most of the time building us up, so that we can know that we are winners, loved by the Father.

The world tells us that we need to be strong, play the part, and not show weakness or emotions. But we are more than that…we are greater than that.

Nolan grew up as a “cradle Catholic” but didn’t feel like he knew God personally. At the age of ten, a lot of people he loved passed away, and he started getting bullied for being small. In response to these struggles, he turned to sins of impurity, but in so doing he felt a lot of shame.

Eventually, at a conference much like this – after the men’s session – he was given a chance to pray with one of the leaders. And this leader spoke the words of God into his heart…

The Father loves you.

…and all of those years that he had wasted were lifted off of his shoulders, and he felt like a new man.

I’d encourage you to listen to his whole testimony; if you do, you will be blessed.

During today’s women’s session, Jocelyn shared how one simple act of kindness revealed God’s love to her.

She started off as a very joyful child, but gradually she noticed people becoming annoyed by her. She started to feel ashamed of her joy until she could no longer feel it inside her and a sadness set in. Her parents saw that she was struggling and made her go to youth group. Even though that first time she didn’t want to go, she kept going. Gradually, God worked on her heart.

Sarah began by talking about how challenging it is to be woman in today’s world. She also discussed how as women, we often fake it and are not honest about what is going on in our heads. We are quick to say “I’m fine” and we are not always real about the negative thoughts that we are having.

She then discussed the “Three Cs” that impact our lives the most- control, confusion, and competition.

We desire to be control of our own lives instead of letting God have control. Though we desire to have control, we need to trust in the plans that God has for us.