Global Youth Day: Serving is Better With Friends

What is Global Youth Day?

Global Youth Day is an annual event where youth around the world gather to show the love of Jesus to their communities. I've had the opportunity to be a part of this event in other countries in the past but this year was different. This past weekend, 185 young people from all over Wisconsin gathered in the Milwaukee area. Youth from Green Bay, Sheboygan, Madison, Watertown and Milwaukee joined together with one common goal: to serve. Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon, we were blessed by messages from Pastor Kevin Moreno (Green Bay SDA Church), later in the morning, we all found service projects to be a part of, followed by lunch, and then a time of sharing about what we experienced while serving.

Pastor Kevin Moreno, Sharing Spiritual Messages

We had four different activities in which our young people could choose from:

• Honk for Jesus

• Handing out literature

• Bringing music to a nursing home

• Cleaning a park

Honk for Jesus

I was able to visit three out of the four activities on Sabbath and interview many of the youth participating. It was nice to see how our young people left their comfort zones to interact with strangers. They lifted up their signs without shame that Jesus loves them. Maybe some of them didn’t have much experience singing in public but on this day they sang loud and proud.

The Group That Sang to the Nursing Home

For many, picking up trash, especially if it's not yours, is weird. However, on this day our youth left a very dirty park spotless with a smile on their face. It’s hard going up to someone you’ve never met before and asking them if they want to know about Jesus. In fact, this was the activity with the least amount of volunteers, but our youth stepped up for the challenge without a doubt.

Pathfinders from the Milwaukee Northwest Church also Shared God's Love by Passing Out Bags of Mandarins to their Neighborhood

This year was a special one. Why? I was able to see how my friends and the people closest to me served others, not because they had to but because they wanted to. It’s good to serve God by yourself but it's better when you're with your friends. It felt like we were one big team. A community of youth coming together to show their faith. It was such a blessing to be surrounded by so many young people my age serving together. I pray that next year we will have even more youth that come together for one sole purpose, to honor and glorify our God.