The annual Townsville Young Adults Weekend Experience held on the mountain top in Paluma at Gumburu Catholic Education for the Environment centre. 

The group of 18 young men and women were joined by Fr Peter Akosah Twumasi, Fr Daniel Djodjowu, and Sr Judith Foster sgs who provided pastoral support and spiritual guidance throughout the weekend. 

The theme for the weekend was 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me' which is taken from the Gospel of Luke, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has annointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour" (Luke 4:18-19)

The participants were engaged in prayer and reflection throughout the weekend in order to allow each person to strengthen their relationship with God and to think about their own image of God.  Reflection, meditation, creative prayer (including finger painting their image of God and molding their image of God with clay), journalling, using officiil prayers of the Church, and Mass were experienced, reflected upon, discussed and shared.  

Participants were also able to ask a panel questions (Fr Daniel, Fr Pater, Sr Judith and Dan Bowmar) about faith and life.  Many of the questions were about life direction and purpose.  "How do I know that I am following the life path the God has for me?"  "How do you know that you want to be a priest?"  "How did you go about becoming a religious sister?"  "What is marraige like?"  These question of vocation show the desire of young adults to know and follow Christ and to discern what God is calling them to in life.

There was also time for fun, relaxation and building friendship throughout the weekend.  It was an extremely positive experience for all those that attended and all went away having learnt more about themselves, their relationship with God and ways in which to build their relationship with God.

Lauren Cole, assisted by others, planned, prepared and facilitated this fantiastic weekend.  As this was her first Young Adults Weekend Experience in her role as Diocesan Youth Ministry Development Officer, we can expect to see many more such opportunities for young people in the Townsville Diocese.

For those who attended, thank you for a great weekend!  For those who missed out, we will see you at the next one!