Tulita (Jun 12/06) - The draw of thousands of youth, the performances of nearly all the most popular Christian bands and a time to connect with God was irresistible to eight kids from Tulita.

For 40 hours, they travelled by plane and by land to the biggest Christian youth convention in Canada, which takes place in Edmonton, Alberta at Rexall Place.

"Youth Convention is an interdemoninational Christian convention for youth," George Iliopoulos, Tulita youth leader of the PAOC Tulita Mission Church says.

"The kids get to see live Christian bands, speakers with a relevant message and participate in game events - and in general, have a whole lot of fun."

Youth Convention, more commonly known as the abbreviated YC, gave the Tulita kids a chance to connect with the 16,000 other kids who attended convention.

In Tulita, Iliopoulos says the kids are a minority in their town and in their school with their faith.

"It gives them a chance to see that they are not the only ones who believe the way they do."

Sarah Buerger agrees: "We're like the only ones in town, so it's nice to be with so many others."

The theme for Youth Conventionwas Tell the World and had an emphasis on telling the world about their faith in Jesus.

"I think the best part was that everyone was having a good time and that they had a chance to hear the gospel," Buerger says. She hopes everyone who had the chance to attend YC will decide to follow Jesus when they grow up.

The group agrees that one of the best parts, aside from the spiritual aspects of the convention, was the chance to see all of their favourite bands.

Some of their favourite bands were Hawk Nelson, Thousand-Foot Crutch, Tree 63, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys and Krystal Meyers. Tulita Youth group is Sarah Buerger, Karen Iliopoulos, James Iliopoulos, Carl Jr. Yakeleya, Danielle Clark and Amber Powder.