Jr. High Winter Retreat 2003
By Kristine S. and Laura S.

Camp Geneva was the ideal winter retreat facility. It was clean, warm and spacious. Most of the food was great (especially the potatoes!) We were all wondering what was wrong with the eggs, later to find out they were made from eggs which had been frozen.

All together there were 16 junior high kids at the retreat. There were 5 girls, 11 guys and 5 awesome leaders! We were all sorry that 8 of the kids that signed up could not participate because of sickness.

Some of the activities included worship time, devotions, Tom's talks, outdoor games and lots of snowball fights.

Tom's talks were full of ideas to help us all grow spiritually in Christ. He used the theme of HOLY, and at each worship time he talked about one of the letters. Friday night was the letter H, and he spoke about God is Holy, therefore we are called to be holy. Saturday morning was the letter O, and he talked about how we are to care for Others and be Obedient to the Lord -- even in difficult circumstances. Saturday night's letter was L and he spoke about God's Love for us. Sunday morning's letter was Y and he talked about the word Yes, and how we should Just say Yes! in following God. We were all especially touched by his talk on Saturday night about Christ's crucifixion.

Sandy led us in great worship time! The guy's favorite song by far was "East to West", while the girls favored "Shabach". We all enjoyed spiritual one-on-one time with the Lord in our daily devotions.

Tubing was probably the most enjoyed physical activity done. The record was 6 kids to a tube and the longest chain included 9 sleds. Although we had lots of fun doing it we felt the effects on the trip home. Snow football was another fun active game. Team number 1 was up 3 to 1 and team 2 made an amazing comeback to tie the game. Among the many snow fights we surprisingly did not have one after we had our snow fort building competition. Although we all tied (as always) we had a wonderful time creating our own unique style of fortresses. Lake Michigan was an amazing sight to see, although we didn't get to mess around on the ice we still had fun. All around, the Junior High retreat for 2003 was an uplifting and fun time for all of us.