Serving Others

This is Amelia. She came to a Joni & Friends Family Retreat with her mother two summers ago. Amelia has Down Syndrome, and when a friend (a Joni & Friends Short-Term Missionaries) first told Amelia’s mother about the retreats, she was not interested in attending and had many reservations about Christianity. However, not too long after that, Amelia’s mom attended a conference on Down Syndrome. There she was hit with the full impact of what her daughter would be faced with for the rest of her life and was extremely overwhelmed by it. Arriving home depressed, she realized she could not handle this alone and approached the volunteer to ask if it was too late to sign up for the retreat. The volunteer responded that it was not too late and proceeded to line up a local church to sponsor the family to attend.

When they arrived at the retreat, Amelia’s mother was very nervous; she did not want anyone else holding her daughter and she did not know how to react to what she was experiencing. After being at the retreat for several days. Amelia’s mom soon became overwhelmed by the love and acceptance that was shown to her and Amelia by all of the volunteers and other families attending the retreat. During one of the women’s small groups that she attended, she broke down into tears sobbing “How do you handle it? We’re not people of faith. I’ve been playing a game these last 16 months.” It was the first place she had ever been able to be honest about the reality.

By Thursday evening, the last night of the retreat, Amelia’s mom had seen enough. Everyone that week had shown so much love and support to her and her daughter that when she called her husband that night she told him, “I’m probably going to become a Christian before coming home.” Sure enough, later that night she placed her faith in Jesus Christ and her life was changed! God used Joni & Friends Family Retreats in a mighty way in the life of little Amelia and her mother, and He continues to do so in the lives of many others as well.

If you want more information on Joni and Friends visit http://www.joniandfriends.org. If you would like to learn more about volunteering at a Joni and Friends Retreat, contact Robin at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).