Author: Steve Duffy
This past summer, Corina Blue and her daughter Ava first came through the doors of Stonebridge. Being new to Iowa, moving from the West Coast, everything about their visit was new to them, including relationships. As they began to attend regularly each week through the fall, Corina eventually signed Ava up for our middle school Winter Blast winter retreat (Feb 2-4), but Ava had yet to attend a Wednesday night or form new relationships with other students.
The Wednesday before Winter Blast Corina brought Ava, and they got as far as the Lounge but did not proceed past that to the youth room. There was hesitation on Ava's part. It wasn't too long before Jill (high school girls' leader) met with them, encouraging Ava to join us for our youth group night. Not too much longer passed and Annie, Melissa and Hillary (middle school girls' leaders) introduced themselves and continued the encouragement to join us for the night. And if that wasn't overwhelming enough, the middle school girls' leaders rallied three middle school girls to continue the encouragement and invite Ava to join them for the night. With all that effort, Ava did just that!
Corina shared later that night that Ava enjoyed herself and was a "go" for the retreat that followed just a few days later! Corina wrote after the retreat "The great thing is that this allowed her to really get to know them and she’s not uncomfortable anymore! Yay! ... this weekend helped her!".
Ava has been coming on Wednesday nights ever since. Praise God for all those who showed Ava care by introducing themselves and inviting her into that Wednesday night together!
