Communion, Community.

Entering a first Fall Retreat, I expected nothing. With open eyes and an open heart, I had hoped to see the youth find a new avenue to Christ and feel like they were finally getting closer to Him. I expected nothing for my own spiritual development, but instead received more than I thought I would.

The goal of my weekend was to continue to build relationships with my junior high girls and perhaps begin and develop relationships with other students. Samantha P. and I had two rooms of junior highers and only later told Erik and Bethany that we ordered pizza and all slept in the same room!!! (a total of 8 people, how I ended up on the floor, I’ll never know). Shout out to Kaitlyn, Heather C., Laura, Emily, Gianna, and Amber. We had laughs and fun and wouldn’t trade cramming our rooms together for anything!! I also had the opportunity to see other girls connect with their older leaders: Val, Jacqui, Anna, Heather J., Rebecca, and Amy with Heidi and Joyce (ask Joyce about Val’s phone calls).

I also spent more time with some Senior girls (kudos to you for venturing on the bus) and began to mingle with the older students. (Mario P. actually admits that he thinks I’m “alright” – I’ll take that as code for cool). He led our team to victory in the Corn Maze!!! (Yay for Aldo, Jim, Me, Mario, Cody, Rebecca, Mike, Paul, Paul, Isaac) and how his sister single handedly lost P. Erik’s group in the maze (just kidding!).

Saturday was incredibly spiritual for me. I healed a relationship with someone and thankfully, I owe this to her obedience. I had that moment where God said, “do this” and I actually hesitated (why did I do that?) As a result, God said, “fine, do it your way, but then I’m sending her to you.” And he did, and I’m thankful.

Fall Retreat was a first for everyone and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I never expected to get so much out of a weekend geared towards the youth – I can only hope this is the beginning of something wonderful…