Youth Retreat

Alright, so just as promised here is the update from the youth retreat! It was an awesome weekend, and we did a ton of crazy things such as....


... tobogganing down this huge hill on crazy carpets and tubes! It was a total blast! And I know that I was still feeling the effects on Monday, which means it must have been fun.

We had a total of 19 kids along with us, and with 9 youth sponsors it meant that we could just relax and enjoy ourselves, rather than worry about what was going on around us. The kids were a huge delight to be with, and there weren't really any issues that arose.

Friday night, I spoke and just set the platform for the rest of the weekend and Kevin and I spoke about Relationships and the importance of them in our lives. I included a lot of fictional examples in there, but I threw in some ones of my own from junior high and the story of a young friend that I have that has come to know God in the past year.

Saturday was really the meat and potatoes of the retreat. Breakfast was at 9 AM, and as all the food was out at REBC, it was fantastic. Kevin spoke that morning on the Biblical basis for relationships, really going over Proverbs and other examples in the Bible of relationships. He laid a good foundation that we could build off of.

That afternoon, we went tobogganing, played some card games. And really just enjoyed ourselves. There were numerous different games that were going on. Some poker, some egyptian war, and a few other games that I forget the name to. It was a good time to just talk about what was going on, enjoy ourselves, and get to know each other a little better!

That night, we gathered around the fireside room for the nightly chat. We had a skit, which involved a 'used teenager lot' and "Honest Al" talking about youth like they were cars, and then was shocked when someone would 'USE' a car! I think it really set the stage. From there I talked about relationships in their lives. Friends that were a huge help to me during my high school years, and I also talked about Sarah, and how I really didn't do her justice in our friendship. I thought it went really well.

That night, we played some fun games. Charades, Jeopardy, and Wink (which turned out to be a group favourite) dominated the night, and the kids had a blast! Three of the Junior High Boys built a fort out of the chairs we had downstairs, and so I crawled in there with them and we were joking around. Then I had to get out, so I just stood up, and the whole thing collapsed!

All in all, the whole weekend was a success. It was awesome to see God working in the group to bond them together throughout the weekend, and I'm excited to see what He'll be doing in the next few weeks from the progress that was started there. It was tiring... but it was totally worth it!