This month, we had the opportunity to work at the Byron Youth Center. A lot of what we were doing was painting, pulling weeds in the garden, and cooking lunch for the kids who go to school there. One day, we got to sit down with some of the teens there for lunch. Here is the story…
We didn’t realize what God had in store when we sat down to eat that day. We were sitting at a table with two of the girls who go to school at the youth center. They are both 15 and live just outside of Byron Bay. The youth center has a school for teens who are having problems at regular schools. The girls’ names were Emily and Kaitlyn and they had both had it with the school system. Emily said she was glad to be at the youth center because she could just step outside the door and have a cigarette if she wanted. She reminded me so much of how I used to be when I was her age, but I loved just sitting and talking to her. She pulled out her cigarettes, which happened to be a brand that I used to smoke, so I told her those were the same ones I smoked back in the day. I then started to wonder how this conversation could ever become good and regretted saying what I 
said. But then, my teammate Sarah told her, “It is so hard to quit, but you really should.” Emily agreed with her about it, and then I started telling her how God had helped me stop. I told her that I had prayed and asked God to give me strength to quit and that He just took the craving from me. She was amazed. She then asked, “Who is this God-man anyway?” We got to tell her about Jesus and how good He is. She then asked us how we hear God and what He sounds like. We got tell her all about God’s voice and how He speaks to us! It was so awesome! Please be praying for the youth of Byron Bay. The Lord wants to do mighty things here. He has plans for these kids!
