Weekly Report from Oblate Youth Ministry in Tijuana
Recently over 200 youth and young adults participated in SEARCH 19. SEARCH is a retreat that ministers to young people and has yielded many great conversions over the last 10 years.
“What God wants for you is so much better than what you want for yourself.”
The retreat features power speakers, creative interactions, and healing activities and often culminates with the attendees discovering they have a real purpose in their lives. Fr. Jesse OMI, who started SEARCH and continues to lead it, often tells young people that, “what God wants for you is so much better than what you want for yourself.” He explains that they need to listen to God, think of others, and get out of their comfort zone. Retreatants are given the chance to go to confession and communion after they have listened to testimonials about changed lives and the importance of the God-centered life.
Psychology services in a spiritual setting
This retreat was led by Mildred Juarez, a graduate of the Oblate’s scholarship program, where she got her psychology degree. Mildred relays that one attendee told her that she had felt lonely her whole life and had been searching for God. This retreat made her realize that God is with her and has always been with her. Mildred also says having psychology services available in a spiritual setting is helpful to attendees that struggle with wounds, suicidal thoughts, or other issues that they just have never had an outlet to speak about. Many attendees discover that they are surrounded by people going through or having been through the same things they are dealing with, and that helps them open up during the retreat.
Commitment to helping others
Near the end of the retreat, attendees are given the chance to share their testimony and often, through tears, offer apologies and ask their families and others for forgiveness. They go on to commit to helping others in the same way they have been helped. Retreatants often stay connected with the church by helping with future SEARCH retreats and getting involved in other ministries at the church.
Many of the services offered through the parish, including the scholarship program, psychology sessions, medical services, food distribution, roof replacement, and various educational classes, were either started by or are now continued by young people who went to one of the 19 previous SEARCH retreats since 2012.
