Natalie from LEAD is a member of St. Mary’s Parish in Cape Girardeau, MO which is in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. This fall she will be a senior at Notre Dame High School.

Today she shared with us how God changed her life through friendship.

She grew up Catholic with very involved parents.

And yet, as she entered high school, she wanted to fit in and took on a negative attitude – and a big part of this was that she began gossiping about other people. This left her feeling empty and unloved.

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Rob Williams is a member of St. Patrick’s Parish in Wentzville, MO where he plays bass guitar for the parish’s Life Teen Mass.

He has been volunteering at our conferences since 2012 and has always helped with production either as a stage hand, running spotlight, or as an audio technician. He has also spent the last 6 years at a week long scout camp leading up to Steubenville, so he really appreciates the air-conditioned arena!

Rob works as a communications technician for AT&T and for fun he enjoys sand volleyball and other recreational sports. His favorite part of every conference is Eucharistic Adoration.

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Marilyn from LEAD is a member of Immaculate Conception of Dardenne (ICD) Parish in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. She went to high school at Timberland High School in Wentzville, MO and this fall she will be a freshman at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.  Tonight she shared with us how she has experienced the love of God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

As a high school student, she went on a retreat with her parish, and while there she was filled with deep sorrow for her sins. She decided to go to Confession and felt a huge embrace from God – like a hug.

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Mark and Beth Stevison are parishioners at Mary Mother of the Church Parish in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. They have been married for 24 years and have three boys. They met on a youth retreat (how cute is that?) called Teens Encounter Christ where Mark was on the music ministry team and Beth was a retreatant.

This weekend Beth is serving as an usher, and Mark is serving as a prayer minister – and he was a youth group chaperone last weekend. This is Beth’s 5^th year attending our conferences, and Mark’s 6^th.

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