the courage to ask

*names have been changed in this story for the protection of students*

Some of you may remember my last story about Annie. When we met at All Area Christmas Club in 2023, I was sure that would be the last time I’d ever see her at a Young Life event. But, despite her facial expressions saying otherwise, she texted me after saying that she had a great time and wanted to come to the next event. Since then, we have built a friendship and continued to spend time together most weeks. 

    This year, we have talked a lot as an area, and especially within the Pioneer YL team, about starting Campaigners with the kids who we already consistently hang out with. I was hesitant at first to pitch the idea to Annie, because although she has told me she believes in Jesus, she is often reluctant to share any more and the conversation often dies there. However, after several weeks of battling my own fears and thoughts about how on earth I would get her to open up and talk about stories from the Bible together, God gave me the courage and opportunity to pitch the idea. I suggested that next week when we got our usual boba, we could spend some of that time reading the Bible together. 

    When the time came, we decided to start reading Matthew. We read Matthew 1 (TBH we skipped the genealogy of Jesus - don’t tell anyone), talked about what we both thought it meant, and then discussed our questions about it and looked through an online commentary to understand better. It was probably only 15 minutes in total, but it felt like she genuinely was paying attention and cared to learn more. Later that evening, I got a text from her saying, “we should do another Bible study it was fun”! I was so excited, and have been so encouraged as we have continued to *slowly* read through Matthew this semester, bit by bit, diving into the life of Jesus and what it means for us as Christians. 

— Caitlin Boyd, Pioneer High School Leader