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The narrow way, the best way
PARAGUAY, Ricardo Acosta. The summer youth camp was held on the first weekend of February, on the grounds of the "Bishop Lasagna camp-house". On the first day, more than 170 youth from the central zone gathered at 3:00 p.m., to form a part of a great adventure; the camp was officially opened with a Mass celebrated by Father Pedro Kühlcke.
The successful convocation was a great gift for the organization, a large number of youth could not attend since there was no room.
The biggest odyssey
The biggest odyssey that they experienced was to reach the camp site, since the buses had mechanical problems on the way; moreover they got stuck in the sand at the entrance of the place. But as the saying goes, "everything happens for a reason," it was the beginning of a great adventure with a large number of youth thirsty for God, who later shared their testimonies of a strong experience.
"I do not regret anything that happened to get here, because I was sure that all of this symbolized "the narrow way" of which Jesus spoke, when he referred to his kingdom, and to get to know him here; I am sure that the stumbles in life are opportunities to get closer to Him," said Sandra, one of the participants.
The workshops that were developed undoubtedly motivated a reflection of life for each person. Although they are young, they have already had confrontations with life, that is they have had the opportunity to make decisions, and sometimes their decisions are not made in a conscious manner oriented toward the good. The emotion seen on the faces of many of them was understandable when the sensitive subject of family was discussed. I say sensitive, because many times the conflicts within the family are not only caused by lack of employment or food; but often, the lack of values within the family is the cause and the children suffer the direct consequences, and society indirectly suffers, because the nucleus was affected.
Friends of Jesus
On the other hand, as is characteristic of camp, there were also moments of effervescence; there was a great team of animators, which "exploded" the youths' energy with songs, dances, and entertaining dynamics.
Finally, during the closing Mass, Father Pedro insisted that we must fulfill what corresponds to us as Christians, to participate in the Eucharistic, minimally on Sunday. This is the proper thing to do, then to share with friends. "Jesus taught us to have a friend with a capital letter, not "the dogs", those weekend "friends" that only lead us to vice and sin; we do not want that kind of friend. And above all, we have our great friend, Jesus; He is always there, concerned about us, let us listen to Him," he emphasized.
The camp revived the all the youths' spirit, who are in the youth groups and of those who want to belong. This camp was the first step in the development of other projects, which are already very advanced; among them is a Youth Mass, which will be held monthly in Tupãrenda, if the first one at noon on March 25th is well accepted. This will be a lively journey.
Celina M. Garza: Spanish/English translation - M. Peña-Janknegt: English edit
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