In It With Kids
IN ITwith kids
Jessie
MARY’S MESSAGE ASKING TO MEET FOR LUNCH CAME UNEXPECTEDLY.
It had been five years since we’d last talked; 10 years since she was a middle schooler in WyldLife. “I just had to tell you that I’ve decided to follow Jesus,” Mary said. “I knew you’d want to know. And to tell you that you were the most influential person in my life in middle school. I’ve never forgotten about the Jesus you told me about. He’s a part of my life now, and I have so much peace and joy!” Mary, now 23 years old, and I are heading to church together this Sunday. She’s still my WyldLife girl and I’m still her leader. And we are going to keep walking through life together. — Jessie Oliver, area director, Costa Rica
Mary at WyldLife camp in 2011.
Larry MEET LARRY BUTT — AN INSPIRATION WHO HAS BEEN
on staff since the early ’90s, faithfully laboring in Piqua, Ohio (and surrounding rural towns) for decades! He’s 63 and he’s all in! During our WyldLife weekend last fall he introduced me to some middle school boys who are sons of his former club kids! One boy, Tim, lost his father to a heart attack and his mother to a drug overdose. While Larry drove guys home from WyldLife one night, Tim said it was his 14th birthday. Larry had to think of something to do for him quickly as he had a committee meeting 45 minutes away. So Larry called a few buddies and had an impromptu party at McDonald’s. Each guy got the pie of their
choice and sang Happy Birthday to the beaming middle schooler. A few weeks later, Larry brought Tim on the WyldLife weekend. On Sunday morning this 6-foot2-inch eighth-grade orphaned boy from Piqua stood with Larry at the Say-So to proclaim he’d begun a relationship with Jesus! I texted Larry afterward and he replied, “Thank you, Gordon. It was a good weekend and confirmed to me that WyldLife is OK for me to do. At times the immaturity of some of the stuff they do annoys me, then I look back and think about what I was like when I was that age and realize I wasn’t any different. Ha!” — Gordon Anaple, advancement coordinator, Young Life Alumni and Friends
RELATIONSHIPS
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