I didn’t know what to do. I really wanted to go to the competition, but at the same time I didn’t want to miss out on missionary school. As I was weighing the importance of each event in my mind, I suddenly realized that I disliked handball because I had to play aggressively to beat my opponents. Soon after I decided, “I will stop playing handball!” When I announced my decision at school no one supported me. My teammates and others told me I must go since I had paid my dues. I still had a difficult time standing for my decision. My coach told me, “You must go.” He arranged for me not to have to play from Friday sunset until Saturday evening sunset and also provided vegetarian food during the competition.

I prayed to the Lord and asked Him, “Lord what is your will?” because I was still hesitating. Now that I look back, I see that God’s will was obvious. I kept on praying earnestly and asking Him to help me and to keep me strong. I am so thankful to the Lord because He inspired my brother and one of my cousins to pray for me to overcome this trial.

Since I made my decision not to participate in the handball championship, I had to talk with three trainers and coaches who tried to convince me to go. They asked me, “Why did you make that decision? Why did you betray your team?” I told them my reasons, but they did not want to understand my viewpoint. They told me, “You are one of our best players on the team, and your behavior is unfair to the other team members.” My final answer to my coaches was, “I am not going to play, and I would like you to understand me. Please respect my choice!”

After my decision was made not to go to the competition, my handball team members were no longer my friends. All of them told me that I had made the wrong choice. They ostracized me and wouldn’t talk to me anymore. I felt totally alone. Some of them felt sorry that I had lost my money, others felt bad for our team. Each team had to have a certain number of players. If they had one person missing, the team couldn’t go to the competition. After looking for some time, they found a girl from another team to take my place, and they were able to go to Croatia.

So, April came, and I went to missionary school instead of to the handball competition. At first, I felt a little sad for not going to Croatia, but later on I was very happy, being convinced that I had made the right choice. I also knew that it was Satan’s goal to make me unhappy and to make my circumstances very difficult. Looking back, I would have felt very sad if I had not gone to the missionary school and had gone to the competition instead.

Shortly after, the Lord showed me how merciful He is. My cousins came to visit, and told me that our church violinists were invited to play for a mission program in Greece. One of my cousins couldn’t go, and she asked me to go in her place. I gladly accepted. Our trip was wonderful, and was filled with many blessings. We had daily health lectures and evangelistic sermons. At the end of each program, we played for our visitors, praying that our music would bring their hearts closer to Jesus. My conclusion was that I got my missed trip to Croatia back from the Lord. I also had the opportunity to go to the sea and on a boat ride! During this trip, I saw how much my heavenly Father loves me and how He gave me something better because I had obeyed His Word. I also got my money back which I had prepaid for the competition because my mom had not signed the authorization for me to go. I realized that this also was in my Savior’s will.

When I decided to give my life to the Lord, the evil one came with many temptations and brought difficulties in every part of my life. But I learned that if we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, He will give us strength to overcome. If we are steadfast, we will get a great reward. I am very grateful to my mighty Redeemer for His grace and His rich blessings in my life.

I would like to encourage you, dear youth, not to skip your personal devotions because that is a straightest way God can talk to you and touch your heart. I would like to inspire you to stand for Jesus and He will give you much better things than you can imagine! “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

I am thankful for the opportunity to share my experience with all of you! I hope you will have wonderful experiences with the Lord also!

Have you ever wondered why young people go to missionary school? There can be many reasons: to study and understand our beliefs for themselves, to learn how to be a better witness for Christ, and also to socialize with other young people from our church. To be honest with you, when I started missionary school, at first my only attraction was to be in the company of other young people. I thought the classes were boring. Often, we came late from our personal study times because we really didn’t want to go back to class. However, there was a time when everything changed!

In one of our classes we had learned how to prepare Bible studies and then we were asked to prepare one and present it to the class. My topic was “The Plan of Salvation.” While I was studying deeper about this subject, God’s love for us touched my heart. Initially, I didn’t understand why He loves us so much. Why did He make such an infinite sacrifice when we hurt Him daily by our disobedience? Christ’s love impacted me so much that the more I studied about the plan of salvation, the more I loved Him. I didn’t want to hurt Jesus anymore with my disobedience. I began to pray regularly, and I asked my Father to help me overcome temptations and be His faithful servant.

Now, I am very thankful to the Lord that I was able to go to missionary school. As a result of attending, I am studying God’s word diligently and have come closer to Jesus. He has helped me to make many changes in my life. My classmates and I have had a change of heart, and we encourage each other to walk with the Lord!