Retreat Experience

Hey Everyone!

I have briefly mentioned my retreat experiences before but I want to share more in depth what I have been involved in.

Here at Camp Qwanoes each student works 3 retreats (1 partial and 2 full). Throughout the fall we have a Women's, Junior's, Junior High, Senior High and Men's retreat. Our guests/campers come from all over the island and lower mainland. We are placed all over camp, serving in different areas.

My first retreat was a partial for Women's retreat. The staff put a ton of effort into every aspect of the retreat because we want to make these women feel valued and appreciated. We want to give them a weekend where they are being served instead of always serving others. On Saturday morning I was serving brunch. For meals the women get menus. So my job was to get them drinks, bring the menus to the kitchen, bring food to the women, clear tables and to check up on them/talk with them. It was so amazing to see all the smiling faces and to let God use me to bless these women. There was one lady who was blown away when she came to brunch and she asked me if they did this (referring to the whole brunch situation) every year. She thought it was completely incredible.

I worked the full Juniors retreat. I was in dish pit that weekend. Between staff and campers there were almost 200 people, which amounted to a lot of dishes. It was quite the procedure. We had a few people scrubbing and also hand washing dishes, then they would go through Jackson (our dishwasher) and we also had a few people drying. This required team work as we need to be fast and get all the dishes done before the next meal. During this retreat God really worked in my heart. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I really wanted to be with the kids but God has been showing me how important 'behind the scenes' job are. They need to be done as well so that the rest of camp runs smoothly. God has been instilling in my heart a love and joy for dishes that cannot be explained.

And my last full retreat was Junior High. For this retreat I was in the kitchen. We were cooking for probably 200-250 people. It wasn't as fast-paced or insane as I expected. There were people everywhere working to prepare different aspect of the meal. I did jobs like making salad, cutting potatoes, placing food in serving pans, cutting bread, etc. Then when it was time to eat, we would bring the warmers to the food lines and we needed to watch the tables and replace any empty trays of food so that there was enough for everyone. I really enjoyed working in the kitchen as well. Being in this area gave me a great chance to develop a relationship with some of the staff as I worked side by side them for a whole weekend. It was really cool to talk and hear about what God has been doing in their life. There was one lady who was only there for the weekend but I had a really great chat with her. She opened up to me and shared her struggles and hopes. I did not really know how to respond to a lot of what she said. I hope though that God will use my listening ear to bless and encourage her. It was really cool to see her desire to keep God at the center of her life and to trust him even through the hard times.

So even though I was not involved with the kids, God was still working in the areas he placed me in. After the retreat I got to hear some amazing stories of how God was stirring in the hearts of the campers.

Thanks for your prayers!

Sabrina