“Everyone Must Dream. We Dream to Give Ourselves Hope. To Stop Dreaming - Well, That's Like Saying You Can Never Change Your Fate. Isn't That True?” ~Amy Tan

Update on the Junior High Retreat! 

(from Brianne, one of the leaders)

I would say that the retreat was a success! We had five kids on Friday and four on Saturday. I thought they seemed really engaged and were extremely willing to participate; I think we struck a good balance between "hanging out" and actual content for the weekend.

To me, what was perhaps the most telling was our ending activity, where Sarah had all of us write a short story about a time when we were feeling a certain way (e.g. joyful, scared, confused, etc.). We all went around and shared our stories. Though the point made in this activity was that you can't judge people or any situation based off of one piece of information, it really struck me how open the kids were with each other and how willing they were to share about parts of their lives that we don't normally see at Pomona Hope. I think that no matter how much we teach them, building relationships with the kids and helping them build relationships with each other is probably the most important thing we can do. They need a place and people that they feel they belong to/with.

Other than that, I definitely enjoyed myself. We did some out of the box things, like a blindfolded partner obstacle course, and a hospitality game where the kids had to present their snack as if I was coming over for dinner. I think everyone enjoyed the different structures we set up. I'm not sure how much they learned explicitly, but I always enjoy hearing their thoughts about things they most likely don't talk about in school. The kids might not know it, but their perspectives are in such formative stages right now and they're taking in everything around them.

In addition, we got to hang out with some of them at "the feast" afterwards (the dinner hosted by Rock of Faith). Sharing day-to-day life with them, if only for a weekend, was such a delight and privilege. It's easy to get caught up in school and even in IV ministry, so I'm grateful for the time I got to spend away from campus and kind of just hanging out with the kids.