A Marathon of Firsts - Shreeya's story

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Thank you Sarah from San Francisco for sharing this with us!!!

Shreeya is a rising junior this year. She has had many health scares in her life due to having epilepsy and a myriad of allergies. Seizures in her childhood caused Shreeya to have trouble with her speech and communication, which has made making friends a challenge for her.

All that began to change when her Young Life leaders met her 2 years ago at her high
school. Over time Shreeya and her parents have come to love and trust her leaders.

This summer was a marathon of firsts for her, all alongside new friends and her YL leaders. She went to her first ever sleepover in the spring on our spring break overnight in San Francisco. She went to the movies with friends for the first time ever this summer with us. Shreeya had friends over to her house for the first time ever to hang out and spend the night. AND she experienced camp at Woodleaf for the first time ever this summer. 

Over the spring and summer of firsts, her leaders and her parents saw Shreeya make friends, come out of her shell, go on adventures (without mom and dad!) and process the Gospel! 

At camp, Shreeya loved all the "rides" and led all her friends as she went first without fear. She loved club and seeing herself on the camp video, and she sat anticipating every word of our camp speaker. By the end of the week, Shreeya wrote a letter to God. It said, in her own writing, "Jesus, thank you for loving us." She GOT IT! We are so grateful that Shreeya walked away from camp knowing Jesus loves us.


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