October and November Update 2023 

Updates

The last two months have been a whirlwind of incredible things at UCC! The month of October consisted of our fall events for pre-teens and teens. For our pre-teens, we continued our yearly jump house event at a trampoline park called Rush. This year was a success! We shepherded 32 students with six leaders, double the amount last year. One new initiative launched at our church is the “serving families with disabilities” ministry. This ministry aims at providing a helping hand to families who have children with disabilities, of which there are quite a few at our church. Eager to serve families in this way, we recruited leaders to specifically serve our students with disabilities so that they may come on this trip. It was a great endeavor that I am sure we all will remember for a long time. We are grateful for the excitement behind our preteens and look forward to continually discipling the next group of Christians in Finland. 

Our teens had the annual Staycation in October as well. This event was incredible. One of the most encouraging aspects of this trip is that around 30% of the students were students outside our youth group. As some of you know, I have started teaching a Mother Tongue English class in the school that our church meets in. Due to this opportunity, most of my class joined us for the Staycation event. This is the best thing that could have happened. I am grateful for the ministry opportunity to train minds and hearts towards Christ. Continue to pray for our students to grow a love for Jesus. More than anything or event, we want Christ to be magnified in their lives through the gospel. 

As we grow disciples in and through our youth group, we take the initiative to have gender-specific events each semester. Heidi and some of the other leaders put on a girl’s night for the teen girls in our group. They baked, played games, and watched a play. Seeing them grow in friendship and appreciation for one another is fun. Pray that through these endeavors, these girls will be gripped by the fellowship that exists through Christ’s grace. 

In November, the school where I work and our church meets hosted its second annual ValoKarnevaalit event. This is a community event put on by the school in partnership with the churches that meet in its building to serve those in the community. This was a significant growth from last year that we are proud of. We hosted two separate events, one for preteens and one for teens. The students seemed to enjoy the game and concert by a local Christian artist. It is great to be part of a community that looks to serve those around it.

We look forward to next year and what God will do in the lives of those around the ValoTalo.

One of the significant events we put on last year was the UCC Youth Packing Party. This is an opportunity for us to assemble Operation Christmas Child boxes (shout out to Missouri City Community Group) for children worldwide. Last week, we continued this tradition this year. Last year, we packed 50 boxes, and our aim this year is to load 100. Well, by the grace of God, we were able to fill 117 boxes! It was an honor to serve as a youth group this way. One particular moment that night was when we took each box and prayed over the faith, health, family, and safety of each student who would receive the box. It was surreal to see these teen students intentionally packing and praying for Christ to move in the recipient's lives.

Family

As for the Byrd family, it has also been a roller coaster. My trip to the States was one of the main events in the last two months. Initially, I (Gabriel) was not going to come. Yet, due to different circumstances, I could make the trip. It was incredible to reconnect with so many of you. It was a quick trip, and I know there were others we did not get time to be together with. We do look forward to a more extended stay in the future. Though this trip has many highlights, it was incredible to be loved so well by Christ Community Church. At the end of Acts 14, it states of Paul and Barnabas:

 “and from there, they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to God’s grace for the work they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

Acts 14:26-27 

This is a great description of our heart. We were so grateful to declare the Lord’s work and share it with those who commended us. There is something so powerful in doing missions connected to the local church, and we praise God for his faithfulness to C3 and UCC. Thank you all, c3, family, and friends, for your support, love, wisdom, and care. We love you all and look forward to reconnecting with you next time.