By: Johnny Martinez

St. Joseph’s first Young Adult retreat: “Agape” took place this month on July 5^th to 7^th. The retreat brought in fourteen wonderful young adults ranging from 18 to 30 years of age. They all expressed their love and gratitude for the retreat. The retreat candidates were invited by word of mouth and by going out to college campuses where the young people are and inviting them. The retreat is aimed to an audience of young people who are not currently willingly trying to follow Jesus and to those who have never had the chance to know Him. As we know, the young are not in our pews and we must go out to get them in the Spirit of Jesus and the first Apostles! The theme for the retreat is Agape, the Greek word for Christian love and the basics of an encounter with God. One candidate, Chris, said ‘’ I feel like I really needed this retreat and I’m glad I took time off work and my daily life to attend it. The talks and skits helped me a lot better and my faith has opened up I feel different in a good way, I would like to be a part of the next one as well.’’ This is one of many testimonies from the Agape retreat participants, Jesus really touched all fourteen candidates in a special way, so far nine candidates have committed to serving Agape #2 and the candidates as well as other young adults have been meeting every week on Tuesdays at 7pm to pray on the Word of God and share their life experiences with each other because as we know if you don’t use it you lose it! The goal for us here is for the young to not only have a nice experience with Jesus but to fall in love with Him, follow Him for life and become missionary disciples. Agape #2 will take place from Aug 30-Sep 2 at St. Joseph’s Retreat Center at 6:30 PM. The core team and new servers cannot wait for the next experience of God’s love!

Here is a video highlighting the amazing retreat experience: