Counselors announced!

We have eight (8) counselors who are ready for L&S 2008! If you want to see who they are, go to the counselor page.

This year, we will post a survey similar to the one from last year. This year, we want your help! Comment with the questions you want answered. We'll select our favorite questions to be part of the "pre-L&S" survey. We'll also do more surveys along the way, so be prepared to have your questions answered about our counselors (and maybe some of the SIFAT staff, too!).

Did you know we still have some room for L&S 2008? Limited space if available for Weeks 1, 4, 6 and 9. Even if your youth group isn't coming, you can come as an individual! Go over to the registration page for all the information.

SIFAT on Facebook!

SIFAT is now part of the Causes application on Facebook!

Show your support of SIFAT by joining - Click here to join!

Full Weeks, Retreats and Counselors

Yesterday, our Learn & Serve staff spent a day away from campus finalizing plans for this summer. They came back re-energized and ready for the youth groups to arrive! (Well, minus all the campus preparation we have to accomplish in the next two months).

We have exciting news: Weeks Two, Three, Seven and Eight are full! We're so excited about L&S 2008: Three Sixty. Keep getting your youth groups pumped about coming to SIFAT this summer.

Four retreats are scheduled for March. Our staff will be leading these students in cross cultural activities, team building and our Around the World and Appropriate Technology CARES programs. Some groups will participate in the Village Experience, Slum Experience and local mission projects.

We have begun hiring our counselors for 2008. Keep checking back during the next couple of weeks for our counselor introduction!

Counselors in Bolivia!

Addison & Jarred, two of our L&S 2007 counselors, are serving as interns for three months in Ixiamas, Bolivia, at SIFAT's boarding home (internado). You can read about their adventures by going to the main SIFAT blog.

Remember, L&S 2008 registration is happening now! Spots are filling up, so make sure your youth group has registered. Do you want to come, but your youth group is doing something else? You can also register as an individual. Contact Jamie, waldhourj@sifat.org with any questions about registration.

We're back...with an updated website!

The L&S staff is preparing for L&S 2008: Three Sixty. Have you visited our updated website yet? You'll find a new registration process, information about Elementary L&S (EL&S) and a few pictures and quotes from last summer.

Did you know L&S is on MySpace? Find our profile at www.myspace.com/learnandserve.

Also, SIFAT has updated its website, so check out the new SIFAT blog and find out more about the great organization that provides L&S!

Has your youth group registered yet? Registration is quickly filling up! We already have youth groups registered from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Ohio and Mississippi! Week 8 is full, but other weeks are still available.

Week Ten finishes L&S 2007!

Wow. It is hard to believe that Week Ten was our last week. However, what a great week to finish the summer...our week ten students kept everyone pumped up and didn't let us get sad until Friday.

Quiet Time

Each day, we continued having quiet time to get the day started. Everyone finds a spot on campus to just have some one-on-one time with God. Whether it is on the swinging bridge, by the AT shed or on a rock in the creek, students have the chance to seek Him and listen. Often, our "God moments" happen during this time.

"Come on and join us to change the world"

Thursday nights...another wow this summer. Originally, our staff planned to have special musicians come in for an energy-filled "Jesus Jam". After this fell through and the prayer service materialized, we realized this was one of our "God moments" for the summer. We were able to see God in the prayer service each week. And after communion wrapped worship up, we had our own "Jesus Jam" time, which was usually a huge party to end the week. This week, we got a visit from Jarred's cousin, who happened to be...a leprechaun?

Goodbye Week Ten!

Finally, here's a photo of our last week of students. Keep in touch and let us know what you're doing in Oviedo and Orlando - or somewhere else! We'll see you next year.

What happens at L&S is only the beginning

At SIFAT, students and adults get the chance to step away from everyday life. Cell phones get little to no service, so you don't stay on the phone much. We have no televisions to get caught up watching random marathons of your favorite shows. Instead, you get to spend a lot of time with God in His creation and fellowship with fellow believers.

During these times, we often let God talk to us - and we listen a lot more! Two sisters have written about their experiences at L&S this summer. We want to share their stories with you.

My Home Away from Home
by Carson Shock

During the past couple of years, so many things have changed in my life. My brother has gone off to college, friends have come and gone, and I have moved from Mississippi to Arkansas. Even though I have moved and changed, one thing has always stayed the same -- every summer I go to SIFAT. No matter what youth group I'm in, we go every year.

I have been going to SIFAT twice a year for the past four years. Every year there is different staff and counselors, but it is always the same ole SIFAT. SIFAT has helped me grow and change in my walk with Christ. Every year that I go back, it just gets better and better.

This year was probably the most AMAZING year ever. I learned so much this summer at SIFAT. I learned that you don't have to go overseas to do mission work; you can do it in your own backyard. I learned to choose joy in everything I do; I learned to take the situations that God has given me and run with them and be happy and choose joy. Through the years I have learned so many other things at SIFAT as well. I have learned to appreciate the things that God has given me and to not take things for granted.

I love SIFAT. As soon as you pull up to that gravel road and drive up to the lodge or International House or walk over the bridge, or play in the creek, or hike over to the cafeteria, or go over to the ropes course, or go down to Aldea, or go to the slums, you can feel God. God is alive and well at SIFAT; he is changing lives and making himself known among his people. God is an AWESOME God and he has done so much through SIFAT. God is good. Through everything, no matter how many times I have moved and changed I know SIFAT is always there. SIFAT is my home.

Slapped at SIFAT
by Taylor Shock

I have been to SIFAT more times than I can even count, but this time was by far the most life changing experience I have ever had at SIFAT. This summer God truly opened my eyes and my heart to the world around me. He showed me how much he has blessed me with and how much I take everything I have for granted . God showed me that there is more to the world than just the United States. He showed me there is so much more out there in the world. God opened my eyes to see the less fortunate people in the world, and he showed me how much I can truly help serve those people.

Every time I come to SIFAT it is always a little bit different than the last. This summer I felt like I was in a new place. I mean , everything was the same: we toured the village and we were taught how to use appropriate technology, but somehow it seemed like I was in a different place. I feel that this summer God let me fully experience and understand what SIFAT is truly about.

This summer we had quiet time in the morning, which was new and much needed. I loved quiet time because it gave me a chance to listen and talk to God. I really liked quiet time because it gave me a chance to block everything out and just focus on God. Another thing this summer that was FREAKING AWESOME was the counselors. The counselors really helped with everything, they were always there to talk or just to hang out.

I saw God so many times throughout my week at SIFAT. I saw God in the counselors because you could just see the Holy Spirit spilling out of them. I saw God in the AMAZING worships we had every night in the FREAKING AWESOME Quonset hut. I loved having worship in the Quonset hut. I saw God in the stars at night, and I saw God in the AMAZING sunsets I saw at nights from the Quonset hut. I especially saw God in the children from the trailer park.

That was also something new that I loved; those children were truly AMAZING. I saw God in the children's smiles and in their laughter. Those children are truly a blessing from God, and I am so thankful that God lets SIFAT bless those children. I saw God a lot throughout my week at SIFAT, but when God showed me how much I take for granted and how unappreciative I am and how I should be helping others instead of complaining about my own life, it really hit me hard.

It was on Wednesday afternoon while I was sitting in Ecuador in Aldea, when God just slapped me in the face and said, "hey Taylor, open your eyes and take a look around." When God did that I just started bawling because I realized how much other people in the world really need me and how much i can truly help them. I have been to Ecuador, so there is not a day that goes by that I don't pray for my babies in Ecuador and when God opened my eyes and hit me hard I immediately thought of them.

I then realized that I know what I want to do with my life, I want to be a missionary. One day I was sitting at SIFAT, and I started listening to My Desire by Jeremy Camp. I knew right away that my desire in life is to serve God and his people. The first time I came to SIFAT I was twelve years old and immediately after I experienced SIFAT I knew that God was calling me to serve his people through missions.

God has changed my life through SIFAT, he has shown me how hard others have to work just to survive when I get everything so easily. SIFAT has made me more appreciative of what I have, and now I don't waste food and I try to help others as much as possible. God has done AMAZING things through SIFAT, and for that I am truly thankful and grateful because if it were not for SIFAT, I would not be the person I am today.

God has and will always bless SIFAT and all the people who come and go from there.


Has your experience at SIFAT changed you? Write and let us know! Has your youth group changed? Are you starting to participate in missions "here. now."? Send photos and a story to Marie at lanierm@sifat.org or Nate at paulkn@sifat.org to let us know what's you're doing!