The witness that Emma gave this morning, in her own words . . .
"This week I experienced something really powerful. On the mission trip, my group went to United Cerebral Palsy. United Cerebral Palsy is a place where people who have the disease can go for the day while their families go to work because they can't take care of themselves. Our job there was to entertain and keep the patients company. While we were there, our group met one of the staff members named Valentine. Miss Leslie had talked to him earlier that day and he had asked her if our church could pray for him later that night during our church group time. Us kids had never met the guy or talked to him. Me, Miss Leslie, Amy, Evan and Joey were just standing there talking and Valentine came over to us and was talking to us about our group and our positions. When he asked me what my position in the group/church was and I said I didn't know, he started to just focus on me. He was asking me questions about my faith. Some of the questions he asked me were, "When was the last time God talked to you?" "What did he say?" and "What is your purpose of being sent to Washington DC?" Then he asked me if I knew who he was and I said no. When I said no, he told me I did know who he was. I was both confused and scared when he said that. He then confessed that he was a prophet of God. He explained to me that only God has the power to bring me from Connecticut and Valentine from Trinidad so that I could stand as proxy as our church prayed for him. Valentine told me to read a section from the Bible because he thought they fit me personally. The section he wanted me to read was Jeremiah chapter 1, verses 1-15. He was right. They did fit me.
Later that night when our church gathered for church time, the whole youth group laid their hands on me and prayed for me and Valentine. During the prayer, I felt a flow of emotions...mainly shock. It was an overwhelming feeling of the Holy Spirit and I just cried.
On Thursday when we went back to UCP, I saw Valentine and told him what had happened the night before. I told him about how I was going to step out of my comfort zone and do something I normally wouldn't do. That is going back to my church and telling my story to everybody. Verse number 8 says, "'Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,' declares the Lord." Before this whole experience, I would never have done something like this. I am normally quieter and would be too scared to do this. After this wonderful experience, I realized I could do it. I am doing this with God right by my side.
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