I heard that the north was going to get some of the worst of the hurricane, but I brushed this information off. It wasn’t until an announcement was made that school was going to be out the next day due to the hurricane that I decided to take this storm into consideration.

I got home from school that Thursday and my dad was stocking up on food and water. I just told myself that this hurricane is just going to take a turn before it came to us, just like Hurricane Rita. I didn’t believe anything I heard about the storm. Friday passed and my dad and I kept our eyes on the TV the whole day, listening to any signs about when it would hit us.  During the night, all of our neighbors congregated and talked about what we should expect. My friend and I were talking and saying that nothing would happen. I just kept brushing off the situation like it was nothing. As we talked, the wind got stronger and stronger, so by dark, we were all in our homes, ready for anything the storm had to throw at us. Right before my dad and I went to sleep, we prayed. We prayed for our friends and for our own safety that we would make it out of the storm with God’s help.

I went to bed that night and I woke up at around 1 AM that Saturday morning to the flickering lights in our house, and I knew the strong winds would come at any moment. I woke up every hour after that and I heard the wind whistle and that’s when I started to get a little scared. I kept praying that our 2 tall pine trees that are about 60 feet high would not fall on our house.

I woke up at 6 to look outside. To my amazement, no major damage happened. The 2 pine trees were still standing, though a part of our fence wasn’t, but that didn’t matter because God had protected us through the storm. I took a look around and saw pine needles and branches and leaves EVERYWHERE. My mom was in Vancouver at the time, so every so often, we’d get a text to see how  my dad and I were doing.

In the afternoon our neighbors were all outside helping each other clean up. My dad and I looked around the neighborhood and we saw some horrible things. There were trees on top of houses, fires, the streets were a mess, and it was pouring rain. My friend stopped by to see how I was and we went around other neighborhoods to survey all the damage done. And may I say, the street that I live on is BLESSED. No major damaged happened, and everyone is safe.

We still don’t have electricity after almost a week, but that’s ok. God is providing us with food and water.
But now I realize how much I take those things for granted. But I thank God for keeping my family, my home, and my friends safe in the storm. It was quite the experience that I will never forget because God had protected us and blessed us so much.

The Operation Global Rain or otherwise known as the World Wide Week of Prayer was a great up-lifting experience for me. As my second year to attend the gathering, from May 1st to May 10th, each night my friends and family-myself included worshipped and prayed for the pouring of the Holy Spirit unto us. Speaking as a student, my weekday is filled with school, school, and more school and waiting till the Sabbath Day to come, but the Week of Prayer was an awakening for me. It brought inspiration and a feeling of comfort because of all the stress from school, those 10 days made me feel relaxed. Touched by God’s Word, it showed me that our troubles and problems are “only temporary” but the Holy Spirit is eternal. This special event to me is a new tradition in my life and memories that will last forever.

In a recent post, Kemi Ola with the Adventist Youth Blog reflects upon a Seder hosted by the Adventist Christian Fellowship, who graciously invited the Metropolitan SDA Church Youth Group to attend.

“Bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and wine cease to be just parts of a ritualistic ceremony when you allow yourself to be blown away by the reality of their faith, belief and patience.” Read more >>

Many of us were touched by this experience. Most of us had never experienced a Seder, and the symbolism and tradition behind every ceremonial token was something that we all appreciated and took to heart.

The Seder was performed by Pastor Bill Cork of Houston International Church and sponsor of the Houston Chapter of the Adventist Christian Fellowship. Pastor Cork gave each attendee a copy of the readings and encouraged each person to participate, often calling on others to read some of the texts and also teaching us some songs in Hebrew.

The Seder celebration was a new to me especially, because I had no idea what a Seder was. Experiencing it first hand was very fun and enlightening. One of the first things I remember was dipping cilantro into salt water (which definitely opened my sinuses). I also didn’t know that when you raise your glass of Welch’s grape juice (representing wine), you basically drink the whole juice down and before hand because I like juice I filled my cup to the top… bad mistake (weak bladder). The different foods you put together by hand tasted really great and sweet. My favorite part of Seder was spending time with my friends and experiencing a new kind of celebration altogether. – Agui Cuaresma, Metropolitan SDA Church

Thanks again to the Adventist Christian Fellowship for allowing us to take part in such a meaningful practice. Happy Passover everyone!

>> MSDA Youth’s Flickr set for this event