What do 80 youth, 7 airplanes, two “sleepless” nights, tons
of fun and Jesus all have in common? A Youth Retreat! A few weekends back we
had an annual retreat called “Awaken”, hosted by two of the local churches
here, Naknek Community Bible and the one we attend, Hilltop Christian
Fellowship. We had about 10 willing leaders/chaperones who put in several hours
beforehand prepping for the retreat. Each of the leaders had a “job” and things
went really smoothly in prepping for it. (PTL!) We have learned from previous
years what could have been different and it seems to get better and better each
year. (Not that previous times have been bad) This year we had it for two
overnights for the first time. So, we flew in the kids on Friday
afternoon/early evening and then didn’t go home until Sunday afternoon.
I’m going to break the weekend down a bit, not to bore you,
but to give you a little glimpse into the fun we had and hopefully the impact
God had on the teens.
First off, we are always praying that the weather will
behave to fly the teens in on Friday. We
seem to worry, but year after year, God never seizes to amaze us. The weather
was perfect for both the flying, and the bonfire and games on the beach that
night. (It started to cloud up and rain right when we were leaving the beach)
And the temperature was perfect. Like I said, we had seven planes doing the
flights with a couple of them doing two trips! We had 44 youth from the village
and 36 locals! I think this was the biggest group yet.
Friday night also included one of two “talks” that Josh
Young, a nephew of someone here in Naknek, shared. He flew all the way in from
Colorado just for the weekend! God must have had a perfect plan because it
happened to be the same weekend as the 1 year Anniversary that his Aunt and
Uncle lost their son and daughter-in-law in a tragic situation. Be praying for
the Anderson family. There was also time of worship before each “session”, led
by Mark McGee of Tanalian Bible Camp. (google it) ;)
On Saturday there were a couple of different activities. In
the morning the youth played a very unique version of “softball” using a big
rubber exercise ball. (I heard it called “Norwegian Softball” during my youth
group days) Later in the afternoon there was the option of either paintball (an
Awaken tradition) or “Cupcake Wars” (something new, different and fun) Cupcake
Wars is basically a competition on who can bake and decorate a cupcake the most
creative way and taste the best. Immediately following that was Swimming at the
pool. (I, Lacey, went home and showered! Jeremy was on “Malachi duty” for the
weekend most of the time) There was also a morning and an evening session. The
kids seemed to respond well. After the evening session everyone watched “God’s
Not Dead”. If you have not seen it, you are missing out on something great!
I chaperoned the whole weekend, which meant sleeping
overnight for both nights. Of course, being girls, we had a hard time getting
them to “BE QUIET!”. But I think by the second night people were pretty
exhausted, so we didn’t have to fight them as much that night.
Sunday morning was a blast! Because we had 80 youth and
because there wasn’t room at either church for all of them plus normal Sunday
morning attendees, we had a Community Wide Worship Service at the school in the
auditorium. We had music led by a few from the community and again by Mark
McGee. That was an impactful time for me. Pastor Jeff gave the message and
touched on how we need an “awakening” in each of our lives. Josh Young gave a
testimony. His Aunt was also there and I think the service meant a lot to her.
I couldn’t help but tear up a little bit when I saw Josh’s arm around her
shoulder. Immediately following the service they started flying the kids back
home and, again, the weather was just fine.
The weekend as a whole went really well. We didn’t have any
emergencies, misbehaving teens, akward situations,
sickness (besides colds that everyone seemed to get afterwards), we had the
perfect amount of food, great help from the community, loads of fun, etc.
I’m reminded of the verse in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in
Samaria, and to the end of the Earth.”
I am sure Jesus was including our small villages here in Bristol Bay! Keep praying for the youth who came that they
would remember what was shared.
Whoops, reverse order on the days, but oh well.... you get the idea.
.JPG)
