Interchange youth logoDeuteronomy 2: 7 The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands.

Recently, the G.1.T. youth group in Odessa, Missouri was encouraged by the church leaders to raise money to attend group events. One such event is the Youth Interchange Conference in Kirksville, Missouri, June 26-29.

After many ideas, the group chose to have a garage sale on the day of the Odessa City Wide Garage Sale. We placed an ad in the paper stating the purpose of our sale, and went to work on collecting items to sell. Several church members donated items, and one family opened up their garage for us to invade.

A lot of work went into organizing, pricing, and cleaning up the donated items. With no prior garage sale experience, we had no idea what to charge or expect from the sale. We were hoping for maybe half of what was needed to send the group. But God had bigger plans!Odessa Youth

On May 3rd, the garage sale, which was scheduled to open at 8:00AM, had people showing up at 6:30AM. What a shock! We were not ready, but people didn’t mind. They were shopping off the trailer that was still being unloaded. By 9:00AM all the big items we had up front in the yard were sold!

We also grilled hot dogs, had drinks available for sale, and our talented youth did face painting. Such fun!

We had a great time mingling with the people of Odessa. Donations came when people saw that all proceeds were going toward the youth group going to the summer conference. One customer in particular was very interested in what youth group and church this was going towards. She stated that they didn’t have a church, but were looking for a support group. Great opportunity to invite her to church! She said they would certainly come sometime.

At the end of the day, when all was said and done, and the proceeds were counted, the youth had raised more than enough money to send them all to the conference. What a reward from God! Such a big job, but what a huge success!

The youth group is very thankful and so excited about going to the conference. 2013 was their first year going, and they can’t wait to see what God has in store for this year. On the way home last year the main question that arose was, “We are going to do this again next year, right?” What an opportunity for the youth to gather and encounter God. So looking forward to June and Youth Interchange 2014!

Cynthia Logan