How many times have I passed by someone from my youth group on Sunday and just said “hello.”  I consider them a friend, maybe even a good friend, but do I really know them?  Do I really keep them in my thoughts and prayers?  My week at the National Gathering was full of exciting events like meeting people from across the nation and partaking in a few friendly volleyball matches against other churches, but my favorite part of the whole getting to know the people from my own church better and forging stronger relationships with them.

            My youth group was blessed in that we were asked to help out during one of the evening services.  We were asked to work the stick figure puppets during Audio Adrenaline’s “Hands and Feet” and also at the finale.  It was awesome to see how by the end of the week our group was still getting along great, despite a lack of sleep.  Working together with everybody as a team to help put together a really neat performance really showed me what a group of people can accomplish.  We will all share in this experience and it will help keep us the good friends we have all become.

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