Winter Retreat 09

The retreat was amazing. This was my first retreat that I've been on and it was great. I made sure I was able to go on this years retreat since I missed last years. It was cool to see every one get plugged in to all the activities and to see all the teams cheer each other on.

The games and activities- All the games were pretty cool. I think my favorites were the crab crawl and the board and plank game. The tug-a-war game didn't really go to well because us high school students broke it some how. I think I could have taken on one high school guy from each team during that game. Some of us also went paint balling at the centers course. The course they had was pretty sweet because it had trenches all over it, it had a bus in the middle of the field, and it had kind of a tower in the middle as well. It was all good until we ran out of paint. The last night we just went and hung out around a bon-fire and listened to what people felt like God had been doing in them during the retreat. Some of the stories were amazing. I didn't really get to share but mine would have been that this is the best youth group I've ever been apart of. And that I like how our group can connect with each other better than other youth groups I've been apart of. Also that JJ is no doubt the best youth pastor I've ever had and that he's taught me a lot since I've been at Feather Sound.

The Band and the Speaker- The worship time was great. It was neat to see everyone worshiping God and having a great time. The band did an amazing job. Jason was one of the best speakers I've ever heard. I think he really hit the nail on the head. That we need to be visible proof to a world that is looking to be apart of something.

Surprises- The first surprise was that JJ pulled out a Brian Regan clip without me knowing. He even hinted at it in the van ride up to the retreat a little bit but I didn't think any thing of it. Something that is kind of a surprise are these kids that think they can take over shotgun in the church van this year. I don't know if they know what the rules are, but me and Beth are the first to get dibs on shotgun, but still there are students that think they can take shotgun from me. The last surprise I was surely not expecting was JP's marriage proposal to Melanie. That really surprised me. And I wish them the best of luck.

It was really cool to see everyone just coming together and encouraging each other during the games. JJ mentioned something about going to Ross's church and just helping them get ready for their grand opening and having that become the beginning of a legacy. So I can't wait for that trip to come. I just hope everyone got as much as I did out of the retreat and I hope God really starts something in our youth group. I can't wait until next year.