Young Coptic Youth Conference 2007

F.I.T

This was possibly the craziest weekend of the year was attended by one-hundred and forty (140) Children between the ages of 10 to 13 and about forty (40) helpers and servants. Following on from the theme of the summer conferences: “The Holy Spirit For us, In us & Through us” H.G Anba Angaelos led us on a weekend to remember. Friday night kicked off with an introduction to the theme and to the weekend and surprisingly enough, everyone seemed to be totally exhausted and went straight to bed… but that was soon to change! By 6am Saturday morning, quite to the servants’ dismay, everyone was up and dressed and raring to go. After breakfast and morning prayers, Sayedna led us in the first talk “For Us” and spoke of how the Holy Spirit works For us individually and For the Church through the and her Sacraments, then after splitting into ‘Big Brother’/’Big Sister’ groups the games begun.

From arts & crafts, to the gigantic inflatable obstacle course, to the Ice Cream van, to sports, no-one had a second free to get bored. After a rather exhausting activities session, Raymond Rizk gave the second talk of the day “In Us” and along with his special friend, Mr. Wok, engaged everyone into seeing how the Holy Spirit is our own individual guide, lives in us, and gives us life and the ability to do what is right. We then had a hymns session and learnt the ‘Third Hoas” from the Midnight Praises (Tasbeha) and went straight into Vespers. After dinner and a short break, each church group began to prepare for the entertainment night which seemed to bring out perhaps some hidden talent within each church… and still, the day did not end there, because after that, we all gathered on the field for what was so far the best fireworks display we have ever had. Finally after a jam-packed, fantastic day everyone headed for their rooms… The day had FINALLY come to an end.

We started Sunday by praying the Holy Liturgy together in the Cathedral of Saint George, and after breakfast we had our final talk for the weekend “Through Us” given by Maryam Iskarous. Maryam took us on a very practical and engaging journey of how the Holy Spirit fulfils His work through us, and how we then become means to His work in others. It was great to see such young faces giving talks and all the youth were extremely responsive. As the day ended, we did the final prize giving and clean-up and said our thank-you’s and goodbyes.

The weekend was a great success and it was wonderful to see so many respond in such a positive way with great enthusiasm and involvement.