Plugged In

High School retreat was this past weekend. We went to a resort in Lunahuana and it was the first time we didn't go to Kawai. When hearing that we weren't going to the beach I was really disappointed. I haven't been on any retreats to the beach this year which is a total bummer and, ever since moving to Peru, I've gone to Kawai at least once every year and it's looking like that won't be the case this year, my last year in Peru. At Lunahuana, there were so many bugs. My legs are really itchy right now and I hate it. Another thing is that I couldn't go swimming until the last day. The thirty minutes I spent in the pool on the second to last day doesn't count because I was cold, uncomfortable, and thirty minutes is not very long for me. I've spent hours in pools before. But you know what? This retreat was amazing. And it was a combination of a lot of things that made it so great.

First was all the senior time we had. We got a bus to ourselves on the way there and on the way back. It was fun to just talk and enjoy each other's company. Then when a lot of the group went white water rafting, all the seniors except Lydia and Peter stayed and got in the pool together. Having Priscilla's waterproof camera to capture our adventures down the slide was perfect. I love our High School group, but it was good for us to have a little bit of time together as a class here and there.

The location was beautiful. The rooms were really nice, it had a grassy area, an awesome pool, and really good food. There were mountains almost all around and we were right by the river. I think one of my favorite nature sounds after rain and the ocean is the sound of a rushing river. And the place was big, but small at the same time. We were all in the same area and if we wanted to go and do something, it was right there. Yeah, we didn't have a giant area where we could play capture the flag, but we didn't have to worry about people not knowing it was time for a meal, or one of the sessions. And we didn't have to worry about going off and having three people in a group and stuff like that. We were all together when we did stuff, no matter if we were in the pool, playing dutch blitz, or throwing around a football.

The pool was awesome. It could get a little crowded if we were all in there, but it was great. Especially since it was so hot. I never went down the slide in a big group, and maybe that was a good thing considering everyone else's bruises and scrapes, but it was so much fun. And watching people throw each other in was hilarious. Once one person got thrown in, people would get out to throw others in and get thrown in. And teachers joined in too. They also wrestled with us and each other on the grass. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I didn't stand a chance against Miss Murrell, but it was still totally worth it because later Mr. Herring did the same thing to her and Miss McKinney.

Airband was THE best ever. In the four years I've gone on High School retreat, this was the one where the most people got into it and we had the funniest performances. Yes, some of them made you wonder what they did with their thirty minutes of prep time, but others were just amazing. Chad made a great Justin Beiber, Raul's Elvis was awesome, Josh's old lady was almost too believable, I don't know if I really wanted to see Levi, Michael, or Felix take off their shirts though. Other than knowing all the words, my Fresh Prince was awful. I enjoyed it, but that is the only time anyone will ever see me trying to be gangster.

The messages that Bruce shared with us were really good. The new perspectives on the story of the rich young man and the story of Jacob and Esau blew my mind. And I really liked how the last message was about how we do and keep doing what we were talking about. I feel like a lot of times we say we should do and be all these different things for Christ, but we don't say how to do them. Our small group times were awesome too.

But the major thing God showed me on this retreat didn't really have much to do with what we talked about in our large group and small group sessions. For weeks, God has been putting something on my heart, something that he wants me to do. And for the longest time I'd be determined to do it but then when the opportunity came, I wouldn't, and I'd go back to God telling him that I just couldn't do it, that it was too hard, that I didn't want to do it. It was an ongoing struggle and I think what kept me from doing it was mostly pride and me not wanting to go outside of my comfort zone. Up until the retreat it was between me and God. In Bible class, during my quiet time before and at retreat God was constantly prompting me to do this for him, but I never told anyone about it. Then someone came up to me and told me exactly what God had been putting on my heart. The thing is, this wasn't one of my peers who's opinion I respected, it was someone who I really had a hard time hearing this from. But it was good. It was another thing God was working on in my heart at the time, even though I hadn't realized it.

So I have six big bug bites but I know that others have way worse, I didn't get to enjoy the pool as much as I wanted to but I still had loads of fun when I wasn't in it, we didn't go to the beach but I probably would have gotten really sunburnt. Retreat was just great. I loved it. I'm glad that my last retreat was the best one I'd ever been on.