Jeffrey’s Story

The Oklahoma City missionaries were gearing up to attend “Teen Week” at The Pines. When the team realized they had more spots than young people who were coming, they opened it up to the high schoolers at their partner parish. Naturally, devout mothers would try to entice their children to attend. Jeffrey was one of those young people who got roped in.

Although Jeffrey was not someone Daniel had much rapport with, they became acquainted quickly that week. He reminded Daniel of himself, both coming from families with a rich tradition in Catholicism. One of the camp counselors shared in a testimony that he struggled with intrusive thoughts. Through conversation, Daniel realized that Jeffrey had also struggled with intrusive thoughts. The camp counselor’s humility in sharing his experience helped Jeffrey understand himself better. Jeffrey also had the privilege of witnessing a miracle during a time of intercessory prayer when a camp counselor and missionary prayed over a young person’s knee for healing. After praying over the knee twice, the young person was able to move it freely and without any pain. Jeffrey was in awe!

After his encounter with God at camp, Jeffrey slowly began attending events at the youth center even though he was busy with extracurricular activities like soccer. Youth nights were his favorite, but he would also tag along on group outings whenever he could. Jeffrey often makes appearances in Daniel’s vlogs, where he shares his faith journey and anything fun he might be up to!

The following summer, Jeffrey attended camp again and this time felt comfortable to open up. “I learned how to show my emotions more,” he recounted in a video Daniel posted on Instagram.

Daniel proudly says that The Pines helped Jeffrey dive deeper into his faith and has noticed that Jeffrey is becoming a leader in the group.

“One thing that stuck out to me was Joe’s talk. You can change yourself. There are no bad people in the world. You can do bad things, but you can turn into a good guy after all that. That really hit hard.”

Thanks to the Holy Spirit and leaders like Joe and Daniel, Jeffrey is becoming well equipped to share the good news with his peers!