After the stormy weekday, the Saturday morning sun peaked and everyone was excited for the Youth Fellowship that our local church had arranged. The school year will start soon and these young people will soon be busy with modules and online classes. The pandemic had become a hindrance for this activity but after almost two years, they are finally able to gather together outside church for a good time, enjoy each other's company, and more importantly, learn about what's the will of God in their lives.
The location for this fellowship was at Guindulman's new spot that has been trending lately - Sun Kissed Resort.
But first, do check my generous sponsor's profiles and articles!Sun Kissed Resort is located at Brgy Sta. Lucia Trinidad, Guindulman, Bohol. This is just a five-minute drive from our church and so it is a perfect location as we don't have to go out of our town. Also, most of the guests arrive in the afternoon or by lunchtime and our reservation was in the morning from eight to two in the afternoon.
Upon arrival, everyone had to go through a temperature check, then our names were also logged as well as our details for contact tracing purposes. It's my first time here, while my parents had been here before already.
My first impression was it's clean and naturally vibrant due to the numerous trees and plants around the area. The location is well planned as to not damage the trees that are inside the vicinity. I super love this one that is sitting between the restaurant and the pool.
Right after everyone was settled, the program started. A welcome speech was given by our pastor and he also did the opening prayer. There were around 23 young people who joined the activity. While there were more who didn't join this activity, we are hoping that in the next one, they'd be able to participate, God willing.
The praise and worship were next in the program. Our instruments were just an electric guitar and an acoustic one. We were given permission to use a microphone and some electronics during our stay. The owner of the resort knows most of the church's elders and our pastor so they understood why we were there.
It's a good thing that there were no other people around but us. It felt like we had paid for an exclusive stay here.
As the worship went on, the staff at the resort also listened and we were glad that there was other audience aside from these young people.
There were only four songs sang during the praise and worship part. I am always blessed to see the youth praising our God, it lifts my spirit! it is also one of my favorite parts during church service because the song lyrics just speak through. There were even times when I tear up as I focus on the goodness of God and how he had been moving and working in our lives.
As for the young people, I see most of them are sincere and their hearts are longing. They are the future and they need guidance. A lot of the youth today are seeking attention and care and more often, they are looking at the wrong place.
So, attending church and also engaging with believers, including joining fellowships will help them know more of their purposes in this world. Most of them are in the phase of finding their self-identity, belongingness, they need security and love most of all.
My husband delivered a message about the will of God in their lives. He used one of the epistles of John to direct the youth about this matter. It took around 30-40 minutes for him to finish his talk. This would be the second time that James had spoken in front of the youth and he said it is a privilege and an honor. And his prayer is that these young people might desire for what pleases God, not to serve two masters but to always seek God's will in their lives.
At the end of the message, a mandatory group picture has to be done of course! Looking at the image below, I realized that the men are being outnumbered by the women! I guess we need to do something so more men would join our next youth fellowship or youth activity.
Currently, we were planning on providing skill activities for them which will be open for outsiders too for evangelism. These programs can be computer literacy, programming, web design, photography, arts, and more. Included in the activity would be an exhortation or even a full message so more can give their lives to Jesus.
Now it was time to enjoy Sun Kissed Resort! I had given free service of taking photographs of every single one of them. However, some were a little shy while others were happy and glad that they posed and did jump shots!
Of course, my baby Matti was also present during this event to support his papa. And I took photos of them as a remembrance.
Here are some of the images I took for these young ones. This generation of young people is very much into the usage of social media like Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and a lot more.
While it is not bad to use them, being addicted to them is a different story. I have heard many complaints from some of the parents on how these boys and girls had been dancing in front of their phones. Worldly pleasures indeed are hard to resist. It requires spiritual maturity to obtain a different perspective, different tastebuds to long for what really is important. With the help of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are praying for these young people to become salt and light in this world.
These pretty ladies were all smiles for the camera too!
And as lunchtime came, our orders also were served. We ordered a few from their menus such as sisig, mixed vegetables, pochero, lechon manok, pancit, and sinuglaw. The food was all good but the best seller was the sisig! I also love their pancit even Matti approved of it too!
Every single tummy was filled with good food. And since lunch was done, all of them enjoyed the pool this time! Swimming and playing around. I wished there was a huge lawn for them to do games as well but the lawn space was limited and so it's hard to hold games, perhaps in future events, we can plan on easy and safe games for them to also test their competitiveness.
It was also very sunny that day and so they were only able to enjoy this area. There are many amenities in Sun Kissed Resort but because it's just too hot, we can only stay here in the pool area. Some of their amenities are fishing, swan ride, water bicycle, kids playground, and a lot more.
It's nice that from the start until the event finished at two in the afternoon, there were no other guests around. 'Til next youth activity!
xoxo,
mommy jean of momentswithmatti
Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.
Bless you all, beautiful souls!