After much preparation, it was finally time this summer from 19 to 26 July 2021, Bidden en Vasten RK started. With a group of six young people from Follow Me we organized a discipleship course in Prayer and Lent. Me with three other friends, including Wouter de Brie, Suzanna Raue and Sam Jansen, we went to Herman Boon’s Bidden and Lent together in the autumn holidays of 2019. Here we got a very strong feeling that God was asking us to put together a Catholic version for young people.

With some inspiration from that week and our own experiences with faith, we set to work. Later on, Anne van Aken and Jan-Willem Bastiaansen also joined our team. Every other week we met every Wednesday via Skype and every week we took steps in faith again towards the moment. “God really brought this group together. The talents of the group fit like two drops of water in one. It was so beautiful to see how we strengthened each other. This was also reflected in the week. Everything flowed together so well. The week was truly carried by God.”

The Week of Prayer and Fasting was held in the beautiful Retreat Centrum Klein Sion in Leuvenheim. The group consisted of 18 participants, two priests and two pastoral workers. Together we made it a successful week. We heard from many participants that they thought it was a great week where they really felt God’s presence.
“On Praying and Fasting I was able to experience God up close, so that I grew in my faith, but also in my daily life,” says Daniel one of the participants.

Many youths have been able to experience healing and deliverance and have learned to speak in tongues. We also learned to prophesy this week, so we often got out of this during the week. As a team member I thought it was great to see how everyone grew in faith, because you don’t experience this every day. The Holy Spirit came over us during the week with his fire, so that we all experienced what it feels like to fall into the Spirit or to be inspired by the Spirit. We have all been inundated with fantastic revelations this week.

As a team we have already decided that we will organize another Prayer and Fasting. The second season of Praying and Fasting is going to be even bigger and more fiery, according to our expectations. When it will take place is still unclear. In short, it was a week full of faith, hope, love and teaching. Where different themes were discussed and God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit were palpably present. In other words, a week to remember.