International Youth Conference 2001

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
1 Tim. 4:12

Since the beginning of January my sisters and I had planned to go to the youth conference in Bonndorf, Germany. We had heard about it from Sister Leila but when we received the “Youth Newsletter” we saw it as a reality and made up our minds to go. We left Canada on the 6th of August, which means that we missed the first day. It took us 7 hours to get to Frankfurt by plane and none of us slept a wink; we were far too excited to sleep. When we arrived in Germany a Russian brother named Alexey helped us out. He showed us where to buy our train tickets and led us to the train station. He waited with us until the train came to take us to our destination, Bonndorf.

The Journey Begins:
We had to change trains twice and with God’s help we arrived there safely. At Titisee, a young man named Manfred came to pick us up. He was one of the organizers of the conference. Germany is a country completely different than Canada. The roads in Germany are much narrower and the cars much smaller but the scenery is beautiful. The rich, green of the mountains and the tall, towering trees were breathtaking. The houses are quaint and charming with flowerpots hanging out of every windowsill. We finally arrived at the Bonndorf Youth Hostel. We were told to go to the office for further instructions. There we received a cap in either red, green or blue, a nametag, a hymnbook, a schedule and keys to our rooms. On Tuesday, August 7U there was a free afternoon. We went outside to get acquainted with the people. It was nice to meet people from so many different nationalities. In total, there were representatives from 27 different countries, and 17 different languages that were spoken. Nevertheless, for the morning and evening worship, the services were only translated into 4 languages, German, English, Spanish and Italian.

After supper that day, there was a choir practice, for those who were interested. I did not attend but had the opportunity to hear them practice.

They sounded very good. At 9:00 p.m. it was worship. Every evening either brother Pablo Hunger or Mathieu DuTour took turns giving a powerpoint presentation, using visuals about the subject of “Friendship and Courting”. Each evening they went a little deeper into their study, in which they used Biblical examples, quotes from sister White and real life examples that enabled us to get a better understanding of their topic. They also encouraged input from the youth and asked for their opinions and reactions.

In the morning, worship was always held by a different group for the entire two weeks. So all got a chance to participate. The subjects were wide and varied. Sometimes the subjects spoken about dealt with prayer, the psalms and praise, God’s never-ending mercies or following the divine plan of God by living in accordance with the health reform and so forth. On Wednesday, August 8th, we had the excursion to France. Three coach buses came to pick us up and take us to Strasburg. I believe that we all enjoyed the ride to Strasburg, and the wonderful singing and guitar playing helped to pass the time on the bus and bring us closer together. We sang in English, German and Spanish from the youth hymnbook and also other well-known favourites. Since Strasburg and Germany are about two hours apart they are very similar. The architecture of the buildings is pretty much the same. Yet, there are differences; Petit France is a quaint little town that resembles old France, including a cobblestone pavement and little bridges over which horse-drawn carriages pass. We were given maps of the city, some chose to go on their own, others were in big groups and toured the city by boat.

We got to visit the Strasburg Cathedral which is enormous and very dark inside, because of the stained glass windows.
We returned to Bonndorf in time for supper. On Thursday, August 9th I had the privilege of attending my first seminar. There were four subjects that were studied in depth in the space of two weeks.

The four subjects were: The five Windows of the Soul, Righteousness by Faith, Health and Prophecy. The seminar groups were divided according to languages. The tent was for the Germans and the other respective buildings were for the Italians, Spanish and English speaking people. I went to the Spanish room and heard the seminar given by brother Larry Watts on “Righteousness by Faith.” For the first half he spoke about the “Basic problem of faith” and the creation vs evolution theory. He then discussed the questions that have always perplexed mankind from the beginning. Where did I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? The subject was very extensive so he briefly touched the following points: “The Greek Diversion” (Government schools, TV, the media, sports, music), “Darwin”, “The Bones are not Silent”, “The stones cry out”, “The Law of Biogenesis”,…etc.

After a short break, we resumed our study. This time he focused more on the Bible and spoke about justification, sanctification and glorification and compared them to creation, habits formed and redemption. It was a wonderful study and we learnt much from it. On Friday, August 10th the youth were divided into two groups. One half went hiking through Wutachschluct and the other half spent a free day in Titisee.

I was in the second group so I got to go to Titisee. We had a great time in the little town. First of all, we all rented boats for an hour and spent a nice time on the lake. Afterwards, we walked through the town and visited many interesting little shops. Before we knew it, we were already awaiting our first Sabbath. In the morning, right after breakfast we all went to the lake by bus for a wonderful event. Six souls had accepted Jesus into their lives and were willing to die to self and live for the Lord. It was a cold morning, but the sun was shining. Brother Larry Watts performed the baptisms and the choir led by Brother Tobias Fichte sang many lovely songs. As we were leaving the flute players played a pretty melody. The morning service was held by Brother Watts who welcomed the five newly baptized members and one accepted soul and gave them all a chance to speak.

After lunch, the youth practiced their specials for the afternoon meeting. Brothers Stefano and Gustavo led the youth into prayer and praise for an hour and a half. There were many wonderful specials. The women from South Africa sang in Zulu. There were also a lot of instrument specials; a violin quartet, guitar playing and also piano and flute specials. It was a happy 11/2 hours and we were all greatly blessed by this type of worship.

The highlight on Sunday was a trip to Bodensee where we visited Mainau, a flower island. There were many things to see here, in particular a variety of flowers and plants. It brings to mind the words of Sister White about how God’s love is written in every tree, shrub and flower. Nature speaks volumes to us about God’s eternal love. Across the lake we could see Switzerland but never had the opportunity to visit it because of a lack of time. It was also nice to see little frisky ponies, baby donkies with huge, brown eyes and mischievous baby goats.

Monday, August 11 was another seminar day. This time I went to the English room. Brother Gustavo Castellanos gave a wonderful seminar on the book of Daniel, in particular chapter 2. He briefly went through chapters 7, 8, 9, and 11. He also discussed the difference between classical and apostolic prophecy. In classical prophecy, what has been prophesied comes to pass in the time of the prophet but apostolic refers to prophecies made way before their time.

He also made very good comparisons with Daniel 2 and Daniel 3 and Revelation 13, and Daniel 5 and Revelation 11.
On Tuesday we went to Stuttgart, one of the bigger German cities. We traveled in a huge group, in order not to get lost. We saw many historical buildings and spent a wonderful time together. On Wednesday, Brother Uwe Haug spoke about the five windows of the soul which are our senses. He mentioned the importance of guarding the five avenues of the soul for by them we form our thoughts, which become our words, then actions, our actions form habits, our habits form our destiny and our destiny leads us either to perdition or salvation. In summary, our thoughts and feelings combined form our moral character.

On one of the evening worships of the second week we had worship outside around a campfire. It was really neat. On Thursday, August 16th, we went hiking through a natural reserve area. It was a ten kilometer walk – good exercise. On Friday morning, the choir had its final rehearsal and practice in Titisee. At 6:30 p.m. we all departed for the concert for which the choir had been practicing the entire two weeks. The concert was a success, many visitors came.

While I was there an elderly German lady approached me and said she had really enjoyed the choir presentation. We opened the Sabbath in the concert hall; a couple of visitors stayed to hear brother Uwe speak about the last hours of mercy. The last Sabbath was another blessed day. Brother Watts gave a very interesting sermon about Zaccheus and how like Zaccheus ‘we too must climb down from our Sycamore tree of self righteousness to meet Jesus where He is. From 3:00 – 5:00pm we were privileged to hear music, singing, praises and thanksgiving in different languages. Instruments were also played like in the previous Sabbath. A chance was also given to anyone who wanted to share their experiences and testimonies, and how God had been there for them in their time of need and trouble. Manuela DiFranca spoke about how God had been with her during an operation she’d had.

Sister DuTour spoke about the time she had been driving through the Black Forest and how God miraculously delivered her from hitting a huge boulder. Nikko, a visitor, spoke about how God gave him the words to testify for him on the Island of Mainau. Finally, Nikko’s friend spoke about how God in His mercy had taken him out of the streets and shown him the right way. Sabbath was a day of farewells and good-byes because on Sunday we had to be out of the Hostel by 10:00 a.m. In conclusion, I can say that the conference was a wonderful experience where the youth of many different countries had the opportunity to know each other and make new friendships. It was also a time to strengthen their faith and trust in God. By seeing the youth from all around the world, they were able to see, like Elijah, that they were not the only ones who had not bowed down their knees to Baal.

Reyna Conde