Sunday morning greeted us with grey clouds that blocked out any blue sky or sunshine.

Despite this, we enjoyed our Sunday morning immensely; relaxing and eating an egg brunch. Wait, what about church? Oh, church wouldn’t be till one-o-clock that day. We were going to be speaking in a VIHA church plant, and this one started at one o clock. After brunch, we loaded into the van for an hour drive to Regina.
I LOVED their church. It was warm and welcoming. The spirit of worship in their church was awesome. Dad spoke on discipleship and the vision of MM. Christian and I also shared. Unfortunately, I left my speech notes in the church – my bad! -but here is what I said -to the best of my recollection:
“Hi! My sname is Kaitlyn, and it’s great to be here. Ya’ll might be hearing my dad speaking on discipleship and thinking: ‘well that’s nice, but anyone can talk. Does he actually live it?’ As you’ve heard from Christian too, the answer is: yes. My dad really invests in us. I’d like to share with you guys one of the tangible results of his discipleship in my life.
I have one and a half years left to a commitment I made when I was 14. It’s called: My First Love commitment. This basically includes: no dating or thinking about future relationships until I am 18, and using those years to grow deeper in my love for Jesus and keep him my First Love -that’s why it’s called First Love commitment. This commitment was actually first inspired by my cousin, but if it hadn’t been for my dad bringing the topic up and talking about it with me, I never would have taken any action in my life- to make a written commitment – other than admire my cousin.
This commitment is different than a parent imposing on their kids a law saying: “You’re not allowed to date”. My parents and I have had many heart conversations about it, and we continue to have heart conversations about this topic. This commitment was brought about through love and discipleship. In the end it was my own decision, because I wanted to devote these years to Jesus.
This commitment is beneficial for a lot of reasons….for instance, it can be easy for my mind to be like: “oh, maybe one day, this guy…..” and then I have to stop and be like:”no, I don’t need to think about this right now, I just need to trust Jesus with the future.” This is beneficial in a lot of ways, but also you know how the Bible talks about taking every thought captive, and this really helps me do that.
This is just one area where I have benefited from my dad’s discipleship. So dad’s, guys and everybody, I just wanted to encourage you guys to disciple your kids, whether biological or spiritual, because we -everybody -needs it. The rewards are worth it, and I know, because I’ve experienced it firsthand in my life.”

So that’s what I shared, more or less. After the service was over, the pastor came up to me and thanked me for my talk. He told me that when he was 16, God had asked him to do the same thing until he was 19. With a sparkle of fond remembrance in his eyes, he told me about how he would go on “dates” with Jesus. He continued, talking about how he would pray for his future wife; about his necklace that reminded him of his commitment; and how he can see the fruit of that commitment now in his marriage and family. It was inspiring and encouraging.
Another highlight of the church service was that afterward, I had a conversation with a young missionary couple from Turkey. My antenna of interest was peaked the moment I heard during the announcements that they where there. Directly after the service ended, I rushed up to them and started talking with them. It was really neat!

Dad also sold a couple of DVDS at the booth he had set up.
Afterwards, we went to the pastor -and his family’s – home for dinner, along with another couple. By now the skies had cleared and the weather was hot and sunny. Dinner was a great time of sweet fellowship and spaghetti. It was a really refreshing time. Before we left, we took turns praying for each other’s family. We were sad to say good-bye.
All in all, Sunday was a great day.
Kaitlyn -on behalf of the Snyder clan.