Hell's Gate, High School Retreat

Two weekends ago our BlueSky Youth team took a group of high school students on a retreat to Hell’s Gate National Park. We hopped in our blue van and drove about 2 hours outside Nairobi until we reached this gorgeous park. We hiked through the gorge (It's kinda like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon...which I've never been to, but what I would imagine it to look like. haha), had a picnic in the van (It rained during the middle of the day, but the kids had the best attitude ever about it!), and then climbed all afternoon! It was such a fun weekend! 

Most of our high school friends who came had never been rock climbing before, so it was really cool to be there and watch as they experienced this thrill for the first time. One of the girls who came with us had never been to BlueSky before. I knew her from school, and being on campus, but never had a real chance to hang out with her outside of school. This was the perfect opportunity! I loved getting to know her on a more personal level, and hear her story. She is now coming to our Covenant group on Wednesday morning! God is good!  

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love, 

and his wonderful deeds for men. 

Let them sacrifice thanks offerings 

to tell of his works with songs of joy." 

Psalm 107:21-22

BlueSky Youth Kick-Off and Camp Reunion!

It was a busy weekend for BlueSky Youth!! Last Saturday, our team was able to connect with over 70 campers and their parents at a camp reunion hosted at Climb BlueSky, the rock climbing gym.  These campers were from all different schools, nations and backgrounds. It was so fun to connect with them outside of seeing them on a school campus or at camp.  For many, this was the first connection that they made with our team outside of Camp.  The students were able to spend time with our team, experience the new climbing gym, and learn more about opportunities to get involved in youth events.

It is our prayer that this event will serve as a springboard to engage these students during the year, that BlueSky will become more than a fun week of camp during the summer. As a Youth team, we hope to provide these students with a place to connect regularly, where they can find authentic community and be impacted with the Gospel through our weekly events and through small group Bible studies or Covenant groups.

The next day, Sunday, our Youth team had the opportunity to invest in and deepen relationships with over 30 middle school students and over 20 high school students at our Youth Kick-Off events. We saw lots of old friends, but also met new friends and saw new faces in the gym. Tons of incoming 6th graders, who are excited to be a part of BlueSky Youth, came rushing through the doors on Sunday. For the high school Kick-Off it was awesome to see students bring their friends who had just recently moved to Kenya this summer.

Our BlueSky Youth team is looking forward to this semester. We are eager to share the Gospel with the nations as we host our events at Climb BlueSky in the Youth space, The Crux. The climbing gym is an amazing facility and it is a beautiful thing to see when there are kids in it and it is being used for it’s purpose! Both HS and MS students LOVED climbing in the bouldering cave and on the beginner walls, and wouldn’t stop asking questions about when the other walls would be ready to climb on. The gym felt alive, and it was a blessing to have students hanging out there.