This was a wonderful weekend. I got away from school, stayed in a beautiful cabin, hiked a bit, had good food, and met new people! For the Student Missionary/Task Force Retreat,
we went to Gatlinburg (TN). We had 3 huge cabins to house about 100 future student missionaries. Perhaps I should mention that it looks like I'll be taking a task force position next year at... umm... well, all the details are not quite worked out yet. But I can tell you that I am very excited about all the possibilities! At the retreat, we got to hear from Pat Gustin, a former missionary to Thailand and Singapore (among many other places). We participated in several activities that helped prepare us for our coming adventures. All of those who are headed to a country where they can't speak the language, got to make Sabbath
lunch--without talking. Only one person had the recipe and had to try to communicate to the others what needed to be done. The scary part was that the rest of us had to eat it; I am glad to report that Sabbath lunch was a fantastic Spanish-type meal. So I guess they all succeeded at communicating! The rest of us broke into groups and received a scenario that we had to role play a solution to. Sabbath afternoon, we were split up into to groups
which became two very different cultures: Alpha and Beta. After learning our culture, groups of 5 "missionaries" were exchanged as each person tried to fit into the culture that they were not used to. What kind of cultures where they? Well, my throat hurt afterward from all the yelling and I had numbers written all over my hands.I was a part of the Beta culture. When it was my turn to go to the Alpha cabin, I found myself becoming a bit nervous as I walked up the stairs. Now, I know that I have strong body language, but it must have been EXTREMELY strong because as I was leaving, one of the
male sponsors said that he enjoyed watching me try to "adapt".We ended the Sabbath by spending an hour of one-on-one time with God, writing down everything that we want to surrender to Him--anything that gets in the way of our relationship with Him. We then burned the papers, washed each others feet in the creek, and returned to the cabin to partake in communion. Saturday night was free time to play games, use the hot tubs, and enjoy each others company. I met a bunch of wonderful new people who have decided to dedicate next year to serve God. The neat part is, we are going to be covering the whole earth.
This was a wonderful weekend. I got away from school, stayed in a beautiful cabin, hiked a bit, had good food, and met new people! For the Student Missionary/Task Force Retreat, 
we went to Gatlinburg (TN). We had 3 huge cabins to house about 100 future student missionaries. Perhaps I should mention that it looks like I'll be taking a task force position next year at... umm... well, all the details are not quite worked out yet. But I can tell you that I am very excited about all the possibilities! At the retreat, we got to hear from Pat Gustin, a former missionary to Thailand and Singapore (among many other places). We participated in several activities that helped prepare us for our coming adventures. All of those who are headed to a country where they can't speak the language, got to make Sabbath 
lunch--without talking. Only one person had the recipe and had to try to communicate to the others what needed to be done. The scary part was that the rest of us had to eat it; I am glad to report that Sabbath lunch was a fantastic Spanish-type meal. So I guess they all succeeded at communicating! The rest of us broke into groups and received a scenario that we had to role play a solution to. Sabbath afternoon, we were split up into to groups 
which became two very different cultures: Alpha and Beta. After learning our culture, groups of 5 "missionaries" were exchanged as each person tried to fit into the culture that they were not used to. What kind of cultures where they? Well, my throat hurt afterward from all the yelling and I had numbers written all over my hands.I was a part of the Beta culture. When it was my turn to go to the Alpha cabin, I found myself becoming a bit nervous as I walked up the stairs. Now, I know that I have strong body language, but it must have been EXTREMELY strong because as I was leaving, one of the 
male sponsors said that he enjoyed watching me try to "adapt".We ended the Sabbath by spending an hour of one-on-one time with God, writing down everything that we want to surrender to Him--anything that gets in the way of our relationship with Him. We then burned the papers, washed each others feet in the creek, and returned to the cabin to partake in communion. Saturday night was free time to play games, use the hot tubs, and enjoy each others company. I met a bunch of wonderful new people who have decided to dedicate next year to serve God. The neat part is, we are going to be covering the whole earth.
